Comic Con Wales

Comic Con Wales is a fan convention held once a year in the city of Newport, Wales, United Kingdom attracting 12,000+ attendees across the large venue International Convention Centre Wales situated in Newport, that celebrates films, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books and which is organised by UK based events company Monopoly Events.

This article is about the fan convention hosted in Newport. For the event in North Wales and Shropshire, see Wales Comic Con.
Comic Con Wales
Wrestling star John Cena signing an autograph for a fan at Comic Con Wales 2022
StatusActive
GenreMultigenre, covering popular culture elements including sci-fi, horror, fantasy, mainstream, wrestling and more
VenueInternational Convention Centre Wales
Location(s)Newport, Wales
Inaugurated6–7 August 2022
Most recent6–7 August 2022
Next event12-13 August 2023
Attendance12,000k+ (August 2022 event)
Organised byMonopoly Events
Websitewww.comicconventionwales.co.uk

History and organisation

Comic Con Wales began its annual run of events in 2022 when the obvious need for a large pop culture convention on Welsh soil arose. Monopoly Events CEO Andy Kleek sourced a venue large enough to not only launch a first event from, but also house future expansion plans for the event in order to make a substantial event for the people of Wales to be proud of and to bring economic drive into the community.[1]

Monopoly Events is a Manchester-based event organisation company that specialises in events held in the north west of England and Scotland. Along with the Wales event, they are also responsible for organising Comic Con Liverpool, Comic Con Scotland, For the Love of Wrestling, For the Love of Sci-Fi, For the Love of Horror, For the Love of Wrestling, Comic Con Manchester, For the Love of MMA, Comic Con Northern Ireland and Comic Con Scotland North East with new events, Comic Con Northeast and Comic Con Yorkshire joining the fold in 2023 and plans for further expansion across the UK in 2024.

A two-day long event, the convention includes celebrity guest appearances from various film, television, video gaming, anime and comic book series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lucifer, Teen Wolf, Superman and Lois, The Walking Dead, Gotham, Cobra Kai, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Stranger Things, The Lord of the Rings, Grand Theft Auto IV and many others.

The convention is run between 3 floors of the whole of the ICC, the main exhibition hall features a large dealers zone selling movie, comic, and science fiction related memorabilia, artwork, and collectibles as well as various film props and sets (something for which the Monopoly Events is famous for, making their event experiences very different from others like them within the UK), vehicles from different franchises, celebrity guest professional photoshoots and autograph sessions, cosplay events, and other displays.[2]

John Cena

In 2022 at the very first Comic Con Wales hosted by Monopoly Events in August 2023, wrestler and actor John Cena made a rare live appearance, and took part in an unscheduled panel answering questions from fans. When a young boy in the audience asked for Cena to sign his wrestling belt, a request which Cena readily agreed to do for free, another fan in the audience called out to the star asking why "[The fan with the belt] just got to go up, and I had to do work to pay to see you.", Cena responded by calling the second fan onto the stage to join him, and while attempting to make amends to the fan and the audience, caught the fan trying to take a selfie of Cena on his phone. Again, Cena responded graciously, ensuring the fan got a better photograph of the pair, and expressing his thanks that customers worked hard and chose to spend their money to meet him, before shaking his hand to a large round of applause. A clip of the exchange was caught on video at the time and has since gone viral.[3][4]

Show features

Celebrity guests

As with many other fan convention events, celebrity guests from past and present popular media are regularly invited to Comic Con Wales and are an extremely popular part of the event, posing for professional photographs with fans and providing autographs as well as giving fans the chance to meet them and chat in person. Monopoly Events is well known for bringing first-time guests to the UK, as well as guests that are from older cult film and television shows of past decades such as the 1980s and 1990s. Sometimes the celebrities involved will use their appearances to raise awareness and funds for a charity or cause important to them, while others use the opportunity to promote upcoming projects such as new films or television shows.

Celebrity panels

Most, if not all, of the celebrity guests at Comic Con Wales appear on stage at some point throughout the course of the event, answering both host and fan questions alike, these panels take place in the venues auditorium with tiered seating for more comfort and to provide a more intimate experience for fans.

Photographs

Comic Con Wales includes a double professional photoshoot area where fans can have their photo taken with their favourite guest or guests before collecting them at the exit of the area.

Autographs

The event also includes an autograph area where celebrity guests from film and TV sign items for the public and spend a few minutes chatting with their fans.

Cosplay

A large part of the event is devoted to the cosplay hobby where members of the public are allowed, and encouraged, to take part in dressing up as characters from popular genres such as film and television. Cosplaying has become one of the most popular parts of many fan conventions around the world and can be used as a platform to showcase the costumer's latest handywork, to show devotion to their favourite characters or engage in role-play with other cosplayers in the same series, as well as to meet new people with mutual interests as themselves. The Comic Con Wales event, like all of the Monopoly Events shows, hosts an annual cosplay competition across all of the Comic Con events, with both adult and child participation encouraged and prizes given for the best costumes, this includes a Cosplay Masquerade on both days of the event with the local heat of the annual competition on the Saturday, the finalist from the Wales heat goes through to the finals which take place at Comic Con Liverpool each year.

Prop and set exhibits

Monopoly Events is famous for providing a vast array of props and set builds for its visitors to enjoy, with Comic Con Wales being no exception, visitors can find exhibits such as a full-sized X-wing fighter from Star Wars, the Tardis from Doctor Who, the DeLorean Time Machine from Back to the Future, a full-sized Peterbilt Truck from Transformers, a talking Falkor head from The NeverEnding Story film which guests could sit atop of and have a photograph taken as well as the Swamp of Sadness from the same film and Del Boy's flat from the cult British television show Only Fools and Horses and much more.

New props and sets which have been introduced since the 2022 event include the Mystic Grill from The Vampire Diaries, the Cobra Kai dojo from Cobra Kai as well as the Myagi-Do dojo, the Fiat Cinquecento from The Inbetweeners and more, many of these being used with celebrities in photoshoots.

Retro gaming area and other attractions

Comic Con Wales has a large area dedicated to retro gaming consoles for visitors to play, this includes tournaments and big-screen battles and races between gamers. There are also areas offering the public opportunities to play tabletop board games, Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer and more.

Trader zone

Within the main exhibition hall, there is a vast trader zone that contains 100s of dealers selling film and television, comic and science fiction-related memorabilia, comics, games, artwork, toys, and collectibles. As of August 2023, a smaller "Artists and Makers" zone will be added to the event, featuring arts and crafts for sale in a smaller area by independent artists and small businesses specialising in small handmade items.

Artists alley

The event has a large Artists Alley section which is situated inside the main hall, where the public can meet published comic book artists and authors, and buy pieces of their work.

Location, dates and notable guests
Dates Location Notable guests
6-7 August 2022International Conference Centre WalesAimee Garcia, Alex Garfin, Bitsie Tulloch, Chandler Riggs, David Mazouz, DB Woodside, Dylan Sprayberry, Ed Westwick, Gianni DeCenzo, Hannah Kepple, James Marsters, Jenna Leigh Green, Jesse Kove, Joey Cramer, John Cena, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Linden Ashby, Martin Kove, Melissa Joan Hart, Peyton List, Robin Lord Taylor, Steven Ogg, Tom Payne, Tyler Hoechlin, Tyler Posey

See also

References
  1. Barnes, Jo (16 January 2023). "ICC Wales attracts major events back to venue". South Wales Argus. Newsquest Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  2. Colderick, Stephanie (7 August 2022). "Review: Comic Con Wales 2022: The best photos as superheroes and cosplayers fill ICC Wales". Wales Online. Media Wales Limited. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  3. Brown, Emily (12 August 2022). "Angry fan confronts John Cena at UK Comic Con asking why he gave someone free autograph". LAD Bible. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  4. Morrison, Adam (15 July 2022). "John Cena Announced To Appear At Comic-Con Wales". Inside the Ropes. ITR Digital Media Limited. Retrieved 11 July 2023.

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