Yo…
Toronto Comicon is here!
I’ll be attending from Friday to Sunday; as a roaming reporter for 640 Toronto (Talk Radio AM 640). That’ll be fun! I did that last fall for Fan Expo.
They’ve invited me back on the air to talk about Toronto Comicon as a nerd to English translator.
Saturday morning at 8:20 am, tune in at AM 640 or listen online.
(I know it’s early for a Saturday, however the Comicon opens at 10 am and you wanna plan your day accordingly. I can help! I want to help!)
Toronto Comicon Tickets can be bought online.
I recommend Toronto Comicon for parents with young kids. Fan Expo is horror and sci-fi and anime and video games and comic books and…and…and. It can be overwhelming. I find it overwhelming, so I can imagine a kid struggling.
Toronto Comicon is low-key, still busy and way more focused. Kids will have a good time and dig being tourists in this bizarre world of Cosplay & Comics.
And if you’re just young at heart you’ll have a good time as well.
Cosplay is a central pillar of Comicon. Like Friday alone will host eight cosplay meetups. I barely dress up in life so Cosplay is a bit of effort for me. Cosplay is like dressing up for Halloween without the free candy.
There’s also Live D&D...again I’m nerdy but that not that nerdy.
Still, if you wanna understand Strange Things Dungeons & Dragons references you can drop by for a campaign or two.
I’ll give you three supa dope #PantsWorthy Toronto Comicon suggestions.
Wander Artist Alley slowly…check out the t-shirts, buttons, comic books and sketches.
This Comicon tends to be more local, it’s not as big as Fan Expo which brings in artists from everywhere. (Toronto is so talented!)
Take this opportunity to pick up some fresh art for your walls at home. Some Artist Alley names to review:
Leonard Kirk (Captain Britain and MI13…so good!!), Nick Marinkovich (Dead Romans), Dave Ross (Cable & Deadpool) and Marcus To (The Flash). That’s a good start.
Though I highly recommend checking out Adam Gorham!
Come for the Sarcasm; Leave With The Signatures!
Dude is so #PantsWorthy. (Adam’s Godzilla is outstanding...and he’s a good dude.)
Here’s a chance to uncover and connect with local nerdery in the Community Zone. There will be invitations to donate to Sick Kids and other charities you’re familiar with.
Some of the benevolent nerds you can roll with in the Community Zone are…
The Ontario Ghostbusters will have a booth. (You laugh but when your house is haunted who you gonna call? Our real estate prices means you can’t afford to just move outta a haunted house…).
The Doctor Who Society is always a fantastic booth, lots of creepy Daleks.
(Kids go nuts for Daleks! Stop engaging malevolent evil, children. Go hang out with R2-D2 in Canadian Garrison – 501st Legion booth.)
At Fan Expo last year I witnessed a little girl (accurately) scold a Dalek.
“Silly robot! You’re so mean.”
I applauded her ability to stand up for herself and yet...I’d also like her to keep quiet and not upset that prickly race of malevolent mutants.
I dunno how parents do it...balancing the desire to raise strong and bold children while being aware of the fate of the universe.
(She walked away from the Dalek and started talking to R2-D2 who beeped and whistled at her. She wasn’t having it either: “You’re not making ANY SENSE!”
In a few years she’s gonna watch Terminator 2 and empathize with the humans so much. “Robots, am I right?”)
Toronto International Festival of Authors is hosting a booth, if you wanna score a book without pictures and panels.
And the Canadian Podcast Awards has a booth. Come hang out with me! First 10 people who visit get a free high-five.
Indeed: I’m hosting a Meet & Greet at the Canadian Podcast Awards booth.
Sunday March 17th at 2:00 p.m.: #PantsWorthy for true.
I’ll have a Comicon Contest (you can win comics!), there will be Comicon Candy (I’m sweet like that) and finally enjoy Comicon Connections (lot of cool people doing cool things will be hanging out that weekend.).
More at the Canadian Podcast Awards booth: check out The Creative Imbalance Podcast with host Sean Sirianni and Adam Corky’s Do You Watch Anime?.
Details and schedule for other podcasters is here.
For the Artist Alley and the Community Zone go into those marvelous areas leading with your curiosity. There’s podcasts or creators you may know already but be curious…learn, ask questions. Seek The Fresh.
Share your discoveries.
Actors from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, What We Do in the Shadows, X-Men ‘97 (the animated series) are hanging out all weekend for photo ops and autograph signings.
Davey & Jonesie’s Locker (a Canadian show) will screen their first episode before it airs on TV.
Sunday, March 17: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Main Theatre 105
More multiverse shenanigans. Bill and Ted travelled through time in a phone booth. Davey and Jonesie trip through the multiverse via their locker.
“But the joke is on them when they only end up in bizarre, alternate versions of their high school, surrounded by offbeat versions of their classmates. Fortunately, these audacious and creative besties are ready to make the most of this vacation from reality by leaving their mark on every universe they visit…even if it means choosing interdimensional chaos while they’re at it. Worth it for the vibes.”
Ya gotta figure there’s a universe out there where you’re finally truly deeply cool. Right?
The TV series premieres March 22, 2024 on Prime Video-Canada and on Hulu in the U.S. #SetTheVCR for that: it’s a Binge Release…all 10 episodes drop all at once.
And…
There’s the X-Men ’97: Xavier’s Lounge for Gifted Youngsters (that’s so cool!) with free first come, first served cereal!
Oh, yo! It’s the return of Saturday Morning Cartoons!
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) launched in 2008 with Iron Man it began a process of loose adaptations of Marvel comics.
Captain America movies like The Winter Soldier and Civil War were (mostly) pulled from the comics.
Mirroring the comics the MCU formally established a distinct continuity with a clear timeline. This was the second time Marvel had connected with continuity outside of the comics.
The success and popularity of X-Men: The Animated Series confirmed the commercial value in fostering a consistent mythology.
Far more than the MCU movies, many episodes were fully based on the mutants’ Marvel comics. Fantastic storylines and events in the X-Men comics, such as the Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, the Phalanx Covenant, and the Legacy Virus manifested in this mid-90s X-Men cartoon.
This animated series debuted on October 31, 1992, on the Fox Network as part of the Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup.
The show featured a team line-up similar to that of the early 1990s X-Men comic books: Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee, Jean Grey and Professor X.
(Cyclops’ Blue Team! How is that for an old school X-Men reference!)
The cartoon ran for 76 episodes concluding on September 20, 1997. X-Men ‘97 is a revival, picking up exactly where the original series ended…with the death of Professor X.
Toronto Comicon X-Men ‘97 screenings and cereal details are in the black graphic above.
Attached is a fun and fitting My Summer Lair conversation with Philly-based cartoonist Brian "Box" Brown.
How do we balance nostalgia with capitalism?
With The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood Brian reveals how our childish attention has been bought and sold by mass media, entertainment and most especially the toy industry.
He writes on page 197: “He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers represented the first wave of characters in this new unregulated toy media landscape . . . Deregulation ripped the market wide open. Hasbro and Mattel had gotten the jump on the competition, but the cat was out of the bag now. The market became robust and competitive. It was a feeding frenzy for children’s imagination.”
There’s a fascinating tension because the things we grew up with, the toys we delighted in were basically designed to turn us into permanent consumers.
The Barbie movie was a massive hit; nostalgia instantly overcame decades of legitimate Barbie criticism about women’s bodies, female roles in the workplace and all the other things Barbie the doll has been slagged for. Nostalgia was the explosive catalyst that erased and overcame all of that Barbie criticism.
Star Wars is so fun, the light sabers and Darth Vader and death stars but Star Wars is also a billion dollar business of t-shirts and video games and action figures and comic books and novels and more.
All of this is what Brian is exploring in The He-Man Effect. It’s not just a non-fiction book; rather it’s a well researched historical graphic novel published by First Second. (Oh and it’s loaded with many Simpsons easter eggs.)
If you watched The Toys That Made Us on Netflix this is the part of the joyful story they told that they left out.
You’ll revel in this My Summer Lair conversation with Brian where we’re playfully irked because He-Man’s arms never stay on, yes capitalism comes up and it all starts with the old school Dungeons & Dragons cartoon which ran from 1983 to 1985.
Only the fans of that classic cartoon are not based in North America. Wanna guess which country a corny ‘80s cartoon is super popular in? I was surprised and guessed wrong.
Appreciates He-Man Doesn’t Wear Pants…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
#PantsWorthy: Toronto Comicon 2024