Great organization

Thanks for the great organization, vastly improved compared to last year. Early access for pre-regs, clear floor plans, enough space for signing session lines. In general Millenium Point is a great location, far better than Bristol where you have to run from the hotel to the hall back and forth. Some of the artists, such as Chiarello or Staz Jonson, also told me how much they liked the Birmingham location.
Again, great job. Hopefully you met your targets in terms of attendance and next year will be even bigger.

Thanks for the feedback Kraven.

I'm glad you enjoyed the show. It makes the hard work, and my current state of exhaustion worth it.

The timing was.... excellent. As we had pre paid, as soon as we got there, it opened and we managed to jump the massive queue inside the think tank. However, as soon as we got in, it was time for the first event: The Comic Artist flip out. Everybody had a number and watched the comic artists drawing pictures at the request of the audience and then the artist called out a number and that number won. Me and Dad had 1 and 2 but we didn’t win any. It was great watching them though. I instantly requested a Spider-Man from Mark Buckingham which turned out really well. There was this one idiot on the end who was taking the mick, waiting for Doug Braithwaite to get there, drawing silly pictures of like his take on Iron Man because he couldn’t remember, Wonder Woman fighting Galactus and even Doc Ock on the loo, so I’m glad we didn’t win one of those. I later requested a Punishger by Doug Braithwaite and Staz Johnson also did one. They were both the two best drawings of the event. Both very talented artists. The host of it was a girl in a Harley Quinn costume who I got a picture of me with.

The day just got better from there. I queued up nearly 2 hours for a sketch from Olivier Coipel. In the queue I talked to some guys about the Punisher and a little guy who collected the CEs. Just before me in the queue he stopped doing sketches but said I would be first at 4.00 (when we had to go for my concert) so when I got to him in the queue, even though he was French he saw how desperate I was and did me a Spider-Man head sketch in the front of my House of M HC which as a Spider-Man fan, is probably the best thing I own. I also got a photograph of me and Coipel as it was a rare occasion to meet him. Whilst I was queuing, Dad went and got me my first graphic novel (Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure) signed by the artist Staz Johnson who wrote me a message. Apparently, witnesses told me he pushed the queue, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt...

I looked through my goody bag at all of the free issues and graphic novels I had got (a rare Joe Mad house of M variant obviously for Coipel to sign and an Ultimate Origins #1) amongst things like flyers asking for your face in a zombie comic and a huge previews book. There were badges and stuff and I was very pleased with the bag.

We then had our lunch and I got a picture with myself and a guy dressed as Heath Ledger’s Joker (why so serious?) We walked through into the 2nd room which was mainly a room full of stalls and stuff to sell. I saw the Spider-Man and Mary Jane Marvel Zombies statue, but my Dad wouldn’t let me buy it as he said £40 was a lot of money for something so disgusting, but I wanted it as it was rare and £80 on eBay. Not to worry though, because I found Cable and Deadpool v.2: The Burnt Offering amongst a lot of graphic novels which I browsed, and scooped that up for £8 because it was beginning to go rare online. I met with Brady Webb, crawling under his table so I could get a picture of me and him. He told me of plans for the CEs which I used to buy, like the new Avengers comic starting with Civil War and a subscription offer which I told my Panini friends when I got home.

I queued up a while for Mark Buckingham, and he signed my Peter Parker, Spider-Man v.4: Trials and Tribulations, doing a quick Spidey head with his silver pen. I got a photograph with him and joined Dad in the queue for X-Men artist John Cassady which we had been near the front for a while in. When Cassady finally came, we watched him doing head sketches in his unique style, one of Captain Marvel and one of Emma Frost. A Chinese guy in front of me had a suitcase full of issues which he was obviously selling as there were multiple copies of some, but Cassady signed them anyway, which Dad said would no doubt be devaluing his signature. It got to my turn, and I asked him for a Shadowcat in the front of my Astonishing X-Men HC v.1. He looked confused but then I said “Kitty Pryde” and he laughed, saying he only ever called her Kitty. The drawing was done straight with a pen and was fantastic. I loved the finish product so much that we shook hands and had a photograph.

After this, we had to make a hasty exit for the concert that night, but surprisingly I had even topped the Bristol comic convention previously that year.

Thanks so much for posting your account of your experience at the show Simon.

It really means a lot to us that you have enjoyed yourself so much... stories like yours just make us want to put on better shows every year.

all the best

Shane.

It was a really terrific show. I'm sorry I didn't get to see Cassaday (I found the line pretty intimidating), but really enjoyed the other guests. David Lloyd had a kind word and an interesting story for everyone and Mark Chiarello was uncontrollably chatty - I'd happily queue to see either of them again.

The space was great. The coffee bar was a little overwhelmed around lunchtime, but hopefully they've learned their lesson. I liked having so much space to sit and hang out with the other attendees. Great venue.

I got it .It's pretty easy to understand.
Thanks.brautundabendkleider.com