Craig Reade
May 7th 2005, 03:01 AM
<i>This past weekend, Comixtreme’s own <b>Adam Chapman</b> and <b>Mike d’Alfonso</b> attended the <b>Toronto Comicon</b>, and filed this report.</i>
<hr>
<img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/toronto-map.jpg" border="1" align="right">For the weekend of April 29-30 and May 1st, the <b>National Trade Centre at Exhibition Place</b> in Toronto played host to <b>Toronto Comicon</b>, presented by <a href="http://www.paradisecomics.com/" target="_blank">Paradise Comics</a> Conventions. The event had many special guests, including <b>Sara “Samm” Barnes</b> (<i>Doctor Spectrum, Spectacular Spider-Man</i>), <b>Brian Michael Bendis</b> (<i>Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, New Avengers</i>), <b>Warren Ellis</b> (<i>Planetary, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Iron Man</i>), <b>Tom Grummett</b> (<i>Teen Titans, New Thunderbolts</i>), <b>Adi Granov</b> (<i>Iron Man</i>), <b>David Mack</b> (<i>Kabuki</i>), and many more.
Of particular note at the convention were the <b>Brian Michael Bendis</b> and <b>Warren Ellis</b> Q & A sessions, and the presentation of the First Annual <b><a href="http://www.comiclotto.com/clients/torontocomicon/shusters.htm" target="_blank">Shuster Awards</a></b>, the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards, presented in the memory of <b>Joe Shuster</b>, co-creator of Superman and comic book pioneer.
The convention got off to a rough start on Friday April 29th, as there were difficulties in locating the convention entrance, and lack of posters and programming schedules. These bugs seemed to have been relatively worked out the following day, although the programming for the convention was more than a little sketchy. The <b>DC Comics What’s Ahead For 2005 Panel</b> seemed rushed and wasn’t well organized, but again was on opening day when the Con got off to a rough start. The three major question and answer sessions for the convention, with <b>Brian Michael Bendis</b>, <b>Warren Ellis</b> and <b>Jerry Robinson</b>, respectively, were well staged and well organized. However, there was a general problem with organization as certain events and panels were cancelled at the last minute for dubious reasons. Along this line, the <b>What’s Ahead For Marvel for 2005</b> panel was cancelled because the creators attending claimed they had nothing really to discuss or reveal at the panel, which could be attributed to slightly poor organization and communication prior to the convention with those creators. The con did attract a fair amount of fans, readers and collectors, as well as retailers. On the whole the event was a lot of fun, but would have been more enjoyable had there been more organization, and had the event been more properly advertised and also easy to locate.
<b>Highlights from the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon (PCTC) 2005:</b>
<img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/BendisMike.JPG" align="right" border="1" alt="Bendis and Mike d'Alfonso">From the <b>Brian Michael Bendis Q & A</b>:
- There are no future plans for a <b>Daredevil Ninja</b> sequel due to some misgivings between BMB and the artist for the mini series.
-There are ninjas in the future for the <b>New Avengers</b>.
- <b>Spider-Woman</b>'s history consists of three origins, which will be condensed and more cohesive. Essential title and 80 page book will be companion additions.
- <b>USO New Avengers</b> book to be solicited to troops in the Middle East; it may not be distributed to direct market.
- <b>House of M</b> had its genesis as a crossover for <b>New Avengers</b> and <b>Astonishing X-Men</b>. Both teams assemble to stem the tide of <b>Scarlet Witch</b>'s reality altering powers. By the end of the series, there will be some noticeable changes in the Marvel books.
- <b>Alex Maleev</b> will take a few months off after wrapping the last <b>Daredevil</b> arc, <b>The Murdock Papers</b>, with <b>Bendis</b>, and the duo have a few projects planned. They may follow the <b>Loeb/Sale</b> pattern, to work on a project, then have a few months off, then work on another. The future plans might include mini-series, to allow <b>Alex Maleev</b> to change his styles for different arcs and different characters, to experiment.
-<b>Bendis</b> will start work on the <b>Jinx</b> screenplay in two weeks.
- <b>House of M</b> will be the exact opposite of <b>Secret War</b> in terms of shipping, and will be “like a machine gun firing”, in describing the rapid planned shipping schedule.
- <img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/ultspiderman79.jpg" border="1" align="right">Among the characters he’d most like to work on- <b>Ultimate Moon Knight</b>, who he just wrote the introductory arc for in <b>Ultimate Spider-Man</b>, Dominic Fortune, Cloak and Dagger (who will be in <b>House of M</b>) and <b>Ultimate Deadpool</b>, who is only a couple of arcs away.
- <b>Bendis</b> is fully committed to <b>Marvel</b> and has no plans to work for any other publishers.
- When asked about <b>Geld****</b>, and what his importance was, <b>Bendis</b> said that the point of the Geld**** character was to suggest the possibility of other countries developing their own super soldier programs, to compete with Captain America and the Ultimates, a thread most recently utilized by <b>Millar</b> in <b>Ultimates 2</b>.
- Half way through the Q & A, <b>J. Michael Straczynski</b> made a surprise appearance.
- When asked about the <b>Sins Past</b> revelation that <b>Norman Osborn</b> was the father of the <b>Stacy Twins</b>, <b>Straczynski</b> claimed that he had originally meant the children to be Peter’s, but <b>Joe Quesada</b> suggested that Norman should be the father instead.
- <b>Straczynski</b> explained that the move <b>Supreme Power</b> is making from the <b>MAX</b> line to the <b>Marvel Knights</b> line was initiated by himself and <b>Gary Frank</b>, and was not a matter of editorial interference or dictum
- <b>Bendis</b> and <b>Oeming</b> will have a new creator-owned project debuting next year, but will not displace <b>Powers</b>.
<b>From the Warren Ellis Q & A:</b>
- There is no sequel to <b>Switchblade Honey</b> in the works.
- <img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/desolation.jpg" border="1" align="right">Upcoming project, <b>Desolation Jones</b>, is described by his publisher as “Prisoner for the 21st Century.”
- There will be a second wave of <b><a href="http://www.avatarpress.com/apparat/" target="_blank">Apparat</a></b> books- 2nd wave of 1st issues, one a month for 8 months. The new wave will be utilizing 50s television and 50s comics for their inspiration, building off of the first wave’s use of 30s pulp.
-The first wave of <b>Apparat</b> books will likely be collected in a TPB by the end of the year.
- His first prose book is likely to be published in Autumn.
- <b>Ellis</b> says that he accepted the writing gig on <b>Iron Man</b> because of <b>Adi Granov</b>’s phenomenal art. However, he has signed on for only 6 issues.
- <b>Ellis</b> clarified that his tenure on <b>Ultimate Fantastic Four</b> was spurred on by <b>Mark Millar</b> asking him to caretaker the book when <b>Millar</b> and <b>Bendis’s</b> schedules were too overcrowded to work on the book, and his tenure was always meant as a stop-gap until either Millar or Bendis could return to the title.
<hr>
<a href="http://www.comiclotto.com/clients/torontocomicon/shusters_main.htm" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/shuster_logo.gif" align="left" border="1" alt="Shuster Awards"></a>The 1st Annual <b>Shuster Awards</b> were presented Saturday April 30th, at the Toronto Comicon. The Shuster Awards are a national award recognizing outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, and are named after pioneering Toronto-born artist <b>Joe Shuster</b>, creator of Superman with writer Jerry Siegel. The Shusters are a way of recognizing and celebrating the achievements of Canadian creators in the field of comic books, past present and future. The awards were hosted by <b>Rick Green</b> and <b>Rob Salem</b>, and were attended by many of Canada’s best and brightest talents in the field of comic books. There were six inductees into the Hall of Fame, the first being <b>Joe Shuster</b> himself, which was presented in a moving keynote address by <b>Jerry Robinson</b> (Creator of the Joker).
The five other inductees were:
<b>Leo Bachle</b> a.k.a. <b>Les Barker</b>, creator of <b>Johnny Canuck</b>.
<b>Adrian Dingle</b>, creator of <b>Nelvana</b>.
<b>Hal Foster</b>, creator of <b>Prince Valiant</b>.
<b>Ed Furness</b>, creator of <b>Freelance</b>.
<b>Rand Holmes</b>, underground cartoonist.
Awards:
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Publisher</b>:
- <i><b>Arcana Studio</b> publisher of Ant, Kade, Ezra, and 100 Girls.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Achievement Related to Comic Books</b> (Presented by Bill Sienkiewic)
- <i><b>Dave Sim and Gerhard</b> for completing the landmark run of Cerebus, the longest running creator owned & published comic book series.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Retailer Award</b>
- <i><b>Harry Kremer</b>, the late owner of Kitchener’s Now and Then Books. This award will be renamed the <i><b>Harry Kremer Canadian Retailer Recognition Award</i></b> in future years.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer</b>
- (shared) <i><b>Ty Templeton</b> for his work on Batman Adventures, and <b>Sara “Samm” Barnes</b> for her work on Doctor Spectrum.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist</b>
- <i><b>Kaare Andrews</b> for his work on Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist</b>
- <i><b>Darwyn Cooke</b> for his work on DC: The New Frontier.</i>
<hr>
<i>Check back next week for Adam Chapman and Mike D’Alfonso’s interview with Brian Michael Bendis!</i>
<i>Thanks to Mike and Adam for their outstanding report!</i>
<hr>
<img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/toronto-map.jpg" border="1" align="right">For the weekend of April 29-30 and May 1st, the <b>National Trade Centre at Exhibition Place</b> in Toronto played host to <b>Toronto Comicon</b>, presented by <a href="http://www.paradisecomics.com/" target="_blank">Paradise Comics</a> Conventions. The event had many special guests, including <b>Sara “Samm” Barnes</b> (<i>Doctor Spectrum, Spectacular Spider-Man</i>), <b>Brian Michael Bendis</b> (<i>Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, New Avengers</i>), <b>Warren Ellis</b> (<i>Planetary, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Iron Man</i>), <b>Tom Grummett</b> (<i>Teen Titans, New Thunderbolts</i>), <b>Adi Granov</b> (<i>Iron Man</i>), <b>David Mack</b> (<i>Kabuki</i>), and many more.
Of particular note at the convention were the <b>Brian Michael Bendis</b> and <b>Warren Ellis</b> Q & A sessions, and the presentation of the First Annual <b><a href="http://www.comiclotto.com/clients/torontocomicon/shusters.htm" target="_blank">Shuster Awards</a></b>, the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards, presented in the memory of <b>Joe Shuster</b>, co-creator of Superman and comic book pioneer.
The convention got off to a rough start on Friday April 29th, as there were difficulties in locating the convention entrance, and lack of posters and programming schedules. These bugs seemed to have been relatively worked out the following day, although the programming for the convention was more than a little sketchy. The <b>DC Comics What’s Ahead For 2005 Panel</b> seemed rushed and wasn’t well organized, but again was on opening day when the Con got off to a rough start. The three major question and answer sessions for the convention, with <b>Brian Michael Bendis</b>, <b>Warren Ellis</b> and <b>Jerry Robinson</b>, respectively, were well staged and well organized. However, there was a general problem with organization as certain events and panels were cancelled at the last minute for dubious reasons. Along this line, the <b>What’s Ahead For Marvel for 2005</b> panel was cancelled because the creators attending claimed they had nothing really to discuss or reveal at the panel, which could be attributed to slightly poor organization and communication prior to the convention with those creators. The con did attract a fair amount of fans, readers and collectors, as well as retailers. On the whole the event was a lot of fun, but would have been more enjoyable had there been more organization, and had the event been more properly advertised and also easy to locate.
<b>Highlights from the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon (PCTC) 2005:</b>
<img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/BendisMike.JPG" align="right" border="1" alt="Bendis and Mike d'Alfonso">From the <b>Brian Michael Bendis Q & A</b>:
- There are no future plans for a <b>Daredevil Ninja</b> sequel due to some misgivings between BMB and the artist for the mini series.
-There are ninjas in the future for the <b>New Avengers</b>.
- <b>Spider-Woman</b>'s history consists of three origins, which will be condensed and more cohesive. Essential title and 80 page book will be companion additions.
- <b>USO New Avengers</b> book to be solicited to troops in the Middle East; it may not be distributed to direct market.
- <b>House of M</b> had its genesis as a crossover for <b>New Avengers</b> and <b>Astonishing X-Men</b>. Both teams assemble to stem the tide of <b>Scarlet Witch</b>'s reality altering powers. By the end of the series, there will be some noticeable changes in the Marvel books.
- <b>Alex Maleev</b> will take a few months off after wrapping the last <b>Daredevil</b> arc, <b>The Murdock Papers</b>, with <b>Bendis</b>, and the duo have a few projects planned. They may follow the <b>Loeb/Sale</b> pattern, to work on a project, then have a few months off, then work on another. The future plans might include mini-series, to allow <b>Alex Maleev</b> to change his styles for different arcs and different characters, to experiment.
-<b>Bendis</b> will start work on the <b>Jinx</b> screenplay in two weeks.
- <b>House of M</b> will be the exact opposite of <b>Secret War</b> in terms of shipping, and will be “like a machine gun firing”, in describing the rapid planned shipping schedule.
- <img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/ultspiderman79.jpg" border="1" align="right">Among the characters he’d most like to work on- <b>Ultimate Moon Knight</b>, who he just wrote the introductory arc for in <b>Ultimate Spider-Man</b>, Dominic Fortune, Cloak and Dagger (who will be in <b>House of M</b>) and <b>Ultimate Deadpool</b>, who is only a couple of arcs away.
- <b>Bendis</b> is fully committed to <b>Marvel</b> and has no plans to work for any other publishers.
- When asked about <b>Geld****</b>, and what his importance was, <b>Bendis</b> said that the point of the Geld**** character was to suggest the possibility of other countries developing their own super soldier programs, to compete with Captain America and the Ultimates, a thread most recently utilized by <b>Millar</b> in <b>Ultimates 2</b>.
- Half way through the Q & A, <b>J. Michael Straczynski</b> made a surprise appearance.
- When asked about the <b>Sins Past</b> revelation that <b>Norman Osborn</b> was the father of the <b>Stacy Twins</b>, <b>Straczynski</b> claimed that he had originally meant the children to be Peter’s, but <b>Joe Quesada</b> suggested that Norman should be the father instead.
- <b>Straczynski</b> explained that the move <b>Supreme Power</b> is making from the <b>MAX</b> line to the <b>Marvel Knights</b> line was initiated by himself and <b>Gary Frank</b>, and was not a matter of editorial interference or dictum
- <b>Bendis</b> and <b>Oeming</b> will have a new creator-owned project debuting next year, but will not displace <b>Powers</b>.
<b>From the Warren Ellis Q & A:</b>
- There is no sequel to <b>Switchblade Honey</b> in the works.
- <img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/desolation.jpg" border="1" align="right">Upcoming project, <b>Desolation Jones</b>, is described by his publisher as “Prisoner for the 21st Century.”
- There will be a second wave of <b><a href="http://www.avatarpress.com/apparat/" target="_blank">Apparat</a></b> books- 2nd wave of 1st issues, one a month for 8 months. The new wave will be utilizing 50s television and 50s comics for their inspiration, building off of the first wave’s use of 30s pulp.
-The first wave of <b>Apparat</b> books will likely be collected in a TPB by the end of the year.
- His first prose book is likely to be published in Autumn.
- <b>Ellis</b> says that he accepted the writing gig on <b>Iron Man</b> because of <b>Adi Granov</b>’s phenomenal art. However, he has signed on for only 6 issues.
- <b>Ellis</b> clarified that his tenure on <b>Ultimate Fantastic Four</b> was spurred on by <b>Mark Millar</b> asking him to caretaker the book when <b>Millar</b> and <b>Bendis’s</b> schedules were too overcrowded to work on the book, and his tenure was always meant as a stop-gap until either Millar or Bendis could return to the title.
<hr>
<a href="http://www.comiclotto.com/clients/torontocomicon/shusters_main.htm" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/901/shuster_logo.gif" align="left" border="1" alt="Shuster Awards"></a>The 1st Annual <b>Shuster Awards</b> were presented Saturday April 30th, at the Toronto Comicon. The Shuster Awards are a national award recognizing outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, and are named after pioneering Toronto-born artist <b>Joe Shuster</b>, creator of Superman with writer Jerry Siegel. The Shusters are a way of recognizing and celebrating the achievements of Canadian creators in the field of comic books, past present and future. The awards were hosted by <b>Rick Green</b> and <b>Rob Salem</b>, and were attended by many of Canada’s best and brightest talents in the field of comic books. There were six inductees into the Hall of Fame, the first being <b>Joe Shuster</b> himself, which was presented in a moving keynote address by <b>Jerry Robinson</b> (Creator of the Joker).
The five other inductees were:
<b>Leo Bachle</b> a.k.a. <b>Les Barker</b>, creator of <b>Johnny Canuck</b>.
<b>Adrian Dingle</b>, creator of <b>Nelvana</b>.
<b>Hal Foster</b>, creator of <b>Prince Valiant</b>.
<b>Ed Furness</b>, creator of <b>Freelance</b>.
<b>Rand Holmes</b>, underground cartoonist.
Awards:
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Publisher</b>:
- <i><b>Arcana Studio</b> publisher of Ant, Kade, Ezra, and 100 Girls.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Achievement Related to Comic Books</b> (Presented by Bill Sienkiewic)
- <i><b>Dave Sim and Gerhard</b> for completing the landmark run of Cerebus, the longest running creator owned & published comic book series.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Retailer Award</b>
- <i><b>Harry Kremer</b>, the late owner of Kitchener’s Now and Then Books. This award will be renamed the <i><b>Harry Kremer Canadian Retailer Recognition Award</i></b> in future years.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer</b>
- (shared) <i><b>Ty Templeton</b> for his work on Batman Adventures, and <b>Sara “Samm” Barnes</b> for her work on Doctor Spectrum.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist</b>
- <i><b>Kaare Andrews</b> for his work on Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One.</i>
<b>Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist</b>
- <i><b>Darwyn Cooke</b> for his work on DC: The New Frontier.</i>
<hr>
<i>Check back next week for Adam Chapman and Mike D’Alfonso’s interview with Brian Michael Bendis!</i>
<i>Thanks to Mike and Adam for their outstanding report!</i>