Comic Con boldly returns to Peterborough with movie cars, retro games and lightsaber battles

Thousands of people from across our region descended upon Bushfields Sports Centre in Orton Centre to ‘get their geek on’ over the weekend.

Whovians, Trekkers and Potterheads joined forces with fans of Star Wars, anime and pokemon on Sunday (March 17) to share and indulge their passion of comics, movies, TV shows, and pop culture in general.

Along with around 120 exhibition stands and stalls, this year’s event – which was once again organised by Striking Events – treated visitors to a retro video gaming arena and a lightsaber academy.

A full-size Lightning McQueen car, a Gotham city police car and – perhaps most striking of all – the Delorean time machine from ‘Back to the Future’ were also on hand.

Organiser Mark Woolard told the Peterborough Telegraph he was delighted by the turnout and general response:

"It’s been fantastic,” he said, “everyone seems to have had a really good day.”

Mark has long championed Striking Events’ ‘grass-roots’ style of comic con events, which deliberately omits inviting celebrity guests in order to keep visitors’ costs down.

He said the feedback he received, especially from families, seems to confirm that this an approach many people appreciate.

“It’s good value for money,” he shares, “so once they pay the admission they know that everything else is included.”

It was the first time Market Deeping Community Primary School pupil Ellie – a huge Star Trek and Doctor Who fan – has attended a comic con.

The beaming 10-year-old looked like she had clearly enjoyed her day:

"It was great being around people who like the things I’m into,” she said, “and I loved it when people said they liked my [Hermoine Granger] costume.”

With the event an undoubted success once again, Mark said Striking Events will definitely be returning to Peterborough in the near future.

"We’ll be back later in the year,” he enthused, “probably around October, I imagine.”

Check out our gallery and video to get a taste of the day.