I just got back from my first trip to Canada, where I was a guest at the Toronto Comicon! I had a great time and met lots of people and made new friends!

I have to say that the Toronto Comicon is really one of the most pleasant, well-organized cons I've been to. The people there really made sure that everything was taken care of - they provided transportation to and from the convention center, they came around often to see if we wanted water or soda, they escorted us to panels and signings, and watched our tables for us while we were absent. Each guest had ample room to display their work, and the Women of Comics were given tote bags filled with little goodies like lotion, a note pad, lip balm, and Godiva chocolates!!. It was a really nice gesture and made the experience that much more memorable!

Initially I was a little bummed that I wouldn't have Will along - I'm so used to him going to cons with me and being my right-hand man/personal gofer! (Just kidding!) Seriously though, he's always wanted to go to Toronto but because of all the craziness with his new job and such, he just couldn't come along. I'm not sure why we never went to Toronto during the 5 years we've lived in NY, since it's so friggin close.... but go figure. Now that we're moving across the country it won't be as easy...

Anyway, I digress...

(I was going to put a cut here, but for some reason it doesn't show up... so sorry!)

THURSDAY

I got to the airport early and was confused because my itinerary said I was on a United Flight, but they couldn't find my name. Luckily, Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier spotted me and told me they had the same problem. It turns out we were in the wrong area - we had to go to Canada Air! So we walked to the right place where we met up with Christine Norrie, whom I've never met before. I'm a huge fan of her work so I had to resist going into fangirl mode at first! ^_^

The flight to Toronto was almost effortless - even for me and I HATE flying! I had downloaded the season finale of House (which I missed the first time around) to watch on my ipod and I didn't even get to finish it before we landed! Talk about a short flight!

We then were picked up by Peter Fisico of All New Comics. He's the one who put together the Women of Comics event - and he's a super nice guy who happens to be a fan of Sabrina, which made me happy! ^_^

He dropped us off at the Holiday Inn on King which is right in the entertainment district. It was only about 2:00pm at that point so I had the rest of the day to do whatever. So I decided to wander around and explore Toronto a bit. I decided to go to Magic Pony which is an art gallery/designer toy store. It was only about a mile away from the hotel so I walked. On the way I found an awesome yarn store that had so much yarn I wanted to fill my arms with bushel-loads. But I restrained myself and only bought one single ball of yarn!

Then I found Magic Pony and took a look at their Team Macho show which was fairly amusing and bizarre. They had so much cool stuff to buy there... again, I wanted everything in there! But I was actually on a mission to buy Will some birthday gifts (His 27th birthday is on the 19th!). I think I picked out some cool things for him. I went back to the hotel to drop off my stuff and then decided to go be a true tourist and go up the CN tower, which I did not know (but do now) is the tallest building in the world, and which has the highest observation deck! I spent a few hours there and had a great time - it was really neat. Especially the glass floor. It was so thrilling to stand on it and look down, 1100 feet below!





After that I was hungry so I went back to the hotel and ate at their restaurant which, in retrospect, was not the best choice. It was overpriced and I was in an area with a ton of places to eat! Plus eating alone in the hotel restaurant felt awkward for some reason. Oh well.

I was exhausted so I went to bed early to prepare for the con the next day!

FRIDAY

I got up early and met up with Raina, Dave and Christine in the lobby where some con volunteers shuttled us to the convention center. Inside, we were escorted by Peter to our tables. It was kind of neat to see a whole wall of tables all reserved for female creators! I was sitting between Christine and Nicola Scott, who is an amazing artist.

Christine Norrie


My table


Nicola Scott


I had a productive day, and had a lot of sketch commissions which was nice. I was surprised at how laid back the con was, overall. It didn't have that uncomfortably hot, desperate buzz and shuffling and bustling that most conventions do. There was ample room for everyone to walk around and even the most popular guests didn't have too much chaos, which was great for the fans. However, Nicola undercharged for her lovely inked, copic-shaded sketches and her list was 5 pages long before the end of Friday and she had to cut it off! I felt kind of guilty charging more for my pencil sketches, because she's so much more talented, but I still did ok. ^_~

After the con, I went with Dave, Raina, Christine and Tara McPherson to Club Lucky where there was a Women of Comics party going on.



We were originally planning to sneak out to go eat somewhere but we ended up socializing and snacking on the appetizers there, and the time just flew by! I ran into Svetlana - and it was nice seeing her again. I also met Eric Kim and Christopher Butcher - both really nice guys. Before I knew it, it was midnight. There was another party going on somewhere, but I decided not to go, so I walked back to the hotel with Dave and Raina.


SATURDAY

I had breakfast with Dave and Raina and had a good time chatting with them and learning more about them. The "shuttle" to the con was pretty packed with other guests, so we ended up taking a cab to the convention center, which is actually not that far. I had a good day doing more sketches and I even got a chance to get up and walk around to see what else was on the floor. I like how this convention truly has a focus on comics. There were a couple media related booths, and one or two anime booths, but that was it. It was all about comics and the Artists Alley was just about as big as the Dealer area which was nice change from other cons where the artists are literally shunted into a corner. I also met Danielle Corsetto and Cecil Castellucci which was neat! Apparently there was a huge thunderstorm going on during the con, but inside we didn't hear anything other than an occasional distant rumble. By the time the show ended, it was sunny outside again! I took the rest of the night pretty easy. I got a smoothie from a great Canadian coffee chain called Second Cup (better than Starbucks!) and sushi take-out from a little place down the street (omg it was sooo good), and I hung out in my hotel and read some new graphic novels I had acquired, the P.L.A.I.N Janes and Love as a Foreign Language!

SUNDAY

I had a rough start to my day. I knew that the "shuttles" to the convention center tended to fill up quickly because there were so many guests staying at the hotel, so I decided to get down to the lobby extra early to wait. When I first got down there, there was only 2 other guys there. But within 20 minutes, several more had come down. They all knew each other and had sort of formed a group, so when the first shuttle arrived, they all jumped up and filled it up quickly. Well, fine. It was still early and I figured I'd just take the next one. At this point, it was only me and 2 other guys again. So, when the next shuttle arrived about 20 minutes later, I jumped up right away because I didn't want to miss it. The 2 other guys (who shall remain nameless) had since been joined by two more of their posse. So we all walk out to the vehicle, and start loading our bags in the trunk. At which point, one of these guys - who wasn't even there until about 10 minutes prior tells me "Looks like there's only room for 4 in this one." And, including the driver, there were 5 of us. And I was just so stunned at his arrogance - because I had been waiting since 8:45 for the shuttle and it was now almost 9:30. And I said "I've been waiting since 9." And he just said "Sorry. There'll be another one." (Note, this was not the guy driving the shuttle, but the creator who had just shown up about 10 minutes ago.) I was so furious. The way they basically kicked me out even though I had been waiting there longer than them! I wish I was as good at standing up to people in real life as I am in my head. I just grabbed my bag and stormed off saying "Fine! I'll just take a cab!" barely realizing that I passed Terry Moore and his wife who, being respectable people, were waiting for the next shuttle as they had just arrived moments before. If I wasn't so mad I would have used this as an opportunity to say hi to them, but I was really upset. I mean, it's not so much the fact that I missed the shuttle again. It's not like I was in a huge rush or anything. It was the way I was just brushed aside like that. I know I'm not a big-shot artist and I'm fairly new to the game, but they looked at me like I had no business being there. I know they were all buddy-buddy, but whatever happened to just good old fashioned respect? You wouldn't think one of them would say "No, she was waiting here first. You guys go ahead, I'll take the next one." Of course not. These men just fuel the stereotype that "comic book guys" have a severe lack of social grace. 9_9

So I took a cab to the convention and cheered up a bit after I got set up and started taking commissions again. And my day was especially brightened by meeting a couple young girls who were fans of my work. Nothing makes me happier than when I see girls come to conventions with their dads, and of course, it especially makes me happy when they're fans of Sabrina and I can tell them a couple "secrets" about upcoming issues. ^_^

Overall, it was a bit of a slow day, but Sundays usually are. I think it's a shame that more people from the States don't cross the border to attend this con. It really is a great little show and it's not that far from New York and it's surroundings. I know I've been guilty of not thinking outside the border. I usually just assume in the back of my mind that Canada is sort of "far away" because it's another country. But Toronto is much closer than some of the other cons I've attended! Anyway, the day went by quickly, and I had a nice panel about kids' comics with a great group of people: Mike Cho, J. Torres, Joan Hilty, Michèle Laframboise, Dan Davis, and Brian McLachlan, and moderated by Janet Hetherington. Later, I walked around some more and got to meet Faith Erin Hicks, who seems really cool.

Overall, my day was good and I had a successful time with my commissions which is always a nice feeling! I love it when people ask me to draw different characters - it gives me a new challenge. Two guys even asked me to draw them in a manga-style face off! That was a first for me! I always get really nervous when I draw real people, but I think they were happy with the end result...

And so the con came to an end and I got a couple photos with my fellow Women in Comics:

Svetlana, Christine, and me!


Tara and me (she's so nice!)


After the con I went to a place called Victory with Eric Kim and Rosemary Mosco who, like every other Canadian I've met is really sweet. There we met up with Nadine Lessio, Ryan North, and Chris Hastings, some of the cool guys who work at the Beguiling and Mike Drake who works at a store in Halifax called Strange Adventures.. Phew!

We had a good time sharing crazy comic stories, talking about stalkers, the glue guy, and offensive webcomic topics!

Eric outside of Honest Eds!


Afterward, we met up at Second City for its 24 hours of improv benefit. It was pretty cool. Colin Mochrie was there and we watched him improvise in some good skits.



Later I had a good time hanging out and chatting with Eric, Nadine and Mike until late. At one point they pointed out a Canadian TV personality named George Stroumboulopoulos who came into the room and whom, admittedly, I've never heard of. But they convinced me to go and ask him for a photo and tell him I was a big fan from NY! ^_^



I wish I could have stayed out later, but alas it was time to return to my hotel because I had an early flight the next morning which turned out to be just as pleasant and short as the one going... but I LOST MY IPOD ON THE PLANE!!! ARRRRGGGGH. I'm sooooo bummed! It was brand new! How could I be so careless?? ?I carefully guarded it all weekend, because it's new and it was my baby. I even got a lovely protective sticker for it at Magic Pony. I just don't know how I managed to leave it on the plane... Well, I called the airline lost and found and filed a report. All I can do now is hope that whoever finds it is a nice person who turns it in instead of pocketing it. T_T Will's gonna be so mad at me. He gave it to me as a gift. *headdesk*.

Well even that wasn't enough to wreck what was such a great weekend and I would love to thank everyone who showed me a good time - from the convention organizers, to the people I hung out with! I think Canada rocks!