The New Con in town.

First of all a belated Happy New Year to you lot out there! Right now I’m currently looking for a cheap hotel in good old Londinium as they say. Yep you guessed it I’m going to another convention and it’s the new kid on the block, the London Super Comic Con.

The scale of this one is writ large with top U.S guests like George Perez, Mike Deotato Jr, and Bill Sienkiewicz and publishers IDW who’ll be sharing space with home grown talent like Jock, Sean Phillips, Paul Cornell and Brian Bolland.

But the big draw at the event will be of course Stan Lee, the veteran co creator of Spider-Man, Hulk and the list goes on. Without a doubt, he’s a legendary figure in comics. He once appeared at UKCAC twenty years ago. This was before all these conventions began popping up; it was our equivalent of the San Diego Comic Con.

I’m sure that top pros who are attending SLCC will be acting like fan boys when Stan’s signing or doing a panel. Unlike the convention organisers of say, Thought Bubble and Kapow especially the latter, co organiser Mark Millar was more than happy to promote it over interviews with press, the organisers of LSCC have kept bit of a low profile. Until now that is....

It’s made up of a group of comic fans “who want nothing more than to have a UK show that can go toe to toe on a guest list basis with the larger American Shows, and have a show that truly rivals its American counterparts.”

To find out more, I shot some questions off to George Panayiotou whose one of the organisers behind the convention. A dedicated comics fan who works at Comicana direct and here’s what he had to say.

Until recently you only did a small interview on Bleeding Cool, you’ve kept a low profile why have you maintained a distance from press?
We have always felt that who we are is irrelevant. The show is not about us, otherwise only our families would attend. It is about our guests, publishers, dealers and small press exhibitors. The press reflecting this has been substantial. When asked we are happy to do interviews about the show.

You’ve said that you’re a network of comic fans and professionals who are setting up a convention, what kind of research did you do into organising it?

We have been attending conventions in the UK and US for over 30 years. In most cases we have been able to see the convention process from both the attendee and the exhibitor side and have therefore been able to determine how best to put on a show. We have also been helped by fellow convention organisers sharing their knowledge and experience on the intricacies of putting on a show.

How did you get the podcasters behind Comic Geek Speak to help with the con?

We have known the Comic Geek Speak crew on a personal level for a long time. It has been a pleasure to have them involved in the process.

Why did you choose the Excel Centre as a venue for the event?

We looked at which venue would be able to host a show of this size yet have the scope to grow. We identified 3 options: (a) Excel Centre, (b) Earls Court and (c) the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. We believe that the Excel Centre is the most attractive of the 3 options due to its exceptional facilities, professional management, capability to grow the show and the capability of London as one of the major cities in the world to attract top talent and attendees.

How many tickets have been sold for the event?

Sales have taken off and as tickets are limited we recommend buying them as soon as possible.

How did you go about getting the guests for the convention especially in particular, Stan Lee?

Well the short answer is.. We asked him. The slightly longer answer would also include detective work and calling in a lot of favours to be able to make the initial approach, prolonged negotiations of both a financial nature and to secure a deal that allows all attendees to benefit from his presence and finally many, many hours of calls and meetings. In the end, a combination of all those factors and the plans for the show that he was made aware of coupled with the fact that the comic fan base in the UK and Europe would love to see him here, ensured he was quick to agree to come.

Being involved as collectors and dealers in the comic market for over 20 years, we have a broad contact list that we have been able to leverage, and being friends with Comic Geek Speak has helped immensely. For an inaugural comic convention to attract the guest list we have, demonstrates how much work we have put into the show.

A lot of fans will go the convention to get autographs and sketches from artists, will most of them be charging for sketches?

As with all conventions any charge related for sketches will be determined by the artists. The charge if any, will be very much a case by case basis dependent on the level of work requested and who the creator is.

Apart from 2000AD and IDW attending, will there be a large presence from big comic companies like DC and Marvel?

IDW will be attending the show. This will be a first for the UK. Chris Ryall (Chief Creative Officer and Editor-in-Chief) will be performing portfolio reviews and there will be a Transformers exclusive cover for the show.
- We would look to add DC and Marvel in the second year but this will be very much dependent on the success of the inaugural show. I think we can all agree that the guests and exhibitors attending are sufficient to attract the audience that we would need to encourage Marvel and DC to cross the Atlantic. Please show your support by coming to the show.

Most big American conventions have that crossover appeal like comic related films and cartoons why aren’t you extending your range in a year that sees the release of movies like Avengers and the new Batman film?

We decided to differentiate ourselves from other shows by being purely focused on comics. As it's our inaugural show we wanted to establish the shows capabilities to attract top comic talent without having to focus on the film market.

Do you feel you’ve overshadowed all the upcoming conventions like Kapow and Thought Bubble?

Not at all. With the London Super Comic Convention being new and the first major show of the year the focus naturally sits with us. I like Thought Bubble’s mix of film and comics and Kapow now scheduled for May 2012 means that there is a good mix of options over the entire year.

The UK convention scene is getting larger and larger with all kinds of cons popping up do you reckon the bubble will burst?

I think quality conventions will attract the audiences that they deserve. The UK has an 8% market share of the comic market (per Diamond). As such it should, with the proximity of the rest of Europe, be able to maintain a strong comic convention circuit. All convention organisers need to ensure that they maintain the highest quality programme that they can budget permitting. We think we have done this with our show and hope that everyone will agree with us on February 25th and 26th.