Inaugural Tonbridge Comic-Con a Wonderful Event

This morning the first ever Comic-Con was held at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge and in my eyes was a real success. There were lots of stalls selling all manner of geeky goods at a fair price including anime, manga, video games, clothing, bags and Marvel and DC comics. There were a few celebrities doing signings and photos including Colin Baker, Hattie Hayridge (Holly from Red Dwarf) and Hannah Spearitt (of S Club 7 and Primeval fame)

There were lots of people dressed up, representing various fandoms and the atmosphere overall was great. I didn't dress up (I kept my Count Duckula costume in the cupboard for today) but was pleased to see many adults and children did take the opportunity to let their inner geek out. My 2 1/2 year daughter loved the festival of colour and characters and especially the dancing Groot, it was her first con of what I hope will be many. We were lucky enough to get a picture with the fern fellow (get your coat- ed), which my daughter found a little frightening, considering he was about 8 feet tall and towered over us.

My daughter and I met Groot... she was suitably scared!

Around the Angel Centre hall were lots of items and photo opportunity pieces of memorabilia which you could snap away at. My daughter and I met a Dalek, Batman and a giant inflatable Pikachu. She particularly liked the inflatable TARDIS and kept playing peek-a-boo with her 2 year old cousin. The atmosphere of the whole event was lovely and calm and outside the centre many attendees and cosplayers had a chance to congregate and share in their nerd-dom.

I've been to many Cons and this is the first time that such an event has been held in Tonbridge to my knowledge. I'd like to see it become an annual fixture in the Tonbridge calender, especially during the Summer, where more children and young people would be free and interesting in filling in some of their 6 weeks holidays and the event could use the outside space to sell food and host other stalls or activities like a bouncy castle etc. Overall this was a well organised event with lots of offer for families and young people, let's make it even bigger and better next year!

DC: Art Of the Brick Review

Lego has been enjoying a resurgence in the past decade, very nearly bankrupt in 2004 the company now has a multi-media empire, including video games, an Academy Award Winning film (for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, for Everything Is Awesome by Shawn Patterson) and many, many playsets. Now artist Nathan Sawaya has used more than two million Lego bricks to create art pieces inspired by the comic book world of DC. Over the course of exhibition you will find numerous Lego models and dioramas of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Flash as well as the rogues gallery containing, amongst others, the Joker, Harley Quinn and the Riddler. The exhibition has many different art pieces and the level of detail is astonishing. The level of patience and craft shown is immense and I doff my cap to the artist. 

The standout piece for me was the Batcave section of the exhibition as the music from the animated series played and a screen projection of Gotham looked impressive against the Lego made Bat signal.

The exhibition is being held in a  purpose-built tent, just minutes away from Waterloo Station and whilst this is fine, the fact that I went on one of the hottest days of the year made the whole thing uncomfortable to walk around. It was warm and there was very little fresh air in there

 If they couldput some ventilation that'd be great but otherwise this is well worth a visit at £16.50.

Gotham Central Comic Review

First things first, this series is definitely for a maturer audience and is not suitable for younger readers.

On this website I usually write about comics that are suitable for schools and pupils but I made an exception in this case as I want to spread the Gotham Central love as it was an underappreciated comic upon initial release but with these collected edition it will hopefully find the audience it deserves.

I bought the 4 graphic novels that make up the entirety of the Gotham Central series and read the whole lot over the course of a week. The premise appealed to me as it is one of those ideas that is obvious once someone explains it to you: a police procedural set in the world of Gotham City with its rogues gallery of the finest villains in comics.

The series is a mix of crime noir but what makes it stand out are the characters, no not the villains but rather the police officers. The cops are 3-dimensional and well rounded, they have their faults and issues but that's what makes them believable. The characters talk about real-world problems and I guess that's why I liked the series. For a series that's set in Gotham Batman features veryoccasionally and from the cops point of view is a nuisance, a vigilante who works in mysterious ways but can on occasion be a useful ally in times of great need.

As a fan of superhero comics it's wonderful to take a break from the norm and read a series that is unpredictable and requires some grey matter. I don't watch many cop shows or read many crime books, although I do have a soft spot for Columbo and Diagnosis Murder, but this series had me hooked with several standout stories.

In the first graphic novel In the Line of Duty, Mr Freeze is front and centre in a powerful tale in which one of the detectives gets frozen, his ear ripped off initially and then smashed into pieces as the villian leads an audacious plot to kill most of the GCPD.  This is gritty noir with a cold- calculating Freeze that sets the tone for the series.

The series is pretty violent at times.

In novel 2 there's Daydreams and Believers, the story about Stacy, the civilian who operates the Bat signal but has romantic fantasies about Batman. This is a great story that delves into the life and motivations of Gothams finest, all brought to life from the point of view of a civilian.

The characters are well drawn out.

In novel 3 the corruption within the GCPD and how good cops deal with it comes to the fore. The character of Corrigan and his corrupt practices within the force are a rich vein that is tapped throughout the rest of the series.

In novel 4 the 3 parter Dead Robin looks at the mystery of Boy Wonders turning up killed across Gotham.

The Dead Robins story is a pretty interesting one.

Across all the books is the theme of corruption within the GCPD and it is this fight against the enemy within that provides much of the heart for the story. It ends on a cliffhanger with Corrigan II and it is such a shame that after 40 comics it was cut short as I really enjoyed the stories and world that Rucka and Brubaker had created. Do yourself a favour and pick up the 4 graphic novels as they are amazing and worthy of the Eisner and Harvey Awards showered upon them.