Truth Justice & the Canadian Way, eh?

If I were a superhero, that would be my motto. I'd fight for truth, justice and the Canadian way.

I have no superpowers or colorful costume, though. I'm not tough enough to stand a chance in a physical fight with the bad guys.

What I can do, though, is point out injustice when I see it. Not just in the literal "violation of criminal statutes" way, but in the broader sense of warning people about wrongdoers and speaking out against the actions of tyrants.

This blog isn't about the larger injustices of the world, though --- things like poverty, war, terrorism. It's a blog about a specific commodity, namely comic books. As far as I've seen, there hasn't really been any wrongdoing in the Canadian comics industry. Technically, the selling of "crime comics" is still illegal, but that's an old law that doesn't get enforced.

The wrongdoing I'd like to address is being committed by a company called Hobbystar Marketing (or, at least, by Aman Gupta who represents Hobbystar).

According to Daryl Collison of 3rd Quadrant Comics, Aman called him to inform Daryl that anyone who exhibited at the Super Fan Comic Book Show would not be allowed to also have a table at the Fan Expo Canada show.

Since the circulation of Daryl's open letter, others in the Toronto comics scene have spoken out against Hobbystar and have asked others to boycott the upcoming Fan Expo show. There's even a blog dedicated to discussion of the topic (allowing both pro- and con- statements, though most of the comments seem to be in favor of the boycott).

If you're in the Toronto area on Labour Day weekend and would like to meet comics celebrities, I would reccommend attending one or more of the graphic novel programs at the Ashkenaz Festival, instead of attending Expo. More details about Ashkenaz in my next post.