Malta Comic Con 2013 (Part Two)

  Malta Comic Con 2013 (Part Two)

So this is the second part of my Malta Comic Con 2013 blog. To read the first part visit;

 http://sweet-animosity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/malta-comic-con-2013-part-one.html 

The following takes place between Sunday 1st December and Tuesday 3rd December.

Boop..23:57

Beep..23:58

Boop..23:59

Beep..00:00

Sunday 1^st December

Sunday began a little later than planned, and for once it wasn’t our fault. It was charities! A president’s fun run was taking place amongst the streets of Valletta, and a number of roads around the city were closed. The driver dropped us about a 10 minute walk from the convention after arguing a number of times to local police officers who had been directing traffic. Shouting angrily and showing their disdain loudly is a favourite past time for many Maltese people.

Charity made me do it.

We sat behind our table, and waited to see what the second day of the convention would bring. The first person was a grown man we had been talking to on the previous day, and to our surprise he had shown his purchased issues to his family and friends and they had given him an ‘order list’ of what items they wanted. This sort of response was unexpected, but we weren’t going to complain if people liked our work. He bought a couple of everything we had to sell. The attendees continued to fill up the convention and soon enough we were busy once more. We met a few friends we had made last year, and received reviews from people who had purchased the issues on the Saturday. It was crazy how many people returned to purchase issue two after reading the first, we quickly sold out of issue one and had to direct people to our website www.schoolofbitches.co.uk to read the digital version for free as they continued purchasing issue two. Malta Comic Con kicks ass!!

The day progressed and we met old friends Shin Obi and Jasper, people we had kept in contact with since the previous year’s event. It was interesting to witness the reaction of people during events we appear at repeatedly. To see firsthand how people had reacted to our preview issue, and also others who had seen the Times of Malta article the week prior, it was a nice feeling.

An example of Jasper's skills.

At some point around this time I discovered the art of Tasos Anastasiades. His drawings were awesome. I really liked the works he was displaying regarding his title ‘Fascista’, which deals with people's obligations to their society, especially in times of crisis, and how their choices affect the people around them. Look out for that one. 

This is Tasos

As some of you may know, we also released an original animation at this year’s event, which was a preview of the forthcoming chapter ‘Chapter XII – Tonight the city sleeps’. We had missed the showing the day before so made sure we caught it today...yeah that’s right, we missed our own animation premiere...We sat in the pitch black cinema room as a number of people patiently waited for the beginning of the next film. Then it began...

The angelic sounds of ‘Silent Night’ filled the room to the unsuspecting viewers. Images of Fairford, a quiet town in England, filled the screen as the room became illuminated by the drifting white mist. The sound was crisp, Todd Collier had done a good job with the editing, and Stealth had once more created something awesome. When the emergency broadcast announcement kicked in I felt like I had had an aneurysm. Despite knowing what was about to happen, I was still somehow unprepared for the screeching blare of the electronic interference. It got the desired reaction from the people in attendance. School of Bitches had branched to cinema, and I had lost certain notes in my hearing forever.

A kid dressed as a Star Wars bear thing...*runs*

Someone else who was at the show I thought was kool was Maltese artist Joseph Bugeja. This guy was awesome and had a large variety of artistic skills that he was very good at. Looking through his portfolio and issue of Tsar, a comic he did the artwork on, I thought this guy is a similar thinker to us at School of Bitches.

Joseph Bugeja (Photo from 'The Writers Club')

We also met Nicholas Guirewitch for the first time properly, Nick we had first met earlier in the year at 2D Festival along with Guillermo Ortego, but in Derry we were highly intoxicated at that point and who knows what took place. They were the beard kings of the convention, men walked by scowling with jealousy, whilst their wives swooned beside them, and were reluctantly dragged past by their angered husbands wanting his copy of The Hulk signed by an un-associated artist.

Nicholas Gurewitch (Photo by Kim Bezzina Jones)

As the convention began to slow to an end, I felt like something was missing. My experience hadn’t truly lived up to my expectations, and I couldn’t determine why. Then a friendly and familiar face came running into our room, bringing cheer to all those around him. Fat Spidey was here. Fat Spidey, the most handsome of super heroes, often overlooked due to his more narcissistic relative, Spider Man.

The adorable Fat Spidey

Just as I ran to embrace Fat Spidey, another familiar personality made an appearance...

... What do I call him?

... I’m going to call him ‘Sea Puppy’s homeless minion’. A homeless man that sits below Sea Puppy’s table and scowls at me from across the room. I remember angering him last year after I laughed at the fact Sea Puppy had used the homeless minion’s cardboard shelter to make his stupid business cards. Since then we never really connected. 

Sea Puppy's minion

So, as I began my walk to embrace Fat Spidey, the homeless minion made his return and dived from a nearby table to ‘spear’ me into the wall. Seeing the dangers I ducked to the ground and rolled under our convention table, avoiding the perils of being attacked by the homeless minion. Fat Spidey was saved from the trauma and seemed unaware of the catastrophe he had just averted. I didn’t tell him about the attempted attack, it would only upset him. So I carried on silently hiding my demons. I would embrace him later in my dreams...

‘I hate that homeless minion’

-Dhalia

As I sat in the foetal position below our table, I was attracted to the display across the room from me. The table belonged to ‘A Space Boy Dream’.  I stumbled across the floor to have a look at what A Space Boy Dream was about. The story follows the life of Vincent, and is the creation of Moira Zahra and Mark Scicluna, who have managed to create stories that blend between existing in reality and also within the story itself. It’s awesome work.

A Space Boy Dream

 I began to circle the room and near the table of Sea puppy, his homeless minion began to growl, and I decided it was time to wander elsewhere. I found solace within the first room filled with smiling people. Tim Perkins, creator of worlds, was talking to his adoring fans that swarmed his table in droves, and I decided I would catch up with him later. Dave Windett, Jon Haward and Ian Churchill were all preoccupied too, so I decided to drift around the tables occasionally picking up a piece of paper and observing what it said, before ending up stood in the middle of the room pondering the question ‘If I was a minion, would I be a nice minion, or a nasty minion?’, but my answer to that obviously was just as stupid as the initial question itself.

Didn’t I say the conversation was about over like four paragraphs ago? Well I guess by now it was probably finished. 

St James Cavalier, valletta

We met up with Dave Lung and Dave Windett at the bottom of the ‘WWE ramp’. The convention seemed to have been successful to those who exhibited, with many having sleepless nights ahead to complete commissions. We hopped upon the bus and left St. James Cavalier for the final time. Farewell Malta Comic Con! See you next year...

...I hope...

...Maybe we should have asked if they want us back before advertising the launch of Chapter XII – Tonight the city sleeps at next year’s event...

...Too late now...

Anyway...

We arrived back at the hotel once again...

Look it's our hotel once again.

... I imagine that’s what purgatory is like, you go to leave your ‘day job’ and as you open the doors to exit, you walk back into the doors at the beginning of your shift again! It’s like Purgatory, it just never fucking ends...I hate my day job. 

I’ve gotten carried away again. We went and ate crepes and club sandwiches down the road in Bugibba. I broke my lip piercing about now, and went on a mental frenzy trying to find the closest shop that would sell the piercing loop at 10pm. I was quickly shot down by many friends, who informed me that because I’d had the piercing for 3 years or so, it will never heal, I’ll always be broken...Apparently if you stab yourself in the face, then you will never be the same person again...Words to live by there.

The utter lack of sleep that I had been having the past week or so finally hit me tonight. I decided to return to my room at a respectable hour of 1am. We had to be up and ready to meet the coach at 8am to start our guest tour. Was I fuck getting up any earlier just to have breakfast, see me crawling down into the foyer at 7.59am. Yes you will.

Well that plan didn’t work out so well, the cleaner had other ideas in mind.

Monday 2^nd December

I got to get this off my chest. The cleaner of mine and Todd’s area of the hotel was a nutcase. She had an obsession with reminding us that we had to vacate the hotel at 11am, five hours in advance! We weren’t even checking out today...

I woke up to the sounds of an angry woman at my door (No matter where I go...) and decided to watch Sponge bob Square pants in German, because it made more sense to me than watching the news. It was useful for one thing, I now have a great way to break the ice at funerals and weddings.

*Crowd gathers*

‘Do you know what Sponge Bob Square Pants is in German?’ I ask.

‘No we do not, please tell us’ Replies the people in attendance.

‘Sponge Bob Schwammkopf’ I say in a funny, yet un-racist voice, whilst exaggerating the last inaudible word.

*Crowd erupts in applause*

It was time to go on the coach again.

I waited outside in the sunshine with the rest of the guests and  introduced myself to Michael Dialynas and asked him how his weekend had gone. Usually if you haven’t met a guest by now there is no hope. If they haven’t seen you sing karaoke drunk, then just like normal people, they won’t trust you. Michael was a kool guy. The bearded Greek was soon to be flying away from Malta but joined us for the museum and dinner trips. 

 

Michael Dialynas ladies and gentlemen (photo by Chris Le Galle)

We visited the fine arts museum in Valletta and a number of incredible locations used in shitty zombie films like ‘World War Z’ before taking a ride to Dingli Cliffs on the ‘Awe inspiring’ (*1) Western coast of the island.

(*1) Quote by Todd Collier of ‘Todd Collier Film’ *citation needed*

Dingli Cliffs (Photo by Todd Collier)

We arrived at a restaurant that looked out over the cliffs and out to sea. It was a beautiful view and had an observatory nearby that looks like an end level boss from a Sonic game. I was starving and wanted to eat, but the host had other ideas. He began to give us a presentation on the local area and the ingredients which they use to cook their food...Their food...I just wanted the food.

'The end level boss' (photo by Todd again)

Giant bowls of pasta were handed around the table, which had begun to resemble ‘The last supper’ in its Mediterranean setting and layout. I was sat with Michael Dialynas, Tim Perkins and the rest of the School of Bitches crew as we ate pasta, drank wine and looked out over the cliffs towards the sea. Michael left us, like we all would also have to in the coming days. We said good bye and began walking towards the cliffs. 

Judas, Todd and Tim Perkins (photo by Will Simpson)

I joined Sean, Tim Perkins and Dave Windett to walk up the road as Todd went and took photos of the floor. When the restaurants host was doing that presentation earlier on, he mentioned that there was one goat farmer left in the area and if we saw him then that’s him...the last goat farmer in this little town. When we then went to walk, what appeared? The goats and...i don’t actually remember seeing the farmer, but goats appeared regardless. Now was that all just a ruse? A cunning attempt to trick us?  Perhaps. I’m not sure, but because I don’t like it when things are happy, I’m going to say that the restaurant played a trick to make us smile! Assholes.

The church in question

At the top of the hill the majority of the group were walking up, was a small church that we stood around, and watched below as a couple of men went on a shooting rampage, whilst a small dog ran around as though on crack. Fabio Agius told a number of us a story about how one of his friends was accidentally shot by a hunter whilst in a similar situation. We were shortly hoarded together in front of the small church, for a photo that was just waiting to be photo shopped by some idiots who should be working in a failing record store in Bromley.

The original image

 

Getting back on the coach we were on our way once more, but as we drove off, we discovered that we had left a number of guests back at the restaurant. The driver was a bore and didn’t pull any GTA moves to retrieve them, and before long we were once again being kicked out onto the streets outside the hotel, left to our own devices.

Still not having slept over the last few nights, I decided I was going to bail and return to my room for a bit before meeting everyone for the final meal.  My room had its own balcony and a walk in shower I made full use of as I moved between the shower and my bedroom humming the famous words of Q Lazarus. ‘Good bye horses...’, as I danced between the many large mirrors decorating the abode. 

'Good bye horses...'

 ‘Would you fuck me? I’d fuck me’

I woke up a few hours later upon the double bed, a can of hair spray in one hand, my crotch in the other. It was time to clean myself up and rejoin the group for the evening’s meal. They were congregating within the hotels foyer as I arrived. Tonight’s meal would be eaten in ‘La Scala’ (I think?). It was the same restaurant we had gone to following the 2012 event.

The food was a win, but because I had been living off one meal a day for the previous month or so, to allow for the funding to publish issue two, the meal about killed me to eat it all. Lamb shanks and a prawn cocktail for starters! I swear I had spent more time eating food on this trip than time I had spent sleeping. Well, at least I’d be able to sleep once I left to stay with my family on the Tuesday...yeah, like fuck.

This year I was sat with MariaIsabella Grech, Luca Mule Stagno, Tim Perkins, Chris Le Galle, Fabio Agius and Alan Stealth. We dined and laughed and did all that merry stuff, before we were kicked out the building.

Even Santa Claus made an appearance

We managed to get a couple drinks each at the hotel bar before the barman declared that it was last orders. A very wise person in the group decided that a good idea would be to buy as many bottles of wine as we could, and take over the hotels main foyer. Much like squatters would congregate in an empty warehouse amongst an assortment of emptying cider bottles.

The hotels foyer 'pre-occupation'

 We drank more wine and I caught up with Chris Le Galle, Michael Quinton and Will Simpson. Chris Le Galle is the boy! I remember back in mid 2012 when I was living in Malta, and Alan Stealth was living in Cardiff. I decided I was going to take the work we had completed at that point to a meeting with Chris I had organised. It was intended to be a quick meeting, but some excessive drinking later, and with the last buses making their way out of Valletta, Chris left having been the first person to be introduced to the project, except Alan Stealth’s close friends throughout the years. We had kept in contact and School of Bitches launched at the Malta Comic Con that year. 

Michael Quinton was also one of the event’s organisers we had met in 2012. It was kool catching up with organisers and guests making their second appearance. Samantha Abela was a great help to us this year as she translated our Malta landmarks back stories from English to Maltese. Chris Muscat pretty much sorted our appearance at this years event.

Fabio Agius and Anthony Pirotta. ‘Do you want to play a game...’

We knew Will Simpson from earlier in the year when we both attended the 2D Festival in Derry, Northern Ireland. The situations when I met Will and the the current Malta one were very similar, both consisting of drinking in a hotel foyer we had taken over in the early morning hours of the last day. Swap the country and hotel name and it was identical. I really like Wills art. My idea of story boarding prior to meeting him was a few scribbles on a receipt, but not anymore. Will's drawings on display at the convention were incredible.

Will Simpson 'Angel' (photo by Will Simpson)

There was one thing I wanted to ask Will during our visit. I wonder if he has seen this video;

The numbers began to dwindle down as the hours disappeared, and the sky began to turn from black to an increasingly lighter shade of blue. The final 6 remained with Sean Azzopardi, Tim Perkins, Sea Puppy, Widdershins, Alan Stealth and myself. It was time to retreat to my room once more, I only had a couple of hours until the psycho cleaner would be bashing down my door in anticipation of my departure.

'I couldn't wait'

Tuesday 3^rd December

Yet again the cleaner woke me up and made me aware that I had to be out by 11am. Yet again I already knew that information. Yet again I was back in the hotel foyer, which now had been cleaned of the previous nights discarded bottles and glasses, and was filled with the elderly sitting in their chairs as they stared at the clock on the wall.

We spent some time besides the elderly with some of the guests leaving that day. Nicholas Gurewitch, Guillermo Ortego, Sean Azzopardi, Dave Windett, Tim Perkins and ourselves chatted until Nicholas, Guillermo and Sean left for their flight with Chris Thompson.

The School of Bitches crew of Alan Stealth, Todd Collier, Judas and myself joined Tim Perkins and Dave Windett to get lunch. Dave left us just before Chris Le Galle arrived with his girlfriend Joanna, and we ate food again. The food in Malta is so cheap. You can get a massive meal made from fresh ingredients for the same amount it costs you to buy some digestives and a Sainsbury’s sausage roll in Wales. So even though we ate loads more good food, it cost us the same as eating the filth back home.

This was Todd...

This is what Todd ate

This is what Todd drank

This is Todd now.

We were all visibly tired and it was time to part ways. Tim Perkins, Alan Stealth, Todd Collier and Judas returned to the hotel. Chris and Joanna gave me a ride to Valletta, where I would catch the bus to Marsaskala, a small fishing town in the south of the island where my family currently live.

The Malta Comic Con was over for me and it was now time to enjoy seeing my family before all the work started again when I returned to Wales.

A big thanks to everyone involved from the organisers, to the guests and attendees we met along the way. Until next time, stay safe.

Dhalia.

I'm going to leave you with this picture of Judas...Just look at him for awhile.

Judas...