Tri-City Super Con puts region on pop culture map
Tri-City Super Con will feature Canada’s own Captain Canuck
Other than launching the careers of a couple of rock bands, profiling celebrity mascots at the Oktoberfest parade and offering a few favoured shooting locations for TV series set in the distant past, Waterloo Region has never been a buzzworthy pop culture hub.
Leave it to Richard Comely — the former Cambridge resident behind the country’s most famous comic book superhero — to change that.
“If nobody else is gonna do it, then I’m gonna do it!” says the 67-year-old creator of Captain Canuck, who co-organized the Tri-City Super Con Comic Book Convention and Entertainment Exposition that checks into Bingemans for three days beginning Friday.
“I think it’s safe to say we’ll have thousands of people.”
With a roster of renowned comic book artists and sci-fi celebrities — including actors Jay Baruchel and Rachel Skarsten, Marvel illustrator Leonard Kirk, comedian Ajay Fry and dozens more — Comely’s creation promises a fan-centred geek-out for the ages.
“I’ve been a guest at many comic conventions in the U.S. and Canada and, in a moment of insanity, I got the crazy idea I could do one myself !” laughs the mildmannered comic titan, who lived in Cambridge almost 30 years before moving to Welland, Ingersoll and, in the near future, Paris, Ont.
“I’m trying to do something a little different.”
Comely promises there will be “sit-and-draw” zones overseen by professional artists, magicians and “12-foot robots walking around.”
And, of course, the usual roster of how-to workshops, celebrity panel discussions, autographs, photo ops, face painting, video gaming, toy and comic book vendors, costumed characters, cosplay and virtual reality booths (for full schedule see www.tricitysupercon.com).
At the centre, of course, is Super Con’s official mascot: Captain Canuck, the red and white garbed defender of truth, justice and the national trust, who single-handedly defeated foreign terrorists in his 1975 debut and is headed for both a live action TV series and feature-length animated movie.
Not only will he appear in a video shoot at Bingemans that will invite conventioneers to describe what they like about being Canadian, the maple leaf marvel will also be represented by a full lineup of merch, including key chains, wallets and a recently-minted $20 coin.
What, you may ask, is the impetus for all this?
It may seem like a stretch, but Comely says that in 2018, comic book conventions have taken the place of country fairs with their roller-coasters and ribbons for Best Swine and Tastiest Apple Pie.
“Everything has become more specialized,” he notes, recalling how simple the industry was when Captain Canuck debuted in the ‘70s.
“They’re a growing phenomenon as comic books have become more accessible. It’s a well-established art form.”
It ties into geek culture which in 2018 ties into tech culture, which ties into pop culture, which spawned the current barrage of superhero blockbusters and a digitally-obsessed generation who embrace a world of virtual fantasy.
“Technology has a part in this phenomenon,” agrees Comely, who has survived the industry’s ups and downs for five decades. “The internet has changed everything.”
He laughs: “The audience used to be disproportionately male, but today it’s half and half. I think everybody secretly wishes they had superpowers.”