From August 22nd-24th, The Metro Toronto Convention Center was transformed from a meeting place for professionals and vacationers, to a magical realm filled with Stormtroopers, Zombies, Faeries, and Federation Officers.

It was not the set of some elaborate J.J. Abrams movie; it was the annual Fan Expo, a meeting place for all things Geek in the heart of Toronto.

This year’s Expo featured sections dedicated to Comic Books, Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime, and Gaming. Guest of Honour actor Henry “The Fonz” Winkler drew in huge crowds to line up for a picture or autograph, as did Horror Master Wes Craven, and legendary Comic Book Artist Alex Ross.

But it wasn’t just the monumental amount of special guests that made the Fan Expo an amazing event, it was the fans themselves. Many showed up in costume, and everyone had at least one thing that they simply had to see. It was the things they didn’t expect to see that made the expo worthwhile though.

Phil Moreina was draw to Fan Expo for the expansive gaming pavilion, but once he got there it was something else that caught his eye. “Yeah, the Horror Booths that had all kinds of prosthetics and masks and horror costumes and stuff, I thought that was pretty cool.”

Also nestled into the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear section of Fan Expo were redhead Archie Suicide and her blonde friend Vesta Suicide. The Suicide Girls are a troupe of Pinup models, dedicated to showcasing beauty outside of normal conventions. Many of them sport full-sleeve tattoos, dreadlocks and body piercings. “Yeah, I definitely fit in around these parts, that’s for sure” says Archie.

In spite of being the center of the Horror section, it was something else that drew the attention of these Expo vixens. “The costumes” remarks Vesta. “And they talk about girls not coming to these things, but I’m seeing half-naked chicks everywhere!”

“Yeah, the Stormtroopers are freakin’ sweet!” adds Archie excitedly.

Comic books took on a much larger role at this year’s Fan Expo, with literally hundreds of fans and Comic Book Pros lining the Artist Alley area.

“It’s been crazy” says Buffy The Vampire Slayer penciller Georges Jeanty. “I haven’t even had time to walk through Artist Alley yet!”

Along with Jeanty, Heroes artist Tim Sale, J. Scott Campbell, Dale Eaglesham, and the legendary Bob Layton all lined the walls taking commissions, signing comics, and participating in various panels and sketch duels throughout the weekend.

“I love being in a giant room with 50,000 people, and everyone’s about the same thing” says Donnie Coulter, co-host of a comic book podcast called The Watchtower. “Nobody’s being snobby, everyone has the same interests, and we all come together for one weekend just to hang out.”

It is a true “Meeting of The Geek” at the Metro Convention Center, and as he runs to grab a guest for the live taping of his podcast, Donnie manages to sum up the event perfectly.

“It’s the one weekend for that guy who has his Green Lantern t-shirt in his closet and is afraid to wear it out in public” quips Coulter. “He’s wearin’ it this weekend!”

Related posts

• No related posts.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.