Link: http://www.kapowcomiccon.com/

So today is the day that Mark Millar unveiled the name and website for his London comic con that is supposed to rival San Diego Comic Con (SDCC); Kapow! Comic Con (KCC, not too far from The Colonel’s favourite place to eat or even that famous good ol’ boys club that likes to burn stuff on people’s lawns). Now I’m sure Millar is going to get a lot of heat for this, it’s going to be Mark Millar vs. The World (or internet comic fandom at the very least) mainly due to his overselling of the event, guy knows how to pimp that’s for sure. He himself has made comparisons with SDCC so let’s see exactly what is on offer:

Follow up:

Guests: John Romita Jr, Frank Quitely, Leinil Yu, Pat Mills, Kevin O'Neill, Bryan Hitch, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Frankie Boyle, Olivier Coipel, Stewart Lee, Paul Cornell, Noel Clarke, Steve Dillon, Mike McMahon, Brian Bolland, Andy Diggle, Jock, Brendan McCarthy, David Lloyd, Kieron Gillen and quite a few more but that’ll do for now. Ok Mark that’s one point to you, there is a lot of comic book talent going. For me the price of admission is worth it just to get a chance for Steve Dillon to sign my Preacher books.

Date: 9-10th April. Kudos has to be given on the date, as far as I can tell there are no other huge cons around this time so no schedule clashes but it does seem that we’re getting a con nearly every month here in the UK, something I’d dreamed of in my younger days, now I’m just having to be more discerning. It is a factor that due to this being the end of the tax year not a lot of new books will be solicited to come out around this time, still Mark gets a point for the scheduling.

Price: On the point of the cost £25 for a full weekend pass is not too bad, comes into line with the other UK cons and is nowhere near the cost of getting to SDCC. You can also get a single day pass for £15 or even a weekend VIP pass for £175. The VIP pass seems like a waste of money to me, you can hob knob with comic stars by finding out which pub everyone is going to after the show, although this one may be a little different. You get another point there Mr Millar but I’m taking a half point off for the VIP pass mainly because it’s my game and I want to.

Venue: London Business Design Centre holds around 3000-5000, SDCC is held at the San Diego Convention Center and sees some 130,000 people pass through its doors. There’s no denying that Mark loses this one so a point to the rest of the world but in his defence I will say this is the first year, a con like this needs time to grow and evolve. It may not be SDCC now but it could be, given the chance.

Events: There will be panels and there will be all the other usual trinkets and bargains (?) you see at other cons. One of the main additions will be The Stan Lee awards, a new award ceremony set to rival The Eagles, The Eisner and any other comic book awards you can think of. This has me torn, yes The Eagle Awards were a little disappointing this year but they’re in the middle of a reboot and these new awards can’t hope to rival the Eisner’s surely? I hope it goes well but I’m giving a point to the rest of the world for this one, as much as Stan Lee is the man, godfather to modern comics and sure to bring some recognition to the event, I feel the patron should’ve been a Brit, this is a UK con no?

At this point we should be talking about the elephant in the room, movies. SDCC has become a mecca for Hollywood to not only show off their latest movies and unveil ridiculous cast line ups but also to do deals with creators and get their hands on the latest hot comic book property. Apart from the screening of Millar’s own directorial debut, Miracle Park, there’s very little else on offer. We are promised a Valentine’s Day massacre of information on the movie presence February 14th 2011 so I guess we’ll just have to wait until then. I’m calling that point a tie, we don’t know what is coming, never count Millar down and most fanboys constantly complain about the amount of movie stuff at SSDCC anyways so what you gonna do?
So where does that leave us on the tally?

Mark Millar 2.5
Rest of the World 2

Millar wins it but only by a whisker. Like I’ve already said this is a new con and beneath all the hyperbole I’m pretty sure there is a man trying his best to revitalize the UK comic book industry and fair play to him. There will be haters but screw those guys, judge the con on the weekend not before, I know I will…apart from this post...obviously.