The annual celebration of international fantasy, sci-fi, video games, and cosplay that takes place at east London’s Excel Centre every autumn has a light and a dark side.
On the plus side, ever since 2001 Comic Con has been a huge attraction for sci-fi loving geeks who enjoy to dress up (cosplay) as their favourite fictional characters.
And every year famous guests from the world of fantasy come to speak about their work, whether it be in films, tv shows, or games. The guests this year included the young actors from the 2017 movie adaptation of Stephen King’s IT, though we couldn’t get anywhere close to them. Comic Con is also a great opportunity to buy merchandise, get a tattoo or test a video game. The merchandise we saw this year included some devoted to K-pop, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and Marvel.
We also came across a display of very old comic books that you wouldn’t be able to find in your usual comic store; some beautiful paintings of Marvel and D.C. superheroes; and some extraordinary metal figurines.
A huge section of the exhibition was dedicated to Asian fantasy culture, and included K-pop merchandise and Japanese goods.
We also managed to find our favourite section, devoted to the one and only Game of Thrones, complete with a replica of the famous iron throne, which we sat on of course!
But at times this fun-packed celebration of all things playful did not look quite so wholesome. First there’s the fact that a lot of the people dressing up look old enough to be doing to something better. Then there are the older men, hanging out with much younger women for whom cosplay appears to be about wearing something very revealing. And then there’s the fact that if you are the right age for this event, i.e. a kid or maybe a student, you are unlikely to be able to afford the merchandise, because it is so expensive. Finally the queues for the panels, live stages and meet-and-greet sessions are way too long and leave most people – us included – feeling disappointed that they never reached the front. But overall, despite these reservations, the fact that there is nothing like Comic Con means that I think we will all be attending it again next year!
