supageddon

In one month's time Armageddon is happening in Melbourne and Supanova is happening in Sydney.

But did you know that next year Supanova's in Melbourne - March 28-30, Brisbane - April 4-6, Sydney - June 20-22, Perth - June 27-29? Well they are so competition is good.

Next year, Armageddon is in Sydney in April and Melbourne in October (or the other way round, actually i think its the other way around)

I have no affiliation with either cons, I've pretty much declared I'm not going to Supanova again (but i was grumpy at the time - and i'm fickle) and I had a rant about Bill's (the main dude at Armageddon's) actions on the web (essentially churlish passive aggressiveness).

With that out of the way

Artist Alley
Snova - 1 x 1.8m table + 3 chairs = $220
geddon - 1 x 1m table + 1 chair = $100

If you share a table (split costs) or have heaps of gear, snova wins.
(numbers may be wrong but close enough)

Comic Guests
Early on Armageddon had this one won, but Ed Brubaker pulled out and his replacement Greg Rucka pulled out too. They now have Gail Simone as their big guest, with Jimmy Palmiotti another great guest. Amanda Connor and David Wohl round out the international Guests. Nicola Scott is the only Australian creator, though a very good one at that.

Supanova went to bat with Dan Didio and Ben Templesmith a very big score; Dan would appeal to DC fans and creators. Templesmith has a movie opening that month as well (30 Days of Night) which would be a boon for media coverage. But they both pulled out (Didio for family reasons - which must be massive because of the 2 months notice) and Templesmith is in Hollywood walking the red carpet. There were rumours of a Marvel creator and editor showing up, but that didn't eventuate. The biggest guest now is Stan Lee, who is doing a video link up 9am Saturday morning, the early time is because Stan doesn't work past 5pm LA time, I assume its happy hour for seniors at the local Flashdancers. Actual people coming include Marv Wolfman, Whilce Portacio (which does makes my inner fanboy squeal) and Brandon Peterson. Someone called Nate Butler is also coming, he's done kids books (muppets, looney tunes, etc) (and appears to be a Born Again). Besides Portacio, not terribly exciting, none of them are releasing anything curently. On the local guests front, there is some good representation David Yardin, Queenie Chan and Madeline Rosca, Stewart McKenny, Chewie Chan, and Chris Sequeria. Only Yardin, Chan and Rosca are working consistently on international comics (at the moment).

So interms of international comic guests, its Armageddon with a win. In terms of Australian creators its Supanova's show.
All up, Snova by a nose.

International guests
I usually don't care, I'm not into the majority of pop culture, so bgrade actors and general has beens don't impress. Though i do recognise its these guests that get punters buying tickets. So in those terms Armageddon wins, the animation guests are fantastic (just Bruce Tim and Billy West alone would be awesome) and while I have no idea besides sweaty 40 year olds would be interested in Adam West and Julie Newmar, i do recognise they are quite the get. Supanova do have way better anime/manga representation which is, you know, what the kids want. Snova probably has the 'best' guest, the dude who plays Xander in Buffy, which is still like a/kind of current show. Also getting the director of Wolf Creek is pretty cool. But 'Geddon does have porn actress Jasmine st Claire which will get them through the door. They also have WRESTLERS! and Australian Idol contestant Bobby Flynn! i'm hoping for a match up!

Miscellaneous
Snova has a better local track record with more visibility but you have to travel too far to get to the cons. Since his telling off a couple years a go, Daniel has made sure that Australia Creators get highlighted. Armageddon only have one and looking through the New Zealand guest lists of the past, there doesn't seem to be many local creators listed (though i may be wrong). The Snova forum is much more interesting, but it is fun giving Kongster bad Karma points on the Armageddon boards.

Armageddon is in the city and the actual variety, quantity and quality of guests is much better; i just think it needs more anime/manga and local representation to make me happy (and that's important!)

If it was a boxing match, Armageddon wins by points. Though it is very very apparent that Armageddon's appearance to the scene has made Supanova pull up there socks.