Blog Entry
This past weekend was the second Kapow comiccon run by Mark MIllar. Last years
event was ok some issues with short signing sessions bad organisation and long
long queues was this year to be any better?
Saturday 19th May
Arrived
about half hour before doors opened as was in with the Ltd edition guys and went
straight to the Barry kitson queue sadly I was second. At any other table or
event this would have been fine but Barry does such amazing painted sketches but
they take time. The guy ahead of me -another Ashley should have realised that he
be trouble- got a gorgeous A3 painted Thor which was simply breathtakingly
amazing.
Whilst was in the queue was able to bounce to the nearby artists
Adi Granov and Gary Erskine and get two. Great sketches of Mr Sinister and
Apocalypse. My sketch was finally ready at 11:30 so I had missed the first batch
of signings luckily had help from a friend to get me a few sigs from Frank
Quietly - thank you- purchased a few original panel pages from Barry -£10 a
piece bargain though I cant post them here yet as they not been published
yet.
I rushed down to the signing area and managed to catch Nick Spencer
before he finished and got my morning glories and ultimate xmen signed and brief
chat about each series and how he had morning glories plotted until issue 126
but was off ult xmen as of this weeks new issue.
Next up was David laufente
who was pleased to see that I had something other then ultimate spiderman for
him to sign. He happily signed my avengers academy and new mutants and once the
rest of the queue had gone down he did a quick ult spiderman and gwen sketch for
me.
I ran over to join the next queue for the lovely co creator of the new
black spiderman Sara Pichelli who was really nice and was v happy that the new
spiderman was being received so well. Got my first appearance of him signed so I
was happy.
I ran back upstairs to the artists ally to get some sigs from
thunderbolts artist Declan shalvey and drop off a blank sketch cover to pick up
later.
The next queue is where the trouble began.
First the points of
note:
Kapow had a 3 comic at a time limit per person. I don't mind this yes
it's annoying but I always will requeue I really don't mind,
If you in my
airspace and you will get exploited- meaning if you only have one or two I will
give you some of mine to make up the numbers - not breaking any rules still same
amount being done.
So I join the queue for Terry Dodson - who Is the big
name for me this is who I came to meet and his queue was up against Joe q and
Scott Snyder so it was so small maybe 50 people max this should be easy - alas
he can't talk and sign and he does like to talk and talk took 40 minutes to be
seen and I was number 20 in queue so went round got a quick sketch and sone
autos and went around again this time I had few friends with me to help and then
a random guy in queue offered to get some done for me I was v happy with this
offer I got bits done then ran off to Joe quasadas queue to get my bits signed -
very fast line got my first appearance x23 and darken signed which was good and
chatted that he prefers to draw spiderman but drawing the webs is a bitch. After
3rd time around I headed back to Dodson as he was still going strong - then I
heard the main pitboss of auto section was after me she had stopped that guy
getting my bits done saying I was profiteering. I joint the line and the same
woman came up to me and ending the queue ahead of me nor once did she talk to
me, question me or anything so thought no more of it.
Had a
quick chat with james hodginkon and got a quick sketch before heading up to pick
up my Declan sketch and some autos from shaky Kane Doug braithwaite Paul grist
David hine and Chris Weston - who we all applauded as his comic the twelve was
finally finished after 2 years of delays.
Pros for day one
Longer
signing sessions for most guests
Cons
The queues were still not very
well run with an end of line post handed out but told to pass it back when more
joint only then later for the staff to take it and move it higher up - I
understand they need to cut lines etc but they always did it after people had
been waiting a long time and they were usually very rude about it.
I found some of the staff very friendly but the few that I kept seeing on the auto
lines were very rude and looked down on us in the queue
Artist alley was
nice that was out of the way but where it was was in small corner and once
queues formed you couldnt see the other guests
Missed all the celeb
guests and signings as they moved it to other end of hall but couldn't see any
timetable anywhere
So my haul from first day was
Shalvey x 6 1 sketch
Grist x 2
Braithwaite x 1
Shaky x 1
Hine x
1
Quietly x 4
Erskine x 1
sketch
Joe q x 23
Dodson x 12 1
sketch
Weston x 6
Spurrior x 5
Laffuette x 6 1 sketch
Granov
x 17 1 sketch
Hodgkinson x 1 sketch
Spencer x 12
Picelli x 20
Kitson x 3 1. Sketch
So all in all
not a bad day and if I had
brought my second set of Quasadas along I prob
wouldn't have gone back ...
But I did and the happiness was to be broken
Sunday 20th may
Arrived again before doors opened but immediately
could
see the queue outside was smaller so the day should be mire relaxed.
Helped
out on the stall setting bits up and generally loitering waiting to for
the
queue for Joe quasada. Then I see the pitboss ginger woman staring at me and
not in a good way - she disappeared and I thought no more of it. She
returned
with mark Millar himself I assumed they were setting up and he
came up to me and
thought I was someone else and walked away but she called
him back and he came
up and could see he wasn't happy - she had accused me
of going up and down the
line handing books our to randoms and extending
the line I tried to argue my
side but he was having none of it and said if
I did it again I would be chucked
out- I was not happy as I always go out
of my way to make sure I don't put
people out or make a scene - but what
else could I do but plead innocence and
apologise if that's how it had
seemed -
Ashleys golden rule never anger
the management or you get
black listed and no guest or auto is woth that
So as the wee scots
man was going on 2 things came into my head
1) man he had bad
skin
2) where my books and sharpie
And all
this happened in front
of the stall so I don't know how long till I get to
forget
it.
Anyway happy thoughts happy thoughts
Went through the
Joe q queue and was on best behaviour only three items but he was so quick I
went round three times and on third time he just said it was a silly limit
let me sign them all save me wasting con time in same queue. I couldbt
believe he had an open queue and that I had left my original xfactor comics
at home totally forgot he did those and they are sone of my fave comics
hope they get him back.
Then off to kieron Gillian to get my latest batch of comics signed -
seem to see him every 3 months or so. Know there few people who not his biggest
fan but I get on alright with him and am really enjoying his uncanny xmen and
journey into mystery runs - he also found my telling off by Millar funny.
I becoming infamous ...
Again
Then was off to try my luck
in the Millar queue was a long one
but no where near as bad as have seen in
past. After about an hour or so I
finally got close and began to get nervous on
how he would react would he
refuse would he headbutt me? And I wasn't the only
only one thinking the
same - all the staff at the stall were instantly there all
sales on hold
cameras phone ready and rolling .....
I approached his table He said hi and asked If was enjoying con and signed books then
moved me on, he wasn't as happy and pleasant as he was to others around me but
at least he signed my books.
Then I joint my last queue if the day the dreaded Dodson queue still very very short but still took very very
long was so slow I only managed two times around and two sketches. Hope he
comes back he was really nice but draining to talk to.
But overall I didn't enjoy the second day the Millar incident really made me feel crappy.
Well would I go back? Yeah if guests were good enough as that's all I really go for.
Thought it needs a better venue less stairs and more
space
event was ok some issues with short signing sessions bad organisation and long
long queues was this year to be any better?
Saturday 19th May
Arrived
about half hour before doors opened as was in with the Ltd edition guys and went
straight to the Barry kitson queue sadly I was second. At any other table or
event this would have been fine but Barry does such amazing painted sketches but
they take time. The guy ahead of me -another Ashley should have realised that he
be trouble- got a gorgeous A3 painted Thor which was simply breathtakingly
amazing.
Whilst was in the queue was able to bounce to the nearby artists
Adi Granov and Gary Erskine and get two. Great sketches of Mr Sinister and
Apocalypse. My sketch was finally ready at 11:30 so I had missed the first batch
of signings luckily had help from a friend to get me a few sigs from Frank
Quietly - thank you- purchased a few original panel pages from Barry -£10 a
piece bargain though I cant post them here yet as they not been published
yet.
I rushed down to the signing area and managed to catch Nick Spencer
before he finished and got my morning glories and ultimate xmen signed and brief
chat about each series and how he had morning glories plotted until issue 126
but was off ult xmen as of this weeks new issue.
Next up was David laufente
who was pleased to see that I had something other then ultimate spiderman for
him to sign. He happily signed my avengers academy and new mutants and once the
rest of the queue had gone down he did a quick ult spiderman and gwen sketch for
me.
I ran over to join the next queue for the lovely co creator of the new
black spiderman Sara Pichelli who was really nice and was v happy that the new
spiderman was being received so well. Got my first appearance of him signed so I
was happy.
I ran back upstairs to the artists ally to get some sigs from
thunderbolts artist Declan shalvey and drop off a blank sketch cover to pick up
later.
The next queue is where the trouble began.
First the points of
note:
Kapow had a 3 comic at a time limit per person. I don't mind this yes
it's annoying but I always will requeue I really don't mind,
If you in my
airspace and you will get exploited- meaning if you only have one or two I will
give you some of mine to make up the numbers - not breaking any rules still same
amount being done.
So I join the queue for Terry Dodson - who Is the big
name for me this is who I came to meet and his queue was up against Joe q and
Scott Snyder so it was so small maybe 50 people max this should be easy - alas
he can't talk and sign and he does like to talk and talk took 40 minutes to be
seen and I was number 20 in queue so went round got a quick sketch and sone
autos and went around again this time I had few friends with me to help and then
a random guy in queue offered to get some done for me I was v happy with this
offer I got bits done then ran off to Joe quasadas queue to get my bits signed -
very fast line got my first appearance x23 and darken signed which was good and
chatted that he prefers to draw spiderman but drawing the webs is a bitch. After
3rd time around I headed back to Dodson as he was still going strong - then I
heard the main pitboss of auto section was after me she had stopped that guy
getting my bits done saying I was profiteering. I joint the line and the same
woman came up to me and ending the queue ahead of me nor once did she talk to
me, question me or anything so thought no more of it.
Had a
quick chat with james hodginkon and got a quick sketch before heading up to pick
up my Declan sketch and some autos from shaky Kane Doug braithwaite Paul grist
David hine and Chris Weston - who we all applauded as his comic the twelve was
finally finished after 2 years of delays.
Pros for day one
Longer
signing sessions for most guests
Cons
The queues were still not very
well run with an end of line post handed out but told to pass it back when more
joint only then later for the staff to take it and move it higher up - I
understand they need to cut lines etc but they always did it after people had
been waiting a long time and they were usually very rude about it.
I found some of the staff very friendly but the few that I kept seeing on the auto
lines were very rude and looked down on us in the queue
Artist alley was
nice that was out of the way but where it was was in small corner and once
queues formed you couldnt see the other guests
Missed all the celeb
guests and signings as they moved it to other end of hall but couldn't see any
timetable anywhere
So my haul from first day was
Shalvey x 6 1 sketch
Grist x 2
Braithwaite x 1
Shaky x 1
Hine x
1
Quietly x 4
Erskine x 1
sketch
Joe q x 23
Dodson x 12 1
sketch
Weston x 6
Spurrior x 5
Laffuette x 6 1 sketch
Granov
x 17 1 sketch
Hodgkinson x 1 sketch
Spencer x 12
Picelli x 20
Kitson x 3 1. Sketch
So all in all
not a bad day and if I had
brought my second set of Quasadas along I prob
wouldn't have gone back ...
But I did and the happiness was to be broken
Sunday 20th may
Arrived again before doors opened but immediately
could
see the queue outside was smaller so the day should be mire relaxed.
Helped
out on the stall setting bits up and generally loitering waiting to for
the
queue for Joe quasada. Then I see the pitboss ginger woman staring at me and
not in a good way - she disappeared and I thought no more of it. She
returned
with mark Millar himself I assumed they were setting up and he
came up to me and
thought I was someone else and walked away but she called
him back and he came
up and could see he wasn't happy - she had accused me
of going up and down the
line handing books our to randoms and extending
the line I tried to argue my
side but he was having none of it and said if
I did it again I would be chucked
out- I was not happy as I always go out
of my way to make sure I don't put
people out or make a scene - but what
else could I do but plead innocence and
apologise if that's how it had
seemed -
Ashleys golden rule never anger
the management or you get
black listed and no guest or auto is woth that
So as the wee scots
man was going on 2 things came into my head
1) man he had bad
skin
2) where my books and sharpie
And all
this happened in front
of the stall so I don't know how long till I get to
forget
it.
Anyway happy thoughts happy thoughts
Went through the
Joe q queue and was on best behaviour only three items but he was so quick I
went round three times and on third time he just said it was a silly limit
let me sign them all save me wasting con time in same queue. I couldbt
believe he had an open queue and that I had left my original xfactor comics
at home totally forgot he did those and they are sone of my fave comics
hope they get him back.
Then off to kieron Gillian to get my latest batch of comics signed -
seem to see him every 3 months or so. Know there few people who not his biggest
fan but I get on alright with him and am really enjoying his uncanny xmen and
journey into mystery runs - he also found my telling off by Millar funny.
I becoming infamous ...
Again
Then was off to try my luck
in the Millar queue was a long one
but no where near as bad as have seen in
past. After about an hour or so I
finally got close and began to get nervous on
how he would react would he
refuse would he headbutt me? And I wasn't the only
only one thinking the
same - all the staff at the stall were instantly there all
sales on hold
cameras phone ready and rolling .....
I approached his table He said hi and asked If was enjoying con and signed books then
moved me on, he wasn't as happy and pleasant as he was to others around me but
at least he signed my books.
Then I joint my last queue if the day the dreaded Dodson queue still very very short but still took very very
long was so slow I only managed two times around and two sketches. Hope he
comes back he was really nice but draining to talk to.
But overall I didn't enjoy the second day the Millar incident really made me feel crappy.
Well would I go back? Yeah if guests were good enough as that's all I really go for.
Thought it needs a better venue less stairs and more
space