Dinosaurs Storm Melbourne!

Well, actually, no, they didn't. In fact, the closest we came to witnessing a 'dino stampede' was seeing Doug & Kevin (pictured at left) smuggling copies of their book, Prehistoric Australia (which does contain heaps of dinosaurs!), into the Armageddon Multimedia Expo held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th October 2007.

But there was wrestling. And Lasertag. And pizza-eating contents. And an all-in pillow-fight brawl. All this, and more comic books, figurines, console games, trading cards and sci-fi paraphernalia than you could poke a phaser (set to stun, of course!) at.

Armageddon began in New Zealand, where it has become a massive event, attracting thousands of visitors each year. This was the first time in almost a decade that the event organisers have returned to Melbourne to stage the expo.

Personally, we were looking forward to meeting Adam West and Julie Newmar, who played Batman and Catwoman in the original 1960s version of the Batman TV show. But sadly, that was not to be, as Adam West couldn't attend because his house burnt down. (Kev was especially bummed out by this - he had his copy of West's memoir, Back to the Batcave, all ready for West to autograph.)

Younger readers who have absolutely no idea what the hell we are talking about may know Adam West as the voice actor for the character, Mayor Adam West, who appears in the potty-mouthed (but extremely funny) TV cartoon show, The Family Guy.

The great thing about events like Armageddon is that some people really do make an effort to put on their "Sunday best". Consider, if you will, the following attendees:

Or this intriguing visitor:

Honestly, if you've never been to a comic book/pop culture convention before, then you owe it to yourself to attend just one in your life. Trust us, the costumed punters are as every bit as entertaining as the 'celebrity guests'! For more photos from the Armageddon Expo, click here.