London Super Comic Con
14- 15 March 2015, ExCeL An ExCeL- ent weekend at a busy London Super Comic Con
Most conventions evolve over time, the better ones change for the better. London Super Comic Con seems to have learnt well from previous shows – this year’s was by far the busiest and also the most enjoyable since it began four years ago.
In the past the show has struggled to fill the echoing hall at the ExCeL in London’s Docklands, but the new layout – along with a massively expanded Artists’ Alley – made things feel almost cosy in such a large venue.
LSCC has succeeded in fostering the community side of comics – the mix of the mainstream and the small press, all mingled together without being shoved to one side, means a much broader appeal. Previous issues have been ironed out and – although the panel venues still need work – the staff were friendly, the queues were orderly, and the atmosphere felt warmly positive all weekend.
Make no bones about it – LSCC is not a comics giant killer about to slay the cross- media show behemoths, but it certainly can lay claim to being the biggest convention just for comics and the depth of the guest list shows that it is maturing well; it used to have to pin its fortunes on one or two big names, but that’s no longer the case. Joining Dave Gibbons, John McCrea, David Mack, Art Adams, Garth Ennis and Neal Adams were the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz and Brian Bolland, and despite Saturday being consistently jam- packed, queues never became torturous.
Over four years LSCC has gradually found its feet and now that it has struck the right balance it’s beginning to feel a lot like the UKCAC shows of the ’ 80s and ’ 90s. The main convention season is off to a brisk start and it will be interesting to see where LSCC goes from here. www. londonsupercomicconvention.com