Dunfermline Comic Con 30th March 2019

Dunfermline has many things to recommend it. I was born there for one thing, so was Iain Banks, Charles I (keep the heid), Andrew Carnegie and Stuart Adamson. The comic con that LCS Little Shop of Heroes puts together is a more recent highlight. Dunfermline Comic Con has overcome adversity to become one of the best cons in the UK.

Last year the Beast from the East forced the cancellation of the Con. As blizzards whirled and white walkers stalked across Pittencrieff Park there was no way anyone could even get to the Con, let alone construct a marquee. The cancellation could have spelled doom for the Con but, worse, for the Little Shop of Heroes itself. But the comics community rallied round. The Dungeon Fun guys put out a special edition and a crowdfunder saw hundreds donating.

So it was with joy that I walked through the Glen gates on a bright, sunny Saturday to attend this years Con. Once again there was a glittering array of local and international guests all of whom seemed to be having a great time. Alex Paknadel, one of the guests, mentioned to me that the con treats guests well “the way they would want to be treated”.

There were a lot of highlights from the Con, and as ever there are folk I missed…I definitely regret not getting a Giant Days sketch from Max Sarin. I compensated with a discussion of Death’s Head with John Allison who could definitely be persuaded to produce a Dark Angel comic, come on Marvel make it happen!

I picked up some great looking work which I look forward to writing more about in the weeks to come. Just a few highlights below, my to-read pile is large.

The Forest, The Chair and Those Forsaken There from James McCulloch and Dan Charnley looks amazing. Equally amazing was his tale of recording the Amazing Comics Podcast.

Crawl by Matthew Cooper looks to be an interesting new comic looking at the surveillance society.

The White Lamp is the new comic from Fife artist Julie Campbell, finding the wild in what some might consider local and domestic.

Safe from Harm from Joan Edam is one that I have already managed to read. The newest and, I believe, final issue deals with some difficult issues, grief and loss. Safe from Harm exists in the realm of the imagination, where childhood daydreams are captured by the fantastic and taken to unexpected places – sometimes wonderful, sometimes dangerous. I highly recommend getting all of Safe from Harm – now available as one collected pack.

Torunn Grønbekk is an amazingly talented artist from Norway and it was a pleasure to pick up some of her work. Aberdeen company Devolution were represented by Marie Duguid and her comic Dia went down well in my household!

Also nice to meet Tom from the great That Comic Smell podcast and to catch up with Hari and get a great print.

A great con in a beautiful setting, if you have never been then I can only urge you to do so. Now to return to my to-read pile.

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Update! The lovely Max Sarin got in touch (as you can see in the comments) and sent me this awesome sketch. How cool are they?

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