Yesterday i went to the Paradise Comicon, at the Exhibition Grounds. It was in the trade centre - or rather part of it. I'd gone to their con several years ago (maybe 2004?), and it seemed a little unattended then. This time they had a huge list of guests, and several panels and such. But it was still somewhat unattended - i was shocked to see little or no lines in front of certain people, like Terry Moore and Michael Golden. The crowds were much smaller than the Hobbystar cons.

Well, it didn't matter to me, because the highlight for me was meeting Christine Norrie, of Cheat, Hopeless Savages and Breaking Up fame. Actually, we'd 'met' before at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in 2003, except i didn't introduce myself, because, well, i'm a doofus. I'm not sure what intimidates me - i felt the fear welling up before i said 'hi'. It was funny, because when i appeared and whoever else was there left, she thought she recognized me. Anyway, she was super-sweet, and it was nice to be able to chat IRL. Hopefully, i wasn't too much of a pest.

I went to the Visual Language of Comics panel by Women in Comics. They didn't really talk a whole lot bout the purported topic, but it was interesting to hear about the different backgrounds of the different artists (Svetlana Chmakova, Janet Hetherington, Raina Telgemeier, Faith Erin Hicks, Tara McPherson, and Christine Norrie, moderated by Diana Tamblyn).

I didn't buy a ton of stuff, a couple of fun tee-shirts (and one i wanted but they didn't have in the correct size), including The Possum (i also bought his first issue, and got a free sketch). I bought Tara McPherson's book, and was able to get her to sign it. It's funny, because i recognized her name when i saw it on the guest list, and knew i had her website in my bookmarks, but it wasn't until she mentioned that she did a piece for Fables that it clicked. She actually looks kind of like her paintings. I got signatures from Scott Chantler, and J. Torres, who recognizes my face from other cons (not that i've attended a lot). There were also people i didn't find, including J. Bone and Dwight Williams.

Speaking of not finding/finding people, i found one of my students (well, now ex) towards the end of the day, and she'd been at one of the booths that i'd passed a number of times - weird. Not enough light again - i should really use a flash.

After buying a 3.75 iced tea from the centre's cafe, i went out to the street to buy a hot dog and pop. It's not really a great area for buying things - it's isolated from the city, being surrounded by the lake and roadways and rail. Which is okay when the Ex is on, but it's not like being right downtown, or up on Bloor. The 2003 and 2005 TCAF were in a nice area, near Bloor and Bathurst - plenty of restos and stores to go to. The 2007 TCAF is at Victoria College, which is a great venue (although, odds are it won't get many 'walk-by' customers). Vic is my old "college' at U of T - it's a fantastic old building.

Christine Norrie, and some fat guy. Nice framing job.