The first ever Portsmouth Comic Con.

Last weekend saw the Accent UK A-Team, or Team-of-One (that's me then), drive down to the first ever comic con in Portsmouth's Guildhall.

I set off extra early as I had little idea of where I was going, how I'd get there, how long it would take and what I'd do if, be some fluke, I should find the place.
Yep, I was a Team-of-One.
Actually, I guess I was a Team-of-Two. GoogleMaps was along for the ride and so I did actually make it in pretty good time.
The omens were good.

I had the sense that my Stephenson's Robot, in that it features Isambard Kingdom Brunel, would do pretty well as the pub across from the venue was advertising for me.
Even on my own I managed to set the table up in about 10 mins, which is actually quicker than normal as normally Colin spends the next 10 minutes re-arranging things :o)

Having one table meant that I could only take limited sock and that I had to make use of a comic box on the table to hold back issues. The comics on the table itself were pretty much all the latest issue of a series or imprint. It seemed to work pretty well though.
And there I was, set up between Mr Lego and The Back Issue Brothers (who actually ran the local comic shop (Room 237) and took some Accent UK to consider for their store).
In the main hall, Comic City 1, there was a real mix of tables and I wondered if I'd suffer because of that. Comic City 2, the room behind me, was more Independent Comics based.
I did, however, get to see the comic stars as they made there way to the signing area, and managed to get a copy of ...

signed by the man himself. An excellent start.
I decided to not only try to sell comics but also try to promote our Kickstarter and so as people stopped and chatted, whether they bought anything or not, they ended up walking away with one of our Enter The Asylum fliers.

Some people were happier to do so than others and there being a great Steampunk presence, courtesy of The Gosport Steampunk Group, certainly helped.
Saturday then was a good day, a decent start sales wise but very long.
It was due to finish at 8pm.
The organisers took pity on us however and let us leave at 6.30pm due to our good behaviour I think.
Sunday was pretty much the same. Sales were good, people were more than happy to stop and chat. I think there were more families checking out what was going on but the number of people looked to be about the same.

...and of course Steve Tanner was there selling boxes of his Flintlock comic to everyone.
It was great to catch up with Russell Mark Olsen and pick up the latest issue of his great Gateway City comic, to have breakfast with Mike Garley and Martin Simmonds, to trade quips with Dave of Timebomb Comics and meet John Freeman (DownTheTubes.com) again after many years.
I also made contact with a sculptor which will hopefully lead to something quite exciting in the not too distant future. I'll keep the details close to my chest for now but I'm pretty excited, well, as excited as an English man gets which is typically not noticeable to anyone else.
Reflecting on the Con as I was driving home I realised that it had been probably the most successful first attempt at a Con of that size that I've ever been to. I think most stalls did good trade, most people had a good time and Portsmouth benefitted from the extra business.
Congratulations then to Joel Meadows and his team on a great Con.
I've already registered interest in next year's event and can only hope I'm accepted.