Portsmouth Comic Con 2023 – Review
A week has passed since Portsmouth Comic Con 2023, and that has allowed time for the dust to settle and for everyone to recover! It was another hot and sunny weekend on the South Coast, for the somewhat delayed Portsmouth Comic Con 2023 – apparently King Charles didn’t check the diary when booking his coronation earlier in the year!
We were down for the Saturday this year, to see what the Guildhall had to offer for comics fans, and spend some pennies on art and books – as usual!
Comics!
Once again the comics guests were located upstairs, away from the main part of the event, and badly signposted. The lighting from the huge windows makes for a hot experience, and can’t have been fun all day. There were more comics guests this year, including Paul Cornell, Alison Sampson, and Cavan Scott, but some of the big names were clearly not recognized by a large number of the con-goers, and from what I was told most people were gravitating towards tie-in books and IP titles, rather than creator-owned or new things. Some big names, like Esad Ribic and Pepe Larraz, were seemingly unknown by a lot of the con goers, and didn’t receive half the attention I would have expected.
I was even more surprised to realize that the much touted and publicized Dr Who guests were located on the first floor, down a corridor off the main drag, with only one sign showing their location. For the guests who had the most name-dropping on social media, this seemed like an odd choice.
I didn’t make it to any panels this time out, but understand that they were scattered across the Guildhall, in keeping with the rest of the event. The main stage was located outside as in previous years, and while the steps of the building do make for some super seating for this one, when the sun is burning down and there are people trying to get in and out of the first floor, it doesn’t always feel super welcoming
There were other non-comics sections upstairs too, such as a board gaming area from Dice gaming cafe, which went into the family atmosphere of the event, and were popular throughout the course of the weekend.
Cosplay!
There were plenty of great cosplayers over the weekend, and I spoke to one after the event – who had also been at MCM London – who said that she had so much fun she just wanted the whole day over again! An absolutely glowing recommendation if ever I heard one.
There was a big Star Wars contingent present, with an entire marquee labeled as a Star Wars Walk Through Experience. Sadly, they shut up shop well before closing time, so I didn’t get a chance to go in and see for myself, but they reportedly had an ewok so it must have been good!
There were also plenty of photo opportunities for those in (or out) of costume, including jeeps from Jurassic Park, a classic Batmobile, and a Dr Who experience.
Cons!
Whilst they push the ‘comic con’ aspect of the event in their name, and optimistically have “International Festival of Comics” as their tagline, this is more of a family fun event than what I would call a comics convention. The various rooms titled ‘comics village’ were mostly a mix of resellers, toy sellers, and the occasional artist or creator. As an example, the ‘village’ outside (behind the stage again) in a marquee had around 30 tables inside, of which only 10 were comics creators.
While I appreciated the idea of having a cinema screen playing nerdy movies over the weekend, giving people a chance to sit and chill if they wanted to, locating it directly above the main room of the Guildhall meant that the sound echoed throughout the room, making it pretty hard to hear people at times. I can only imagine what it was like for those tabling inside.
While some of the organization had improved from last year, in my opinion, the event still left a lot to be desired. Coming hot on the heels of MCM London, and as the main convention on the south coast, Portsmouth Comic Con has the opportunity to be a real star in the comic con calendar. However, they seem to be leaning much more into the family day out arena. Which isn’t a bad thing if that is what you are after, but it simply isn’t my cup of tea.
Disclaimer: I received a free pass into the event courtesy of Portsmouth Comic Con. The opinions expressed in this article are completely my own, based on my experience.
