Rotten Eggs at the Expo

ARMAGEDDON EXPO WAS RUINED FOR ME BY THE VERY INDUSTRY THAT I'VE BEEN FOLLOWING FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH GAIL SIMONE (SO-CALLED WRITER) AND JIMMY PALMIOTTI (CRAP PERSONALITY ALL TOGETHER), I RECKON I'VE BECOME EVEN MORE JADED NOW THAN WHEN I FELT DURING THE CLONE SAGA IN THE 90'S. THESE TWO SOUNDED AND LOOKED LIKE THEY WEREN'T GLAD TO BE IN MELBOURNE. WHEN I WENT TO THEIR DESK (AS THERE WAS NO QUEUE!), THEY COULDN'T EVEN SAY HI UNTIL AFTER I WAITED IN FRONT OF THEM... AND WAITED... TWIDDLE ME THUMBS... THEN, MY AHEM. OH, WHAT'S UP? I TELL YOU WHAT'S UP -- A COUPLE OF RUDE EFFIN PEOPLE THEY WERE, AND THEY SHOULDN'T BE ASKED AGAIN TO COME BACK TO THESE SHOWS. FOR INSTANCE, I SAW DRAWING PENS ON JIMMY'S DESK, SO I ASKED IF HE WOULD DO A SKETCH. THEN HE CHURNED UP THIS STORY ABOUT HIM NOT BEING A GOOD ARTIST, AND THAT PEOPLE THINK OF HIS WORK AS CRAP (NUFF SAID!). THEN HE ASKED IF I HAD A PIECE OF PAPER. HUH? THERE'S ONE NEXT TO YOU, BETWEEN YOU AND AMANDA CONNER! THEN HE TELLS ME TO COME BACK WHEN I CAN GET ONE, TO WHICH I SAID, YOU KNOW WHAT MAN, NEVER YOU MIND. I HOPE OTHER FANS GOT MORE COURTESY FROM THESE UNGRATEFUL GUESTS AND ENJOYED THE SHOW, BECAUSE THEY TRULY RUINED IT FOR THIS ONE. YOU'VE LOST THIS CUSTOMER FOREVER. TO THE STAKES TO THE BOTH OF YE. (struck the Hulk nerve in me, yes?)

HOWEVER, congrats to Amanda Conner (The Pro, JSA) and Melburnian Jason Badower (Heroes comics) for accommodating your fans with sketches and autographs (and the simple and sincere Hello). and the other saving grace for the expo would've to be the panel discussion with the various voice actors (Billy West amongst others), crew-stars from both ships the Enterprise (Trip) and Serenity (Wash). too bad, i missed out on The Flash since i was too much of a grouch after the saturday comics session. kudos to the Mattel booth, with their friendly and helpful staff and lots of great buys on Warner Bros items.

Armageddon Expo (version 1 - first time for most of us in Melbourne) gets 2.5 stars out of 5 from me, and it certainly has a lot of potential for growth. the venue was good, booths were set up all right, the tv celebrities were warm and informative, but the comics segment fell way below expectations. this event still has a lot of things to learn from its Auckland big brother (advertise, peeps!), and it's already nearly there compared to Supanova in Sydney. As Stan would say, Excelsior!