Brisbane Convention And Exhibition Centre - Brisbane, QLD
Friday 6th to Sunday 8th November 2026
Sunday 8th November 2026
Written by Tom Wilson
Photographed by: Rashid AlKamraikhi
We Sent A Hitman To Supanova (And He Got The Wrong Target)
I might be dressed as an assassin, but what I’ve really been killing this weekend is being a dad. After taking my daughter to her first ever concert on Friday (US pop singer Benson Boone), we’re following it up with her first ever convention! Having checked out the Gold Coast leg earlier in the year and being wowed by all the cosplayers, once we found out that Hitman star David Bateson would be in attendance, we decided to up the ante, and I slipped on a suit and shaved my head to stalk Supanova as a 6’7” version of Agent 47.
PICTURED: Tom, Abby, and some amazing cosplayers (photo by random punter #187)
As we get checked in and enter the main convention floor, Rashid spears off to catch Alan Tudyk’s panel, leaving us to slowly filter through the dense matrix of stands. My biggest recommendation I can give you if you’ve never gone to a convention is this: if you’re not cosplaying, wear comfortable shoes, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time on your feet, and there isn’t always an available seat. It’s a surreal environment. There are costumes everywhere, stands for every conceivable fandom, and every now and then you’ll glimpse someone you’ve been watching on TV since you were a kid … which definitely wasn’t John Jarrett of Wolf Creek, who is selling shirts that say “I wasn’t on fucking Play School”. I’m stopped for a photo every ten metres, meanwhile my daughter is being a ray of sunshine and complimenting every single cosplayer she passes. It’s a lot to take in, so it was nice of the organisers to let us know there were quiet zones throughout the venue to deal with sensory overload.
Pictured: Art the Clown Taking In Brisbane
We glimpse David Bateson at his booth, and I smile when I see he’s wearing the exact same outfit as me. Unfortunately he’s got a massive line of people waiting to talk to him, so we take a detour, and what I see turns me into a massive fanboy. When I was about eight, I got to see Terminator 2 without my parents knowing, and it instantly became my favourite film of all time, so when I heard that Jeanette Goldstein would be attending, I was deliriously excited. After years interviewing my musical idols and becoming very desensitised to meeting people whose work I admire, I soon realise that this does not extend to people from movies I grew up watching. I instantly turn into a stammering schoolgirl talking to Jeanette, and the impact that her portrayal of Vasquez in Aliens had on me as an infantry soldier. (My corporal at the School of Infantry told me that every machine gunner dreams of being able to yell “let’s rock” while holding down the trigger on a belt-fed weapon, and having done it, I can confirm it’s amazing fun.) A convention veteran, Jeanette is amazing, and my daughter making small talk about seeing Benson Boone with John Connor’s foster mum is a truly surreal experience.
Pictured: The only comic about heavy metal you’ll ever need!
We stop by the makers of Maurice & The Metal, a locally produced comic book about a character who gets superpowers when they listen to heavy music, and end up scoring a copy of issue #1! After getting our steps in for the day several times over, we make our way to the Godzilla Minus Zero theatre for the can’t-miss panel of the day – Sean Austin and Billy Boyd from Lord of the Rings. There are a lot of people lined up, but we make it inside, and the whole auditorium cheers as they come running out from behind the curtain, and Sean does a Naruto-run along the front row. They’ve been doing conventions for twenty-five years, so they know how to work a crowd, and they have the room in stitches as they pull off a Laurel & Hardy-style routine of fighting over who gets to sit in the chair. Sean even gets deep when someone asked him about A.I., and as the current president of the Screen Actor’s Guild, he talks frankly about the challenges that they’re currently facing, and what they want to achieve. They’re both absolute class-acts, who greet all questions with enthusiasm, even if they’ve been answering them for decades, and I am thrilled when my daughter is able to ask them something. As a newly minted Lord of the Rings fan, she’s going to have bragging rights at school today.
Pictured: Samwise and a Fool of a Took!
Supanova Brisbane 2026 was a massive day full of things to do, so while this Hitman didn’t end up getting to his original target, there were side quests aplenty, and I can’t wait to do it all again next year! Check out Rashid’s massive gallery here!
Click above to view the Gallery