Edinburgh doesn't really have any sort of regular comic convention that I am aware of, so a couple of months ago when I found out about the first ever Edinburgh Toy & Comic Mart, I was excited, and really keen to see how it all turned out.
Based on what I saw today, things turned out pretty bloody well!
On arrival, I was given bought a £2 goody bag containing a copy of Emancipation Studios Wired #1, BOOM! Studios Deathmatch #1, and an issue of DC's Checkmate from 1988. Very nice. I also bought The bag included a strip of raffle tickets in the hope of winning some loot later on.
The mart was spread across 2 floors. The lower floor was pretty evenly split between independent publishers and various comic and collectible retailers, and there was a seated area for talks from some of the guests throughout the day. I'll admit I am totally out of the loop when it comes to the independent Scottish comics scene,but it was great to see these guys getting just as much attention as the retailers selling rarities and the more familiar titles. While I was there, the makers of independent movie Electric Man were doing a Q and A session, and although the sales floor was pretty noisy, they looked as if they were having a really good time.
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| Photo courtesy of my naff photography skills. |
The upper floor was smaller, with more or less the same split of exhibitors. It was here that I realised I had come to the event completely under-funded, as one of the sellers had a copy of Batman: Harley Quinn, and a number of other collectible books that really caught my attention, Today though, I just couldn't afford it. BOO!
Although the mart was awesome, there were a couple of negatives, the first of which was the prize draw. When you buy a strip of 5 raffle tickets, In my experience that means 5 chances to win, but the raffle was drawn by the strip, which meant that the 10 tickets my girlfriend and I had between us only equated to 2 chances of winning. I also noticed the absence of a Clone Trooper statue that the mart's Facebook page had previously said would be a raffle prize. UPDATE: I have been informed that the statue was damaged and was replaced in the draw with an X-men omnibus.
The other negative was not the organiser's fault at all, but I didn't notice Deadhead Comics at the mart. I just now realised they were on the organiser's floor plan, right next to Plan B Books, but we actually spent a bit of time at the Plan B table and I certainly didn't spot a Deadhead exhibit. Edinburgh's only independent comic shop failing to make their mark at an event like this is a pretty poor effort. But hey! Maybe they were there and I just didn't see them. Feel free to correct me and I will happily withdraw my comments.
All in all, I think this event was brilliant, and I really hope organiser Hero Conventions Edinburgh can do it again in the future. They have mentioned on Facebook that they managed 300 people through the door, and I don't imagine any of them will have left disappointed. Well done, Sirs. Well done.
Thanks for the kind comments - your support is appreciated.
ReplyDeleteIndeed the Clone Trooper was missing from the prize draw, as it was damaged, but it was replaced with the X-Men omnibus. Also, the prize draw was FREE, as the tickets were complimentary with the purchase of the goodie bag.
That said though, there are indeed things to improve on for future shows........and there will be future shows. ;-)
Thanks for clearing that up. I thought that the goodie bag was free and we had paid separately for the tickets. Good job again. I'll definitely be at future events :)
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