Darth Maul, Dr Who, the Mad Hatter and a mysterious nine-foot wookiee ... It can only be Scottish Comic Con
SPECIAL REPORT
BY MADDY SEARLE
DARTH Maul is chatting happily to Doctor Who in a carriage on the train from Glasgow Central to the Scottish Exhibition Centre Centre. The two have been waved off by a bunch of toddlers shouting, “Bye, Darth Maul”, while the doctor (in his Tom Baker incarnation) adjusts his fedora and tries not to trip over his exceedingly long scarf.
Even before arriving at the destination it’s clear that something exceedingly strange is afoot.
It gets even more strange at the destination. The place is awash with grown men and women dressed as superheroes. Comic books are everywhere. So are sci-fi actors and YouTube stars. There’s a throne made out of swords. It can only be Comic Con. This weekend, Scotland’s very own pop culture convention is taking place at the SECC in Glasgow. The MCM Scotland Comic Con is celebrating its fifth and its biggest year this year. Some 32,000 people are expected to attend this celebration of all things nerd, where fans dress up as their favourite TV or movie character, see some famous faces, and stock up on geeky merchandise.
The practice of dressing as a beloved fictional character is known as “cosplay”, and is widely popular among nerd culture aficionados. At the conference entrance, an Alice In Wonderland fan dressed as the Mad Hatter says: “I never get to dress up anywhere else. And nobody is excited about the stupid things that I’m excited about.”
There are claims that the famous ‘nine foot tall man who dresses as a wookie’ and attends Comic Cons around the country is coming to Glasgow ... but sadly, he doesn’t make an appearance.
On first sight Comic Con is nothing short of a sensory overload. The brightly-coloured displays, merchandise and costumes are almost migraine-inducing. The two cavernous halls which house the event could easily hold sev- eral villages. There are dozens of stalls dedicated to comic books, TV merchandise, film prints, and even Viking drinking horns.
The event gives fans a chance to meet some of their favourite TV actors, such as Simon Fisher-Becker, who plays Dorium Maldovar in the BBC’s hit sci-fi show Doctor Who. “It’s definitely a family-orientated event,” he says. “And particularly with Doctor Who, because it’s been going on for so long. The grandparents are coming along and talking about the same things as their grandchildren… It’s a good day out for all the family.”
The cross-generational appeal of Comic Con can be seen all across the SECC. One family, consisting of a father and three sons, explains what brought them to the event: “We all love comics!” One of the boys is dressed as a video game character, but the father is disappointed no one has noticed his Breaking Bad Walter White costume (consisting of a blue shirt, bald head and beard). When asked if they would consider returning to Comic Con, they say, “We’re coming back next year,” with great certainty.
Many teenagers are keen to see YouTube star Tomska, whose online comedy sketches are hugely popular. The enormous queue in front of his stall is quite phenomenal.
“I heard Tomska was here and I wanted to come and see him,” says a young fan. She also thinks that nerd culture is gaining new fans: “Especially because of Pokémon Go,” she says. The gaming app has had over 100 million downloads since its launch earlier this year, and Pokémon merchandise can be seen everywhere at the event.
As well as offering big industries a place at Comic Con, smaller businesses are also given the opportunity to sell their wares. A stall-holder at All the Anime, which sells DVDs of Japanese animated films, says: “We’re the only anime distributor based in Glasgow, so it was an easy choice for us to come here.” Another small business which is benefiting from the event’s widespread appeal is Panel Comics. “We enjoyed Comic Con last year,” one of the stallholders says, “We go to four or five a year to meet people, and talk to Opposite, a Mad Hatter at Comic Con and, right, some stormtroopers from Star Wars them about comics, sell our comics.” When asked if comics are now reaching a wider audience, he agrees: “I’m definitely seeing a wider variety of faces. A wider variety of people are coming and speaking to me, even in the past three or four years.”
Davod Hashemi, a comic book seller, has “definitely” noticed a rise in the medium’s popularity. He argues that the boom is “largely attributable to the Marvel superhero films”. When asked if he has seen any good costumes during the day, he replied: “We saw two Sonics (the Hedgehog) that we thought were together, but they weren’t. They were quite surprised to see each other.”
However the signings, the photo opportunities, the gaming stations and the t-shirt stalls are not the most important part of Comic Con. It’s the community. Everyone is here to meet people with the same interests as their own. When asked why she wanted to come to Comic Con, the young Mad Hatter at the convention entrance replied: “I think it’s actually mainly for the people.”
For people known to mainstream society as nerds, it looks like Comic Con provides the one thing they really want and need: having a place where they can meet, discuss and have fun with people just like them.