Mississauga Comic Expo has finally been made reality. I heard rumblings about this notion two years ago. I have no clue the amount of work it takes to organize an event of this caliber although I don’t think it is less than a week and a few phone calls.
MCX had its inauguration at the Mississauga Central Library, the biggest branch in the city. The building is a landmark in itself but surrounded by other distinct ones such as City Hall and Celebration Square with mega-mall Square One a few feet away.
Aaron Ong a.k.a. Maddsketch is the man behind the scenes concretizing the dream. He himself was one of the main attractions providing a workshop for those eager to break into the business.
The other major draw was Jason Loo, a true rising star with his indie book PITIFUL HUMAN-LIZARD having been signed to Chapter House. Not only that, but PHL is now in the Diamond Distributors catalogue and has several U.S. stores scooping up copies.
Homegrown talent is abundant!!! Almost all the other creators are GTA (Greater Toronto Area) residents hailing from Brampton, Mississauga, Oakville, or perhaps the big T.O. Persistence pays off!! No one has to say that to all the fine talent under the same roof.
Spent Pencils, an artist assemblage of approximately thirty individuals. They were divided at various GTA comic stores due to the fact that it was also Batman Day. The ones here were Dave Edwards,
and Hugh Rockwood.
Heroes of the World, whom I had the extreme joy and delight in interviewing, had one half of the dazzling duo representing: Joe Osei Bonsu. His cohort was in Woodbridge.
A newer but established and rapidly successful collective is From a Hat with four of the five artists in attendance: Jahnoy Lindsay, Paris Alleyne, Te’Shawn Dwyer, and Matt Simas.
Stephany Lein illustrated two stories for T.O. Comix’s TORONTO COMICS anthologies but she was there as a solo act.
Greg Parkin has been trying his hand at the drawing game for the past few months. He is also one of the organizers for Unplugged Expo.
Another freelancer was Allen Ribo. It’s always a bit intimidating to do something on your own but extremely gratifying when the end result is successful.
Rodolfo Alejandro was in attendance on behalf of BEAT RUSH, a bi-monthly blend of comics and geek culture magazine. Aaron Ong is also part of this contribution.
No ‘nerdy’ event (relax, I’m one too!) can be classified as such unless there are cosplayers. Koizumi Otaku was extremely encouraging for photos and SinestRob Cosplay pulled off his wicked-cool Reverse Flash costume.
Sadly, I came very late. 4 p.m. to be exact. I had only one hour to chat to everyone, snap some pics, and take off. I was “conflicted” with attending a Batman Day event. As a result, I didn’t get to see the workshops nor did I catch Ontario Ghostbusters nor The Sequentials, another pool of pencillers. There’s always next year 😉 The best part of it all is that I’m a Mississauga resident who lives only five minutes away 😀
Oh! Forgot to mention the backers!! Studio DYV created and hosted the venue. Beat Rush, Captain Zinc, and Gotham Central Comics & Collectibles were the sponsors. Here’s to bigger, better, and brighter for the second one!
