Write us, Taylor. WRITE US!!!
Aghhhhhhhh!
I hate planes.
We took off into the storm, lightning flashing around us, insane turbulence forcing our stomachs into our brains. The cabin crew’s toothy grins couldn’t conceal the terror behind their eyes as we were surrounded by the sound of a waterfall on a tin roof for twenty minutes. A PLANE SHOULD NOT SOUND LIKE TIN!
I later learned that we were one of the only planes to make it out of Melbourne airport that afternoon. Clearly the airport saw the hell we barely made it through and decided we were the only ones they should risk; I, Colin Wilson and Ernie Dingo (sitting behind us in a Hungry Jacks suit for some reason…?) were the test dummies.
Landing was fine until the plane doors opened, at which stage we were enveloped in a Brisbane bath of 90% humidity.
I was in desperate need for food by the time we reached the hotel, the sort of hunger that can only be created by fearing for one’s life.
Jhonen Vasquez was bored in the lobby and offered to help me track down food. We ventured out to heat… heat and people! The streets of Brisbane were crammed full of people, adding their own mix of teenage deodorant, sweat and tears to the humidity. Jhonen longed for Melbourne and so did I. I literally swallowed a subway sub in one mouthful and introduced Jhonen to Boost juice… ah, boost juice; sugar masquerading as health food.
Then it was off to preview night, where we were introduced to a sea of screaming fans (never a bad thing – unless they’re screaming for the wrong reason – fire, for instance). After the introductions, Colin, Jhonen and I were stuck awkwardly on stage in front of the crowd until Todd McFarlane rubbed the head of our brilliant MC, Quinny. This sent a mist of hot-stage-lights-and-Brisbane-induced-sweat towards us, and Jhonen, Colin and I used the horror-sweat-mist to run from the stage to safety.
Colin and I then held a comic book masterclass which went really well and we sold a pile of our new book ‘The Example‘ to some very eager people, a lot of whom came back the next day to tell us how much they liked it – thank you all! Then we went for Turkish, which looked like this…
Jhonen Vasquez and I show the food we can’t possibly finish while Colin Wilson falls asleep having managed to eat all of his.
The next day they piled us all on the bus to take us to the venue. Colin and I quickly established ourselves at the back of the bus – being the cool kids. It quickly became clear that comic book people sat at the back of the bus and we were joined by the awesome Nicola Scott and, the legend, Todd McFarlane.
Todd McFarlane reads the Example (at the back of the bus). That’s Hayden Panettiere in front of him, sitting dangerously close to the cool kids.
Our bus literally had to drive through people as we approached the venue and the lines for Supanova snaked around a car park, out into the street and around the block (they had over 15,000 people through).
A long day of signing was broken up by a Star Wars: Invasion Q&A, which was very well attended – people are pumped for our book… for the record, so are we.
This guy was also looking forward to Invasion.
Colin and I met some great people throughout the day, including Amber Benson and Adam Busch (Tara and Warren from Buffy). On the show, Adam killed Amber. In real life, they’re a couple. It’s funny how things work out. Amber, among a thousand other things, has written comics for Dark Horse (small world). In a fit of boredom / insanity Adam and I decided to head out into the centre of the convention and sing a duet of ‘I’m the one who wants to be with you’ on Singstar. This turned a few heads and we had a large, bewildered crowd as the Star Wars writer and the guy who had his skin ripped off on TV looked lovingly into each others eyes.
Adam Busch and I have a moment before our duet, while Amber Benson looks on, possibly with jealousy.
More later…
