Superheroes such as Batman, Iron Man and Spider-Man have finally met a problem they can't vanquish - finding affordable venues in South Lanarkshire.
Popular comic cons put on in both Rutherglen and East Kilbride have been scrapped by organisers due to problems with securing venues for future events.
The regular bashes, which featured cosplay contests, stalls selling comics, toys and merchandise and various guests, was held at Rutherglen town hall for several years, while it found a home in a number of East Kilbride locations annually.
However, organisers say they can no longer afford the town hall's rates, while they were unable to find a new location in East Kilbride - meaning superhero daft locals will have to attend events in Glasgow's St Enoch's centre instead.
In a statement on Facebook , the team behind the conventions stated: "Sad to announce that Rutherglen Comic Con will not be returning, as the price of the town hall is too high in this climate and we are running larger events nearby since Covid ended.
Rutherglen was one of our first big events and our hometown so we could potentially return one day but not for the foreseeable [future]."2
In a separate post, they added: "We're sorry to announce that East Kilbride Comic Con will not be returning as we can't find a venue for it. Various venues did not want it and the venue we believed would be our new venue isn't allowed to host it after all because they are not able to host commercial events such as ours.
"East Kilbride was our first Comic Con back in Greenhills before making it's way to the Ally McCoist Centre before settling in the central library. We tried our hardest to find a new venue but either the venues couldn't host us or it wasn't big enough."
The events regularly drew hundreds of comics, fantasy and sci-fi aficionados along. After Covid struck and restrictions prevented large gatherings, the comic con was downsized in smaller events, mostly comprising a number of stalls in venues including Rutherglen Exchange shopping centre.
South Lanarkshire Council stressed its venue fees were in line with previous years.
A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture said: “We are sorry to hear that the organisers of comic con feel that they are unable to bring their event to Rutherglen town hall.
"The previous comic con events they held in Rutherglen were hailed as being very successful with huge numbers attending the event in the prestigious 5-star rated town hall throughout the day. The costs quoted for this year’s event are similar to what the organisers paid for the same event back in February 2020.
"The charges at Rutherglen town hall and indeed all South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture’s venues and services are reviewed regularly and benchmarked against other similar service providers to ensure we continue to offer quality services at a reasonable and competitive price.
"We do hope to welcome the comic con event back to Rutherglen town hall in the future and wish them continued success in the meantime."
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