On Saturday the 3rd of September, three of our regular contributors (myself, Tim Birch and David Burston) took a trip to the Silk Mill, Derby for it's inaugural Comic Con, presented by Victor Wright.
I took my sons, Frankie (age 5) and Reuben (age 3) for their first ever comic con outing too, just to make the day more memorable and it turned out to be one of the better events I've been to and a very memorable one overall.
We got there at around about 10am (just in time for the early-bird opening) and - from a distance - could see hundreds of people queueing up to support this event as well as the awesome vehicles on display outside.
The first sight we saw when approaching the Silk Mill was the infamous "Tumbler" version of the Batmobile, which was featured in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy - which my boys instantly ran over to with a total wave of excitement. This was an incredibly high quality replica and definitely worth a look for any bat-fan.
Upon entering, myself, my sons and my fellow columnist Tim Birch were greeted by Vic who was on hand to personally greet everyone that came to the festival in a nice showing of class.
The cosplayers were all very polite and accommodating to the guests (and my sons) and were all happy to pose for photos. The Team Arrow UK cosplayers and the ICC (International Charity Cosplayers) were both comprised of very friendly teams who both took the time to make my sons feel special (i.e. The Team Arrow UK guys insisted on having photos with them and let them try on The Flash's mask from the TV show and the ICC guys attempted to help get my 3 year old son over his fear of cosplayers by generally being friendly and encouraging him - both of which were greatly appreciated). While on the subject of Team Arrow UK and International Charity Cosplayers, both cosplay groups are definitely worth a follow on Facebook and both work for good causes. The guys and girls in both organisations are very polite, approachable and accommodating and definitely worth a look-in.
All of the guests at the convention were happy to be there, which is always nice to see as there have been more than a few occasions where my personal experience of a convention has been dampened by one of two guests having a chip on their shoulder. Brian Wheeler was very friendly and polite and posed for photos with myself and my sons and was more than happy to chat to myself and my entourage about his career. We also set up an interview with him for the end of September at his next Comic Con (in Burton-on-Trent), so be sure to keep an eye on our site for that one.
All in all, we all had a brilliant day and would (and will) gladly recommend going to any of the events Vic has lined up (I believe there's one in Birmingham on the 29th of April 2017 planned and here's hoping that this isn't the last one we see in Derby.
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