Forest City Comicon Celebrates a Decade of Nerdiness
By Dan Brown Where will you be this Sunday? I’ll be at London’s Centennial Hall among the many fans who have helped make Forest City Comicon the long-running local success that it is. Such a smash, in fact, that June 16 marks 10 years since the first edition of FCC was held. In that time, it has seen visits by a hobbit, an X-Man, a Ninja Turtle, a vampire, and both Pinky and the Brain. And I’m just talking about the celebrity guests! The real treat for me is savouring the vibe that’s created when the members of different fandoms come together to share the love they feel for a particular comic, movie, TV show, anime or video game. You might think fitting all those many pop-culture enthusiasts into one place would set off sparks, but it’s the opposite. The atmosphere is peaceful and positive. I really dig it. “What I love about comicons is these are people who are passionate about something,” says Ian Tyson, a host and member of the FCC organizing committee. “That passion makes for a good audience member” at panels, adds Tyson, who – as part of the Just Us League, along with Jeremy Bushell and Brad Bushell – has led panels in the past on topics like debating the merits of Superman movies versus Batman films. Tyson says the assembled fandoms have joined to make a community that has lasted a decade and counting. A highlight for Tyson came in 2017 when he made second breakfast live on stage during a question-and-answer session with Billy Boyd, the actor who played the heroic halfling Pippin in the Lord of the Rings movies. “Our goal starting out was to be an alternative to (Toronto’s) Fan Expo, not to replicate it,” explains organizer Carol Vandenberg. “We hoped to define a London version by focusing on local and more accessible talent.” As far as I can see, mission accomplished. This year features a guest lineup that includes a strong Star Trek presence. Both Sara Mitich and Patrick Kwok-Choon have appeared on the just-concluded Discovery while T.J. Storm is known for his motion-capture performances in such movies as Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Deadpool. “Our goal is to make the biggest one-day show we can, bursting with activities, local talent, emerging celebrities and not-forgotten fan favourites,” Vandenberg says. The cosplay contest at FCC is legendary, and there will also be face-painting, panels, two floors of vendors, a Harry Potter photo booth, food trucks, and a Mario Kart competition. Although it’s taken for granted now, no one knew before 2014 if a fan convention of this size would work in London. Fellow organizer Gord Mood says the show mostly draws fans from its namesake community, but also from towns as far as two hours away. “When I think about the first time I did it, it doesn’t feel that long ago,” Mood reflects. “We know what to do (now), but it’s still a lot of work.” And where a big-city show such as Fan Expo can afford to bring in 20 or 30 celebrity guests, Mood and his crew have to be more strategic about their resources. “I think cons have to be diverse enough to appeal to a large fan base rather than a particular type (of fan),” he says. “Early success led us to try out larger venues and weekend-long shows, but we found that really did not work out for us,” Vandenberg says. “COVID allowed us to go back to basics and perfect our original model.” I’ll see you there! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group. P.S. Forest City Comicon tickets are still available
Why Didn’t Comics Version of Indiana Jones Set The World On Fire?
By Dan Brown All readers want from comics, I’ve said before, is compelling characters in interesting situations. Well, Indiana Jones – featured in the Dial of Destiny, which is in theatres now – is certainly a compelling character as played by Harrison Ford. And the makers of the Indy films have certainly been able to place him in some interesting (and deadly) situations. So how come the daring archeologist has never been able to sustain a comic title for long? I’m not saying Jones is a total washout as the headliner of a monthly series, but compared to adjacent properties, like Star Wars, he’s only been a blip in the grand sweep of comics history. Inspired by the success of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, It’s true Marvel Comics did publish more than 30 issues of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones starting in 1983. Remember, those were the days when there wasn’t a property Marvel didn’t try to plunder. The gang from the bullpen attempted to cash in on every new fad, trend, craze and sensation that came along. How ridiculous did it get? This was the era when even the rock band KISS ended up in the pages of Marvel Comics. That’s right – for a brief moment, Gene Simmons was a Marvel protagonist, along with Spider-Man, the Hulk, Wolverine and the rest. I’m guessing an Indy comic seemed like a no-brainer. As it turned out, that first series would pale beside the Star Wars monthly, which ran 107 issues from 1977 to 1986 and is credited by some with keeping the House of Ideas afloat during lean economic times. And those Star Wars comics were . . . fine. They weren’t the worst stories in the world, although I would argue Russ Manning was doing far more interesting things in the same universe in the pages of daily newspapers with the Star Wars comic strip. And Marvel certainly invested in the venture, attaching talents like Howard Chaykin, Walt Simonson and John Byrne to bring Jones to life on the page. Yet the Further Adventures of Indiana Jones fizzled even before the original Indy trilogy wrapped up in 1989 with the Last Crusade. Here’s another comparison: Conan, Robert E. Howard’s pulp barbarian character, was also a Marvel Comics property during roughly the same period, and has been in the hands of one publishing house or another for decades since. Who knows how many Conan comic adaptations there have been to date? It’s also true Dark Horse Comics licenced Indiana Jones and his bullwhip in the 1990s for several more adventures. But those stories are only half-remembered now, if at all. So despite his enduring appeal on the big screen, why was Indy a comparative dud in comics form? I don’t have an all-encompassing answer, but the fact is some properties just don’t translate to other media. Some books don’t make good TV shows. Some movies don’t make good comics. Very few plays make for interesting films. (This is where I should also note that the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, the network version of the character, barely lasted two seasons on ABC, so there may be something about the archeologist that just doesn’t work in other media.) Or perhaps it’s because the Indy films are the end product of pop culture, not the beginning. What I mean is, it was newspaper strips and adventure comics, along with silver-screen serials, that moved George Lucas and Steve Spielberg to come up with Indy in the first place. And maybe it just ends there: Dr. Jones was intended to be a creature of the big screen, so he is doomed never to transcend its limits. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for 30 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
