Wales Comic Con 2017 Part 1?
Hey all, Clare here once again with a review of Wales Comic Con 2017. (apologies for the massive delay on posting this. oops)
This is the 3rd time I have attended Mercury Events’ Wales Comic Con, but the first time attending as press. I have to say that Jaime Milner and his team have done one hell of a job. They have consistently improved, taken on board feedback from their paying customers and made each successive event even better.
The biggest, most noticeable difference this time out was in the photo studios. At the last two Wales Comic Cons I attended there were issues for one reason or another with regards to the printing of the professional photo ops with guests. I know in some cases people went home on the Sunday still missing prints from photo shoots. There was none of that this time round. Photos were printed within seconds. A couple of minutes at most.
Saturday
My Saturday was pretty hectic. After grabbing my press pass I wandered around snapping shots of cosplayers and the venue before meeting up with some friends (including fellow FN writer Mo) who were attending. Our first port of call was in the autograph hall and this is where the only real blip of the event happened.
I jumped into the queue to get autographs from Emma Caulfield from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. On the website she had been advertised as charging £20 per autograph. As we waited, the sign on the wall behind her saying £20 was removed and replaced with one saying £30. Fellow Buffy cast member Nicholas Brendan swiftly followed suit. This upset an awful lot of attendees, especially those who had worked out a budget beforehand and didn’t have the extra funds available. I understand that the charges for autographs are down to the guests and their agents and are subject to change, but this left rather a bad taste.
To get rid of the bad taste there was only one thing for it. To go and see the ever lovely Matt Ryan as I had been given a mission. FN writer Angel had sent a piece of her artwork to me to get signed by Matt. And when I say artwork – well… see for yourself
Yeah, that’s an amazing painting of Constantine done on a foam pumpkin. Matt thought it was amazing and so did everyone else who saw it.
In the autograph/main hall it became clear again that Jaime and his team had been listening to feedback. They had moved a lot of the trader stalls out of the hall into a marquee nearby. This meant there was more room to get around and less crowding around some of the busier guests. Unfortunately I can’t see that there is much more room for Wales Comic Con to expand, given their preferred venue. I think this is a large part of why Mercury Events have launched the forthcoming Fanatic Expo which takes place at Harrogate Convention Centre later this year.
After that we deposited the pumpkin in the car and Mo went off with my video camera to the Class panel with Greg Austin and Fady Elsayed while I headed for Matt Ryan’s photo op. You can check out the video of the panel (and my interview with Greg and Fady) in our Class preview.
I then had a photo with the incredibly tall Ryan Hurst. That’s right, Lil Foster himself came down off Shay and made it all the way to Wales. Ged Ged Yah! I suddenly realised that I had this photo op on one side of the convention campus and the Constantine panel was about to start ALLLLL the way on the other side. I flashed my press pass and got put through the queue as fast as they could before grabbing my camera gear and hurtling across campus to the Constantine panel. Huge shout out to the crew running the photo studios as they got me through and on my way. I didn’t miss a single second of the panel!
The Constantine panel was an absolute riot. Matt Ryan and Emmett Scanlan have great chemistry and an obvious friendship that shone on stage. I mean talk about bromance!
After the Constantine panel we headed back towards the main area of the convention to grab something to eat, pick up some more autographs and look around the merchandise.
I had been contacted by a friend who asked if I would photograph a meet for her Assassin’s Creed cosplay group. They assembled at about 2pm and we got down to shooting the group. I had just got everyone lined up when Paul Amos and Victoria Atkin appeared. They voiced the Frye Twins, Evie and Jacob, in the Assassin’s Creed Syndicate video game. Paul was clearly feeling in character as he pretended to assassinate 4 of the group!
You can check out the rest of the pictures from this shoot, as well as all our others from the event, in the Wales Comic Con gallery.
After that I headed in to meet the lovely Greg and Fady and have a chat with them about Class. Since a lot of our readers here on FN are based in the US, and with the show about to premiere there, we filmed a little Q&A. They also graciously signed some pictures for us to giveaway during the series premiere in the US. I have a lot of love for these two, and for the show. They are both sweet, enthusiastic and very funny and passionate about their show!
Once the interview was over with I met back up with my friends and we decided to head back to our hotel.
Sunday
I think I must have gotten a little too much sun on Saturday as I felt rather poorly on Sunday morning. Nevertheless we got dressed up and headed back to the convention undercover this time. We had little planned for the day, apart from another photoshoot that afternoon so it was a more relaxed day.
My friends and I had another photo op with Matt Ryan on the Sunday and we were all in cosplay this time. This made things particularly fun as Matt arrived and walked past the queue on his way in. He saw Mo and Sophie first and was impressed by their cosplays and then he saw me at the front of the queue. He looked quite closely then realised it was me, before exclaiming loudly “Oh my god it’s you.” in front of the rest of the queue. Best reaction I have ever had from a guest I think.
Again, the photo printers were running perfectly, and we had our prints back just after exiting the studio. Jaime and his crew deserve a hell of a lot of credit for listening to feedback and for the investment they have made into their infrastructure. I have a feeling it is going to pay off in spades at future events.
After a few more autographs, and a last trip round to make sure there was nothing else we wanted to buy, we headed back to the hotel to change out of our cosplays and unwind.
I know so many of the staff and regular attendees at Wales that leaving always feels worse than any other convention I have attended. I am looking forward with interest to Fanatic Expo, the next event from Mercury Promotions, as well as the next Wales Comic Con. The question mark after part 1 in the title of this piece does NOT mean there is more of a review to come. It means that currently the organisers are unsure if there will be a second Wales Comic Con later this year. It remains to be seen whether they can put on two first class events so close together. Whether they do or not, we will be attending their conventions again in future. Guaranteed!
