Fan Expo Canada part 6: Web Comics

Last but not least, comics that were advertised at Fan Expo.

Let's start with The Heroes of the World.

It's been 50 years since the Fraternity of Insidious Soldiers of Terror were driven into the shadows.  The F.I.S.T. was an unstoppable force until the heroes of the Unified Taskforce Elite fought back and defeated them.  The defenders of U.N.I.T.E. now monitor the peace of the world and protect the innocent with a new array of international heroes and allies.  U.N.I.T.E.'s greatest ally comes in the form of an energetic, vibrant hero-in-training, OREH GAIA!  He battles against the evil villains of the F.I.S.T. regime, as one of the U.N.I.T.E. defenders.  The earth's resources are being systematically destroyed across the glove, and the true motives of the F.I.S.T. are shrouded in mystery.

Post Script is an online comic strip about "the ever after of fairy tales".

Fall On Me is "a webcomic about love, videogames and tea."

SillWill Press has a comic trilogy coming out called The Sorcerer's Children.



And last comes a traditional comic (as opposed to a web comic), Blue Estate.

BLUE ESTATE is a supercool new title from Viktor Kalvachev and Image Comics ON SALE APRIL 6, 2011!

BLUE ESTATE is a high-octane adrenalin shot of comic violence, violent comedy, tangled alliances,

mistaken identities, desperate heroes,ruthless villains & MAXIMUM FIREPOWER!!!

BLUE ESTATE it's a state of mind

And if you've got enough comics to read and you want to listen to interviews with comic book creators and discussions about what's happening with comics today, then check out Comic Geek Speak, "a FREE daily conversation about all things comic related".

Fan Expo Canada part 5: Webseries

Several booths were at the con advertising their webseries and comic strips (I was going to add comics to this post but it got too long, so they'll get their own post later today).  Looking for more entertainment?  Check out some of the following:

Riese: Kingdom Falling

Syfy.com premieres the steampunk digital series Riese: Kingdom Falling, winner of Streamy Awards for Best Cinematography and nominee for Best Sound Design and Art Direction. The series was created by Ryan Copple and Kaleena Kiff and produced by Galen Fletcher and Nicholas Humphries.

Riese: Kingdom Falling takes place in Eleysia, a dying kingdom where distrust and anxiety have clouded people's minds, causing a regression into primitive ways of thinking. Rituals and mythology have resurged, and the darker side of mankind has begun to reveal itself. Riese, a wanderer, travels across the decaying land with her wolf, Fenrir. Marked as a heretic by religious group The Sect and the new Empress, Riese must evade their assassins and discover their true intentions for Eleysia.

Narrated by Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary), the series stars a cavalcade of talent from the world of popular speculative drama including Christine Chatelain (The Bone Collector); Sharon Taylor (Stargate Universe); Ben Cotton (Harper's Island), Allison Mack (Smallville); Ryan Robbins (Caprica); Patrick Gilmore (Stargate Universe); Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica) and Emilie Ullerup (Sanctuary).

The first season (10 episodes) is up online and they're starting a card battle RPG based on the show. Alas, if you're like me and outside the US, you can't watch this.  :(

A more world friendly webseries is Pretty in Geek, about a group of LARPers. Or will be.  So far, all they have up is a how to video on turning invisible.  Their website states that all 8 episodes will be released this year.

Pretty in Geek is an eight-episode sitcom about a bunch of girls who playing D&D, becoming friends, and all the in-game orc killing you could want. Or at least, the attempted-in-game-orc-killing.

Next up is Heroes of the North, a Canadian superhero team.

Welcome to Heroes of the North, an award winning, unique transmedia experience set in the universe of Canadian superheroes.

The story of the first season is told through 20 live action webisodes, 8 comic books, a diary, video games (coming soon!), characters tech sheets, characters facebook pages, universe related websites, etc.

Each elements contributes a building block to a bigger and better comprehension of the events and actors in the story.

We hope you enjoy your exploration of the Heroes of the North Universe!

Fan Expo Canada part 4: Celebrities and Artists

There was quite a line up of celebrities at the show, most of whom I caught a glimpse of at one time or another at the autograph area.  Alas, I didn't get to see Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), though I suspect he was being mobbed by teen girls everywhere he went.

Here are some shots I took:

Anthony Daniels (Star Wars: C3PO)

Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, Andromeda)

Elvira

Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck)

Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek: Uhura)

(Star Trek the Next Generation: Deanna Troi)

(A Clockwork Orange: Alex)

Michael Biehn (Aliens: Hicks, Terminator: Kyle Reese)

(Stargate: Daniel)

(Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy Krueger)

As for Artist Alley, there were so many fantastic artists on display that instead of doing a post that basically just mentions them by name, I'll be doing more artist spotlight posts in the coming year.

I'm posting this picture because I loved the guys stuff so much I bought the dark Phoenix picture on the top.  Alas, the artist has no website and I'd assumed the print was signed so I didn't ask his name, so I don't know who it is.  It's a shame as he does good work.  (And I'm saying 'he' because there were 2 guys running the booth.  The artist may be a woman though.) 

And this picture was just... interesting.  The eyeball plants reminded me of Labyrinthe.  Their site is Ghoul Friday if you want to see what else they have.

Fan Expo Canada part 3: Steampunk

No recent con is complete without a decent steampunk presence.  There are several great costumes in the round-up in my picasa album.

The Toronto Steampunk Society (the link is to their facebook group) and Steampunk Canada had a really cool booth:

There was also an amazing assortment of steampunk jewelry and memorabilia on sale.

The above jewelry was made by Irina Pertseva at Black Currant Jewelry.

Unfortunately, while I did collect business cards from several booths, the one selling the sextants didn't have a card, so I can't say who made them.

Fan Expo Canada part 2: Odd Booth Merchandise

One of the best parts of fan expo is finding all the truly unique items for sale.
Naturally there were a lot of booths selling Angry Birds plush toys.  This booth had a nice little display for them.  And while I didn't see it, someone got a picture of an Angry Birds board game.  o_O

Then there was this booth of zombie inspired merchandise (I loved the 'Zombies love a Girl with Brains' t-shirts).  Go to zombieinfo.com to learn more about them.

But zombies weren't the only creatures to get a dedicated booth, baby vampires, or Vamplets, got one too!  You could even meet them.  Each plush Vamplet had its own story, like Count Vlad Von Gloom, "So cute but so CRUEL, descended from DRAC, BLOOD is always his favourite snack!"  Here's their website: www.vamplets.com.

Want something for your baby vampire to munch on?  How about a bloody stuffed animal?

And if you want nifty patterned socks or other cute clothes, check out punchbrand.com's Crazy Heads line.  I really liked their sushi socks.  :)

Got a baby on board?  They were also selling super cute superhero inspired onesies.

Another surprisingly popular item was exotic contact lenses.  I passed several booths selling them, but this one had a really nice chart of what you could get.

These last two took the cake for bizarre though.  The first are cleavage dragons, sold at the Crosstime Traders booth.

The explanatory note in the doorway reads:

Cleavage Dragons!

Wenches, Vixens, Ladies of the Kingdom!  Have you ever had a Lord hold converstion with you and the entire time he is staring at your bosoms?

Well, here's your chance to have something staring back!

Not just a conversation piece, these little "Defenders of the Realm", will let them know they may not treat upon these grounds.  Naming them is fun too!

And the second is a unique tribute to the recently deceased Jack Layton.  Not sure who the artist is.

Fan Expo Canada part 1: The Con

Like last year, I only had the chance to get downtown for Fan Expo this year, on Saturday.  Unlike last year, the staff knew what was going on and where to direct people.  I still had to wait about an hour before getting into the show, but that's normal.  It was in the roomier South building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and they'd opened some of the side rooms into the main exhibit hall and provided a decent amount of seating.

There were a lot of great costumes.  Here are some of the highlights for me:

If you want to see more, check out my picasa album (which I've just discovered allows me to put a slideshow of the photos on my blog!).



There were several Sucker Punch! Babydolls and a lot of X-Men characters.

Stay tuned for more Fan Expo fun.