Star Trek's George Takei, Ed the Sock, Mark Nguyen and Liana K ham it up at last year's Calgary Comic Expo

DETAILS

Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo
BMO Centre
Saturday, April 25 - Sunday, April 26

More in: Special Events

Like many a nerdy Calgarian, my earliest exposure to the world of comic book conventions took place in the back rooms of the Highlander Inn, in the days before it became a Home Depot. These were mildly unsavoury affairs, consisting of folding banquet tables piled high with sundry collectibles and various cultural detritus. We, the convened, would make our rounds slowly, pausing to sift through stacks of VG comics and mint condition WWF action figures.

Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo head honcho Kandrix Foong laughs at the memory of these primitive gatherings. “We call that the flea market style of show,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s usually in a hotel, and it’s just a bunch of tables, there’s no real presentation to it… people slap their boxes on top of the tables and away they go. It’s just a gigantic garage sale.”

Foong had a chance to see a lot of comic conventions while he toured Canada and the United States, promoting his self-published comic book series, A Monk’s Tale. He was especially impressed with Seattle’s Emerald City ComiCon, Toronto’s Fan Expo, and San Diego’s Comic-Con, which he describes as the event. The more he saw of these big-time shows, the more convinced he became that Calgary deserved better.

“I really was more interested in putting together an event that’s an experience for everybody that’s going to it,” he explains. “I started talking with a bunch of the guys that we had met on the convention circuit, and pitched them the idea of, ‘Come to Calgary, it’d be really cool, you’d be helping out….’ It ballooned from there.”

The city’s response has been overwhelmingly positive. During the first year, there was just over 3,400 people. The second year brought in 6,000 people, and at the first two-day event last year they reached 8,000 people. “This year, we’re projecting 10,000-plus to come through the doors,” says Foong.

The secret to the Comic & Entertainment Expo’s success is that it casts a much wider net than the old conventions, bringing more bodies through the door and giving high-profile guests more reason to visit Calgary. It’s a pop culture convention with a dizzying roster of guests. If there’s not something for everyone, it’s not for lack of trying.

A glance at the celebrity guest list gives a good idea of the organizer’s approach: Sean Astin, star of Goonies, Rudy and Lord of the Rings; Ray Park, who played Darth Maul in Star Wars and Toad in the X-Men flicks; Matthew Lewis, who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies; Tahmoh Penikett, better known as Captain Karl "Helo" Agathon from Battlestar Galactica; and Larry Thomas, recognizable to the world as Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi. That lineup is kryptonite to the nerd community.

Beyond the marquee names, there are a lot of guests whose names don’t resonate with the general public, but they cast long shadows over the pop culture landscape: Sergio Aragones, whose work has appeared in Mad Magazine since the early 1960s; Mark Walton, a Disney storyboard artist and the voice of Rhino the hamster in the movie Bolt; and Steve Downes, the voice of the Master Chief in Xbox’s popular Halo series. From anime to animation, science fiction to gaming, the Calgary Expo guest list is expansive and impressive.

Despite the big-tent approach, the event remains a great way for local comic talent to get some much needed exposure. Calgary artist Riley Rossmo, whose series Proof is about a Sasquatch who works for a secret government organization, knows that he’s not as much of a draw as some of the bigger names. “I’m pretty small fish,” he admits. “Some of the guys like Bruce Timm who did the Batman animated series, thousands of people are going to come see him and get sketches and stuff.”

If only a handful of these thousands walk into Rossmo’s booth, he’s cool with that. It’s an opportunity to expose his work to a wider cross-section of the public. “It brings you a chance to talk to people that wouldn’t normally get it,” he says. “The non-comic educated layman might come by and say, I really like Sasquatch, and all of a sudden, you’ve got a new fan.”