Supanova is great for collecting some reading suggestions. You can also see some great actors, artists and writers. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood were at Supanova, Brisbane, celebrating the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Christina Ricci gave a talk. They were all signing autographs, too.
Supanova is a comic-con style event. The best thing about comic-cons is that, theoretically, anyone with a book or art work can hire a table to promote it. The book or artwork just has to be in the scifi or fantasy genres. and be of good quality.
Animator Jonathon Saunders gave me a lot of comics and novel reading tips. He is the creator, co-writer and director of Zero-Point, an animation series about an indigenous superhero who has to uncover a vast government conspiracy. All four episodes of Zero-Point, Season Zero, will be released on January 24. Mr Saunders said he didn’t want a forced indigenous character for the superhero: the character just happens to be indigenous. He didn’t like how some minority or other characters were often included as “props” in movies. They didn’t feel connected to the story. He also touches on historic events in Australia but he said he didn’t want to be ham-fisted about it, and kept it subtle.
He used Toonboom Harmony to make the animation. Eclipse Studio Paints was another cheaper program he liked.
He had a great interest in comics, from Marvel and DC superheroes to manga, and he liked anime, which are Japanese cartoons. He liked Watchmen, the comics and the film ( he said the director’s cut was better). He liked The Dark Night Returns, a four-part 1986 comic series by Frank Miller, and Batman: Year One by the same author. He liked the comic Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek. He also liked Appleseed written and drawn by Masamune Shirow, the creator of Ghost in the Shell, which Mr Saunders also liked. Neon Genesis – Evangelion by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto was another manga favorite. For some of Mr Saunders’ recommendations for novels and non-fiction books, see the next page.

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