Supanova Perth 2013 Summary and Haul

[Wrothy]

Supanova this weekend was another fantastic show. Royd outdid himself this time getting 4 superb international comic creators - Chris Claremont, George Perez, Alex Saviuk and Mark Brooks.

Ken came over from Melbourne to stay with us and attend the con too, and it was great to have him along again.

Shanan, Ken and I rocked up to Claremont Showgrounds at about 7am on Saturday morning, caught up with Shanan's sister Kim and made our way to the pavilion doors, where we were pretty much the first ones there. Pretty soon some other familiar faces turned up, and we chatted until we noticed that one of the nearby sets of doors had been opened up and they were letting people in before the official opening time, so we headed over and inside.

Ken and I headed straight to the line for Mark Brooks, where we were numbers 1 and 2 in line (I wasn't too worried about the line for George Perez, as I had the Comic Book King pass which would allow me to jump in front of other attendees). Shanan and Kim headed off to get signatures from the Phelps twins (who played the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter movies).

Ken arranged his commission with Mark, and then I asked Mark about doing a sketch for Shanan as a return favour for when she got me a Brooks Spider-Man sketch at Dragon*Con back in 2009. My request was for Sarah from Labyrinth (Jennifer Connelly's character), to add to Shanan's growing collection of Labyrinth sketches.

Having done that, it was off to chat with Alex Saviuk and pick up a pre-con commission I had arranged with him. I was extremely happy with the outcome:



Apparently this was the first time anyone had asked Alex to draw Etrigan, and he had an absolute ball doing it.

Then it was time to line up for George. It took a while to get through, as there were a number of people waiting to get their free sketch, but the time went by pretty quickly as I chatted with people in line. Then it was my turn, and as I introduced myself and mentioned the pre-con commission I had set up, his eyes lit up and he pulled out my sketch. And what a sketch! Perez has lost absolutely nothing in his artistic prowess over the years.


I then asked George to draw either Luke Cage or Black Panther, as a thank you to a member of the New York Mafia who was incredibly kind and giving during my recent trip over there.


I also paid for an additional head sketch as requested by fellow forum member Ryan (Woody), but I'll let him post that.

After that, the queue for Alex Saviuk had died down again, so Alex had time to add another head sketch to Ryan's Avengers jam.

The rest of the day was spent taking a look around the stalls and artists alley, and occasionally checking back to see Mark's progress with Ken's sketch.

I had also spoken to Mark and his wife Lisa about getting Mark to contribute to Ryan's Avengers jam, but the timing wasn't quite right so they suggested I come back first thing on Sunday to get it done.

[Wrothy]

Day 2 came, and it was off to Mark's line again, while Shanan headed straight to George's line to get her free head sketch. It turned out the Mark was busy with other commissions, but he said that he was still planning to get the Labyrinth piece done and suggested I come back later in the day for Ryan's head sketch.

Shanan was unsure what to get from George, and eventually decided to get a Cyborg sketch for our son Jarod:


In the meantime, I had headed down to Artists Alley to speak to a local artist by the name of Lauren Marshall whose art had impressed us the previous day. This is where I learnt a lesson in ensuring you communicate with the artist properly on the target audience for a sketch request. I asked for a head sketch of Starfire for Jarod to go with the Perez Cyborg, but neglected to indicate that it was intended for a 10 year old! Shanan has already indicated to Jarod that he will get to have this sketch in a couple of years.


I then went and rode the Perez line again to buy a sketch for myself. I gave George my Spider-Man: Friends and Foes sketchbook and asked him to draw whoever he wanted, and this is what he came up with:


Shanan and Kim arranged sketches from up-and-coming local artist Emily Smith and, as always, she did not disappoint, with a Labyrinth piece for Shanan and a Dark Crystal piece for Kim:




Not to be left out, I purchased an original page from Emily's comic Unmasked:


After lunch and another look around the stalls, we went back to Mark to get the bad news that Mark wouldn't be able to get Shanan's commission done (although thankfully Ken got his, and it is fantastic). However, he promised to get it done at SDCC, where we could have either Kim or Royd pick it up.

Ken and I headed to the sketch-off between Mark Brooks, Tristan Jones and Alex Saviuk. The subject matter chosen was Vampirella, and Mark and Alex both did stunning Vampirella pieces, while Tristan (whose piece was also excellent) ended up doing Swamp Thing. The winner by acclimation was Alex.

We then went back to Mark's table and, after waiting for him to do a few quick head sketches, he made a superb contribution to Ryan's Avengers jam.

All in all, a very successful and highly enjoyable convention. Many thanks to Ken for coming over and sharing the experience with us.

We did get a couple of extra photos of/with creators before heading off:

[Rocket]

Awesome mate!! Looks like a fantastic and fun weekend, with some brilliant pickups!

[rjs1162]

Looks like you had a blast! You can't go wrong with anything from Perez and Saviuk! I really like the color work Alex did on that Demon commission! That Perez Ock is pretty cool also!

[blink90210]

Wrothy, you've got no one to blame but yourself. You requested a STARFIRE, what did you expect?

(I'm back home safely, many thanks mate. My write-up will come later)

[Magneto]

Great haul, congrats!

[Woody]

The colours on Alex's Etrigan piece look even more gorgeous in the photo you had taken with him, Steve. Love all the stuff you got, but that might be my favourite.

I'll do a much longer post when I receive my stuff, but I am STUNNED by the art Wrothy organised and picked up for me on the weekend. He has gone above and beyond, and I owe him big time.

Steve, you are a terrific bloke and I'm so glad that you, Shannan and Ken had what was obviously a great fun weekend!

[Wrothy]

Another picture from the con, compliments of Ken:

[Wrothy]

Originally Posted by Woody

The colours on Alex's Etrigan piece look even more gorgeous in the photo you had taken with him, Steve. Love all the stuff you got, but that might be my favourite.

I'll do a much longer post when I receive my stuff, but I am STUNNED by the art Wrothy organised and picked up for me on the weekend. He has gone above and beyond, and I owe him big time.

Steve, you are a terrific bloke and I'm so glad that you, Shannan and Ken had what was obviously a great fun weekend!

Always help to help a fellow SFer mate - glad you like what you got.

[Woody]

Originally Posted by blink90210

Wrothy, you've got no one to blame but yourself. You requested a STARFIRE, what did you expect?

(I'm back home safely, many thanks mate. My write-up will come later)

Not too much later hey mate, hanging out to see that Brooks piece!