The Toronto Comic Con was an annual

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

convention held in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It started in 2003 and was sold in 2009 to

Wizard Entertainment Wizard Entertainment Inc., formerly known as Wizard World, was a producer of multi-genre fan conventions across North America. The company that became Wizard Entertainment began in 1991 as Wizard Press, the publisher of the monthly magazine '' ...

owner

Gareb Shamus Gareb Seth Shamus ( ; born December 23, 1968) is an American publisher. He is the founder, former chairman and CEO of Wizard Entertainment. He is also a co-founder and CEO of ACE Comic Con. Shamus published ''Wizard: The Comics Magazine''; ''In ...

. It was subsequently relaunched as a Wizard event in 2010. The event has been on hiatus since spring 2012. From 2003 to 2007 the subtitle for the event was "A Celebration of

Comic Books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

Graphic Novels A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and ...

Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

and

Sequential Art In comics studies, sequential art is a term proposed by comics artist Will Eisner Will Eisner, '' Comics and Sequential Art'', Poorhouse Press, 1990 (1st ed.: 1985), p. 5. to describe art forms that use images deployed in a specific order for the ...

". During those years the event was scheduled to run over three days (Friday through Sunday). In 2008 the convention was a two-day event (Saturday and Sunday).

Events

Features have included: exhibitor room for commercial selling of related goods, a corporate area for companies to promote their projects, an Artist Alley area for comic book creators, a guest area for invited guests of the convention, panel room for discussions on various aspects of

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

and creators, workshops and children's programming. In previous years the convention was the home to additional special events programming such as Women of Comics Symposium and the

Joe Shuster Awards The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards (or Joe Shuster Awards) are given out annually for outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and comics retailers and publishers by Canadians. The awards, ...

History

Staff from Paradise Comics, a Toronto

store, put on one-day comic book conventions in Toronto starting in the early 1990s. In November 2003, they held their first three-day event. In 2004, it was held in mid-June. In 2005 and 2006, it was held in late April. In 2007, it was held in June, and in 2008, it was held in mid-July (July 12–13, 2008). On occasion, Paradise has also held one-day shows at the Hilton and Holiday Inn on King (now the Toronto Hyatt Regency). From 2003 to 2007, the convention was held at the National Trade Centre (now called the

Direct Energy Centre Enercare Centre, formerly known as the Direct Energy Centre and originally the National Trade Centre, is an exhibition complex located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is used by the Canadian National Exhibition and the Royal ...

, located at

Exhibition Place Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, ...

(home of the historic

Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day (Canada), ...

). Hall size varied at that location, and the convention's largest hall rental was Hall C in 2006–7, which is . In July 2007, in a controversial move, Paradise Conventions co-owner and organizer Kevin Boyd resigned from/abandoned the convention to work for Hobbystar Marketing as the Canadian guest and programming coordinator for

Fan Expo Canada Fan Expo Canada is an annual speculative fiction fan convention held in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded as the Canadian National Comic Book Expo in 1995Toronto ComiCON events. Boyd claimed at the time that "The convention business was not successful so I decided it was time to end it. I worked on it for five years and did not receive any money for time spent on the big convention." In 2008 it moved to the Holiday Inn on King, a smaller venue (21,000 square feet) that is closer to downtown Toronto. In 2009, it was announced that the show would be on hiatus in 2009 due to scheduling concerns. On June 24, 2009, via press release, Gareb Shamus, owner of Wizard Entertainment, announced that he had purchased the event from Paradise owner Peter Dixon, who would remain involved in the show in some form, in a manner similar to Wizard's purchase of the

Big Apple Comic Con Now in its 28th year, the Big Apple Comic Con is the longest-running comic book/speculative fiction/pop culture convention in New York City. It was started by retailer Michael "Mike Carbo" Carbonaro in March 1996 in comics, 1996 in the basement ...

. The former comic book-only show will be retooled as a multi-genre event similar to other Wizard events in Philadelphia,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and New York, and relaunched in 2010. The convention seems to be officially on hiatus, as there have been no new events since 2012. In June 2014 Paradise launched a new semi-monthly one day show called the "Toronto Comics Show" and held them in a room at the Leaside Arena. Those are also currently on hiatus since Fall 2014.

Dates and locations

*2003: March 23 — Toronto Hilton Hotel *2003: November 7–9 — Queen Elizabeth Building, National Trade Centre *2004: June 18–20 — Queen Elizabeth Building, National Trade Centre *2005: April 29–30, May 1 — Hall F, National Trade Centre *2006: April 28–30 — Hall C, National Trade Centre *2007: June 8–10 — Hall C, Direct Energy CentreMacDonald, Heidi
"This Weekend: Big Fun In Toronto!"
''The Beat'' (June 08, 2007). *2008: July 12–13 — 2nd Floor, Holiday Inn on King (Last Paradise event) *2010: March 26–28 — Hall A, Direct Energy Centre (First Wizard event) *2011: March 18–20 — Hall D, Direct Energy Centre *2012: April 14–15 — Metro Toronto Convention Center, North Building

Guests of Honour

*2003

Jim Starlin James P. Starlin (born October 9, 1949) is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, an ...

and

Michael William Kaluta Michael William Kaluta, sometimes credited as Mike Kaluta or Michael Wm. Kaluta (born August 25, 1947), is an American comics artist and writer best known for his acclaimed 1970s adaptation of the pulp magazine hero ''The Shadow'' with writer Den ...

*2004

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...

and

Dave Sim Dave Sim (born 17 May 1956) is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, known for his comic book ''Cerebus the Aardvark, Cerebus'', his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators' rights, and his controversial political an ...

*2005

Brian Michael Bendis Brian Michael Bendis (; born August 18, 1967) is an Americans, American comic book writer and artist. Starting with crime fiction, crime and hardboiled, noir comics, Bendis eventually moved to mainstream superhero fiction, superhero work. While a ...

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ...

and Jerry Robinson *2006

George Pérez George Pérez (; June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' and ''The Avengers (c ...

and David Lloyd *2007 Michael Golden, Terry Moore,

Marv Wolfman Marvin Arthur Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's ''The Tomb of Dracula'', for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade (character), Blade, and DC Comi ...

and

Matt Wagner Matt Wagner (born October 9, 1961) is an American comics artist and writer who is best known as the creator of the series ''Mage (comics), Mage'' and ''Grendel (comics), Grendel''. Early life, family and education Matt Wagner's childhood was spe ...

*2008

Herb Trimpe Herbert William Trimpe (; May 26, 1939 – April 13, 2015) was an American comics artist and occasional writer, best known as the seminal 1970s artist on '' The Incredible Hulk'' and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wol ...

, Joseph Michael Linsner,

Greg Land Greg Land (born 1956) is an American Comic book creator, comic book artist, best known for his work on books such as ''Uncanny X-Men'', ''Birds of Prey (comics), Birds of Prey'', and ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four''. Career Greg La ...

References

External links

Official web site
* {{Canadian comics Comics conventions in Canada