Don's Sketchbook: Toronto 2003 by Don MacPherson Some readers may have noticed my reviews were a bit scant for the week of Nov.12. Well, that's because I took a well deserved week off, and I headed for Toronto. My best friend and his wife live in the big T.O., and I wanted to visit them, as well as my brother and sister-in-law (as well as their brand new house) in a nearby smaller city. The trip also coincided with the first annual Toronto Comicon. I didn't make it to the con the first night -- Nov.7 -- because I, well, lost consciousness (I often can't sleep before I travel, so two days without rest caught up to me). Saturday, I hit the con. Attendance was somewhat sparse, and after hearing about a similar phenomenom at Las Vegas the weekend before, I figure November cons -- Mid-Ohio aside -- must not be all that popular. Still, it provided fans with plenty of face time with the talent, and the assembled names were impressive. There was the usual Toronto contingent of artists as well as talent from other parts of the country. The organizers brought up an impressive array of American talent as well, including Marshall Rogers, Howard Chaykin, Don Rosa and more. I moderated my first con panel ever -- a pleasant experience, thanks to Ian Boothby, Pia Guerra and Kalman Androsofsky. What I found most refreshing about the Toronto Comicon, though, was that it was a comic convention. The anime/movie/sci-fi stuff wasn't really a factor. (For more about the Toronto Comics, click HERE.) One of my favorite parts of any con is getting sketches from the diverse array of artists in attendance. My sketchbook theme -- as longtime readers of the site may remember -- is "Ouch, that's gotta hurt." First to contribute at the Toronto con was Scott Chantler, artist on the wonderful Oni graphic novel Days Like This. I'm especially pleased to have this sketch -- depicting a flashback to the artist's service-industry days -- since he wasn't at the con on Sunday, when I had planned to pick up a page of his original art. Y: The Last Man penciller Pia Guerra was at Comic-Con International San Diego this year, and though I caught a glimpse of her, I never got a chance to chat. Well, there was plenty of opportunity in Toronto, and I not only chatted with her, but picked up an original Y page and this nifty sketch, harkening back to the first issue and maintaining my theme. Prison Funnies is a thoroughly twisted, self-published humor comic that not nearly enough people read. It comes from the creative mind and hand of Chip Zdarsky, a member of the Royal Academy of Illustration and Design, a Toronto-based studio that I suspect the industry will hear a lot from in 2004. Among Zdarsky's studio mates is one-time Catwoman artist Cameron Stewart, who's teaming with Grant Morrison for his next project from Vertigo. I was also lucky enough to pick up a Stewart Catwoman page at a charity auction for a sinfully great price. But enough about Stewart. Zdarsky's Prison Funnies boasts the same kind of humor as one might find in a Matt Fraction comic... or in Formerly Known as the Justice League, had it been envisioned by Charles Manson. This "ouch" sketch features skinless Prison Funnies character Johnny Arson, devastated by a theatre review in one of Canada's national newspapers. Tony Harris amazed me and thousands of other readers with his dark deco style on James Robinson's Starman in the mid 1990s. Lately, he's changed his style, teaming with studio mate Tom Feister to create some stunning computer-enhanced cover artwork for Marvel and DC. He had plenty of folks lining up to get a sketch, and he was kind enough to squeeze me in to deliver this twisted vision. I don't know if it's a character we can expect to see in a future project, or if Harris just has this sort of demented monstrosity lurking in the confines of his skull. Either way, color me a happy con-goer. Jimmy Palmiotti may have earned initial recognition in the comics industry as an inker (especially when embellishing Joe Quesada's linework), but in recent years, he's proven there's a lot more to his creative abilities than just the inks. He gave me a preview of the first issue of his upcoming DC Universe title, Monolith, co-written with Justin Gray and illustrated by Phil Winslade. Trust me, this one brings some fascinating cultural elements to the world of super-heroes. It really stands out as different, more of a cross between horror and the super-hero genre than just the latter on its own. Though he wasn't officially onthe guest list, Toronto-based artist Darwyn Cooke popped by the con to chat with some industry friends on Sunday, Nov.9. I was also lucky enough to bump into him. He'd seen Randy at the Vegas con the week before, and he asked for my sketchbook, having provided my website partner with a sketch of his own just seven days before. This Hulk/Spidey sketch is a wonderful addition to the "ouch" book. When I got the sketchbook back from him, though, I was surprised to find not one, but TWO Cooke sketches. Darwyn said he wasn't wild about the first one -- I have to disagree... I love it -- so he provided me with a straightforward, non-theme sketch of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Of course, Cooke is tackling the character and DC's other Silver Age icons in his upcoming limited series, New Frontier, which has all the markings of being a new Kingdom Come-like, wondrous epic. Email Don MacPherson with your comments about this review.