I enjoyed it. It's quite small, but they had a good selection of comic writers and artists easily available for you to get things signed and get some sketches. They also had dedicated signing times in a signing area for certain guests. Sometimes, big artists like Perez and Bolland would only sign at the signing times. Bit annoying, but it's alright I suppose.
I had a friend with me on the second day, which was novel for a UK convention and also, of course, a lot more fun. We got quite a few things signed.
I can't remember everything I got signed, but, here's some key moments from the two day convention and a few things I got signed.
I have 4 issues of Crisis signed by Marv Wolfman (done at a MCMExpo a year ago) and now George Perez too.
Perez was very pleasant. I discover late during the queue that only two issues per person. My thoughts were, "fuck that! I have four books signed by Wolfman, all four will be signed by Perez too". Fortunately I'm near the top of the queue, this helps in that rules tend to be better enforced after a settling in period. So, I put two books down in front of Perez, thank him for signing them and then ask if he's okay signing another two. He says in his happy, booming voice, "sure!!!!". While he's signing, a staff member next to him says, "only two books per person". Fancy telling the guest what to fucking do? To be fair to the staff member, he's only communicating the rules and it's a fair rule to make sure everything gets something signed during the time limit. But, he would have done better to gently remind Perez in the following way, "sorry George it's two books per person". Anyway, Perez just says, "I know, I know!!!", signs my other books and then looks at me with a smile, throws his arms up and says, "SCRAM!!!!".
I missed both of Bolland's official signing times. He was fucking popular. He had lots of sketches to do too. I waited at his Artist Alley stand to see if he would sign. But, he would only sign one or two people's books in between finishing a sketch for someone. Now, it's fair to say that the artist can do whatever they want here and if they want to distinguish signing times from artwork time they can. I can fully understand that it can be frustrating to interupt what you're drawing to scribble a few signatures too. But, there are a lot of people (20) waiting in line just for a signature. Surely, as a matter of pleasant policy, you can look up every 15 minutes and sign 10 books?
I was ready to go home at one point and then thought, I'll wait in Bolland's line to get a signature. i joined the queue behind maybe 15 people and eventually more people filed in behind me. One hour later and I'm five people near the front. Mostly due to people leaving. I had enough and left.
Neal Adams pretty much set up his own Neal Adams shop at the convention. It was also £10 for a signature. During his official signing times, he was offering discounts. Hey Neal Adams, go fuck yourself.
Esad Ribic charges a fuck load for art. I think it was £50 for a headshot. To be fair, It think this includes water colour. But still. I had a blank cover Thor #1 and just got it signed. Perhaps another time, I would have been prepared to pay the money. It was the end of Sunday when I got it signed too, so I couldn't be bothered for that reason too as well as financial.
I guess if you want a sketch, you should get the deal sorted at the start of the day.
Gillen and McKelvie were fun as usual. Gillen was doing Loki and Miss America sketchs. Shit of course, but funny. McKelvie had done his back in and wasn't doing any commisions. This was unfortunate since me and my friend had the blank cover issue one of Young Avengers. We were both thinking, "fuck your back and do me my sketch!".
Dan Slott was entertainingly cheerful as usual. Turns out he has a the same Nakatomi Plaza design I had on a t-shirt as a hoodie. He was signing all day the champ. I got the LSCC Superior Spiderman # 1 variant cover signed. His queue on Sunday was relentless. I got it signed on Saturday when the quere seemed smaller. In retrospect, I think I actually queue jumped. I noticed on Sunday that the queue was split in two. The split was where a gap was made to not interrupt the flow of people walking around. I suspect I joined the quere and the end of the middle instead of the end. Oops!
Overall, it was a fun convention!
I highly recommend getting a massage as well. They are awesome at the end of the day after lugging a big bag of comics around.
