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Wizard World Toronto – A New Logo Unveiled?

Today starts the Wizard World Toronto Comic Con. And look, they've got a new logo.

This is quite a radical departure, it was only last year that Wizard World chose a more laid back logo approach that first removed, then downplayed the Wizard World nature of the event, it seemed a clever branding decision to seize the word Comic Con and display a mature, confident design approach. It was Apple, it was Starbucks, it was Gap.

The new logo emphasizes the 'W', a brassier and brasher approach, that maintains the specific-city skyline of the previous approach but makes it, well, a little more Wizardy. And now it's in Toronto.

The Canadian Metro hits the nail on the head with "A lot more than comics" – which may have a wider appeal but is in danger of losing the support of comic fans, on which Wizard built their brand. They quote Gareb Shamus saying;

People hunger for characters, and conventions like these celebrate character culture. More people know about Spiderman and Batman today through toys and movies than they do through comics. Not long ago, once a guy got married or got a job, he stopped being passionate about the characters. Now all sorts of people love them through television and video games…. Today, people go to these conventions for different reasons. These conventions are great social events now. Plus among all the movies, film stars and games and figurines and other things, there's tons of stuff to discover. But it's the characters that keep them all coming

Of course as Gail Simone points out this is doing wonders for the demographic.

I've seen an enormous increase in girl attendees at these conventions… These girls and women are not being dragged there by boyfriends. Not anymore. They're interested in the comics themselves, and other aspects of comic culture. There's been an explosion of diversity overall.

The Toronto Sun jumps upon Ernie Hudson from Ghostbusters… and yeah, expect a lot of people asking him about the third film.  So what else is going on apart from reality stars, wrestlers and old actors? Well, IDW's got a panel comparing comic books to the work of Shakespeare, just as they are pushing their own Kill Shakespeare comic, naturally. Phil Jiminex is conducting a Wizard School of comic book art, Ty Templeton tries to train your brain to think like a comics artist, the cast of Saw are taking questions and answers, there's a first look at  Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, Max Brooks is doing a zombie Q&A, and there's a pre-recorded interview with Mark Millar. Hmm. Oh and Avatar has exclusive Toronto Comic Con variants on Captain Swing and Gravel.

So there. If you're going, let me know how it's all panning out. Ditto anyone going to Hi-Ex tomorrow…

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