Oz Comic-Con 2012

There were people dressed up in every single superhero costume known to man, with the Avengers characters by far the most popular choices; there were merchandise stalls that had every gift from every fandom (Game of Thrones house sigil coasters anyone?) and there were ginormous queues that went from one side of the building to the other and back around the outside. If you had the patience to wait 90 minutes just to get in the door and then wait another hour in the line to get photo or signature tokens, you would have had an amazing day.

With nearly 40,000 sci-fi and comic fans showing up across the weekend, it’s no wonder some photo ops sold out before 11am, leaving thousands of late-comers disappointed. Tokens for the event's biggest guest, Stan Lee (pictured), were the first to go, and those who managed to score one forked out $60 to be whisked in and out of the photo-booth in about 25 seconds. Patrick Stewart attracted just as much attention, as did Game of Thrones' Jason Momoa.

Stage 1 was packed to max capacity for Mr Lee’s panel. It was just one man, one chair, one stage, but everyone hung on his every word. He told wildly animated stories about how he created Spiderman, the supposed rivalry between Marvel and DC, his in-movie cameos and how he simply couldn’t pick his favourite character. “I love Thor, I love Captain America, Iron Man, I even like Daredevil – whose movie wasn’t even that big a hit,” he said. His panel ended with a standing ovation, with fans overwhelmed by the presence of the 89-year-old comic legend.

Rows of merchandise stalls filled the Exhibition Centre and the aisles were packed to the brim with fans eager to hand over hundreds of dollars. From lower priced items like golden snitch earrings and Sheldon Cooper bobble-heads to the more extravagant collectibles such as life-size Nimbus 2001 broomsticks ($300) or signed and framed photographs of any celebrity (Heath Ledger as the Joker was $650) – there was something to catch the attention of every fan.

Despite the frustrating queues (even the bathrooms had about a 10-minute wait), lack of proper signage and no one stopping queue jumpers, Oz Comic-Con was a huge success and event organisers have already booked dates in July 2013 to return to Melbourne at the larger venue of the Royal Exhibition Centre.