Comics in Australia - Conventions

Conventions

• The first true Australian Comic Convention was Comicon I (1979) held at RMIT in Melbourne. Comicon II (1980) followed at the Sheraton Hotel in Melbourne and Comicon III (1981) was held in Sydney.

• The Australian Comic-Book Convention was held on 16–18 January 1986 at the Sydney Opera House, featuring international guests for the first time including (Jim Steranko) and Will Eisner who allowed the Spirit to be depicted as a koala while Spiderman was a Kangaroo.
• The convention was organised by three principles Peter Mitris, Richard Rea, and former Federal Publishing licensing consultant Peter Greenwood(who is now based in Los Angeles as a worldwide licensing manager for classic television).
• They had hoped to turn it into an annual event based on the San Diego Comic con,but a lack of corporate sponsorship for this large of an event caused it to be a one off.
• It was the forerunner of the many later OzCon conventions held from 1992 to 1998 in Sydney, with an additional event in Melbourne in 1997, and the comicfest! events, again in Sydney from 2000 to 2002, before the concept was expanded into...
• Supanova, Australia's largest con. Held in Sydney and Brisbane each year since 2002 and 2003 respectively. It has since grown to incorporate Perth and Melbourne since 2008. It features, in addition to Comic-Books, a mix of current TV pop cultures, from science fiction & fantasy to anime & manga. It features special guest comic-book writers and artists and actors from currently in vogue series, movies and anime, as well as special effects workers.