London Super Comic-Con - Day 1 Stan Lee!

This weekend I went to the inaugural London Super Comic-Con at the Excel centre in London Docklands. And, of course the main attraction was the presence of Stan Lee making his first trip to the UK in 40 years. I had paid the extra for a Stan VIP ticket which got me early entry to the convention, and his signature on one of my books. There was a huge queue just to get into the convention hall and I was delighted that my VIP ticket allowed me to bypass this. Once inside I joined the line for Stan's first signing of the day, so I didn't completely escape the traditional British pastime of queueing politely. However I had a pleasant time chatting with other people in the line about what they had brought to be signed.

As the 10am start time for the convention approached there was a palpable buzz in the hall as a small figure, who was dwarfed by his huge bodyguards, made his way behind the check-in area to his signing booth. Stan the Man had arrived! After that things moved pretty quickly, Stan's people kept the line moving and they were strict about the just one item rule and getting it out of the bag and ready for Stan.

So suddenly I was there across the table from the greatest comic book creator there has ever been. He signed my issue of Amazing Spider-Man #33 and passed it across the table to me as I said the only word that popped into my head:

"Legend!"

Here he is signing someone else's book, I missed the shot of him signing mine.

And here is the book itself.

My ticket also got me a seat on the Stan Lee panel at the end of the day. The room was packed with standing room only as the sprightly 89 year old regaled us with great stories from his 70 year comics career. He was entertaining, energetic and enthusiastic in true alliterative fashion. The story of how he created Spider-Man was great, as was his criticism of the recent blockbuster Marvel movies for not giving him bigger acting roles! All in all a great end to a grand day out. Excelsior!

Next up: some 2000AD thrill-power