Well that was fun, the
Accent UK crew are now rested after attending last weekend's second London Super Comic Convention or
LSCC to you and me!
The event was held at the huge
Excel Centre in London's Docklands and do you know what, it was pretty good, great guest list, plenty of attendees, well organised and even better than last year's sales. Although it didn't feel quite as busy as the inaugural show this may have been as the hall seemed bigger and there were many more dealers and exhibitors, obviously attracted by the positive reports from last year's amazing show.
And maybe that was the only problem, last year of course had the wonderful showman
Stan Lee in attendance and his presence, energy and enthusiasm infected everyone to such a level that there was a palpable excitement in the air, something that I (and most other UK comic veterans) had never felt at a show before and that buzz had heightened expectation this year to unrealistic levels.
The result, for me anyway, was that the show was perfectly good and decent in every way except that nagging feeling that something was missing, which it was after all, in that there was no central focus or sustained buzz. Whereas in the first year, Stan's charisma and the crowd's positive reaction to him rose to fill the sometimes cavernous space of the large hall, this time sadly it often just felt that you were in a rather large hall. This should though not be seen as a criticism of the LSCC organisers as in the 12 months since the first show, I've had many conversations with various comic-related people and not one could come up with a credible suggestion as to who on earth could possibly follow Stan? Now we know the answer was what we had all sadly suspected, no-one can.
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| Scott & Dave spot Colin's new hat under the table |
Our
Accent UK blog has our good friend Chris D's take on
things but I will add that while the show was perhaps missing that magic spark, it was still one of the, if not
the best guest-lists of comic creators assembled in the UK for a long, long time. I can't list them all but they included, legends
Neal Adams,
George Perez, Roy Thomas, Herb Trimpe, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bob Layton and current hot contemporaries Simone Bianchi,
Mark Buckingham, David Finch,
Kieron Gillen,
Jamie McKelvie,
Dan Slott (who happily signed for hours and hours both days with queues that would have done Stan proud!) delightful table neighbour
Lee Garbett, together with UK legends Brian Bolland, Alan Grant (who I congratulated on his work on
The Loxleys and The War of 1812 - which made my
best of year list - and he said there may be a sequel which I'm excited about), David Lloyd and John Wagner (who I discovered is a fellow
Manchester United fan!). Check out the LSCC's own website and other reports for the awesome full list of guests and spot your own favourites.
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| Happy Cosplayers bag Westernoir for birthday present! |
The event staff I spoke with all seemed happy enough too and were fairly confident that LSCC would return in 2014 and that is really great news for everyone connected with UK comics. While it may not have had the razzmatazz of the first show, the event has quickly become an important and welcome addition to the UK calender and what better way of starting the year's schedule!
I'll follow this event overview with my own personal LSCC highlights tomorrow!
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Colin & Tripwire's Joel Meadows show Dave how many hours the slow train home takes!
(or of course it may have something to do with Tripwire's deserving kickstarter campaign!) |
