On September 23-25, 2016, more than 40,000 people walked through the gates at the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo to experience popular culture spread over four rooms and eight meeting rooms.

The 2016 guest lineup included Princess of the Universe, Carrie Fisher, plus Wallace Shawn, Christian Slater, Garrett Wang, Stephen Amell, John de Lancie, and Ted Raimi in addition to special voice actor stars Christopher Sabat, Mark Meer, and Sean Schemmel. The cosplay guests, Alexa Heart, Carl Martin, and Mogchelle led a growing contingent of cosplay attendees.

Carrie Fisher attracted a solid lineup of autograph seekers while being herself, bringing her dog along for the show. “I loved Carrie in that her signature was more personal than most stars that come to the show,” said one excited fan. “I asked her to sign my picture in a unique way, and she did. My mother would be embarrassed.”

The Princess Bride star Wallace Shawn thrilled the crowd while managing not to utter his catchphrase, no matter how hard people tried.

While some attendees gravitated towards the celebrity zone, others were more attracted to artists and artisan alley, where merchandise and artwork of all genre and style were readily available. Big comic dealers like Harley Yee were pleased with the weekend, noting that “Spider-Man and the X-Men,” were popular while other retailers added that lower priced collectors’ comics moved well.

Carl Potts, former Marvel editor, writer, and artist was on hand for his first Edmonton visit.

“I had been to Banff recently to speak about visual storytelling and only a few months later, here I am,” said Potts, who now teaches at the famed School of Visual Arts in New York. “Fans still remember my work on Alien Legion which has recently seen print in a Titan book as well as my Punisher and editing work. Stepping into the editing shoes of Archie Goodwin at Epic was a challenge that fit my mindset.”

Potts spoke well of the staff of Expo. “They treat us very well here, actually the food is better than the hotel we are staying at,” he added.

Potts presented a well attended panel on Visual Storytelling that outlined his SVA work and other gig as an online teacher for a graphic novel course. “Comic book artists have to be versatile,” he said. “While commercial artists, architects and clothing designers have one or two skill sets, comic artists have to be able to do it all, and make it look convincing. In fact, good artists make their work effortless but behind the product is an amazing amount of work. We often forget that when we scan a page of art.”

Edmonton’s artist alley hosted more than 25 professionals from Amy Pronvost (Star Wars), Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan Jr. (Y, The Last Man), Jae Lee, Edmonton based Nat Jones and Ms. Marvel artist, Sana Takeda.

Marzan, who has worked on Supergirl, Y, The Last Man, and other titles, was pleased with the crowd. “There are a good variety of fans here who are interested in all the genres of comics,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it.”

Hope Nicholson, publisher of Nelvana of the Northern Lights, expressed the same sentiment. “It’s been nice to talk to readers and collectors about Nelvana and my other Canadian comic reprints,” she said. “I’m searching for another Nelvana type book to reprint but am having difficulty finding all the issues to use as source. In the meanwhile, we are reprinting single issues of the 1947 book, Polka Dot Pirates. However, Olga Mesmer is next on my list. I do have Trina Robbins doing a book with us and that is exciting.”

Attendees, like Breanna Dugay and Kendall Melrose liked the Expo for a variety of reasons. “It is always fun to be around the show with so many different people,” Dugay said. “We are dressed up as Sadness and Disgust from Inside Out, and Joy and Fear are out there somewhere. The film is so in-depth that there is something for everyone.”

The pair noted they have not gotten celebrity autographs but have spent time in artist’s alley and going through the craft booths. “There is just so much to do we don’t have time for panels,” they added as they scampered off.

Other areas of the show catered to gamers, from board games to card games and a popular old fashioned video arcade. Numerous panels dealt with LARP to Dungeons and Dragons and everywhere in-between including a discussion of comic book history, Edmonton based creators, cosplay, and cyberbullying.

While no major comic book company had booth space, many independents set up shop to show off their books and graphic novels. Renegade Arts Entertainment and Castle Rain Entertainment were two well represented publishers in addition to more than a dozen self published authors/artists. 

Throughout the convention space, superheroes, princesses, ogres, villains, and Powder Puff heroines strutted their stuff over the three days. 

With the 2016 show behind them, the organizing crew and exhibitors are already at work for the 2017 show. The superhero/pop culture revolution continues to march on.

Watch these videos of Edmonton based creators, Carrie Fisher, Christian Slater, and John de Lancie for a more intimate look at the Edmonton Expo. Check out this featurette on Alberta based creators at #EdmontonExpo.

Writer-photographer Tim Lasiuta submitted this report.