Vancouver
Comicon - November 16th, 2003
A
few weeks ago, I emailed Vancouver
Comicon's organizer Leonard Wong
to enquire about the convention. I was delighted when
he answered by inviting me to be a special guest at
the November show.
We
arrived at the site of the convention at 10:00am on
Sunday, November 16th. The event was set in a beautiful
historical building in Vancouver's uptown called the
Heritage Hall, designed by famed architect Archibald
Campbell Hope. With coffees in hand, we set up our display
while chatting with other exhibitors. The atmosphere
was friendly and relaxed. At 11:00am the doors opened
to the public and a nice size crowd walked in. Our table
was visited by many animation students and professionals
who were eager to discuss the industry. It was fun meeting
one of my old pal from Sheridan College, Andy
Bartlett.
At
the table next to us were talented artist/writer Steve
Rolston and his blue haired girlfriend
Sabina. Steve was promoting his new
graphic novel One
Bad Day and several of his projects.
The
convention's doors closed at 5:00pm. Considering that
the number of attendees was probably around 300 - 400,
we did extremely well in terms of sales. Everyone was
very nice and I had fun doing sketches.
After
the con, we went for a drink with renowned animator
Lance Taylor.
We discussed animation and comics and both agreed that
Nausicaa:
Valley of The Wind is the greatest graphic
novel ever written.
At
7:00pm, Nancy and I met up with Leonard, Steve &
Sabina, Doug Wheatley and Kaare
Andrews. Leonard graciously treated us
to dinner at an all-you-can-eat suchi restaurant. It
was delicious!
Later,
we all went to Doug's hotel room to have a look at his
amazing artwork. This guy is a major talent! His original
comic pages were so beautiful - I just kept staring
in awe! I was delighted to get one of his masterpieces
for my personal collection. Making the choice on which
page to get was not an easy task but I finally settled
on this one from Superman: The last stand on Krypton
(Click on image for a larger view).
For
the remainder of the evening, we went bar hoping. I
got plastered while Nancy, being the designated driver,
remained sober.
Before
returning home, we all headed to Steve and Sabina's
apartment. I was once again thrilled to add another
excellent piece to my evergrowing collection with one
of Steve's pages from his graphic novel One Bad
Day (click on image for a larger view)! I tell
you, it felt like Christmas!
We'll
definitely be back!
Michel
Gagné, November 18th, 2003
