By
Hervé St-Louis
August 28, 2009 - 10:46
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Day One at the Toronto FanExpo was crowded as to be expected. I felt that there were less costumed fans than other shows I've attended, but the costumes on display were of course interesting. One thing which I noticed about Fan Expo is the lack of families, kids and strollers. I'm not sure I even saw teenagers at the show. The crowd was the usual middle age men crowd with a few women here and there. I guess that I tend to favour shows where families attend as it shows promises for a future comic book industry.
The organization of the show so far has been very good, although the press room lacks any free WI-FI which means it's difficult for the crew of the Bin to update you, our readers on the spot. I can't even use Twitter. I hope that in future shows, this issue will be addressed. At conventions like the San Diego Con, the WI-FI network was crucial to putting news out there quickly without having to go back to my hotel room all the time.
I've heard rumours that the Calgary Comic-Con may be becoming the biggest comic book convention in Canada and I seriously think that this could happen. FanExpo will still have more names and actual publishers on site, but there were more artists at the Calgary convention of the last three years than the one in FanExpo 2009. As for Hollywood actors, it seems to me that both shows have equal numbers.
Yet, the FanExpo is the major Canadian comic book convention and is held in Canada's major city and one of the biggest in North America. Toronto really feels like a big city when you walk in its streets and its downtown core is more lively than what I remembered from past years. It might actually have a bar scene that matches' Montreal's infamous party culture.
The folks at the FanExpo have a lot of work ahead of them, now that Wizard World has bought their local competitor. I feel that the Wizard World is more like a Six Flags to the homegrown Canada Wonder Land that is the FanExpo. FanExpo is truly an event set up by local Torontonians and not a formula tested in several other markets. FanExpo did try to open a branch in Montreal in 2004, but the local dealers did not support the event in drove.
That Toronto's economy, built on car manufacturing has been hurt by the current recession may not have helped the organizers of this show, but it may have helped them attract all Canadians visitors that would normally would have flown to San Diego or Chicago instead. Being Canadian is always a good thing.
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