Conventional wisdom: The Toronto Star previews next weekend's Canadian National Expo, the country's largest sci-fi/fantasy/comics convention, and focuses on guests such as George Romero, Patrick Stewart, Ty Templeton and Jill Thompson. Here's Thompson:

"It's great to be able to actually speak to someone who may be able to critique your work, or give you pointers. When I started in comics, it was even more male-dominated. So the people that I met (at conventions) were mostly men. But I just wanted to be a comic-book professional. To do good comics. I really tried to pick their brains, to find out what I was doing wrong, doing right. And now I try to return the favour."