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When Mark Millar, creator of Kick-Ass, announced last year that he wanted to create a comic convention to be the UK’s answer to the legendary San Diego ComicCon, there were undoubtedly many people who were sceptical that he could pull it off. Well, the sceptics have been proven wrong - two completely sold-out days with over 5000 attendees each day, a host of celebrities and comic professionals making an appearance and some exclusive preview screenings, Kapow ComicCon has the potential to be the go-to event of the year for UK comic and movie fans.

From the start of Saturday, the eager queues displayed a wealth of cosplayers, and enter-ing the arena they were not disappointed. A mass of traders with bountiful wares, IGN’s excellent arena, and that was before the events even started. Of course, every major event like this has its hiccups, and being the first of its kind there were a few teething problems, such as no air-con on the first day, lack of raised stages for the panels meaning often it was hard to see, and the queuing system for the events was a little like herding cats who were rushing for those limited places like their lives depended upon it.

That said, it was awesome. Jonathan Ross hosted a rather chaotic quiz where fans were pitted against pros, some of the hottest names of Marvel and DC comics hosted panels, and there were sneak peeks at this summer’s hottest movies such as Green Lantern, At-tack the Block and (the highlight of the weekend for me) the amazing Thor. The Thor event was one of the hottest tickets, showing a stunning 25mins worth of unseen preview footage, showing off the full range of epic drama, action and humour that left us all hungry for more. Topped off with guest appearances from the huge and incredibly pleasant stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), it was well worth the two hours of queuing and strict security for them alone. Answering questions from the audience about the movie while carefully avoiding having to answer prying queries about The Avengers, it is clear from the event that both have done their research into the classic comics as well as Norse mythology, and the movie (with Branagh’s classical touches) is going to be something very special indeed. I, for one, will be first in line to get in when the movie comes out.

Day two was equally action packed, with panels from many genre TV shows including previews of Spielberg’s alien invasion drama, and a secret screening of a movie so uber-secret that no one knew what it was going to be until the film started rolling. That film was James Gunn’s costumed vigilante comedy gore-fest Super. No sooner had the movie fi-nished than the convention was over, and the crowds dispersed to the murmurs of returning next year.

While it is obvious that word is going to get out about how cool Kapow was and that many more will want to attend next year, Millar has already said that he’s planning on staying at the same location, the Business Design Centre in London, but it may encompass the surrounding environs in the future. An obvious decision, noticing the local cinema was showing cult “bad movie” The Room over the weekend it could easily host screenings and more.

I went with the other members of our webseries production group, Cheesemint, as a means to promote our series and to spread the word. Instead I spent the weekend em-bracing my inner geek and remembering the fun of the old UKCAC conventions from the 90’s, while seeing the potential for a convention that could attract some seriously big name stars in years to come. All I can say is hats off to you Mr Millar, you’ve done us fans proud, count me in for next year!

Written by Dave Chapman

www.cheesemint.com

Dave is a writer, editor and designer of a number of tabletop RPGs, and writes and acts in geek comedy webseries “Unlocked” for Cheesemint Productions. Former comic publisher and self professed geek, if it’s remotely nerdy he’s interested. Favourite films are Fight Club and The Matrix, and he’s still obsessed with The X-Files.

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