Hamilton ComicCon 2014

The 2nd Annual Hamilton ComicCon was held at the Hamilton Convention Centre last weekend. I was a little skeptical as to the expected turnout seeing as this was only their 2nd year, but I needn’t have worried. The line was out the door and around the block by 11am!

The Hamilton Convention Centre doesn’t seem to have a floor big enough for a massive convention. But the organizers have made great use of the space given to them. Comprising the 1st and 3rd floors, it was a short five step stride from the 1st floor to the escalator taking you to the 3rd floor (unlike the loooong walk and then multiple escalators for Fan Expo in Toronto) But for a small scale convention that’s still starting out, it worked.

The guests were quite the mix of randoms. You had your top stars: Lou Ferrigno, Verne Troyer and Julie Newmar, a smattering of midlevel stars: Garrett Wang and multiple Power Rangers and a whole bunch of ‘old school’ wrestling guys!

Now one would think, why in the world would you put a bunch of wrestling guys at a geek convention? Well first, have you BEEN to Hamilton? They thrive on wrestling. Hell, I was born there and certainly had plenty of wrestling injected into my eyeballs before moving to Toronto. And two, the organizers KNOW this. These are the same people who run Niagara Falls ComicCon and they KNOW what they’re doing. Seriously, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan had a bunch of 2×4’s by his booth and would sign a friggin 2×4 for $20!! That’s marketing right there.

It’s about time Hamilton had it’s own convention. It certainly looks like they have enough fans to fill it out. Maybe they’ll have to move the venue to Copps Coliseum to compensate! 😉

Check out the gallery of photos below taken at the convention. Photography courtesy of Paul Devisser and Phil Gotfried