Comics, creators and a whole load of Guinness!
Wicked Comics’ very own Chris Muscat teams up with Maltese super geeks John Paul Gauci, Christian Stellini and Efrem Cortis for a weekend of beer fuelled comic mayhem at this years Kapow Comic Convention. Chris hooked up with old friends, made new ones, and continued to promote the Malta Comic Con on foreign soil. Here Chris will go through some of the geekiest moments of his journey:
Last year, one of my favourite comic writers Mark Millar introduced Kapow Comic Convention in London. This was very successful and I made it a point to go one day. So when my friend, Christian (No Face) Stellini suggested that he might be going to this year’s Kapow convention, I immediately jumped on this opportunity and started planning the trip. I contacted some friends that I knew would be interested and formed a party of four geeks all gagging for this adventure – Christian Stellini, Efrem Cortis, John Paul Gauci and myself, Christopher Muscat. As the excitement built we sorted out the flights, hotel and entrance ticket and prepared a list of comics books to take with me for signing. Although I attended this convention as a fan, I was also on a mission to spread the word on the Malta Comic Con and establishing contacts for future comic cons.
18th May 2012 – Hooking up with the Kings of Pop Culture!
The flight was at 11.15am so I did not need to wake up early but the excitement left me with little choice. After a healthy breakfast, I took a quick shave and a shower, said goodbye to my wife and kids, and waited for Stellini (we only call him by his nick or surname) and Efrem. My father took us to the airport, where we met John Paul and off we went. Before boarding the flight, we made a quick stop at the airport cafeteria where I took a “coffee” (just in case my wife reads this) while Stellini kicked in the celebratory vibes with a couple of Guinness. Flight was smooth and we arrived in London at about 13.30. We decided to take a taxi and divide the expenses to save on time. When I booked the hotel I knew that it was close to the Convention Centre but we were all overjoyed to find that it was right next door to the entrance.
We put our luggage in our rooms and went for a 30-40minute walk to central London to visit some of the local comic shops. First up was Orbital Comics where I met my friends from the Orbiting Pod Podcast, pop culture kings Chris Thompson and Taylor Lilley (I am a religious listener and with their suggestions they influence some of my choices in collecting comics). Anyone who was present at last year’s Malta Comic Con can attest that these guys are really great! Upon our arrival, we started talking about comics and they introduced me to artist/inker Garry Leach (Marvelman, Hitman) and Image artist on “Infinite Vacation”, Christian Ward. My friends bought some comics and we agreed to meet with Chris Thompson later for a beer.
Our next stop was Forbidden Planet (another comic shop) who had some Kapow guests lined up for a session of pre-comic con signing. I came prepared as I brought with me some comics for this signing – American Vampire Vol 1 and Batman 1 for Scott Snyder, Green Arrow: Year One for Jock and last year’s Thought Bubble comic for Becky Cloonan. The queue was 30 minutes long but it was worth every minute mainly because I met Scott Snyder, who is one of my favourite writers. We also had the opportunity to chat with Canadians, Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery who are doing some interesting stuff with their comic “Kill Shakespeare”. The convention had not even started and I was already a very happy geek.
We hooked up again with Chris Thompson at a local pub and “Guinness Time!” was officially launched. We were soon joined by creators Garry Leach and Dave Elliot and before you can say another pint we started chatting about the comic book industry. Initially, I did not realize that Garry and Dave were the people behind A1, the Atomeka Press anthology comic (one of the first comic books that offered creators the rights to their creations). Wow! I was knocking down beers with people who made comic book history!
Later we started the walk back to the hotel to get some rest and be ready for the first day of the comic con. So many memorable moments and the comic con hadn’t even started!
19th May 2012 – An Awesome Day!
At this stage I was so excited that I barely slept so I got out of bed early and along with John Paul, I went down for breakfast. While waiting for Efrem and Stellini, we met two time Malta Comic Con guest David Lloyd (V for Vendetta). He kindly invited us to join him for breakfast were he eagerly told us about the talk he prepared for Kapow and some exciting projects he’s going to be launching soon. They say that breakfast is the most important meal of day, and sharing it with David Lloyd made it equally wicked. Wicked Comics will be keeping you tuned with more info on David’s latest project shortly.
As soon as everyone had his breakfast, (which consisted from a variety of cooked food, fruits, cereals, croissants, yoghurts and bread), we lined up to the already growing queue in the chilly morning breeze. Time passed quickly and at 9.00am the doors opened and our amazing journey started. We entered a great big hall, with a Total Film/SFX sponsored stage to the left and a wrestling stage to the right. In the middle, there was a staircase that leads to the comic creators’ and sellers’ stalls. Another level on the left was reserved for the Artist Alley and portfolio reviews’ area. I felt like a small kid entering his very first comic shop. We decided to go round for an orientation tour. We soon found the signing tables for the guests with their respective signing time. People were already lining up to Mark Millar’s table (the organizer and comic writer) so we decided to start queuing before the queue got any longer. After some waiting, we got our first signatures of the day and also managed to talk to Mark about the Malta Comic Con! To our surprise we found that Mark has already visited our island and would love to visit Malta again (fingers crossed). We were absolutely thrilled with the first signing of the day!
Efrem was more interested in sketches so he started queuing in the Artist Alley but we realized that we needed to split up in various queues if we wanted to get as much signings as possible. Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), Kieron Gillen (Uncanny X-Men), Simon Spurrier (Age of X), Nick Spencer (Morning Glories), Andy Diggle (The Losers), Simon Furman (Transformers), Duncan Fegredo (Enigma) and Frank Quitely (WE3) were next on the list. All exceptional creators and really good folk too! We realised that we had to miss all the comic and film panels in order to maximise our chances of getting more signings and sketches. This was a sacrifice we had to make especially since I also had the task of speaking to the creators about the possibility of them coming to future Malta Comic Con and getting their contact details. Unfortunately, Olivier Coipel (Thor) cancelled his signings and we missed Steve Yeowell (Zenith) and David Lafuente (Ultimate Spider-Man).
To take a break from queuing we went exploring the artist alley where we really enjoyed catching up with last year’s guests at the Malta Comic Con, Steve Tanner (Time Bomb Comics) and Gary Erskine (Roller Girls). Efrem came over proudly displaying a Bane sketch by Kev Crossley. I suggested this artist to him and he was on cloud nine. Then off for more signings. Just as we were going to proceed to the sketching tables, we stumbled up on a roaring crowd coming from the wrestling area. It was a wrestler ranting about how he was going to tear up comics, starting by America’s Got Powers. As soon as he tore the comic, Jonathan Ross (the writer of the comic/British TV presenter/comic fan and collector), jumped on stage and the two of them started fighting. This was all a show with all the comic fans applauding as soon as the fight was over with Mr. Ross winning the fight. It was hilarious!
More signatures came from Peter Milligan (X-Force), Shaky Kane (Bulletproof coffin), Paul Grist (Mudman), Paul Cornell (Wisdom), Terry Dodson (Uncanny X-Men), Rob Williams (Uncanny X-Force), Doug Braithwaite ( Hulk), Sean Phillips (Criminal), Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Barry Kitson (Fantastic Four), and James Hodgkins (Avengers: Ultron Imperative). I also managed to get a Jack Staff sketch from Paul Grist and the Thing sketch from Barry Kitson. We were relieved that we managed to get Scott Snyder’s signature the day before at Forbidden Planet as he had one of the longest queues. I think the longest wait had to be for Joe Quesada (Amazing Spider-man) but it was an honour to meet the man that in my opinion managed to pull out Marvel from the dark ages of the 90s. After that it was Sara Pichelli’s (Ultimate Spider-man) turn and she was quite surprised when I talked to her in Italian. I enquired about Davide Messina (True Blood) and Davide Gianfelice (Daredevil) as I knew they were present and later I got to meet them and got their details too!
Time passes incredibly quickly when you’re having a blast and the first day of this amazing show came to a gradual end.
After eating a pizza to restore our lost energy, we went back to the hotel bar for some more Guinness. The place was buzzing with all the guests. We met with Chris Thompson and Taylor Lilley, and they introduced me to their fellow podcast member Robin Harmon. More people joined amongst whom was Dave Elliot. Speaking to Dave Elliot is always a pleasurable and equally informative experience and this was no exception as he shared some of his extensive knowledge with regards to the comic industry. Apart from the fact that it was getting cold, tiredness and all the beer drinking I’ve been doing started to take their toll, so I headed to bed at about 11.30pm.
20th May 2012 – A Wicked Surprise!
This time I managed to sleep up to 5.30am and was ready for another busy day. The morning routine was the same, eat as much as you can at breakfast to store the energy and off to queue in the cold morning. Soon it was 9.30am and the doors were again opened.
Efrem and Stellini headed straight to Adi Granov’s sketching table as they wanted to get a Juggernaut sketch from him but they had to wait till the end of the day till it was ready. Other sketches they got from other artists included Catwoman, Harlequinn, Hulk, Mean Machine, Earth X Hulk, and Judge Death (John McCrea). While heading to the signing tables I met last year’s Malta Comic Con guest Emma Vieceli (Vampire Academy) in conversation with my friend Chris Thompson. She was surprised to see me and enquired how the preparations were going for this year’s Malta Comic Con. More signings followed as we queued for the dynamic duo of Jonathan Ross (Turf) and Bryan Hitch (Ultimates). After signing our comics, one of the coolest artists ever, Mr. Ian Churchill sketched for us Wolverine, Red Hulk, Marine Man and the Red She Hulk. Another guest of last year’s Malta Comic Con was Kate Brown (Fish + Chocolate), whom I met while browsing the comic retailers. It felt like being part of a big family, meeting so many familiar people under one roof. The signings we got during the day were from Glenn Fabry (Preacher), Adi Granov (Iron Man), John McCrea (Hitman), Steve Parkhouse (Doctor Who) and Peter Hogan (Tom Strong). If I had some more cash to spend I would have raided the comic stalls to find some missing issues or buy some really interesting small press/Independent publications but the only comic I bought was a signed copy of ‘Habibi’.
The closing time was earlier on Sunday (at about 4.00pm) but before the show ended there was the Cosplay competition presented at the Total Film/SFX stage. Usually I am not a cosplay fan but this was different as the cosplayers had worn a lot of costumes which I was familiar with. There was quite a variety, from the classic Superman, to the film inspired Loki and Hawkeye, an acrobatic Black costumed Spider-man, two She-Hulks, half of the Fantastic Four with the Thing and Mr. Fantastic, and a scary Carnage. From the Batman comics came Harlequinn, Jokers, Poison Ivy, sexy Catwomen and many more… Although it was hard to choose a winner from all the lovely costumes on show, Mark Millar didn’t think twice before giving the first prize (a large framed photo of the Avengers film signed by all the actors), to two kid brothers dressed as Batman and Iron Man. Some might not agree with his choice but I think we should encourage and reward the future generation for their efforts.
As the doors started to close down, we felt satisfied with all the signings and sketches we managed to do and with meeting so many awesome creators, but also sad that it was all over. We headed to the bar at the hotel, where I met and chatted for a brief time with Dan Didio (DC Comics Senior VP/Executive Editor, Co-Publisher and writer). I also noted that C.B.Cebulski (Marvel Comics Senior Vice President of Creative & Creator Development) was there too but unfortunately did not manage to speak with him. We found Efrem eagerly waiting for Adi Granov to finish his Juggernaut sketch. When he was ready, we took a taxi and as promised to Chris Thompson we headed to Orbital comics as I wanted to buy some comics for my kids. Little did I know that a wicked surprise was literally in store for me. The Surprise was two signed Hitman trade paper backs that I had on my wants list given to me free by none other than Garry Leach. As if this wasn’t enough the owner of Orbital comics also gave me the comics that I intended to buy for my kids for free. I was astonished, speechless and could not thank them enough. So once again thank you guys you really made my day!
To finish off our comic book shops tour we visited Gosh Comics shop in Soho. Later we met with Stellini’s girlfriend’s sister in Camden Town. We ate a burger (which just in case my wife is reading we’ll call a salad) and proceeded to the Hobgoblin, a local rock pub, ending our adventure with rock music and yeah you guessed it: even more Guinness. Taking a taxi back to the hotel, we took a quick shower and began our final journey to the airport.
The Good
I loved it! In my life this was my fourth convention abroad and the biggest I ever attended. Met some interesting people from the comic scene: fans, comic creators, some big names, etc… For me, the highlights were meeting Mark Millar, Joe Quesada, Jonathan Ross and Scott Snyder but pleased to have met each and every one of the guests. It would take me forever to mention all the wicked people I met at Kapow. Special thanks to Orbital Comics, Chris Thompson, Garry Leach and Dave Elliot for making this trip even greater than I imagined it would be.
The Less Good
I was disappointed that I could not attend the panels, especially those hosted by Nick Frost, Warren Ellis, Marvel and DC. The long queuing times can hardly be avoided when such top creators are present, but I still couldn’t shake a tinge of disappointment for missing out on what promised to be exciting panels. People like Warren Ellis attended the comic con just for the panel but he was advertised as being a guest. I expected to find him on a signing table so this was also disappointing. Although I was tired, I would have preferred the show to be an hour or two longer so I could get that extra sketch!
The Verdict
Overall this was a massive experience for me and I would love to go to Kapow Comic Convention again next year, but due to my limited budget I will try to attend a different convention. That said, I would recommend Kapow to any comic fan who would like to visit a comic con in the UK. Long Live Mark Millar!
