After my first comic convention that I wrote a blog about where I met some guy called Stan Lee, I figured I’d write a follow up blog on my second time at the London Super Comic Con. This will include pictures of some rather outrageous cosplayers, comics I bought, panels I went to and creators I met.
Originally this paragraph would have told you about me going to the Dan Slott Superior Spider-Man panel but unfortunately it was not to be. The comic con was on the same day as many other expos in London including a beauty expo, a baby product expo and a plastic surgery expo. They were in different areas to the comic con so it was quite strange to see people carrying baby products in the same building as people in Judge Dredd and Batman costumes. But I digress, traffic was a nightmare and even after getting out of the car so that my dad could park it and running most of the way there arriving at 11:37, I was too late. The panel was full up by the time I got there so I was most put out at missing my chance of seeing Dan Slott talk about Superior Spider-Man. I was expecting more boos and loud arguing but from the sounds of it, Slott was entertaining the crowd and the crowd seemed to be loving Slott. Seems like us UK Spider-Man fans aren’t as fussed as the American Spider-Man fans are about Superior Spider-Man. Next I tried to get to a signing session with Slott but that was full too. A tad annoying safe to say.
Nonetheless, enough with the negativity. The other creators I met included none other than the legendary George Perez who kindly signed my copy of The New Teen Titans #1. He was really friendly and humbled when I told him I was a big fan of much of his work. Wish I’d taken more for him to sign though given the stacks of comics other fans had with them. Mental note for next time then. My dad took a picture of Perez signing my comic as well as some pictures of Perez doing some independent artist sketches for fans. I’ll edit them in later because I’m trying to avoid the scathing I might get from a particular user (cough lykopsis cough :P) for failing to meet my Wednesday deadline. Also I managed to meet Nick Spencer, current writer for Marvel’s Secret Avengers and known for other projects like the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Iron Man 2.0. I have a tenuous link to him in that the daughter of one of my dad’s co-workers is dating him. Small world huh? I’ve also been promised a signed copy of one of Spencer’s comics at some point in the future which is awesome if I’m honest due to a favour offered between said co-worker of my dad’s.
During the rest of my time at the con I had a real look around the place and let me tell you there are plenty of ways for us comic book geeks to lose money there! Original art by the creators, fan commissioned paintings that people buy to put up in their living rooms or something like that, merchandise and of course several lifetime’s supply worth of comic books! That’s where my money went. At the start I had £35 (that’s $57 in US terms) and by the end I had spent £39 ($59) thanks to a generous loan by my dad. Most of them were from a company called a Place in Space which had a great range of old and new comics. They have shops across England and an ebay related site where you can find and buy comics. Personally, the most money saving way I get comics is via a Forbidden Planet subscription which gives me an 11.3% saving on the comics I subscribe to, a Place in Space is the next best bet for UK comic fans who don’t live near a comic store like me. Anyway, these are the comics and trades I came back with:
· Justice League Elite (Volume 1) – Bought this because it contains my second favourite Superman and perhaps comic book story of all time “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice And The American Way?”
· Batman: Gothic – Love me some Morrison on Batman
· Wonder Woman (vol 4) #1-5 – I’ve started reading this series and figured I should play proper catch up rather than reading synopses online
· Thor: God of Thunder #1 – Only issue they had left and boy was this worth the loan! Such an excellent start to Thor’s Marvel Now! Series
· Domination Factor: Avengers #4.8
· Fantastic Four #492-493
· Detective Comics #647, 715
· Green Lantern (vol 3) #53
· A+X #1 (Free)
· Project Eon #3 – This is a Markosia comic which is a British comic book company. They have dealings with the London Super Comic Con. I quite like the comics from Markosia I’ve read in fact and once I’m in a suitable financial position, I might buy more from them, assuming they’re still around
· The Lexian Chronicles #11 – Another Markosia comic (Free)
· Done To Death – Markosia graphic novel
The last thing I did at the con was go to a panel (at last) specifically Batman through the Ages. It was chaired by Neal Adams, Brian Bolland, Gary Frank, and David Finch. All of them have worked on Batman in an artistically related manner and it was great to hear these well known Batman creators talk about why the character has endured for so long, as well as their time working on Batman. It opened with Neal Adams singing (didn’t expect to hear that did you?) and there was a running gag through the panel of the announcer cutting in with announcements about signing sessions and stuff with the panellists making quips about the announcements. The audience, myself included was chuckling away quite heartily at those. One of the most memorable questions asked at the panel included someone questioning how the panel dealt with negative feedback. What was interesting was that Gary Frank said that there are some people who just complain for the sake of complaining and that he shuts off to those kinds of people many times to ensure it doesn’t affect him. Neal Adams also brought up a very interesting points about particular stories with hindsight. For example, Batman: Odyssey hasn’t generally been well received yet Neal claims he still gets some people telling him that they loved Batman: Odyssey in a hushed tone to avoid scathing looks from the naysayers. It was an example in relation to how some fans hate stories at the time they’re published yet years later say they love it. This made me think of Death of The Family (Snyder got a shout out from Finch btw) and how people are mad about the conclusion. Will the hindsight thing apply to them too? I don’t know but we’ll see in the future I guess. The creators also mentioned how the big differences and game changing stories they write are in response to the fans now rather than the publishers and editors given the rise of the Internet and comic forums like these. All in all it was an awesome panel.
Although this year wasn't quite as special as last year, I had a great time nonetheless. For the most part, the Vine has been my outlet of comic book appreciation so to walk around with people dressed in costumes, to read comics in public and to show my love for the medium is a great feeling. Oh and some of you said you wanted pictures so here are my better looking ones. Apologies about the wonky angles and blurriness. I’ll add in some better pictures from the Internet as well. These ones are mine:
And these are from the Internet
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