Sunday 5th June 2011, I arrived at the campus of NEWI*1 GlynDwr University for Wales Comic Con. This was my first visit to this event since I missed out last year due to Vampiric Eye Disease causing me to be unable to leave the house during the daylight hours.

Upon arriving at the campus I immediately encountered a slight Problem. In an attempt to prevent others for making the same mistake, I tweeted “Note to self: when going to a con, check location before leaving house. #walescomiccon.” Yes, I knew it was on the Campus, but there were dozens of buildings/complexes that could be housing it. Luckily as I was pulling my car into a car-park, I spotted a couple of StormTroopers*2 standing guard at the door to the sports centre. And when a marine walked out of the building followed by an Alien with a dog collar, I KNEW where it was.

Maybe the Car parked to the side of the doors should have been a give away?*3

It was at this time I bumped into @DemonPengu who was also visiting the con, and who I would like to state did not think much of ANY of my attempt to helpfully assist in his search of gifts for his younglings.

The con itself was a bit on the small side, which was possibly due to several last minute cancellations of guests, or the limited size of venue, or some other such unavoidable consideration. There was as you would expect, stalls of comics & collectables for sale, Stalls with authors offering their books autographed, The guests signing & Photo Opportunities, A large section for Tabletop game playing (The Warhammer guys were down), Plus what I will call “Artist Alley” which was a long row of comic & graphic artists chained to desks drawing for your pleasure. I was surprised with the amount of Vampire based books, comics, stalls there.

Then there was the Q&A sections.

  1. Some Actor who has only had one role as a kid, on screen for 5 minutes in lord of the rings.
  2. Red Dwarf with Chris Barrie & Norman Lovett
  3. Some Wrestlers
  4. Touchwood
  5. Star Wars

The Red Dwarf one was by far the biggest of the lot, with the audience filling the designated area*4 and spilling out into the main area. And with the most cheering, clapping, questions. With Torchwood, then Star Wars following it up for popularity.

In the defence of Star Wars it was the last Q&A of the event, and most had already left for the day.

 

All in All, It was an enjoyable con. It did leave me wanting to visit one of the bigger weekend long con’s to see how they do it. And I have set myself a goal of attending one. And I will be back next year.

 

*NOTE* This post should have been up on Monday 6th June. Alas a busy Week and the Dreaded ManFlu caused a delay in publication. I apologise.

 

  1. Sorry but it will always be NEWI to me, Since I spent many years there before they decided to change its name.
  2. I was surprised to see actual CosPlay going on in Wrexham.
  3. For those who don’t recognise it, its the car from Supernatural.
  4. And we are talking Sardines here.