The Bullpen

[kinetic]

Yesterday I had my first Con experience at Sydney Armageddon.
Its a bit of mixed show with comics, anime and celebrity signings etc. Lots of Cosplay.
The actual comic section really only consisted of a few guests and a large retailer and some local artists. I was expecting a bit more but I still had a great time.

I made the 2 hour trip and met up with fellow forum member Lukeh and a friend of his.
The comic guests consisted of Ethan Nan Sciver, Dan Slott and Gail Simone.
There was a panel with Dan Slott and Gail Simone immeadiately followed by a panel with Ethan Van Sciver.

The panel with Dan and Gail was really casual and mainly involved a Q&A session. Both were great speakers and Dan was especially great, very enthusiastic, warm and funny. He and Gail seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Ethan immediatley followed Dan and Gail, and to be honest I was thinking of not staying for his panel as he isn't a particular favourite of mine. In the end, I decided to hang around.
I'm glad I did. I found him to be a really genuine, humourus guy. He answered any questions with total honesty, even at the expense of his own ego/appearence.
He discussed his entry into the biz and what anybody wanting to get in needs to do.
He also had some random funny stories and anecdotes. Just a great discussion on his experiences within the industry. He discussed some of his upcoming projects, one with Gail Simone with a horror theme!
I wasn't expecting to enjoy his panel a great deal but found myself leaving the panel with  new found admiration for the guy.
I spent the rest of the day wondering around looking at the various stall and talking to local artists.
I managed to get a few sketches from some great local talent as well as a couple scans (which are too big to include here.)






All in all, I had a great day. I intend on going to the next con in July and plan on taking my eldest boy. I think I have caght the con bug I have heard many others talk about.

[Lukeh]

Was a good day man, thanks for meeting up with me.

Them sketches are cool. Love the Hippo one.

The panels were definitely they highlight. I loved Slott. His break into comics story was the best. It was touching hearing Slott and Simone reminisce about Dwayne Mcduffie. Slott seemed to know him well from working at marvel and had a few stories.

Van Scriver won me over, the dude was entertaining, and you could tell, like Slott and Simone, that he loved his comics. It was cool to hear his side of what went on behind the scenes of New X-men and how that had him run back to DC.

I am a bit of a Marvel zombie when it comes to the big two, I haven't read much DC and so have not experienced much of his work but I will hunt it out now (along with Simones Secret Six).

I am heaps keen for this "secret project" he has going with Simone writing. His words are it's an old unused (or d-list) DC character that they are going to use and put a real horror spin on the book. Sounds cool.

I really loved the enthusiasm that all three had for getting to work with the characters they grew up with. Specially from Slott, you could tell he was loving it.

One thing that sucked, I left a bag of comics somewhere like 30 bucks of cheap manga. Oh wells.

[kinetic]

Awww shit! Really, you lost some books. That blows.

The hippo sketch is Hipflask from Elephantmen by Richard Starkings. Great book btw. Look it up.

It was good to meet you and Ben. I felt like some old timer hangin out with the young kids trying to recapture his youth

When Supanova comes around we should try to meet-up and catch up.

[Lukeh]

Yeh for sure meet up at the next one. The Brisbane and Melbourne Supanovas have a mad lineup (as far as Aussie shows go) both comics and others. Hopefully the Sydney one gets bigger names.

Seriously though check out the Melb. & Bris line up:

Claremont, Capullo, Templesmith, Colin Wilson, Aussies Tom Taylor and Shane Mcarthy (All hail megatron)

some other guests:

Christopher Lloyd!!! Julie Benz!!! Helo! Simon Pegg and mate. Oh and Robin Hobb.