GR AHAM MOURNS A COMIC BOOK MAR VEL

THE nine seconds that Townsville’s Graham Hone spent with Marvel legend Stan Lee will stay with him forever.

Fans across the globe were in mourning yesterday after the death of the man behind characters such as Spider- Man, Iron Man, Black Panther and the X- Men.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Mr Hone said. “I met him this time last year at Supanova, I got to shake his hand and say ‘ thank you for everything’. He said ‘ thank you for coming, lovely to meet you’ … it was over in the blink of an eye but I’m so glad I took the time and spent the money to meet the man. We’re all very saddened, the Supanova and MagnetiCon communities are deeply saddened by the loss.”

Townsville’s pop culture expo MagnetiCon will go ahead bigger than ever next year, after a local promotions company jumped on board to save the event. Last month, MagnetiCon announced that 2018 was its last year after losing a major sponsor.

A meeting with Piper Promotions proved successful, with Scott Piper confirming his company would take over the event at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre from June 1- 2.

“Graham showed up at our office to consider having a look at it. They’re so passionate about it and they’ve done some great things for the community … it was too good a legacy to let go,” Mr Piper said.

The 2019 MagnetiCon event will have a bigger focus on cosplay, where fans dress up and even act like characters from stage, screen, TV or comic books for the day.