Manitoulin Island resident and actor Alison Sealy-Smith, known for voicing Storm in the 1990s X-Men animated series and the new X-Men ’97, is meeting fans this weekend at the debut SaultCon

A weekend dedicated to fandom and collectibles has begun for the first-ever SaultCon.

Vendor tables are set up to sell various unique and collectible wares, while special guests are on hand to sign autographs.

One of the special guests, Alison Sealy-Smith, is a Barbados-born Canadian who — among other roles — voiced the Marvel X-Men character Storm in the animated series, which began in 1992.

Sealy-Smith, who has been an actor since 1981 with many credits, said she was surprised when the animated series was relaunched in 2024 under the name X-Men 97 — with many of the original voice cast returning, including herself.

At the time it was being developed, Sealy-Smith had recently returned to Canada after living for many years in her native Barbados.

She started receiving messages from a person she didn’t know at the time, who said Disney is rebooting the series with the original cast.

Sealy-Smith said she ignored the message.

“I laughed to myself — I don’t know what kind of scam this is. I don’t know what he’s trying to sell me. But I’m going to delete this because the X-Men was a quarter of a century ago,” she said.

“He writes back again a few weeks later and he goes, ‘No, this is serious. They’re thinking about doing this reboot. Is this Allison Sealy-Smith who did the voice of Storm? Disney is trying to get in touch with you.'”

Sealy-Smith said she is glad she finally responded to the request, leading to her work in X-Men 97, which is in the process of doing a second season.

Now living on Manitoulin Island, Sealy-Smith said she only recently began attending the convention circuit but said it has been a thrill to meet fans in person.

“I’m a bit of a newbie, but the most gratifying thing is to come face to face with your fans, to understand the impact that a show like the X-Men has,” she said.

Other special guests include Alyson Court, best known as Loonette the Clown from The Big Comfy Couch and Kaviimi, a cosplayer, drag queen and artist from Thunder Bay. 

SaultCon runs until 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.