Malta Comic Con 2013
Thursday 28th November
The trip to Malta was my very first trip abroad, and my first time on a plane. It was an early Tuesday morning start, our plane was at 9:30. Judas picked us up at 6:45 for the trip to Bristol. The plane journey was fine. I sat next to Dhalia, who slept most of the way. I spent the majority of my time looking out of the window hoping to see a birds eye view of European cities, but quickly realised that the only view I had was one of clouds. I managed to doze off for 20 minutes or so, when finally Malta came into view. I began whistling the theme song to 'Jurassic Park', imagining I was sat across from Richard Attenborough pointing out the window saying, "There". Dhalia started pointing out different things; where he used to work, different areas, and his mum's house. The island looked amazing, and we could see the whole country from our window. We landed in a wet Valletta, my previous conceptions about a sunny and hot island were quickly dashed. We were greeted by Christopher Muscat, one of the Comic Con organisers, and our driver Chris. He drove us to our hotel in his 4x4 land rover. I was quiet the entire journey, looking out of the window, transfixed by the completely different architecture and culture.
We arrived at 'Hotel Santana' and proceeded to check in. We were given our timetable for the Comic Con artists and guests, which looked quite fun and eventful. We each went to our rooms; Stealth and Judas were next to each other on the second floor while myself and Dhalia neighboured each other on the third floor. "Save the best till last" as Dhalia jokingly put it as the other two exited the lift. Me and Dhalia dumped our things in our rooms and headed straight back out while Stealth and Judas showered and changed. Dhalia, having lived in Malta in the past, knew the area well and proceeded to give me a little tour. We walked along the beach, with me being the typical tourist and taking plenty of photos. The view was absolutely stunning.
Dhalia was heading off to see his brother later that night, and after we met up with Stealth and Judas, he left us for the night, leaving the remaining three of us to go in search of a café or restaurant. We came across a place called 'Vinnies', where the waitress was very welcoming and adamant that we should all eat fish. We all ate fish. She tried describing the fish to Judas, unaware that his nodding was out of courtesy as he had no idea what she was saying. I had a salmon steak which was absolutely huge and filling, and very worth the €12 I paid.
With food in our bellies we decided to have some drinks, and found a small bar where we had a couple of Jagerbombs and some cocktails. We got talking to a few British people who were there on holiday. We left after a while and tried a place called 'Incognito', where we once again had cocktails. There was also complimentary food which included potatoes, nuts and chips. We were promised garlic bread, but it never came, and Judas found this quite upsetting.
The alcohol and lack of sleep had caught up with me, and at around 1am I headed back to my hotel room, where I watched Maltese TV and fell asleep.
Friday 29th November
I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and met Dhalia for breakfast. It was amazing. I'd never had included breakfast before, so I took full advantage, having numerous cups of tea and orange juice, along with cereal, yogurt, croissants and bread. I also ate what I thought was a chocolate brownie. It wasn't a chocolate brownie. I labelled it the 'joke brownie'. Judas joined us shortly after, and informed us that he couldn't get a reply from Stealth. Dhalia had some cornflakes and announced that they 'tasted like soggy paper'. We decided to get showered and ready for the day ahead. Judas, who had already done this, went for a solo walk while me and Dhalia got ready. We joined him a short while later and found a café overlooking the sea and ordered some Cokes. Stealth was stirring.
We met up with Stealth a while later, who needed his coffee fix, so we went to a café a couple of doors down from our hotel, 'Milk and Coffee'. We were all amazed by the front of the menu, which had a picture of a Nutella Milkshake, and there was no way we were not going to try one. All of us except Stealth ordered some food, then we headed off to find another café. We found one in town which offered free Wi-Fi, so we agreed on going in. I drank a lot of tea, and me and Judas used up all of the Wi-Fi. We were due to meet the other artists and guests in the hotel foyer at 7, so we all headed back and got ready.
I met Dhalia by the lift and we headed down to the foyer, where we found a large congregation of people in conversation. Stealth and Judas were talking to the guys from
Twisted Dark; Neil Gibson and Will O'Mullane. We joined in and spoke for a while until it was time for the coach to take us to the location of the Comic Con; St. James' Cavalier. It was a beautiful building, one where most comic conventions wouldn't be held in. We arrived and everyone set up their tables, and before long it was time to leave and head to the first group meal at 'San Giovanni'. Stealth and Dhalia went back to the table to sort things out, resulting in them nearly being locked in.
The restaurant was very pleasant, and we were all sat outside. Me and Judas saved some seats on the end of our table for Stealth and Dhalia, and started joining in with the conversation on our table. Our table consisted of
John - Paul Bove,
Rebekah Isaacs and her boyfriend Josh, Neil Gibson, Will O'Mullane and
Mike Garley. It was raining quite a lot and water started dripping through the parasols and onto me, so we had to move the table across. I had a slightly burnt pizza and a Brandy and coke. The measurements in Malta are double than what they are in the UK, so it hit me straight away. Mike Quinton, one of the organisers, came over and spoke to us for a while. It came time to leave, and we walked back to the coach with
Sean Azzopardi, who sat with us on the way back. We returned to the hotel and all retreated to our rooms, ready for the opening day of the Comic Con the next day.
Saturday 30th November
I got up at 7 and got ready to head down for breakfast. The shower in my room was out of this world. I ate with Dhalia and Judas, and Stealth met us afterwards before we got on the coach. We got to St. James' Cavalier and headed straight to the School Of Bitches table, where we shared a room with
Paul Allor, Sean Azzopardi,
Ales Kot, Rebekah Isaacs,
Sea Puppy, John - Paul Bove,
Charlie Adlard,
Sean Phillips,
Michael Dialynas,
Tasos Anastasiades,
Federica di Nardo and
Dave Lung. I set off with my camera and explored other rooms, took photos and filmed a lot of the art and the cosplayers. I spoke with the people from
Pilot Anthology,
Maria Isabella Grech,
Peter Magro and the other artists in our room.
The Maltese Prime Minister came to have a look at all the art, and Stealth made sure he grabbed him and explained all of the images to him. I got a couple of good pictures. The day finally finished at 6pm, and we tidied up and headed to the coach. We got back to the hotel and the four of us headed off in search of a place to eat. There were plenty of places nearby, but Stealth wanted a club sandwich, so we walked a long way in the rain to find one, much to Judas' disapproval. We decided on a place called 'O'Reileys'. The woman there was English and very friendly. We ordered drinks and food. I had a double bacon and cheese burger, which was absolutely huge, it took me nearly an hour to eat it all. It was completely worth €9. We had cocktails, which came in gigantic glasses, complete with sparklers. We finally left and went to find everyone else for karaoke night. None of us got up to sing but we enjoyed watching the people who did. Josh stole the show with his act, which got more and more emotional as it went on, which resulted in his shirt being removed and a chair being lifted into the air. A lightning storm ensued which lit up the whole street and was amazing to watch. We spoke to a few hilarious guys and headed back to the hotel, our shoes absolutely drenched.
Sunday 1st December
The next day was a later start, so I was able to stay in bed a bit longer. As long as the cleaner lady didn't come knocking to chuck me out so she could clean. We all had breakfast, except Stealth of course, and left the hotel at 9:30. The coach ride was very long. Some sort of charity walk was taking place which caused a lot of road closures. We finally got to the Con and went straight to the table. I once again walked around with my camera. I had compiled quite a lot of clips of cosplayers, which included Assassins Creed, Bane, Elizabeth Comstock, FemShep, and a little baby Ewok.
The
School Of Bitches animation was being shown in the cinema, and it was a great moment for me to see one of my projects shown on a big screen at a Comic Con.
The day seemed quite long and when it was over, we packed up and got on the coach and went back to the hotel. The four of us went to a crepe café. I had a Maltese crepe which was amazing. We went back to the hotel and sat outside for a bit then retreated to our rooms. I watched Sky News, and was astounded by the amount of shit that was going on around the world. There was the helicopter crash in Glasgow, the riots in Bangkok, the protests in Ukraine, the death of Paul Walker and the train crash in The Bronx. It's a scary world out there. I fell asleep with the TV on.
Monday 2nd December
We all had breakfast, and got on the coach for the tour of Valletta. We went to a fine art museum, then walked around and was shown a few film locations from World War Z by Fabio, who was one hell of a character. We got back on the coach and went to a restaurant on the Dingli Cliffs. The owner showed us a presentation about the wildlife and plants that can be found in Malta, however, I was very hungry and it all went straight over my head. We were given wine and water, and lots of pasta. We were sat with
Tim Perkins, who was an awesome and really nice guy. We finished and paid, and went for a walk along the cliffs. It was breath taking. We had a group photo taken, then headed back to the hotel.
I went for a walk by myself down to the beach to take it all in. I went back to my room and fell asleep with the TV on for an hour, then got ready for the final meal.
I was sat next to Stealth and Mike, and sat across from Chris the driver and his girlfriend,
Chris Muscat and
Chris Le Galle. I had stuffed mushrooms for a starter, followed by lamb shanks. A dessert was included, but I couldn't manage it. Fabio dressed up as Santa and gave a thank you/goodbye speech. Everyone went back to the hotel to have drinks. I left for bed at around 3am, a bit deflated that this was to be my last night in Malta.
Tuesday 3rd December
Tuesday was our last day in Malta. I got up at 9 for breakfast, and made the most of it. We checked out and sat in the foyer for a few hours with Sean Azzopardi, Tim Perkins,
Dave Windett,
Nicolas Gurewitch and
Guillermo Ortego. Sean, Nicholas and Ortego left for their flights, so the rest of us decided to get food and drink at Milk and Coffee. Le Galle and his wife joined us, while Dave Windett headed back to the hotel.
I had lots of tea as usual, and a lemon sorbet ice cream which was incredibly tasty. We stayed there for a while, mostly talking about dogs. Me, Stealth and Dhalia put in a lot of conversation about Diesel.
Dhalia left us to see his mum, as he was staying with her until Sunday. Le Galle and his wife said goodbye, and the rest of us returned to the hotel to find Dave sat on the sofa drawing. We talked until our lifts to the airport arrived. Chris Muscat came and took Dave and Tim first. We said our goodbyes and awaited our lift. Chris arrived and we had a comical journey to the airport. We ran into Dave and Tim who were heading for Manchester. We once again said goodbye and headed to our departure gate. I bought a bottle of Kinnie; 'The taste of Malta', which tasted like shampoo.
We finally boarded the plane, where me, Stealth and Judas all sat together. The journey went quite quickly, helped by the fact that I had things to read. I had bought 'Tsar' and a 1990 issue of Captain America, and a puzzle book which I inevitably graffited. Stealth was busy drawing a comical picture of a man riding a crashing plane, whilst swinging a laso, into a woman. We landed in a cold Bristol, followed by a long car ride back to Cardiff.
My first trip abroad was indescribable. I have returned to the UK noticing the difference in people, weather and cost of living, and definitely plan on travelling more in the next year.
Malta was already being missed, and a year long wait until the next visit had begun.
