Glasgow EPIC Comic Con Recap: Red Dwarf, The Beano, Cosplay and More

The morning of the first day of Glasgow’s EPIC Comic Con dawned clear, bright, and most importantly: dry (a rare occurrence). We donned our best mid-century costumes (last century, of course) and made our way to the Scottish Event Campus. What would the day bring? What great sights would we see? A Scottish Superman complete with kilt? (Yup.) A Stormtrooper cowering under an umbrella against the inevitable rain? (True story.) The excitement was palpable standing in the queue to enter.

Spread out over two massive halls with many fun and interactive activities, star-studded guest panels and stalls, stalls, stalls! The event is chock-full of ‘geeky goodness’. Whatever your fandom persuasion, the talented artists and creators that inhabit the stalls will probably cater to it! But we couldn’t shop all day…

The first panel was: 75 Years of Dennis. Nigel Parkinson and Nika Nartova speak about their careers as artists for Scottish comic staple, The Beano, home of ‘Dennis the Menace’ (UK version). Nigel Parkinson has drawn Dennis for nearly 30 years! Parkinson spoke about challenging himself to give Dennis (and his emotional support Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound, Gnasher) a new facial expression every week- very impressive! 

Parkinson was also instrumental in bringing the character of Dennis ‘back to his roots’ after the 2009 redesign controversy. In 2009, the comic strip incited negative publicity by announcing it would draw inspiration from the Dennis and Gnasher TV show airing the same year. Like in the show, Dennis would not use his trademark slingshot, peashooter, and water gun. Gnasher would not bite people under any circumstances. Dennis would also be characterised as ‘naïvely troublesome’ rather than ‘naughty’. This softening of Dennis’s edges was to appeal to a younger audience (or most likely their parents). But after public outcry over the loss of the lovable red-striped rogue, the redesign was dropped. On the panel, Parkinson didn’t delve too deeply into the controversy, but he wanted it to be noted that Dennis still has his slingshot and is allowed to use it! Another interesting tidbit is that the current regeneration of Dennis is the grandson of the original 1951 Dennis. A true Dennis dynasty.

Funnily enough, as Parkinson quipped, creating a new comic strip every week (new facial expressions or not) is a lot of work. Artist Nika Nartova to the rescue by doing the colouring. Nartova commented that the job was just as fun as it sounds, as the two never saw each other as they worked from home in their PJ’s (just like writers then). Nartova and Parkinson riffed together seamlessly, and both agreed that drawing digitally was “too slow”. All in all, it was a fun-filled and insightful half hour!

Later that afternoon was the panel that many fans were waiting for: The Boys from Red Dwarf! The hall was filled to the rafters (if there were any), and many of the audience were cosplaying as the characters played by the actors on the panel. The panel was made up of Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor, joined by Chris Barrie (played ‘Rimmer’) and Robert Llewellyn (played ‘Kryten’). 

The three gents charmed the audience with tales of their time on the cult sci-fi comedy. The trio spoke of the joy of considering themselves as ‘rebels’ due to the BBC rejecting the show’s concept three times, believing a parody sci-fi show would not be popular. Red Dwarf would eventually be picked up by BBC North West in 1986. However, the BBC would continue to mostly ignore Red Dwarf despite it being second in the ratings on BBC 2 during its run. 

The panel chatted about everything from haggis and deep-fried Mars Bar (it is Scotland after all) to Llewellyn lamenting that at 70 years old he is still being referred to as “the new boy” because he joined the cast in Series 2 (1988). They did refer to cosplay as “fancy dress,” but we will forgive them! Chris Barrie brought up an interesting point about the content of Series 4, Episode 6 ‘Meltdown’ (1991) and whether it would be banned, as (in his opinion) it includes “things you wouldn’t be able to get away with nowadays.” But truly asking the important questions: who created the first concept of a hologram? Red Dwarf or Star Trek: The Next Generation?

We also went to see a panel with the writer and co-creator for Spider Noir (appears in Spider-Verse movies and his own Amazon TV Show), David Hine. Unfortunately, the sound quality of the mic and speakers was so bad we couldn’t hear anything Hine said. It was disappointing obviously, but no one’s fault, as the hall was vast and crowded but maybe something to look into for next year? 

The rest of the con was fantastic, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Particularly with the inclusion of the wrestling arena for your favourite characters to battle! Thanks to EPIC Comic Con for letting us be a part of it and looking forward to 2027!