Day Two – Sunday 24 February
After the night before (including the four hour long journey there and the first day of the event) it was an 11:00am start. (It should be noted that Rodney Ramos only flew in on the 22 February, caught a few hours sleep during the day before going to bed shortly after 3:00am spending the night in the bar drawing sketches. He then attended the bar with the others spent the whole day present at the Con. But once again was at his booth on the second day sketching away.
When arriving at the hall, as expected, the Sunday crowd was not as big but the same artists were once again ‘drawing’ the crowds. (see what I did there) With the throng of comic geeks thinned I took my opportunity to ask Matt Hawkins a question that I didn’t have time to the today before, during the panel show. Given the current issues over the contents of meat products throughout the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe I asked Matt if he, as the Chief Operating Officer, could confirm if Top Cow was 100% Cow and contained no horse? He confirmed with a laugh “Yes our Cow is all beef, we have no horse and you can quote me on that.” (A bad joke I know, you had to be there I guess but at least Matt enjoyed it and I doubt he’d ever be asked such a question again) Matt then took the time to sign a copy of ‘Think Tank’.
“Yes our Cow is all beef, we have no horse and you can quote me on that.”
– Matt Hawkins, Chief Operating Officer of Top Cow
I then took ten minutes to speak more in depth with Ron Marz, which can be found here. Ron then signed a copy of ‘Shinku’ which he wrote, and finally I got Paolo Pantalena to sign ‘Epoch’ which he illustrates. Unfortunately Paolo does not yet speak fluent English (though speaks more than I do of Italian which is limited to ‘doppio espresso per favore‘). My limited conversation with him led the comment from Ron ‘that illustrators get all the women’, to which Paolo with his head down gave a smirk, caught by Ron and therefore confirming his point. Once again the second day running, the Top Cow boys were top draw and thoroughly pleasant, yes I admit I have followed Top Cow from the beginning, since Marc Left Marvel 20 years ago, and I am a huge fan, but they are all very likeable fellas and that cannot be denied.
Moving on I then spoke to independent illustrator Matt Dixon, which can be found here. Matt was also gracious enough to sign for us an A4 print and 6 Artist proof World of Warcraft Trading Cards for a competition. Then finally Ian Sharman of Orang Utan Comics, which can be found here. Both were again very pleasant, taking the time to talk to me about themselves and their work (I tell myself that it’s because I’m such a great fella and it has nothing to do with the fact they don’t want to damage their businesses and like all artist love free promotion).
A quick stop at David Mack’s booth to get a signed copy of ‘Kabuki: The Alchemy’ for my collection (Mack is in my opinion on of the greatest inkers in the industry, with his inking having such depth of texture and his layouts being an art in itself).
The rest of the day was then spent following Matt around with his camera as he took more photographs of the Cosplayers. Many again had turned up later and some in different outfits than the previous day, again there was a mix of shop bought and hand made costumes but this did not take away from the enjoyment or the fun to be had.
The highlight of day two, and the item everyone had been waiting to see, was Tabitha Lyons’ Rogue’s (classic X-men) with sentinel head made by her own hands ( Tabitha, is not only a Cosplayers, but also a keen LARPer and has a company that manufactures LARP weapons / items called Artyfakes.) Once again, iconic legion were on show with a meticulous yet understated Robin (Dark Knight Rises) who had sourced a full Gotham/Los Angeles police uniform complete with Gotham City PD badges.
With the time getting to about 4:30pm and the event winding down it was time to leave and make the four-hour journey home.
Reflecting back on the two days, I can say that despite my initial underwhelming feelings on day one, the weekend turned out to be a great one As a lover of comic books and the art on offer, it was a great event to attend, as this was purely a comic book convention. Granted it will not have the same pull as MCM, simply because there are no film, TV or gaming booths containing actors/actresses and so appealing to the wider demographic but I don’t think LSCC needs to compete; It is what it is and it did what it said on the tin.
If asked what I would do differently, not much, but I would have taken the open / unused space and turned it into two areas. Firstly, a well-lit area with lighting and a clean clear backdrop for somewhere were photographers; both professional and amateur could take photographs of willing cosplayers. This would have stopped many of the cosplayers leaving the hall with the photographers who wanted better and more natural light. Secondly, I would have had an area where members of the press and the professional photographers could sit down with their computers and work, with power supplied and wi-fi use. This would allow more instant access for the days events to be posted and updated throughout the day without any delay.
Apart from that, I think LSCC can only go from strength to strength and I for one will definitely be looking to attend once again next year.
If you want to see more pictures of the LSCC by Matt Geary then you can find lots more over at his facebook site. and you can check out a small video he made below:
