Wales Comic Con crossed the border into England and invaded The International Centre in Telford, UK this weekend. This event has had a fast-growing reputation in recent years and has outgrown its usual home of Wrexham, Wales and needed a new base.
In keeping with its reputation of attracting big name guests, the guests in attendance included; Zachary Levi (Shazam!), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), David Tennant (Doctor Who), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy), Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, ER), Catherine Tate (Doctor Who, The Office), David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Game of Thrones), Gareth Thomas (Welsh Rugby International).
From a Star Wars perspective there was a rare convention appearance from Ahmed Best who played Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy. Silas Carson (Ki-Adi Mundi & Nute Gunray), Paul Brooke (Malakili the Rancor Keeper), Michael Pennington (Moff Jerjerrod) and Hugh Quarshie (Captain Panaka) are also in attendance with Topps artist Jay Manchand, who is best known for his illustrated Star Wars cards, completing the line-up. This made it a must attend show for me.
I worked in Telford for over 25 years and I am glad I have some knowledge of the back roads that my wife had to navigate to find a suitable car park. All the main routes in towards The International Centre were gridlocked and this was reflected in the queues from the main doors all the way back to the Southwater area of the town. Keeping the queues entertained were members of the UK Garrison, working their magic bringing smiles to the public as usual.
The venue consists of 2 large halls, which were formally used as 8 indoor tennis courts when the Telford Racquet Centre was built in the late 80’s and through the 90’s. Since the Racquet Centres closure the building has undergone thorough modernisation and has been turned into a major event space which has held events ranging from UK snooker championships to leading industry fairs and conventions.
On entry I got the feeling that this was going to be a well organised event. There were lots of staff on hand to help out in a friendly manner. The main halls were already busy when we got there, and the doors hadn’t been open for an hour at the point. A huge variety of vendors with all kinds of art, merchandise, toys, memorabilia and apparel were grouped in the middle of the halls and the guest lined the outer walls. The signing guests were grouped within their genre, so it made them easy to locate.
I must admit, the one person I really wanted to meet was Ahmed Best. His personal story of his life after portraying Jar Jar Binks has been the focus of a lot of attention and I wanted to meet him. All I can say is what an amazingly nice person he is, and he was happy to chat to everyone who went along to meet him. I couldn’t resist picking up signed photo for myself too.
All the other Star Wars guests had a steady stream of visitors and were signing and happily chatting to all. The same can be said for all the guests in attendance.
Also attending was the talented Jay Manchand. Jay is best known for his illustrated series of Topps cards. His original ‘Baby Yoda’ artwork had already sold in the first hour! You can see it in front of Jay on the picture below and someone got a great bargain there.
All in all, this was a very well organised event and the move to Telford seems to have been a good move for the Wales Comic Con team. I am sure I will be making the trip to the next show regardless of its location.
Tickets are still available for tomorrow (Sunday 8th December 2019), please check the Wales Comic Con website for further details.
