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The 2017 Comic Arts Festival at Camosun College Grows! Recap & Gallery

Comic Arts Festival

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The 2017 Camosun Comic Arts Festival (CCAF) is growing and for most, it has the feel of wanting to become bigger. As one vendor told me, it has everything people expect from such a larger show. As an event to spotlight local talent, everyone is here, including showing the next generation is ready. Gareth Gaudin‘s (of Legends Comics & Books and creator of the Perogy Cat) daughters are ready as father and his children have teamed up. Enid Jupiter and Lyra Gotham, the Monster Sisters, is an original comic which shows them facing off against the dark threats hiding in the fair city of Victoria, BC.

On April 15th, the third floor of the Young Building at the Lansdowne Campus was completely taken over by local talents (to name a few: Paul Chadwick, Nelson Dewey and Janine Johnston) and the graduates of this year’s Comics & Graphic Novels Program. Photos of some members of this class are offered in the gallery as seen below.

Plenty of range can be found, which includes me spotting a few reps from local gaming firms perhaps looking at talent to hire (I saw one person sporting a KANO/APPs shirt) and Codename Entertainment giving out bonus content pass-keys for their latest game Crusaders of the Lost Idols for people walking by.

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[Sidney, BC] Disney’s ‘Moana’ Co-Director, Chris Williams, to Appear at Van Isle Comic Con

Comic Arts Festival By James Robert Shaw
(The Wind up Geek)

Sometimes for a con going big or go home can be dangerous. When your event makes a single guest your draw, going big can be a good thing. As in the case with Van Isle Con, Vancouver Island’s upcoming comic and cosplay convention, having Moana‘s co-director Chris Williams as your guest of honor is a very smart move. Sure, Williams doesn’t have the muscles of Dwayne Johnson (who voiced Maui), and okay, maybe he can’t sing like Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), but what he does have is a lot of talent and experience when it comes to creating films for all ages to enjoy.

William’s earliest credits are as story contributor for Disney on animated feature films such as 1998’s Mulan, The Emporer’s New Groove, and Brother Bear. More than just an ideas man, Williams also performed story artist duties on films Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, Tangled, Frozen (where he voiced Oaken), and the Academy Award winning Zootopia.

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[Victoria, BC] Cherry Bomb Toys to Explode with Party Room Goodness

Reposted from an article written by Ed Sum for TwoHungryBlokes.com. To see the full photoset, please visit the original article.

1069719-01 Cherry Bomb Toys in Victoria, BC is expanding. Not only do they have the National Toy Museum of Canada, on the second floor, which showcases approximately 80 years of love for childhood knickknacks, but soon, they will be opening their basement for people to use on a by appointment basis. The official opening is tentatively set for the end of March.

This area will not be limited to families wishing to celebrate their child’s birthdays (or an adult’s) in a venue that does not have to be their home. B Woodword, manager of the store, explained that not everyone has the space, especially if they live downtown, and cleanup for a whole home can be a chore. This operation’s idea is to offer a safe space so people can have fun in. There’s an arcade area filled with classic gaming consoles (Nintendo and SEGA were spotted) and four separate television screens so anyone can game with. People can bring their own next-gen consoles, but the purpose of this space is to stay retro. A dining room type area (with a few basic kitchen essentials) exists so people can mingle in. Of course, washroom facilities is down the hall.

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Day Two of Tsukino-Con 2017: Panels and a Fist Bump from Takahata 101

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

I must say this almost every year: I swear I need to find lodgings in or around the University of Victoria (UVic) campus when Tsukino-Con is on. Saturday was a late start for me (again) but this was due to more than the time of travel from where I reside to Gordon Head. There was an added case of business before pleasure. I think the two things I must look into next year are finding accommodation on the UVic campus and bringing along a laptop to type an article between panels.

A number of Saturday panels caught my eye. One was a drawing session and chat on the subject of Osamu Tezuka’s Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) with Canadian Comic Hall of Fame artist Ken Steacy, the TeamFourStar Q/A with voice actor Takahata 101, Nanohabridged: Table Readings and Auditions Part 1, and the annual Tsukino-Con Swimsuit Showdown. Sadly, of these I only made it to two.

In hindsight, I would’ve included the Vikes Improv panel. I’ve heard they’re good but with years of watching improv on shows like Whose Line is it Anyways? (UK and American versions) and Canada’s own Don’t Lick the Pig, I was still suffering from improv burnout.

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Nanaimo Convention, MosaiCon, to Return in 2017!

mosaicon-banner By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Mark your calendars, break out your costumes, and perfect your mad video game skills because MosaiCon will be returning in 2017. It has been confirmed by none other than Marc Gervais, General Coordinator for Nanaimo’s multifaceted fandom convention. Gervais has a table at this year’s anime and cosplay convention, Tsukino-Con, at the University of Victoria campus. Gervais was able to confirm the dates for MosaiCon are Saturday and Sunday, September 16th and 17th of 2017. Gervais informed this journalist that a meeting will be held with MosaiCon’s board to decide a location to host the con.

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Day One of Tsukino-Con 2017: Registration and Merchandise

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Comparing now to then it is still easy to spot a nerd out in public. They have changed little since the 80’s and can still be associated to their exaggerated predecessors of the 1984 movie Revenge of the Nerds. That’s not to say this is a bad thing, their jock counterparts can still be compared to the members of the Alpha Betas fraternity. Others are harder to notice until it comes to convention time. On the bus rides over to Tsukino-Con, Vancouver Island’s local anime and cosplay convention, they were easier to spot. Their costumes are this tribe’s version of war paint. They show their true colours. One example was the man dressed up as the tenth Doctor from Doctor Who, wearing a TARDIS backpack and holding a small pizza (even several billion years in the future, Gallifrey Pizza still delivers in 30 minutes or less). Or perhaps it was his female companion wearing an Elsa wig from Disney‘s film Frozen that gave it away. No matter how one spots a nerd (or geek), bus rides to Tsukino is the one of the best ways to make new friends.

Once you reach your destination at the University of Victoria (UVic) campus, unless you are in a rush to register before the opening ceremonies held this year in the David Lam Auditorium of the MacLaurin building (I missed them again), it’s a good idea to eat something if you haven’t dropped in at Kuma Noodle Japan (shameless plug) beforehand. The UVic Student Society’s (UVSS) Student Union Building (SUB) is a good place to start. Rather than take a lot of time and eat in at Felicita’s Campus Pub, I filled up on sushi at Bean Around the World (across from Felicita’s). But while in the SUB, if you are old school like me, seek washroom facilities elsewhere if you are uncomfortable with the thought of using the two unisex bathrooms that are available. Not all buildings on campus have been converted to reflect the views of the modern student.

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