On the 8 th February 2025, I volunteered at Comic Con Alba in Edinburgh, which was held at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall. While the venue was not as big as a stadium, it still provided lots of room for the vendors and stalls to have everything set up, and for attendees to freely walk around and browse. Lots of stalls sold collectibles like Pokémon cards and single-issue comics, as well as merchandise from other franchises. There were also several artists that sold their own jaw-dropping work at their stalls, providing attendees with lots of options on what to potentially purchase. While some were in the main hall, most of the independent comic creators, writers and artists were in the neighbouring hallway, presenting and selling their own creations. I spoke to the very kind and gracious writer Sam Russell, who collaborated with an artist from Italy and someone else for the lettering on a pirate and magic comic called A Tale of Magic. Every one of these writers and artists was very open and approachable, and were very happy to chat about their work and the convention. There was even Disney Lorcana artist Kenneth Anderson who signed copies for attendees.

The convention was the first of its kind, run by Jordan Gorman and members of Caledonia Events Ltd and operated smoothly with little to no problems. The majority of attendees, of which there were around 350 throughout the day, were also dressed up as their favourite characters in pop culture and fiction, which created a great sense of community. There was also a small café area for people to order food or drinks, where they could eat lunch or just sit down and relax away from the event briefly. At the back of the hall around 12pm, there was a tribute to the Ghostbusters franchise, with the MC discussing his love for the franchise, memorabilia he owns and facts about the movies that most people don’t know. Afterwards, there were 2 cosplay competitions, where people showed off their hard work and dedication to creating costumes of their favourite characters to the crowding attendees. These competitions were very funny to watch; the MC was a hilarious entertainer who handled crowd work very well and did not let the show become boring in any capacity. I would also like to add that everyone who participated in the cosplay competition went above and beyond in their costume design and it was fun to watch them show off and discuss their costumes.

Perhaps for next year, I would suggest using the stage for more than just a cosplay competition and a talk on Ghostbusters. There could be Q&As artists or cosplayers, or more commentaries on other areas of pop culture as well. with Overall, I very much enjoyed my time at Comic Con Alba and thought the event gave attendees many stalls to choose from with a diverse selection of comics, books, collectibles and other merchandise for sale. Despite being its first ever event, it was very much a success, and if it returns in 2026, I highly recommend everyone to check it out. Below you will find the top of my head on the right amongst attendees.

Images:

Comic Con Alba. 2025. Comic Con Alba.

DRAM Media. 2025. Comic Con Alba.