London MCM as a punter

MCM events have become more and more expensive over the last year or so.

We've found ourselves nudged out of what was Comics Village, and is now Artists Alley, as we are seen as Publishers.

This has meant we are being asked to pay about twice as much for a Booth as we used to be asked for a couple of tables. 

Added to this everything has gone up in price and it's just not cost effective.

So, no Time Bomb table or Booth, but I thought I'd go as a punter and experience the event from the other side of the table.

I got a normal entry ticket for Sunday, the quieter day, and queued with those looking to get into the event at 12.01. I arrived at about 11.30am and was in by about 12.05pm, so not too bad really.

I found Artists Alley easy enough, event though they'd moved it the North Hall.

Wandering the aisles I didn't find a lot of comics on sale, each aisle seemed to have at most 3 tables with them, surrounded by artists selling, mostly manga, art. 

Chatting to my fellow comic creators the feeling was, yes, the event felt busy enough but people weren't interested in comics with few stopping at their stalls even.

I bought a few comics, chatted for a will with Titan's Conan comic writer Jim Zubb, and got him to do me a Conan sketch, and then went for some food.

Whilst sat at a table thinking about whether or not to just go home after eating my lunch, I'd been there for a couple of hours by then, I was approached by one of the Con helpers asking if I'd be willing to do a survey, give my feedback on the event and how to improve it.

"Sure." I said.

The survey consisted of 48 Questions, like 'What would you like to see more of at MCM?' with 5 options ... More Guests, More Artists, More Merchandise, More Games and I forget the last one but what it wasn't was More Comics. In the entire 48 Question Survey Comics were not mentioned once.

I guess things change and the event has evolved into what it is today but it feels a bit of a Con to say it's a ComicCon... ah.. unless the clue is actually in the name.

I can't see Time Bomb every selling at a future MCM, which is a shame as we enjoyed meeting the people walking passed our table/booth and chatting about our comics.

MCM - we won't be there this weekend.

We've decided not to attend the MCM event this weekend, it's just become too expensive. We struggle to make enough cash to pay for the booth and when you look back at the event and realise you've worked hard for 3 days and walk away with very little it just doesn't seem worth it..

We'll see if we can get into Artist Alley next year but if we can't then it's unlikely that we'll be going back, which his a real shame as we do enjoy the event.

London MCM next weekend

Steve and I will be manning the Time Bomb booth at London's MCM event next weekend. 

Please come by for a chat if you're in the arena / area.

I've now recovered enough from MCM to write a brief report

Yep. It was very tiring.

Once again Steve and I manned the booth for the 3 days.

and long days they were, maybe this comics lark is for younger people.

There was a lot to see at the Convention was pretty busy throughout, I did wander to the other hall at one point but was quickly scared back to the safety of our booth.

Friday saw a lot more interest in Quantum, with people actually seeking it out, which was great. I think Friday is the day comic people go to the event as it's never quite as busy as the other days. This was certainly true of the past but this year Sunday seemed to be about the same as Sunday.

As with every event there were some great cosplays going around.

My favourites were...

Asterix and Obelix (I love home made costumes) and...

a really excellent HIM, the King Of Darkness (or His Infernal Majesty), again home made but really well done.

A great, if very tiring Con, looking forward to the next one in May 2024.

London MCM

This weekend Time Bomb Comics will be at the MCM event in the Excel Centre, London.

Do pop over and say 'Hi!' if you're at the Con, we have our usual booth.

MCM was fabulous

It was a big step for us at Time Bomb Comics.

We decided to move from a number of tables scattered around Comics Village, or Artists Alley as it's now called, to a Booth. This meant paying a lot more upfront and hoping that we'd have the sales to compensate.

It just felt the right time and a good way to celebrate our Quantum bi-monthly comic.

We had a great corner spot and did our best to make use of the walls we had, and learned what we want to do for future Cons. The Panini Guys next to us put us to shame with their cut-out Spiderman etc. Next time guys :o)

Friday is usually a slow day but we found ourselves being really busy. Lots of customers asking for the promised WesterNoir Book Two (I'm so glad it's available otherwise I think there may have been trouble :o). Lots of customers talking about Quantum and actually picking up comics that contained more stories about the characters in Quantum, or the universe the stories are set in (as is the case with WesterNoir). 

We chatted to a lot of people and sold a good number of comics. It was also great to catch up with our creator friends, all of whom were very interested in whether or not we could make the booth work.

Saturday followed, as it always does, and as always it felt twice as busy as Friday.

I think it must be my age but
the JLA are looking younger and younger.

We were very encouraged that the Quantum comic had been picked up in stores by people of all ages. A few people tried to buy the sample copies that we had to show people, and some even resorted to pleading...

but I'll not name names David Baillie so you'll be OK.

Steve and I even hit the stage to talk about Quantum and there were actually people in the audience listening and even a question at the end, which was nice.

Come close of the event on Saturday we were feeling really tired. We had been on our feet pretty constantly and it's when you stop that it really hits you. It was a great day though so we felt that a nice meal in good company (with some alcohol to help sooth aching muscles) was called for, even deserved. 

And then it was Sunday, traditionally a slower day. It did seem quieter and we did actually have some quiet spells but at the end of the day we found that we'd actually done better than we had on Friday.

At one point I was entrusted with Steve's Coat of many colours but thankfully didn't break into song.

A really great event.

Very tiring but very rewarding.

Did the Booth work out financially?

Yes, it did.

 

Wow. London MCM.

What an incredible weekend.

All three days of the Con were very busy, very enjoyable and well sold to a lot of new Customers, as well as returning ones.

I took the post apocalyptic headpiece made by Drone to draw attention to my table, and it certainly worked. 

As you can see, I even had a few copies of Robot Shorts available, only 6 issues sadly, and they all sold. I'm not sure I have any more.

WesterNoir was top seller as always, with some interesting new customers coming along for the ride...

Yes, I am sorry that's WesterNoir Book 2 isn't out yet but I promise it will be at the same Con next year.

The three days were pretty much the same, lots of interest in comics, Saturday was the busiest day but both Friday and Sunday were busier than they have been in the past.

It was great to catch up with fellow creators, some of whom I haven't seen since before the Pandemic.

I know of a number of people who sold out over the three days, include Jed McPherson, who had the table next me, as I bought his last comic (Transmissions). 

All in all a very tiring but very successful three days.

I just need to recover now...

London MCM

I'm all packed up and ready for an early start tomorrow so I can set up the table before 10am.

I'll be at C19 in the Comic Village, do pop by and say hello if you're in the area, should be a good one.

Got a super-sub space at the London MCM at the end of next month.

I applied to the London MCM event taking place at the end of May a good while back and sadly didn't make the cut. This is the second time this has happened and like last time I managed to get a table as someone has dropped out.

I won't be at the one later in the year however as I'll be at the Nottingham Comic Con and as these things go it looks unlikely that I'll be at any of the future events so please pop over and say 'Hi' at the event, it may be my last.

COVID -19

It is only to be expected in the current climate that Comic Events are starting to be postponed. It's a shame but absolutely the right thing to do.

So, next weekend's Birmingham MCM event will now take place over the weekend of  27th - 28th of June, at the same venue.

I'm not sure what state the country will be in by then, both health wise and economically, but hope you all get through this very troubling time unscathed by either.

Third Comic Con of the Year

We've been accepted for a table at the London MCM in May.
Let's hope things have settled down with regards COVID-19 by then, although sadly I doubt it.

Second Comic Con of the year.

Accent UK have just booked a table at the Birmingham MCM event the weekend of 21st and 22nd March.

Hope to see plenty of you there.

My last Convention of the year.

Tomorrow I'll be at the London MCM at the Excel centre.
Do pop by the stall and say 'Hi' if you're in the area.

MCM SCOTLAND - Glasgow

This weekend we're up in Glasgow, at one of our favourite shows.
I love Glasgow.
Hope to see some of you there.

Manchester MCM

Accent UK will be at this weekend's Manchester MCM, pop over and say 'Hi' if you're at the Con.

London MCM

The last Con of a very busy May was the London MCM.

Last May's event hadn't been great. We'd had one table, which was stuck in the middle of a row of mostly artists selling prints and we were effectively invisible when approaching from one side due to the wall of prints that the table next to us had put up dividing the tables.

Still, I'm not one to complain and we took this in our stride.

Some Cons are better than others.

This time around we had two tables again and Jemma and I were joined by Colin and Scott.

We were hoping that this May's MCM would be better than the last.

In short, it was.
It certainly got off to a fun start when, on arriving, I found this on my table..

Gary Erskine is a constant at the MCMs and always fun.
Friday was it's usual very slow affair, and really isn't worth a day off work.

Saturday made up for it though and Sunday was almost as solid, so overall we did pretty well.

MCM is under new management and there have been a number of improvements over recent Cons. 

This time around the Stewards were much better organised and attentive.

I liked the way the professional comic creators were placed around the Comic Village so the punters looking for them had to wander a little, and maybe notice something of interest that hasn't had any involvement from Stan Lee.

Yep.

MCM is still a huge corporate monster of a Con.

It still attracts more people looking to spend £70 on 2 seconds and a signed photo from some extra in some Star Wars movie or other.

It still has loads of Cosplayers who just aren't interested in the source of the character that they are dressed as.

But, because it's so big there are still plenty of plenty coming around the Comic Village to see what's on offer.

I think it's trying to raise the profile of Comics and it's not doing a bad job.

The rest is down to us to produce quality comics, engage with browsers and look to build a reader base.

Can't really ask for much more than that.

From Manchester to Worthing.

Well I've been to a few Cons since my last posting and have decided to try to catch up this weekend.
This post will call out the high points of the Manchester MCM and the Meanwhile event in Worthing. Very different shoes and they actually sum up, for me, the polarity of shows today.
On one side you have the small comic event that pulls in local people (both creators and customers) and at the other a monster event that pulls in people from across the UK, and beyond.
MCM Manchester then was its usual huge self. Loads of dealers selling, well... stuff you can buy in stores in the main, and smuggled in amongst it all the Comic Village.
As always the quality of independent comics was high but we had a great weekend and caught up with existing customers..

Josiah Black pops in the check on things...

and new...

visiting the stall and checking out our books.
As always it's great catching up with people and the MCMs are two full on days.
Worthing's Meanwhile Event, on the other hand, is a small event in a Town Hall type building. Much fewer stalls and comic creators but much ore relaxing with much more time to chat to people.

The Kingdom figure got his first outing and got plenty of attention.
Fewer comics were sold but I had a really enjoyable day and with driving there and back again on the day I kept costs very low. Simon (Blue Fox Comics) is certainly doing all the right things and I'll certainly be back next year.

All set up in plenty of time.

London MCM.

It's been a busy couple of months, what with Conventions and Kickstarter.

Since my last post I've been to two Conventions, wildly different in appearance and connect but both going to.

London MCM was, it has to be said, a little down on last year. It just didn't seem to be as busy and whilst I'm trying not to, I'm wondering if the concerns about what state the country will be in post Brexit are causing people to be a little more cautious with their spending habits.

Everything seems bigger at the MCM in London...

There was the usual display of costumes and I always respect the time and effort that goes into the Cosplays, regardless of how effective they turn out to be.
The Green Soldiers from Toy Story as impressive...

as this version of the Powerpuff Girls...

was disturbing.
Sales were tough, maybe because we had only a single table and were tucked behind an artist with one of those table displays that effectively blocks ours if you were approaching from the left or maybe because we had nothing new out.
Regardless it was a tough 3 days for Jemma and myself but we soldiered on and did ok in the end.
It did hit me that everyone is looking younger these days, a sign of getting old I guess, even Judge Death was looking like he was too young to leave school...

All in all we had a good time chilling with our friends and chatting to returning customers, but it was a long tiring 3 days and I was glad when it had finished so I could put my tired feet up and have a good rest.
I didn't forget my hammer on the way out though.

Glasgow MCM.

For the first time in recorded history the Accent UK team was split across two Cons.
The A-Team (that's any team that includes me, and this time was with Jemma) were at the Glasgow MCM and the B-Team (which is any team that included Colin, and on this occasion included Gary Crutchley and our guest from Denmark Martin Flink) were at Thought Bubble.
Of course there was a competitive element to the whole thing, although I'll confess that I was doubtful of my chance to win. Added to the international guest there were two new books at Thought Bubble that I'd not managed to get hold of, WesterNoir 8 and Martin's The Lizard.
Still, I do love a challenge.
This year then saw us on the table next to Steve 'Timebomb' Tanner.
It's amazing that in his 10 years and our 15 this was actually the first time that this had happened.

We would get a chance to see the Sales Master in action.
He is quite impressive and soon we were both busy talking to customers and swapping cash for comics as is the traditional way of things.
Saturday was very busy and an improvement for us on last year which had been relatively quiet. The Lego figures drew in a lot of interest, but sadly it was mostly under 10 year olds and none of the comics that the characters they saw in Lego form were suitable.
A poor marketing strategy then.
There were, as always, plenty of Cosplayers to marvel at.
My particular favourites were...

Spike from Steampunk Giraffe and...

this from Coraline. Amazing.
A good day ended with a really enjoyable night at Babs (Kebab restaurant (thoroughly recommended) with Mikes Garley and Stott, Jemma and Jenika and Steve Tanner. Great food and great company.
Sunday, whilst starting slower, was another good day.
Did I beat the boys at Thought Bubble ?
Well ... not on total number of Comics sold.
But ... wait a minute ... they had two tables and I had only the one.
So if you take the sales per table, which seems only fair, then I won by a country mile 😂.
I'll leave you with this...

Stay tuned.

Meanwhile at the London MCM Con...

The post about our attendance at the next London MCM was a mistake on my part.
Accent UK will be at the London MCM event as always.
Next weekend though we will have tables at both Thought Bubble and Glasgow MCM events. The A-team will be at the Glasgow MCM and Colin, Gary and Martin Flink (on his first UK appearance) will be at Thought Bubble.
And then the week after I will be representing Accent UK a the Meanwhile event, you can find details about this new event here.