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80 Shots Of Cosplay And Comic Creators At London Film And Comic Con 2014

Published Sun, 13 Jul 2014 10:00:06 -0500

I just popped along for the Sunday of the London Film And Comic Con 2014, held at Earls Court this weekend from Showmasters. Here are a few photos taken today and yesterday.

The show is bigger this year, much bigger, stretching across both Earls Court 1 and Earls Court 2 now, but it still isn't big enough and, especially on Saturday and especially in Earls Court 2 there were just too many people. It is a sign of success but is something that may need to be managed in future years and opens new shows across the country.

The mass crowds and lines to get in and buy tickets, especially as the Earls Court 2 reached capacity full of multi media guests and non-comics stalls, also obscured some of the signage, and some folk it appeared were unaware that there was an Earls Court 1 hall. But as the heat on Saturday hit and the more elaborate cosplay costumes began to melt, that was where I headed for a goodly display of comic creators, big and small, American and British, writing and sketching. Stan Lee was kept away from public sight, as the queue to meet The Man became the event of the show. Howard Chaykin had done what Diamond Comic Distributors were unable to do, and smuggled in some of the Satellite Sam Tijuana Bibles, one of which I was happy to purchase. He was also very charming to my young girls. Gail Simone was selling signed scripts with a long female heavy line through the show and specially on Sunday, John Wagner was constantly surrounded of "men of a certain age" there were loads of kids running around having run as well. A bank of games, new and old, also helped!

I also picked up Alan Cowsill and Lalit Kumar Sharma's World War One – Sharma was a guy once ripped off by Josh Hoopes and it was great to make his acquaintance years ago. I followed the military theme with Captain Garth Freeman by Huw-J. A Roschach with a V For Vendetta looking mask by Mike Perkins. And a comic book retelling of The Ugly Duckling for my youngest girl…

I spent my time catching up with old friends, talking to comic creators, finding cool new comic books and accepting the True Believers Award for Best Magazine. I bumped into some people I hadn't seen in years and some people I knew I would see in San Diego next week. To some degree this was an entrée for that.

This is very much how the Comic Con divides up London, MCM in the West and Showmasters here, in the West, it's like feuding kingdoms, and that can only drive up the appeal and quality of the shows. All they need now is… extra space. It's not the worst problem to have, it's the price of success.

Problems with hotel arrangements for the guests appear to have been solved. Creators were making money at their desks. Most people seemed to be having a grand old time. And the cosplay, while not at MCM levels yet – was still pretty excellent.

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