Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon

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Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon
Status Active
Genre Comic books
Venue Holiday Inn on King
Location Toronto, Ontario
Country Flag of Canada Canada
First held 2003
Organizer Paradise Comics
Filing status For profit
Official website

The Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon is an annual comic book convention held in Toronto, Canada.

Note: Comicon is a slang way of saying comic book convention.

From 2003-2007 the subtitle for the event wa "A Celebration of Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Manga and Sequential Art". During those years the event was scheduled to run over 3 days (Friday through Sunday). However in 2008 the convention will be a two-day event (Saturday and Sunday).

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 rooms for discussions on various aspects of Sequential Art and its creators, and a workshop room for instruction in related fields.

The event is run by Paradise Comics a Toronto comic book store. Staff from Paradise Comics have been putting on one-day comic book conventions in Toronto since the early 1990s. In November 2003 they held their first 3 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 has been announced that the convention will move to mid-July (July 12-13, 2008).

On occasion Paradise also holds one-day shows at the Holiday Inn on King.

From 2003-2007 the Convention was held at the National Trade Centre (now called the Direct Energy Centre, located at Exhibition Place (home of the historic Canadian National Exhibition). Hall size varied at that location, and the convention's largest hall rental was Hall C in 2006-7, which is 58,000 square feet.

In 2008 it will be held at the Holiday Inn on King, a significantly smaller venue. The maximum floor space at the HIOK is just less than 20,000 square feet (not including any additional smaller rooms for programming. Reference: [1].

The Annual Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators (established in 2005) were held in conjunction with this event in 2005, 2006 and 2007. They will not be held at the Paradise Comicon in 2008, but will be holding the awards at a different venue.

In 2006 & 2007 a sub-event entitled the Women of Comics was held at the event, sponsored by online comics retailer All New Comics.

Also in 2006 & 2007, unique children's programming was held under the banner of Literacy Beyond! (2006) and Comics for Kids (2007). Note: In 2007, Comics for Kids was also sponsored by All New Comics. In 2008, the children's programming returns, entitled Literacy and Beyond: Comics for Kids

Contents

[edit] Criticisms and Controversy

Paradise Comics promotes their store and in-store events (signings, sales) along with their convention announcements.

The show appears to be shrinking, going from a 3-day to a 2-day event and moving from a convention centre to a hotel. In 2008 the venue size has shrunk to 1/3 of what it was the year before.

There is some question over who, if anyone, owns the name Toronto Comicon.

The original co-promoter of this event quit the show in 2007 and went to work for a competitor. Reference: [[2]]

[edit] 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 Centre
  • 2008: July 12-13 - 2nd Floor, Holiday Inn on King

[edit] Guests of Honour

[edit] External links

  • Official Site:[3]
  • Paradise Comics Site: [4]