The first ever Caerdydd Comics Expo has come and gone, and the general impression appears to be that it was a great success. The event was held in a Mercure hotel near the city center. Advance tickets sold out a week or two before the event, and there were long lines of young people (some in very fine costumes) hoping to get some of the few at-the-door tickets. I’m always happy to see young girls with green hair, and young boys in pink wigs and schoolgirl uniforms. I like to think that if this happens enough various shouty conservative folks will explode.

The main dealers’ room was quite large, but Mike Allwood told me that he could have taken a lot more people if he had had the room. Next year’s event is already planned to be two days. Panels were upstairs in a room that was rarely filled, but not deserted either. It was great to catch up with good friends such as Paul Cornell, Sissy Pantelis, Dave and Barry from Geek Syndicate and Simon Gurr. Tony Lee, wherever you are, you were sadly missed. I got to introduce John and Yvonne Meaney to the comics world, and John repaid me by letting me fondle his Neal Adams X-Men comics, which are every bit as gorgeous as I remember from when I was a kid.

Also I got to be in Caerdydd on match day, albeit that the action all took place far away in Rome. Wales won. A good day all round.