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Liverpool Echo

Entertainment

Jess Flaherty

Comic Con confirms 2023 return with first celebrity guests announced

Comic Con Exhibition Centre

Comic Con has confirmed it will return to Liverpool this spring, with the first batch of celebrity guests revealed.

The popular event is a regular convention geared towards fandoms. Comic Con Liverpool is the North West's largest comic book and film fan convention, and boasts some of the UK's biggest celebrity guest exclusives.

Occurring biannually, last year saw weekends in April and November packed with stars from cultural phenomenons including Stranger Things, The Vampire Diaries, Peaky Blinders, Matilda, One Tree Hill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more.

Comic Con Liverpool has since confirmed it will return to Exhibition Centre Liverpool twice a year for the next three years, after its biggest ever event last year. The venue welcomed tens of thousands of visitors at last year's conventions, with this year's set to be just as big.

As well as photo and autograph opportunities with famous faces from the silver screen, ticket holders are treated to a smorgasbord of entertainment, with elaborate cosplay, iconic artefacts and exhibitions from hit shows, live guest panels with A-List celebrities, and interactive games and activities.

Comic Con Liverpool has attracted more than 100,000 visitors to six events since it launched at Exhibition Centre Liverpool in 2018. Organisers have confirmed it will return this spring, and then twice a year up until 2025, providing a significant economic boost to the region.

Matilda star, Mara Wilson, meeting a young fan dressed as Matilda (Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

Andy Kleek, of Monopoly Events, said: "Our recent Liverpool event was phenomenal, it was fantastic to see so many pop culture fans gathered in one space. We developed a new festival zone to include outside attractions and funfair rides and the buzz of the halls was simply electric.

"We run Comic Cons all over the UK and this is our largest flagship Comic Con experience. We love working with the team at Exhibition Centre Liverpool to deliver a fantastic event that we know our visitors will enjoy."

Last year, Comic Con took over all three halls of the exhibition centre as well as space in the adjoining convention centre, also part of the ACC Liverpool campus. Colm Graham, exhibition, partnership and hospitality manager, said: "Comic Con Liverpool is the largest consumer exhibition that we hold in the venue and to see the space completely transformed for so many excited pop culture fans was exhilarating.

"The quality of this event is excellent, which is a massive draw for so many national and international visitors who flock to Liverpool making this one of the largest Comic Con events in Europe. We are absolutely thrilled that Andy and his team will return twice a year from next year until 2025 and are already looking forward to Comic Con’s return in the spring."

It will take place at Exhibition Centre Liverpool on April 1 and April 2, 2023. To book tickets, click here.