What do Michael J. Fox, Peggy the Dog (Dogpool) from Deadpool and Wolverine and Alicia Silverstone have in common?
They’re guests at this year’s Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo Apr. 24-27 at Stampede Park.
Lethbridge is home to plenty of fans of entertainment and comic book-related expos, conventions, weekends and the like, including local business Nitro Geek.
Matthew Odland is the owner of Nitro Geek, located in a brick-and-mortar store at Park Place Mall and online, but the local entrepreneur attends various events across North America selling his unique wares and wonders. “We specialize in laser engraving and cutting on glassware, but we also do wood, acrylic and we can engrave on metals.”
As for attending shows, Odland says, he’s been across Canada and has dipped down into the United States too. “I mainly stick to Western Canada shows.”
Odland notes he frequents bigger shows in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Prince George and Grande Prairie and visits smaller “geeky” markets, as well.
“We’ve done stuff in Regina and Saskatoon on a regular basis. We’ve gone to Winnipeg for shows in the past, and even last year I went to Toronto,” adds Odland.
Odland says what has changed over the years with pop culture events is they’ve turned into a fine oiled machine with how they’re run.
Other guests at this weekend’s event in Calgary include celebrities from the Star Wars and Doctor Who universes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Police Academy movies and maker and creator Adam Savage from the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters and YouTube hit Tested.
Savage is a bestselling author, producer, host, science communicator and cosplayer. He’s also worked in special effects for Industrial Light and Magic/Lucasfilm and the Matrix films.
“Last year, I only did about three of four cons. This year, I think we’re slated to do eight or nine. I like the oscillation between the heavy years and the light years. You don’t want to repeat a market every year, so we try not to, so it’s been real fun getting out and about,” says Savage.
What fans usually come to talk to Savage about at conventions is what he likes most about the events. “They want to show me stuff they’ve made, they want to tell me how the work my colleagues and I have done over the years has affected them, they sometimes want to ask advice about things they’re working on and often they’re wearing their work on their bodies and they want to show me that. It’s so much fun.”
Even though a lot of fans get a little freaked out when meeting Savage, the moment they start geeking out together about technique, “all that just goes away.”
“We’re just two makers talking about how to get the best finish on something, and I’m just here for that conversation.”
Savage believes the reason pop culture expos have grown exponentially in size and reach is its community. “The cons are a place for people to go find themselves and talk to each other about how far they’ve gotten in finding themselves. When we put on a costume from a narrative that means something to us, we’re very vulnerable. It feels weird, it’s a little funny, it’s a strange hobby and it’s hard to explain to your grandmother. But when you meet someone else wearing the same costume and solved all those problems for that costume, you build a bridge across experience, and you can share that with each other. I find that very beautiful.”
Right now, in the world, people are in desperate need of more and more community, Savage adds. “I think of the con circuit as the modern-day carnival.”
“The regulars that service these cons and the workers that move from con to con – they’re carny folk. It’s the same thing we’ve always been doing – gathering together to show each other what we’ve made. Humans have been doing it under a lot of different rubrics. The latest one is the pop culture con.”
Pop culture conventions are new to Savage, as he’s a child of the seventies.
“We didn’t have the Internet growing up, we had magazines. That’s how you found other freaks like you,” Savage explains. “I remember cracking the back of a magazine and finding a guy who was making light sabers and ordering two from him. This was pre-Internet. This was like 1993 or 1994.”
“I didn’t go to my first comic con until I think 2008 or 2009. I was late to it.”
Another fun thing about pop culture conventions, Savage notes, is there are no other reality shows featured at the events. “It’s a circuit for fictional characters. But there’s almost no reality shows going. It feels like being out at the edge of a cultural precipice. I’m not sure if I have an answer of what that means, but I find it fascinating.”
Savage says he’s been to Canada many times and he loves all of it. “I love Canadians. I love their gentleness. I’m delighted to head north of the border.”
Currently, Savage is busy putting out an episode of Tested every single day on YouTube. “I’m still pleased we’re able to maintain that output.”
“But YouTube is television. When the channel really started to take off a few years ago, the momentum has been astounding. I think there are some ways, which I am more famous now than when Mythbusters was at its peak and the demographic is way younger.”
In 2024, Savage says, a large percentage of television hours were watched on YouTube. “I love this reality. I don’t have network execs to talk to, and I don’t have business partners to service. It is me and our tiny rag-tag team of six people.”
“It’s a very tight team of folks who love what we’re doing, and we’re having a blast.”
Don’t miss the city’s very own Lethbridge Entertainment and Collector Expo June 20-22 at the Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre with special guests David Faustino from Married with Children, Jordan Prentice from Howard the Duck and RJ Mitte from Breaking Bad.
(Photo by Stan Ashbee)
(Photo submitted)
