Fresh from pounding the aisles at the London Exel Centre last month, our intrepid columnist Lizzie Boyle Says reports in with some small press observations in with her London Super Comic Con review. 

March saw the arrival of some dry weather and of London Super Comic Con to the big grey box that is the Excel Centre. In previous years, LSCC has felt like two cons in one space: the major publishers and creators with their global brand superheroes over here, and the UK publishers, small press and assorted others over there. How did they fare this year?

In short, and in general: rather well.

Hotshot guests and celebrities were dotted in amongst other creators and exhibitors, rather than being segregated in queue-hell somewhere in a remote corner of the building. So all those waiting two hours for signatures had something to look at while they stood in line: and that something was “other people’s comics”. A lot of small pressers who were located next to star guests were delighted; footfall was up, and once you have footfall, any enterprising small presser will get sales.

There were some complaints, mainly where long queues formed and blocked access to some tables. These were rectified pretty quickly by event staff and didn’t recur – a good sign.

Crowds shrunk at certain points in the day, particularly when key panels and talks were under way. This is no bad thing – creators quite like a break to manage fluids in or out. Some with tables close to the panel areas were excited that this would bring huge crowds past them… but then frustrated that those crowds were focused on getting into or out of the panels as quickly as possible. A little more thought about how people move in and out of busy areas and how they can be encouraged to linger would probably have helped.

“A lot of small pressers who were located next to star guests were delighted; footfall was up, and once you have footfall, any enterprising small presser will get sales.”

There were a few dead spaces, and some unfortunates whose view was basically a grey wall or a black curtain. Excel isn’t the most welcoming of venues – none of the airy brightness of Olympia – and two days looking at a partition wall the colour of a dead pigeon is going to affect anyone’s mood. And there are still some tables which feel hidden away – creator tables tucked behind larger stands, so you only really find them if you’re walking the right direction down an aisle and actually looking for them.

But what about the comics?! Well, a bonus for me this year was that it was less superhero-y. Apologies if you like superheroes – I do too, but not to the exclusion of all else. I think the endeavour this year was about being Super, rather than about being a Superhero type con. This meant that there was a good supply of other genre comics, strong representation from UK publishers like Titan and Markosia whose catalogues are very broad, and plenty of market for small pressers. It was great to see the arrival of some long awaited hard-cover anthologies – Mike Garley’s zombie anthology Dead Roots is a thing of dark beauty, while Jon Lock’s collected AfterLife Inc. should be on everyone’s birthday or Christmas list this year. And a year after we were neighbours to AllKnightz, they’ve launched their first comics – if these guys don’t take over the world of comics in the next few years, I’ll buy a hat, pop it in the oven, season it and then eat it. You can wander your way virtually through Artists’ Alley at Artists’ Alley – links are still up to creators’ websites so please pay them a visit.

Next stop for me on the con circuit: Corsham Sci Fi Day, an amazing charity event in Wiltshire on 26 April, typically populated by more daleks than a skip outside the BBC. After that, Bristol Comic Expo in May. They’re letting me on a panel there: be warned!

Lizzie Boyle is an author, blogger, small press comics aficionado and founder of Disconnected Press. You can find more or writing atlizzieboylesays.wordpress.com or follow her on Twitter @lizzieboylesays