Thursday, August 25, 2016

Sticky Step Seven: The Rooftop Road To Yonge-Dundas Square.

It's been well over half the summer without any new Sticky Steps (sorry about that faithful readers, but real life decided to cut in line and swallow up all my free time this season!), but now that there are fresh, new Human-Lizard stories filling up the comic racks again (The Chapterhouse Comics 2016 Summer Special and TPHL #8 are on shelves now, and TPHL #9 is scheduled for release on Wednesday, August 31), it's time to get the ball rolling again.

First up, be sure to check out the updated and corrected information on the very first Sticky Step on Roncesvalles Ave. As it turns out, I'd been way off on that one, but thanks to some helpful direction from Jason Loo, The Pitiful Human-Lizard creator himself, I'm back on track!

The Human-Lizard doubled over as the windows of 200 University Ave. gleam in the background.

Although I've been remiss in updating Sticky Footprints for a little while now, I haven't been completely unproductive. During the downtime, I've scoured the city of Toronto hunting down and photographing locales (way before it became a whole thing with Pokemon Go players) and chatting up some of Chapterhouse Comics' other superstar creators, like "Fearless" Fred Kennedy, Adam Gorham, Danny Zabbal and Mike Rooth. But summer's almost gone now, so it's time to knuckle down and get back to following the Human-Lizard!

The Human-Lizard on the rooftop of what appears to be CIBC at 205 Queen Street West.

When we last left Lucas Barrett (a.k.a. Toronto's new, street-level hero, the Human-Lizard), he was absconding from the police after tussling with Johnny "Bodyrocks" Mancini in the middle of the Entertainment District's John Street, also known as "Club District."

Dumpster diving in the name of medical science!

As Lucas makes his way along the rooftops toward the centre of the city, he pauses on one particular rooftop as pain lances through his now shattered mouth. He discovers that the secret formula that he'd tested out at the Walmer + Corp. laboratory a few days earlier has endowed him an advanced healing factor, which gives him greater strength, stamina and endurance, while also recovering from his wounds almost instantaneously! Lucas decides to test out this theory by flinging himself off the roof into a nearby dumpster.

CIBC at 205 Queen Street West.

Although, again, I can't be a hundred per cent certain, the rooftop that Lucas takes a dive from to confirm this discovery appears to be the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, located at 205 Queen Street West at the corner of Simcoe Street. Of all the buildings in the area east of John Street, this one perfectly matches the height and dimensions depicted in the panels of issue #1.

200 University Ave. as seen from the corner of Queen St. W. and Simcoe St.

The glass faced building in the background backs up this theory, as well, since it looks nearly identical to the one at 200 University Avenue, a designated city Heritage site, which was designed and built by John B. Parkin and Associates, the same firm responsible for the design of Toronto’s (new-ish) City Hall along with the Financial District's iconic collection of black towers making up the Toronto Dominion Centre.

Looking across toward Y-D Square from the rooftop of Atrium.

Emboldened by his discovery, Lucas makes his way further into the city, hopping from rooftop to rooftop, until he reaches Atrium (formerly known as "Atrium on Bay") at 595 Bay St. and puts a call in to Majestic Rat, while looking across at the illuminated billboards which tower over Yonge-Dundas Square.

Hanging out on top of Forever 21 at 302 Yonge St.

Hopping down closer to street level, the Human-Lizard steadies himself against the Forever 21 sign directly above the store located kitty-corner from the square at 302 Yonge Street, while marveling at how deserted the square is.

A view of Yonge-Dundas Square from above and seen from directly below.

Sadly, without regenerative powers and sticky glue boots, I wasn't able to get proper rooftop photos comparing each location along the road to Y-D Square, but hopefully you can still get an idea of the landscape Lucas travels while crawling walls downtown.

Yonge-Dundas Square at 1 Dundas Street East.

Want to know what's going on at Yonge-Dundas Square so you don't show up when it's completely deserted? No problem! Just visit their events calendar to find out what's coming up!

Next up: A closer look at where the Human-Lizard hangs his cowl, The Secret Lizard Lair!

-DE

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