Coventry Comic Con 2017 - A Detailed Review

Guests met and discussed in this review (with the franchise(s) I most associate them with personally) :-

• Ian McElhinney (Ser Barristan Selmy from “Game Of Thrones”)

• Joseph Gatt (Thenn Warg from “Game Of Thrones” & Grundroth from “Thor”)

• Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel from “Game Of Thrones”)

• Ross O’Hennessy (Lord Of Bones from “Game Of Thrones” & Locke from “The Bastard Executioner”)

• Annette Hannah (Frances from “Game Of Thrones”)

Two quick notes before we get started...

1) If this is your first time on "Shangel's Reviews", I'm currently reviewing every single episode of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" in depth. A list of all the reviews I've written so far can be located here. Yes, I haven’t written one in a while due to my Master’s degree, but I am starting up again really soon now that the Master’s degree is over.

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With that being said, let’s dive in...

Just under two weeks ago, I attended the inaugural edition of “Coventry Comic Con”, organised by Jeff Cummings and his team. This was a last-minute decision after a spot on my calendar became available once Paul Kaye had to cancel on ‘Nor-Con’, which took place the weekend after Coventry. I must admit, the prospect of driving four or so hours to Norfolk to meet Paul Kaye, then having to drive four or so hours back was not something that I was looking forward to, but this dilemma was taken out of my hands when Paul sadly had to cancel. Around the same time that Paul had to cancel, Joseph Gatt was announced for “Coventry Comic Con”. Some of you may be aware that I’ve set myself the impossible task of trying to meet as many of the “Game Of Thrones” cast as possible. I’ll never meet everyone because the late, great Peter Vaughan sadly passed away before I had the opportunity to meet him, but, alas, I am trying to meet as many as possible and I’m currently up to 102. Joseph Gatt was not one of those 102 and now that Joseph is living in Los Angeles, the opportunities to meet him have become fewer and fewer, so I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to meet him at “Coventry Comic Con”.

Something strange has happened over the past 2 years. I’ve been attending conventions for around a decade, but for the first time ever, I’ve found myself enjoying the indie events more and more, while enjoying the massive, franchise conventions a little less. When I go to a convention, it’s for the guests. Yes, I love Cosplay. I love the props and merchandise stalls, and the atmosphere, and the sense of belonging and family, and I love the excitement and environment...but if it wasn’t for the guests, my calendar would be much, much emptier. At the smaller indie shows, you have more time with the guests, you have a more intimate autograph table experience, and you get much more value for money more often than not. After Jeff offered me two complimentary entry tickets in exchange for me coming along and reviewing the event, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I was interested to see if the debut edition of “Coventry Comic Con” could live up to the hype – and don’t get me wrong, there was definitely hype.

For a first-time event, the guest line-up for “Coventry Comic Con” was stacked, boasting such names as Dave Prowse, Sylvester McCoy, Alison MacInnis, Steven Skyler, Hattie Hayridge, Katy Manning, Sophie Aldred, Ian McElhinney, and Joseph Gatt. It was the perfect blend of established and rare, of strong names and fresh faces. For me personally, the allure of the show was all about “Game Of Thrones”. I’ve met Ian McElhinney many times and he’s one of my favourite people on the convention scene. I’ve met Ross O’Hennessy four times (three of those in the past month!) and he’s always delightful and a great laugh – I now refer to him as my ‘muscled-mate’. I’ve met Miltos Yerolemou many times before and he’s also a tremendous human being, but it’d been a year since I’d last seen Miltos so the prospect of a catch-up was enticing. Finally, there were Joseph Gatt and Annette Hannah, two cast members that I’d yet to meet.

Before diving into the play-by-play of my day, I want to take a paragraph to look at constructive criticism, then a paragraph to look at overarching positives. After that, I’ll dive into the chronology of my day at “Coventry Comic Con”.

For a first-time event, “Coventry Comic Con” was very, very good. As with all first-timers, there were some teething issues, but nothing that I can’t foresee being fixed by the time the second edition rolls around. Firstly, having an entry-only door and an exit-only door would be very helpful, as by midday, getting in or out of the main corridor was problematic and there was literally a queue to get out of the building. In the case of a fire, this would be a scary situation. By the afternoon, some of the fire doors in the main hall were open, so this was no longer an issue. Having an in-door and an out-door, irrespective of fire doors, would be a great little addition to help with the foot traffic in the future. Secondly, man, did that main hall warm up fast! In order to make the main hall look as presentable and extravagant as possible, a tent was put up inside the hall, which covered the entirety of it. From an aesthetic standpoint, it worked really well. From a practicality standpoint, it made everyone boiling hot. For next time, I’d recommend either keeping the tent, but also opening the fire doors from 10am and turning the air conditioning on, or, alternatively, no tent. The tent was trapping all the heat from people breathing and talking, and keeping it contained within the main hall. Finally, while this cannot be blamed on “Coventry Comic Con” whatsoever, the bar upstairs on the first floor was not using Coca-Cola, but was instead using a shitty, cheap alternative like Freeway. Bleaugh! Stop being so cheap and buy some decent Coke, Sports Connexion! That cheap shit tastes like pissy water.

Now that we’ve gotten the teething issues out of the way, let’s move onto the positives. Firstly, the event seems to have sold amazingly well for a first-timer. Myself and my friend Hayley arrived at the venue just as doors had opened, and the queue was halfway down the car park! Kudos to Jeff and the team! Overall, the layout of the venue was decent. The studio photo room and Q&A hall were both great locations and were fit for purpose. As I mentioned before, the line-up was very strong for an indie, which I think was reflected in the strong ticket sales. It was also wonderful to attend an event with an area open upstairs that was serving lunch so that the attendees that wanted to eat on-site had the opportunity to do so. The photographers were very good and seemed to have a smooth operation – an operation that seemed remarkably similar to “Doctor Bell’s Magical Mirrorless Picture Box”. I’m not sure if the two are affiliated or not. Another cool thing about the photographers is that they offer you a free digital version of your studio photo, which can be downloaded off of their Facebook page a day or two after the event has concluded. Very cool to see some free digitals still floating around in the 2017 UK scene. The crew were phenomenal. The Coventry Comic Con crew, the security team, the Sports Connexion crew...all of them were a credit to the event. Everyone I interacted with was friendly and approachable. Finally, it was abundantly clear that a lot of effort had been put into the event. There were a lot of cool things to do and see, such as Cosplay guests, Daleks, C-3PO and R2-D2 replicas, a selection of head replicas for old-school Doctor Who actors, a TARDIS, an Iron Throne, etc. It was obvious that the event was trying to give the attendees as much ‘bang for their buck’ as was possible given their budget. Definitely an ‘A’ for effort.

Myself and Hayley arrived at the venue just after 10am. We waited for the queue to go down a little bit before getting out the car and joining the back of the queue. We were inside the venue within about 5 minutes of joining the back. Just inside the main entrance was the sales desk, where you could buy entry on the day or studio photo tickets. I decided to go and buy a studio photo with Joseph Gatt. On the website, the studio with Joseph Gatt was advertised as £25, but I was only charged £20. I enquired as to whether this was a mistake as I didn’t want to under-pay and the crew member looked at a sheet and then determined that £20 was the correct amount. Excellent! £5 saved! Although, I must say, if I’d pre-bought online (which was £25) and then discovered that people were paying £5 less than I had on the day, I’d have been annoyed. Joseph Gatt was also added to the “Game Of Thrones” group photo as an additional, unadvertised perk as well, which was a great little bonus for the people that had bought the group shot! The group shot was £30, which was a bargain in the end. The 5x individual studio photos added together was around £70, so getting the group photo with all five in for just £30 was a steal. Alas, as I didn’t know that Joseph had been added to the group photo until after it had taken place, I didn’t get one.

Joseph’s solo studio photo was taking place at 11:20am, so I headed up to the Warwick Suite on the first floor, ready for the photo session to begin. The photo was taken, Joseph seemed very friendly and at ease from our brief interaction, the photo was instantly printed (or close enough not to matter), it was put inside a black cardboard frame (cool little addition and once again identical to Doctor Bell’s), and I was on my merry way! My itinerary for the day was relatively leisurely by my frantic standards – the “Game Of Thrones” panel, two autographs, go and say “hi” to three people, head home. It was all about that Thrones, ‘bout that Thrones...no treble?

Ross O’Hennessy: A man whose name I seem to be writing in every review recently! Good ol’ Ross. Wonderful to see him making the convention rounds and going from strength-to-strength in his career and life. Having Ross there was great for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, he’s always really fun to talk to. Secondly, as I’ve seen Ross so much lately, he was the perfect person to go over and chat to in order to get my conversational juices flowing. Before chatting to Ross, I was feeling quite lackadaisical, but after a good 10 minutes shooting the shit with Mr. Muscle, I was ready to go and meet Joseph and Annette! Now, I can tell you very, very little about our lengthy conversation because 99% of it would get him into trouble or get his hand slapped. Therefore, I’ll just say that it’s always a pleasure to see Ross and that you should try and hunt down his new movie, “Knights Of The Damned”, which I know Ross is really proud of. If you do watch it, gimme a shout! I know a great drinking game for it! After finishing up my conversation with Ross, I grabbed a picture with him at the autograph table before scooting 10 feet to my right to say “hi” to Miltos. Guest Type = Conversationalist.

(Regular readers, you can skip this section)

“Shangel, what’s a ‘Conversationalist’?”

I’m glad you asked. Many years ago, after attending numerous conventions, I devised a system whereby to categorise my experiences with guests and their level of interaction in order to compare the quality of my experiences across conventions and time. I have O.C.D., shut up. The following three types were found :-

·       The Responder: This type of guest is often polite and friendly. If you ask them a question, they’ll happily answer. If you comment on something, they’ll respond or smile gratefully. However, they won’t carry the conversation forward, you have to. These are the most common type of guest, and this is what you expect when meeting someone at a convention. This is a great category to be a part of.

·       The Groucho/Big Guest: There are two aspects to this category. Firstly, you have the groucho. The groucho is there for monetary purposes or is generally just having a bad day, or is a bit of an ass. If you meet enough people, one of them is bound to be an ass! The grouchos aren’t interested in conversations above a few words. They’ll say ‘hi’ (sometimes they don’t bother with that), sign, say ‘bye’ (sometimes), and you’re on your merry way. Of course, in certain situations this is relevant and expected, which brings me to the second part of this category, the ‘big guest’. Some guests are going to be insanely popular. Such as Stan Lee at LFCC ‘14, who had an entire building to himself basically. When you get a huge queue like that, the guest can’t take a lot of time with everyone. If they did, many people would go home disappointed at not getting to meet them at all. Therefore, the convention company and the guest want to get through as many people as possible. You cannot have a huge guest and expect to get above a minute with them, which is perfectly fair.

·       The Conversationalist: This is easily my favourite type of guest. They’ll answer your questions with a smile, ask you questions in return, and are happy to chat for an extended period of time (extended = above 2-3 minutes), regardless of where the conversation leads or how long you’ve been talking. Obviously, there has to be some cut-off point if there is a queue behind you, but you leave the experience feeling euphoric and like you gained a lot more than just the autograph you queued for.

Feel free to let me know your experiences with guests in the comments below or on social media!

Miltos Yerolemou: I was really happy to see Miltos again as it had been over a year since I’d seen him last, which gave me lots to ask and talk about – How was it performing as part of a theatre performance of “King Lear”, portraying the Fool? How have you found the convention circuit over the past year? After getting those exciting talking points out of the way, it was time to knuckle down to the real news – I live in hope that Syrio Forel will be popping up in some capacity during the last season of “Game Of Thrones”. Obviously, Miltos wouldn’t be able to say one way or the other, but after Arya Stabby McStab Stabbed Ser Meryn’s eyes out and killed him, my hopes of Syrio secretly surviving in season one and stealing Ser Meryn’s face crashed and burned, so I think it’s unlikely that Syrio will be returning unless it’s via a hallucination or something, but it was great to talk theories with Miltos. We caught up some more and I filled Miltos in on what the past year of my life has been like – starting to help out with guest booking at Wales Comic Con, finishing my Master’s degree, starting a new job in a couple of week...I cannot overstate how wonderful Miltos is. He’s such a class act and he really makes you feel as though he values talking to you. Great eye-contact, lots of smiles, and the perfect gentleman. I even grabbed a picture with him at the autograph table! Guest Type = Conversationalist.

Annette Hannah: The 2:00pm “Game Of Thrones” talk in the Banbury Suite was looming, as it was now 1:50pm. There was time to fit one more thing in before heading upstairs to watch the panel – Annette Hannah’s autograph. I’ve seen Annette and her father, Mike, popping up around the convention circuit for a year or so now, but our paths had never crossed before “Coventry Comic Con”. Let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen – I was thoroughly impressed. I believe that Annette is 12 years old (or thereabouts if not) and she is so articulate! Whether or not she was nervous on the inside, she didn’t show it whatsoever. She came across as confident, informative, funny, and interesting. The same goes for Mike, as Mike obviously helps Annette a little bit at the autograph table because she’s so young. They really bounce off of each other very well. Evidently, Annette was also in “Game Of Thrones” season seven, but her scene(s) was cut from the final edit! Annette and Mike’s belief is that the scene will be included in the DVD extras once it’s been released. I asked Annette what it was like to be part of the team of ‘Little Birds’ that stabbed Grand Maester Pycelle – a character that had been around since season one – to death. Annette said that she wasn’t aware of how important a character Pycelle was to the show until after she’d filmed the scene. She said it was great fun to film, but due to the multiple takes, different camera angles, etc., the working day turned out to be 11 hours(!!). At the time, of course, Annette would have been 10 or 11 years old, so that must have been one helluva work day! I know adults that can’t work for that long without complaining or quitting. I thanked Hannah and Mike for their time, grabbed a picture with Annette at the autograph table, and headed upstairs to the Thrones panel. Guest Type = Conversationalist.

The Banbury Suite was a good choice of room for the panels to take place. You could see the guests easily, there were speaks for people who were sat further back, and everything felt quite intimate. Here are some highlights from the panel! :-

·        The panel was hosted by Iain Shaw and Matthew Rose, who both did a good job. Amusingly, right as the panel was starting, Matthew mentioned “the recent sixth season”, at which point the cast corrected him in saying that the seventh season was the one that had just aired. Matthew looked mortified, but it instantly relaxed both the panel and the audience.

·        Joseph Gatt said it was easy to get lost in the world of “Game Of Thrones” when you were filming on the show because everything felt as though you were in the ‘real world’. The costumes were authentic and extravagant, there was little green screen, and he was filming in Belfast and Iceland. At this point, Miltos mentioned that most of his work was done in Belfast and Spain, which sounds much more luxurious than the freezing temperatures of Iceland (albeit Iceland is beautiful), so Joseph mocked annoyance that he was stuck in the cold while Miltos was in Spain.

·        Ian McElhinney also filmed in Spain and Croatia (in addition to Belfast), so Ian jumped into the conversation and joked that it wasn’t all luxurious in those exotic places – there were flies and creepy crawlies to contend with!

·        Ian’s first memory on set was working with Sean Bean during the scene where Ser Barristan and Eddard are examining the body of Ser Hugh, who had recently taken a lance to the throat while jousting against the Mountain. It was a mucky day in a quarry in Belfast.

·        Amusingly, Ross O’Hennessy filmed “Hardhome” in the exact same quarry. Ross said that his first memory on set was being in that quarry, with snow-blowers going, and stepping out of his trailer and into a world that felt real.

·        Unlike Ross, Joseph, and Annette, Ian and Miltos have been around the show since season one. Since before it was a hit. While Ian wasn’t at the original table-read for the show before the pilot was filmed, Miltos was. Not only was there a table read with so many people from the show, but it was being recorded! Miltos was sat next to Peter Vaughan (Maester Aemon of the Night’s Watch), who had terrible eyesight, so Peter asked Miltos if he could nudge him every time it was his turn to read a line. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have been a fly on the wall inside the room for that table-read. I hope it gets released to the general public one day.

·        Ross mentioned that both Dominic Carter and Luke Barnes have told him that fewer actors returned after lunch during the table-read, at which point the joke was made as to whether or not they were sacked or left of their own accord. It sounds like there was a lot of pressure on this table-read.

·        Annette’s first experience on set was talking to a member of the production team – I believe the linguistics coach or something of that nature – and Annette having a polite disagreement with him about the correct way to say the name ‘Varys’. Spoiler: Annette was correct. She gave the pronunciation that she argued for and the one that he argued for. She was definitely right.

·        Joseph’s first experiences with the show were unique in that after he was cast, a day or two before he started filming, he bumped into David & Dan (the creators), Kit Harington, Rose Leslie, Peter Dinklage, and more at ‘San Diego Comic-Con’. Then a day or two later, he saw them again in Reykjavik, Iceland to film the show. Joseph also mentioned that the Castle Black yet is located in a quarry in Northern Ireland. I’m not sure if it’s the same quarry mentioned above, but the cool thing about the set is that everything works – the winch-lift works (obviously it doesn’t go 700 feet up!), all the rooms are legit – I would love to visit that set before it gets taken apart in a year or so.

·        Ian mentioned that there is a virtual-reality simulated ride of the Castle Black winch-lift and walking atop the Wall somewhere because he’s tried it. He said that everything felt real. You would walk across the top of the Wall, look over the edge, etc. Ian accidentally walked off the top of the Wall and turned around quickly to try to hang on to the edge.

·        A couple of times during the panel, something inexplicable happened – one of the microphones would randomly *boom* and start making noises of its own accord. I have no idea what was causing it, but it was hilariously random.

·        Ian also mentioned that “Game Of Thrones” is a unique show because the budget is so big. Ordinarily, Directors only have a limited amount of time and shots before they have to move on for monetary reasons or tight time-constraints. In the case of Thrones, some of the Directors would shoot things over and over again – too many times according to Ian. Some of the Directors would film something a few times, then shift the cameras by a few inches before filming it again.

·        When Ross accepted the role of the Lord Of Bones after Edward Dogliani was unable to return, he hadn’t seen the script yet. After being cast, Ross read the ‘A Song Of Ice And Fire’ books that the show is based upon and discovered that the Lord Of Bones (who is called ‘Rattleshirt’ in the books) has a terrific death scene. Ross was so excited to film that particular death...only to discover that it was totally different – and way lamer – in the show.

·        Miltos couldn’t talk about what it was like to film his death scene as we never saw it! Ian McElhinney chimed in with, “if you didn’t die on-screen, you didn’t die!”

·        Annette voiced her opinion that Ser Barristan should have received a more fitting death in the show, which is a sentiment I totally agree with. Barristan was portrayed as the greatest warrior alive. Sure, he was older and therefore a little slower, but he was still a legendary warrior. He died due to a handful of the Sons of the Harpy and he died defending Grey Worm! It wasn’t even like he died defending his Queen, which is definitely how Ser Barristan should have gone down. Joseph Gatt likened it to Abraham’s death in “The Walking Dead” – one swing, “suck my nuts”, one more swing, gone.

·        A recurring, hilarious theme of the panel was that Joseph hasn’t seen beyond “Game Of Thrones” season four. He intends to catch up on the show, but he hasn’t got there yet. Therefore, he was being bombarded with spoilers throughout the panel. Such as Ser Barristan’s death. Joseph overdramatised every spoiler reaction to the point where everyone in the audience was in hysterics.

·        Ross mentioned that some actors, such as him, only get sent their specific lines for the episode and not the entire episode script because they’re afraid that something will be leaked. Ross mentioned the recent Jon Snow-Daenerys shagathon, to which Joseph screamed out, “WHAT?!” – Another spoiler. Ross followed this up with, “nice bum though!” regarding Kit’s nude ass being on screen during the scene. Joseph then said, “I have the next season at home on DVD, ready to watch, getting all excited for it...pointless now!”

·        Annette mentioned to the audience that she had a great scene during season seven, but it was cut from the show. She once again reiterated that it would be on the DVD extras, but then joked that you won’t need to buy the DVDs because it’ll probably end up on YouTube soon afterwards.

·        All five actors discussed what Thrones has meant for their careers. Miltos said that Thrones leads to more auditions because casting agents know the show, even if they haven’t seen it. Ian followed this up by saying that half the battle of getting any job is getting into the audition room itself. Thrones has helped him get into the audition room more and more often because of its reputation alone. Ross said that he gets offered a lot of Viking roles now. Lots of warriors, lots of bearded characters with muscles.

·        Ross mentioned that his favourite character from Thrones is Joffrey because Jack Gleeson’s commitment to the character was tremendous. Ian – who knows Jack – said that Jack is basically retired from acting now outside of some low-profile theatre work that he does for fun. Jack is an academic type of person. He must have been offered so many roles right after leaving Thrones, but he turned them down in order to go to university. All the guests were impressed with Jack’s choice and his commitment to it.

·        Either Annette or Ian, I don’t remember which, said that their favourite character is Littlefinger because he was so interesting and devious. Littlefinger’s recent death scene was mentioned and Joseph once again screamed out, “WHEN DID HE DIE?!” – It was great.

·        Once again, towards the end of the panel, while Annette was talking, the microphone went *boom*. Ross joked that it happens whenever someone says anything against HBO.

·        To conclude, this panel was awesome. Perhaps the best panel I’ve been to during 2017 thus far. It was funny, interesting, informative, it kept people’s attention effortlessly...an excellent job by all involved.

With the excellent “Game Of Thrones” panel completed, it was time to go and grab Joseph Gatt’s autograph, go and chat to Ian McElhinney, then head home. After we got back downstairs, while Hayley was browsing the merchandise stalls for her brother’s birthday present, I briefly went over to Dave Prowse to thank him for all the great memories over the years and to wish him the very best in the future. For those unaware, at the conclusion of 2017, Dave is retiring from conventions. I believe he only has one left now that he’s cancelled a couple. I knew this would likely be the last time I ever saw Dave face-to-face, so I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank Dave, whom I’ve met many times over the years and attended dozens of conventions with...literally. Dave Prowse is a living legend. He was the man inside one of the greatest movie villains of all-time, Darth Vader. Not only that, but he’s such a gentleman. He’s been a mainstay on the UK (and worldwide) convention scene for decades now and he always seems to have a story to tell or kind words to say about his fans. With Kenny Baker’s untimely passing last year and Dave retiring from conventions, it truly is the end of an era in some ways for us old-school convention attendees that love Star Wars. Thank you for all the years of entertainment, conversations, autographs, and pictures together, Dave. The UK convention scene will miss you terribly.

Joseph Gatt: I was so excited to meet Joseph and thankfully he did not disappoint! We chatted about how long the make-up and prosthetics took to apply for his role as Grundroth in “Thor” (3-4 hours), and how the days were over twelve hours when you include having the make-up and prosthetics applied, plus having to take them off again once you’ve finished filming. Amusingly, while working on “Game Of Thrones”, Joseph didn’t get to work with a real owl whatsoever, which is ridiculous when you think that Joseph’s character was a Thenn Warg. During filming, Joseph had a fake, cuddly owl on his shoulder, which was then CGI’ed into a real one during post-production. Poor Joseph, he sounded crushed when he talked about it. I think he really wanted to work with a proper, real-life owl. I think he was promised a real owl when he got the part too. We also chatted about Joseph’s time working on “Chuck”, how he seems to be in at least 4 or 5 episodes of every show that has aired in the past five or six years, and we discussed the convention scene and Joseph’s availability in the United Kingdom moving forwards. Finally, we discussed Doug Jones being the undisputed King of the creature actors. Joseph was fantastic to meet. He has many stories because he’s worked on so many different shows and in so many varied roles. He’s a real “man’s man” and I look forward to seeing Joseph again in the future. Guest Type = Responder.

Ian McElhinney: I’m starting to see Ian as some kind of unofficial Grandfather. I believe I’ve seen Ian at least twice a year since 2014 and every single time talk to him, without fail, it’s an amazing experience. We always have long conversations, they’re always packed with interesting content and fun stories, and I always leave his autograph table feeling euphoric. It had been six months since I’d last seen Ian, so we had a lot to catch up on. He asked me how life was going, so we talked about the Master’s degree finishing, the new job, and Wales Comic Con. Ian mentioned that his son has a criminology degree and doesn’t know what he wants to do yet, so I told Ian that once I’m established and have my foot in the door of the industry, I’d be happy to chat to his son and help him figure something out. We also talked about Ian’s recent directing of the stage show “A Rebel Without A Pause”, based on the life of Northern Irish comedian Frank Carson. As “Game Of Thrones” season seven had aired between our last meeting, I asked Ian his thoughts on the most recent season. Thus far, Ian has actually only seen the finale, but he intends to watch the rest as soon as his schedule allows. He thought the finale was great though. Chatting to Ian is always a pleasure. I cannot think of a nicer guy that I’ve ever met at a convention. A wonderful human being. Guest Type = Conversationalist.

It was now approaching 4pm and everything was ticked off of my list, so myself and Hayley started the hour or so drive back to Gloucester. On the way home, we stopped off at a McDonalds to grab some food as we hadn’t eaten all day. I don’t even recall where the McDonalds was! However, soon after getting inside, a young man called Tim approached me to say “hi”. Evidently, we’d recently become Facebook friends and he was a fan of the blog. What a bizarre, random experience...but very, very cool and humbling.

The ultimate question to ask yourself after every event is this – “Would I return?” – In the case of “Coventry Comic Con”, the answer to that question is an overwhelming “Yes!”

The event was well organised, the line-up was stupendous for an indie, the crew were great, and I like the event. While it definitely had a handful of teething issues that need to be resolved in the future, which you expect with all first-timers, overall a fantastic time was had, so kudos to everyone involved. You did yourselves proud.

Next up: “Loughborough Comic Con” on October the 22^nd. Cannot wait for that one either as I get to say “hi” and catch up with my friends Aimee Richardson, Kerry Ingram, Joe Altin, and Ross Mullan.

Stay strong, stay safe, and stay happy!

-        Your Friendly Neighbourhood Shangel 

FINAL SCORE: 8/10