Back To Normal

And now things settle down once more.

The In Laws came over one last time in the morning to say goodbye before hopping in the car and driving back to Maine. It’s been a pretty interesting last few days. I get the distinct impression that they are a little homesick for urban life in a city with more than a million people. Then again, being only the second of two Asian families in an American town with a population of 3000 (and falling) will do that to ya’.

The Wife and I have also had the opportunity to not just revisit our favorite haunts but see some new ones. For example on Saturday, at the request of our friend Sonny Liew in Singapore, we tracked down a book he’d been looking for that he located in a Toronto bookshop dealing in rare books. If it hadn’t been for his request, we never would have tracked down this neat little place (with its ultra friendly black cat) on our own, and it’s now definitely the kind of shop that bears repeat visits. On the way (because we walked there from Eaton Centre) we also found an army surplus store that sold everything from current standard issue forest and winter gear for the Canadian army to pressurized pilot helmets worn by MiG pilots of the former U.S.S.R. complete with neat-o breathing masks. The Wife ended up getting a cap for herself with a red star on it and now looks like the People’s Artist. The evening was spent with the Wife’s aunt for a bit of a family reunion, since the Aunt hadn’t met up with the In Laws in something like 25 years, so there was merry making and wine and conversation all around. Mostly I stood around and talked and occasionally smoked while everyone else did that family thing. The food was prepared Singapore style, meaning that I didn’t eat most of it (too spicy) and had a glass of milk on hand for the inevitable accidental consumption of something too hot for me to handle. Which brings us to today.

Today’s Big News

Today, after the In Laws left was our excuse to take the street car down to a part of the city we hadn’t yet seen, Exhibition Place. I’d viewed parts of it from a distance, namely the classical statues and the big turbine, which I didn’t know were part of the grounds. I hadn’t realized however, that this was actually the site of the biggest exhibition floor in the country, or that a lot of major national tradeshows and other events happened here.

The reason we came down was because there was yet another comic book convention running. I had no idea when we arrived that Toronto was such a comic town, but it seems like we’ve inadvertently picked ou the perfect city in Canada for us to hang out in with our particular interests. Although we missed the start of the Paradise Comic-Con, which was yesterday, we made the effort to stop by today. Sunday, however had a special going, in that anyone that showed up in costume would be allowed free admission. So the total body count–at least as from what I could see–was:

1 Next Generation era Starfleet Officer, engineering and operations division.
1 Darth Vader, Episode IV era
1 Snowtrooper
1 Scout Trooper
1 Imperial Crimson Guard (the guys that stood by the elevators guarding the Emperor in Return of the Jedi)
1 Batman
1 Superman
1 Spiderman (child)
1 Robin (child)
1 Baroness (the female villain from G.I. Joe)
1 Power Girl
1 Ms. Marvel (
2 Hogwarts Students, 1 Slytherin, 1 Gryffindor

That aside, the real reason we came down was because the Con was having a special section devoted to Women Of Comics. A lot of female artists were on hand, many of whom I recognized (at least in name), and though we missed her, big names like Gail Simone were also on hand. Of particular interest to the Wife was the fact that DC had some editors sent down. One of them was Shelley Bond, the editor for a new line of books aimed at female readers called MINX. Our friend Sonny Liew is one of the artist that is helping to launch this line with his book, written by Mike Carey, called The Regifters.

Anyway, the editor was in Toronto mostly to talk about and promote the MINX launch, and partly to scout out talent. She was dispensing advice to artist who lined up at her table and showed off samples of their work. This was one of those things the Wife initially thought was a gigantic waste of time because a) she sucks, b) people never get a break this way and c) she sucks hard. I more or less whined and kicked up a fuss saying that this was something she should do anyway, under the pretext that it would be a good experience for her and that she could at least say she’d done it. Miraculously, she went along with this, and so we showed up and took our place in line, which turned out to be very small, with only three people ahead of us.

We were the only “pair” there as the rest were either hopeful amateurs, or slightly more established artists who had web comics and a space in “the artist’s alley” (the area behind all the sales tables where individual artist can sell their work or take original commissions) and were angling for more work. Unsurprisingly, most of the people who were in line were male. Surprisingly, a lot of the work seemed to be the usual superhero stuff. That gave me pause for thought, since Shelley Bond was clearly the editor for a female readership line that was more focused on emotion and characterization than dynamic battle poses in tights, but hey, there ya’ go…

When the Wife’s turn came, they refused to let me stand and insisted on pulling out a chair from their table and letting me sit down. The Editor introduced herself, did all the usual handshaking and the Wife showed off her stuff. Obviously she had a few things going for her a) she’s talented, regardless of her constant denial, b) she’s a professional illustrator who’s already had work appear in Maxim and FHM, which she was able to show, and c) she even had a portfolio book on her which she uses as a promotional piece for
Art Directors in advertising agencies. In other words, she was already established as a professional with a polished body of work. There was that irrational surge of spousal pride that came from seeing the Editor praise her work for avoiding things she’d already gently criticized in others, such as a nice variety of panel numbers and sizes, good use of angles or interesting choice of two-shots. The Wife explained a little about herself and what she was working on, and, in the interests of adding in a little extra insurance, I named dropped.

Since Sonny Liew was one of the artists who had contributed to MINX’s launch, I not-so-discreetly mentioned that not only did we know him, we lived across the street from him for a few years and were contributing to his anthology. It turns out that not only was the Editor totally gushing with praise for Sonny, she was aware of the Liquid City anthology was pretty enthusiastic about its development. The Wife then went on to mention an aborted attempt to work with Serena Valentino (who does Gloom Cookie for Slave Labor Graphics) and these little associations seemed to helpfully cement her credibility with Shelley Bond.

At the end of the talk (which lasted far longer than the others and we actually put an end to it ourselves out of guilt) the Wife got the e-mail and snail mail address of the Editor with a request to see more work, any ideas for stories, as well as a question of whether she’d be willing to work with any writers besides me. Her response was, yes, she was willing, but her preference was still to work with me if at all possible.

This, of course, is insanely cool.

So now it turns out that an idea that we’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks is incredibly well timed. The subject matter seems perfect for MINX and so I guess the next step is to write it out in proper submission format and then send it off to the DC offices in New York to see how it goes from there.

I have no idea why 2007 is turning out to be the Year Of The Comic for us, but man, I am SO not complaining.

After that we spent a leisurely afternoon wandering around on the Harbourfront, which is the downtown section of Toronto that overlooks Lake Ontario. I cannot believe how different it is from the closest Singapore equivalent, Boat Quay. Boat Quay is a riverside boulevard of sorts filled with restaurants and bars designed to cater to the flood of executives that come in from the nearby Central Business District. Harbourfront, on the other hand, seems more geared towards families and couples and people genuinely interested in having fun, rather than drinking to forget their loathsome occupation, or hungry, pretty young things looking for that potential golden ticket that means citizenship to another country. Where Boat Quay is claustrophobic and full of ambition, Harbourfront is spacious and relaxed. Where Boat Quay is about elitism and arrogance, Harbourfront is about being yourself and just having a good time.

Have I mentioned recently how incredibly happy I am to be back home? Well I am.