Silver Snail

While there's nothing wrong with buying a store brand Harley Quinn costume or Captain America onesie, there's something extra special about going all out for Halloween, assembling a costume from scratch and giving it your all for the spookiest night of the year. Every year, Toronto's Silver Snail comic store hosts a huge and nerdy Halloween bash featuring some of the best costumes and cosplay you'll see all year, and professional cosplay photographer Paul Hillier is always on hand to capture some of the coolest and most unique Halloween costumes you're likely to see!

The ghosts and ghouls of Halloween have all scuttled back to their shadows now that the witchy festivites are almost a whole week behind us. Greasepaint-stained costumes have gone to the laundry basket; Twitter names and icons have reverted to normal; and we're officially drinking all that pumpkin spiced caffeinated milk froth strictly for Thanksgiving reasons now. Before we unwisely turn our back on vampires and Frankensteins for another year, we have one more tradition to observe; the annual Snailoween Party in Toronto. As we've done for the last few years, we sent our friend Paul Hillier, cosplay photographer extraordinaire, to capture the very best outfits at one of North America's nerdiest costume parties.

Cosplay always goes mainstream at Halloween, with the witch and ghost and vampire costumes of yesteryear making way on the streets, and at parties and bars, for the sort of pop culture costumes we're more used to seeing at conventions. These days, everyone wants to be Iron Man. But a lot of comic fans take pride in going the extra mile at Halloween, and nowhere is that more true than at Toronto's annual Snailoween Party, organized by local retailer Silver Snail Comics. Cosplay photographer Paul Hillier was on the scene to capture some of the finest outfits of the night, and he's agreed to let us share them here at ComicsAlliance.

Toronto's Silver Snail comic store held its annual Halloween costume party last Saturday, and the city's proud and nerdy were out in force with brilliant, weird and original outfits. Photographer Paul Hillier captured some of the best costumes of the night -- including several X-Men, a Lannister, a Stark, some exceptional gender reversals and a sinister Pinhead. Click on,  true believer.

Halloween is the time when everyone becomes a cosplayer. That's especially true at the annual Halloween costume party hosted by comic store Silver Snail, which have become legendary in Toronto. Everyone wears a costume. Almost everyone makes an effort...