I haven’t been to a Supanova show before. And this was the first time I’d traveled interstate for a ‘pop culture expo’. Not sure I’ll be doing it again any time soon. But really, we all know the only reason I went was because Tim was going to be there.
First of all I’ll say: Karl Urban – phoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw! I got to see him right as the show ended and I was standing outside the green room chatting with the wonderful Mark who’d been Tim’s con helper. He walked past me carrying a full sized Storm Trooper cut-out that was missing its head which had tipped backwards. I didn’t even realise who it was when I piped up with you’ve lost your head. Then he looked at me and I realised who it was. Heh. Definitely hot in real life.
I officially died on Friday night when I shook Dave “Watchmen” Gibbons’ hand. I was standing with Tim when he came over but I didn’t actually realise who he was! We shook hands and he said his name and I quietly died on the inside after realising I was meeting someone who’s work I enormously admire. (Okay, I’m not so keen on the Black Freighter stuff in Watchmen but the rest of it is marvelous.) Tim gave me a gentle ribbing about being the babbling, giggly fan-girl after meeting Mr Gibbons but being all cool when near him.
I spent most of the weekend sitting behind Tim and occasionally taking photographs of the fast passes he was doing. I really missed all my American peeps though. Going to stuff like this should be a group thing, it’s something that’s meant to be shared. I’m not saying I didn’t have a good time because I did. It was wonderful to watch Tim do his thing and I thought all of his fast passes were fantastic. It was also great to have time to talk to him and to Diana who was traveling with him. Still, I missed the experience of being part of a group.
The biggest issue I had with Supanova was the extremely poor organisation when it came to getting people through the door. I arrived at the venue on Saturday morning at 9.30 which I was thought was sufficient time to get in. But no, it took me over two hours to get inside and I was rather cranky as it was cold, occasionally drizzling and there was no signage to explain where we were supposed to line up.
I had thought pre-buying a ticket was a good idea but it really wasn’t. The line for people buying a ticket moved more quickly, which made me really angry. It turned out they had exactly two people managing the pre-paid line: one giving out stamps for the single day tickets and one giving out wrist bans for weekend passes. I’ve never seen this done before and it’s a bloody stupid idea. The simple fact was they needed more people to managed the lines and much better signage. I had no idea which line I was supposed to be in and actually ended up in the wrong one at one point.
The other thing that irks me is the presence of wrestling at these events. Armageddon does the same thing and I loath it. It’s noisy and really irritating. I understand that it bring in larger crowds but do they really have to put the ring in the middle of the venue?
But that’s enough whinging…
Highlights of the weekend were:
1. One girl who was a volunteer managing to wiggle out of her shift because she wanted to meet Tim so badly. Comic book fans can be remarkably gracious and I think everyone of them thanked Tim profusely for coming to Australia.
2. Seeing a folio of Tim’s work. So many pretties. If only I had more money!
3. Talking to Nicola Scott about Secret Six and seeing the original pages.
4. Getting to see all of the fast passes Tim did.
5. R2-D2 coming to visit the table. And then following Diana around. That was adorable.
6. Mark, who was Tim’s con helper. He was so nice to me when he could’ve told me to get out from behind the table. And not forgetting Skye who was also lovely. It was great to have people to talk to when Tim was away from the table or just busy. They made me feel welcome and part of the group.
7. Dinner with Tim and Diana on Sunday night at a tappas bar.
8. Seeing the pencils for my Daredevil piece on Sunday and then having Tim say he was waiting for the “squee!” (which I did, very quietly).
9. Getting myself to and from the venue without getting lost. I think that’s a real accomplishment for someone totally unfamiliar with Sydney’s train system.
10. Getting a sketch from Dave Gibbons when his sign specifically said no sketches.
And finally… a photo I’m pretty pleased with:
