London Super Comic Con was held this weekend (August 25th-27th, 2017) at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. The convention promised “the UK’s biggest and most exciting comic convention”, but how did the change of date and venue affect LSCC this year, compared to previous years’ events?
London Super Comic Con has been running since 2012, with a continual focus on the world of comic books and graphic novels, as opposed to an all-encompassing event that also crams in TV/film stars and other celebs. Usually stationed in the London ExCeL Exhibition Centre, this year’s smaller venue meant that the event itself felt smaller, with the exhibition/dealer’s room taking up one small hall, as opposed to being spread throughout several. LSCC is also traditionally held earlier in the year (usually in February), but a change of date to the summer season meant that a lot of visitors were unable to go, having to decide between LSCC and other similar conventions during the height of the season.
However, this year’s event still attracted a wide range of top-tier comics talent, including Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Slott, Jae Lee, Dave Gibbons, Sabine Rich, Guillermo Ortego, Mark Buckingham, Ian Richardson, Erica Schultz and many, many more.
The event was split into three separate areas: the main hall encompassed the dealer’s room, where a handful of stallholders were selling back issues, figurines, Funko Pops and all the other usual merchandise you expect from a comic con. Branching off from the dealer’s room were the panel room and also the Artists’ Alley, where the majority of the guests were stationed throughout the con. This worked well for the majority of the event, but the Sunday of the con had a strange staggering system for closing, which meant that the dealer’s hall shut first, at 2 p.m. I can understand there were probably good reasons behind this (presumably it makes clean-up a lot easier) but it meant that a lot of people left the convention early, whilst the artists were stuck with fewer customers, as most of the people remaining were waiting for panels. I would’ve preferred the panel room to have shut first (as I feel like more people would’ve wanted to stay to browse merchandise as opposed to watch panels) but, as I said, there were perhaps logistical reasons behind this decision.
The creators and dealers themselves were all as friendly and welcoming as usual, though a few did remark that the issues with transport relating to the Bank Holiday Weekend (trains were quite few and far between, making my journey time to London double what it should’ve been) may have put some visitors off of attending, particularly on the Sunday of the event, when a lot of train lines were non-operational, or were facing delays. This is, of course, not the fault of the LSCC organisers, who were at the mercy of TFL all weekend.
The panels at the convention spanned a diverse range of topics including Star Wars comics, adapting comics into other visual mediums, and advice for up-and-coming creators hoping to be scouted out by publishers and big-name creators. There was a panel for everyone in attendance, and I appreciated that the London Super Comic Con team gave time to both the bigger names at the con, as well as some of the smaller, more independent organisations and individuals in attendance.
Speaking of independent creators, there were quite a few in attendance at the con, and though they’re not officially listed as “Guests”, LSCC does promote all the artists and publishers in attendance on its website. Independent creators included cartoonists like Mister Hope, J King and Ryan Jenkyns, and publishers like Blue Fox Comics and Dead Canary Comics.
Overall, London Super Comic Con 2017 was a good event, and is still the best London convention for those looking for a con that’s less about film/TV stars, and more about actual comic books. Whilst the odd closing times and the rescheduling of the event to a summer date at a new location may have affected some creators and dealers, I understand that a lot of things were outside of the organisers’ control, and that they’ll most likely take this feedback into consideration when organising next year’s event. If you’re a comics fan who can get to London, make sure you don’t miss LSCC! It really is a spectacular London event for everyone who’s ever found themselves lost between the pages of a comic book, and who wants to thank the people who’ve made some of their favourite stories come to life.
Thank you to the London Super Comic Con team for providing us with a Press Pass for this event.
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