Photo Review: Carlisle MegaCon 2012

The inaugural half day MegaCon was held in Carlisle's Richard Rose Central Academy on Saturday 18 August where the hot Saturday afternoon made for a pleasant experience outside as well as inside the venue.

For most attendees the first experience of the day was turning the corner to find the gaudily painted Yu-Gi-Oh! Summer Tour double decker bus parked at the entrance to the school. As much as it screamed "manga gaming", what event organiser wouldn't want to have something like this parked at the entrance to their event where all the cars on one of the main roads into the city centre could see it?Barely 10 minutes' walk from Carlisle city centre, the Academy is a ultra-modern, fee-paying secondary school and I'm sure that a lot of attendees' reactions to the venue would have been the same as mine - "wow, my school was never like this".

MegaCon took place on the ground floor atrium of the building and on entering it felt like walking into a big new theatre complex or music venue such as The Sage in Gateshead rather than a local school. Lots of space, multiple levels with stairs and bridges between them, lots of windows allowing in the sunshine, a tuck shop in the corner that looked more like a modern coffee shop, a sunken area with a stage and full of chairs for the talks plus, on the walls, there were large TV monitor screens with the event's schedule details on them for all to easily read.

The dealers tables stretched around the walls, passed the talks area and over into the far corner - there was even a radio-controlled cars section out the back door. While not defined as such, the dealers area could easily have been subdivided as a Games Zone with collectible card games, video/computer games and table top games, a Shops Zone with tables populated by the organisers Waterstones as well as a wide variety of other local businesses from toys to model kits to unusual sweets, and finally the Comics Zone with selection of small press along with sales and signing tables for the comics guests.

The comics guests for the day shared the common background of 2000AD with a Tharg, a script-droid and two artdroids. Writer Andy Diggle is a former Tharg and still writes for 2000AD although he is probably best known these days as the writer of The Losers. Andy's website is here.

Writer Jim Alexander has worked on the Judge Dredd Megazine, DC's Birds of Prey and Tokyopop's Star Trek Manga as well as small press comics such as Gabriel for Glasgow's Black Hearted Press and Amongst The Stars for his own newly started imprint Planet Jimbot and he had a selection of titles with him for sale. Jim's blog is here, the Planet Jimbot Facebook page is here and he was interviewed on downthetubes here.

Artist Graeme Neil Reid has worked on both 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, with original artwork from both for sale on the day, as well as a selection of books including Con Iggulden's Dangerous Book Of Heroes. Graeme's blog is here and he also is part of the daily Scotch Corner art blog here.

The final comics guest was artist Sean Phillips, another 2000AD alumnus, better known now for his American work on Hellblazer and Criminal. Sean sketched and signed during in the afternoon as well as selling copies of his current book Fatale written by Ed Brubaker. Sean's website is here and his blog is here.

Small press comics were well represented with a selection of Scottish, Northern and Midlands titles there.

Glasgow's Black Hearted Press(above), who also run the Glasgow Comics Convention and one of the two sets of Glasgow comic marts, were represented by writer/artist Sha Nasir (left) who was sketching a selection of his Laptop Guy characters and School Of The Damned writer John Farman (right). As well as selling all their current titles they also ran a comics workshop during the course of the day. Black Hearted Press' website is here and the new School of the Damned website is here.

Manchester's Accent UK were sharing one of the long bench tables with Disconnected Press. Disconnected had copies of Disconnected Volume 1 plus the last few copies of their Lost Boys title along with artwork from Conor Boyle who took part in one of the talks during the afternoon. There are more details of Disconnected Press on their blog.

Colin Mathieson (left) and Dave West (right) were manning the AccentUK stall with their large and impressive selection of titles from single issues such as Zulu to hardback anthologies such as Robot Shorts. The AccentUK website is here and their blog is here.

Daniel Clifford is a busy man writing both Halcyon and Tenderfoot and Sugar Glider. Wearing his Art Heroes hat (above right), Daniel and artist Lee Robinson (left) create and publish Halcyon and Tenderfoot as well as hosting comics workshops. Wearing his Sugar Glider hat (below left), a hat that admitted looks much the same as his 'other' one, he writes the various Sugar Glider titles with artwork by Gary Bainbridge (right). There are more details of Halcyon and Tenderfoot at the Art Heroes website and more details of Sugar Glider at the Sugar Glider Comics website.

The North East's Paper Jam Comics Collective came in force to the North West with a multitude of different titles for sale. Below from left to right we have Martin Newman with Taxonauts, Paul Thomson with Tales From The Hollow Earth, Brittany Coxon with Art... And That, and James Wilkinson with History... And That. There are more details of Paper Jam and the various creators who make up the Collective on their blog.

From a comics perspective MegaCon was a general event that included comics/small press in the same way that much larger multi-theme events do. The attendees seemed to emphasis gaming over whatever else was available, comics or otherwise, and there were a few puzzled faces looking around the small press tables, in the same way that some of the small pressers may have had puzzled faces looking at the Magic The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh tables.

That said, with an excellent venue, guest talks, workshops, multiple gaming strands, cosplay and even (bizarrely) cake decorating, MegaCon provided something for everyone in a well run, first time event - and the buzz is that it will very likely return next year.

The MegaCon Facebook page is here and there are many more photos from the event on the Waterstones Carlisle Facebook page.

The MegaCon organisers talked to downthetubes before the event here.

Comics Talk: Six Questions For The Carlisle MegaCon Organising Team

Despite the number of comics shops in places like Lancaster, Middlesbrough, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Carlisle, the north of England seems to have few comics events. This is starting to be addressed at a local level with Newcastle's one day library-based Canny Comic Con in December 2011 and now Carlisle's half day MegaCon next weekend, showing that local comics fans do not need American guests or enormous London venues to enjoy themselves.

Levi McGlinchey, Owen Michael Johnson and Graham Barke are members of staff at the Waterstones bookshop in Carlisle city centre and are organising the Carlisle MegaCon event due to take place in the Richard Rose Central Academy on Saturday 18 August 2012. Guests scheduled to be there include artists Sean Phillips and Graeme Neil Reid, writers Jim Alexander, Andy Diggle and Gordon Rennie, and local crime and horror novelist Matt Hilton. Jeremy Briggs spoke to the organising team about the event.

DTT: As booksellers in the Carlisle branch of Waterstones, what books do you stock in your graphic novel and manga sections and which of them are good sellers in your store?
MegaCon Team: At Waterstones Carlisle we sell a wide range of main stream superhero titles, independent graphic novels and manga as well as the usual staples of science fiction, fantasy and related product. We have a huge market for manga in Carlisle, as such our store has one of the largest manga sections in the company! Umbrella Academy is one of our bestselling titles that appeals to a wide market, both our manga and teen customers. Characters such as Batman always sell well, Arkam Asylum, Year One and Long Halloween being the biggest. Comic book movies of recent years have brought both an influx of new readers and massive interest in those characters. In short, the nerd army of Carlisle has been very kind to us, that is one of the reasons we mounted Megacon!

DTT: Knowing what the local comics fans purchase from the store, how did that influence your choices of guests, dealers and the talks or workshops due to take place during MegaCon?
MegaCon: The tastes of our regular customers vary, but the unifying theme is genre books with a dark edge to them such as Vertigo. Those customers also prefer material not concerning superheroes. Our independent titles do well, which is why we are interested in hosting graphic novelists who practice both mainstream books and creator owned work. We have a huge growing trading card market in Carlisle. We are one of the top two stores in the company championing trading card games. To cater to this need in Carlisle we have decided to start holding trading card tournaments, and have such invited Konami along to MegaCon and providing areas for both Yu Gi Oh and Magic the Gathering players.

DTT: Having run smaller events in-store in previous years, why did you decide to expand this year and how did you end up using a local school?
MegaCon: MegaCon was previously ReCon in our store. We have held ReCon for a number of years in conjunction with Diamond Publishing (previously Tokyo Pop). Our ReCon audience has grown far beyond our shop capacity, so this year we decided to take the leap and take ReCon to the next level. Our branch of Waterstones has used Richard Rose as a venue for author events in the past. We loved the atmosphere and vibe of the place so much we though it would be the perfect place for a Con. The main atrium of Richard Rose is such an interesting and unique space and lends itself perfectly to such a fun large scale event.

DTT: You have a diverse selection of guests from comic artists and writers as well as local novelist. Was it a deliberate plan to get as wide a selection of creators as possible?
MegaCon: MegaCon is also a community project. We chose specifically local creators as a means of showcasing incredible talent form the North West. We hope that this inspires other artists, writers, and creators/nerds to be more active. This is the first event of its size and type in Cumbria's history, so we have tried to make the event as accessible and interesting to the widest audience possible. The diverse programme of competitions, tournaments and workshops should satisfy not just die-hard comic fans, but also gamers, cosplayers, collectors and casual fans of popular culture in general. We each grew up loving cult entertainment but felt isolated in such a rural area. There was never an event unifying the tribes. We intend to get young people appreciating, and more importantly, making great art, be that comic or otherwise.

DTT: Your selection of exhibitors/dealers seems to be a mixture of local businesses and local small pressers. Did you set out to have a good variety of stallholders or was it just the way it turned out?
MegaCon: There are a lot of niche businesses in the area. We didn't have to go very far to fill all the spaces available, but once word got out we were holding a Con, the response was overwhelming and we had an army of local businesses and artists at our door wanting a space. Sadly we didn't have space for everyone that wanted a stall, but next year we hope to make MegaCon even bigger to accommodate more local dealers.

DTT: How will you gauge the success of the event and, if it is successful this year, could you see the Carlisle MegaCon becoming a regular event?
MegaCon: It's our full intention to carry on in the tradition of ReCon and hold MegaCon annually. There is loads of budding comic book creators in the area, just itching to get started. If MegaCon is incentive for just one to pick up a brush or pen and make great art, we as organisers will be thrilled. Equally, if our attendees - be they 30 or 300 in number, 4 or 94 in age - have had a great day, we will have succeeded in our goals. The long term vision for MegaCon is to build upon it year on year. We have had big industry names confirm they would be interested in being on the bill for next year, so we very much hope attendance justifies further expansion in the coming years.

DTT: Thank-you all for taking the time to talk to us.

Carlisle MegaCon will take place on Saturday 18 August 2012 at the Richard Rose Central Academy on Victoria Place, Carlisle. Doors open at 1pm and the event will run until 6pm. Tickets cost £5 and are available in advance at the Carlisle branch of Waterstones in person on via the phone (01228 542300), as well as on the door on the day (subject to availability).

There are more details of Megacon on the Megacon Facebook page, their Twitter feed, and there is a also a Facebook event/discussion board page.

The MegaCon organising team were out and about cosplaying in Carlisle city centre in July to publicise the event and were photographed by the Carlisle News and Star.

Megacon Comes To Carlisle In August

With just less than one month to go, the Carlisle Megacon comics, manga/anime and gaming event has finalised its guests, small press and dealers line-up. Organised by the Carlisle branch of Waterstones, this is an expansion of the shop based Recon events of previous years.

The half day event on Saturday 18 August 2012 will take place at the Richard Rose Central Academy school in Victoria Place near Carlisle city centre. It begins at 1pm and runs through to 6pm. Tickets cost £5 and are available from the Carlisle branch of Waterstones in person or over the phone (01228 542300) or on the door on the day (provided that there are still tickets left).

Guests scheduled to be there include artists Sean Phillips and Graeme Neil Reid, writers Jim Alexander, Andy Diggle and Gordon Rennie and local crime and horror novelist Matt Hilton. The guests will be taking part in talks, QandAs and signing sessions.

British small press will be represented by Accent UK, Art Heroes and Black Hearted Press while local fans are being encouraged to take part in various competitions on the day including cosplay, artwork and "Avengers Resemble" plus there will be a Marvel Vs Capcom III tournament run by Gamestation. Other dealers include Games Workshop, Travelling Man, Piers Christian Toy Soldiers, Esdevium Games and Tucky's Anime.

There are more details of Megacon on the Megacon Facebook page, their Twitter feed, and there is a also a Facebook event/discussion board page.