Limit Break Comics

An Irish Comic Collective

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MegaCon Dublin 2025, and January Conventions

This past weekend, Paul and Gary went to MegaCon Dublin for the gang’s first convention of the year. Paul was in the Comic Village, while Gary was at his very own guest table, thanks to our friends at Forbidden Planet Dublin.

MegaCon Dublin table, with prints, comics, books and pins

This was the third time we’ve been at MegaCon Dublin – we got in for its first year! – and it was by far our best one yet!

MegaCon Dublin under the microscope

Paul can’t help but put his business hat on when it comes to looking back at conventions, so here are some quick takeaways:

  • Gary’s sales were helped by an excellent location (not to mention that he’s generally good behind a table!)
  • The Comic Village, despite being the first thing people saw when they came into the convention, was not the first stop for the majority of attendees
  • The cold weather made it so that people moved into the convention quickly to get away from the direct source of cold
  • A large number of people who stopped by the Comic Village table did so because Gary had pointed them that way

Weekend Sales at MegaCon Dublin

All of that said, it’s worth then looking at what sold over the weekend.

  • When the Blood Has Dried, Gary’s book with Mad Cave Studios, outsold everything – good news for Gary down the line, even if not without an immediate financial benefit (publishing is very much a long game!)
  • Turning Roads and Down Below were the bestsellers of the Limit Break titles, followed by Fractured Realms – those who liked the sound of the latter really liked it, even if there were fewer of them. It’s worth noting that more anthologies sold via Gary than via Paul, and that people came to the Comic Village to get the books signed after the fact.
  • Paul’s novels A Death in the Family and The Undying and the Dead benefited from horror fans in the audience, some of whom only found the table thanks to Gary’s direction
  • Prints did well with children, generally – we keep the prices low enough to reach that market. They paid for the table costs. (Note, this doesn’t account for the cost of printing them, but nothing new was produced for this convention.)

What Could Be Improved?

January is a tough time for a convention, for more reasons than attendees’ wallets being a bit lighter than other times of the year. The team is also just coming out of the holiday period. If we’re back at the convention next year, we’ll need to:

  • Advertise ourselves better from December onwards – we’re going easy on ourselves this time, because 2024 was emotionally challenging on more than one front.
  • Bring in a visual draw to make the table stand out a bit better – we used to bring Frankie to the convention, but he got damaged during the pandemic.
  • Bring new books to the convention – 2024’s new releases were limited, so any returning readers (and they do exist, we love them) had less to pick from

Aside from the timelines of those points, they apply generally across conventions. Thankfully we have several books in production or due for a round of funding later this year, so we’ll be able to introduce new books to readers as 2025 progresses.

As far as a January convention is concerned, MegaCon works as a good local convention for us, but it’s not worth us going abroad for. (Especially not to London – the cost of travel is too prohibitive to do that again.)

Meeting Creators

MegaCon is the exact right size for new creators to attend to meet people and talk to them. The big benefit of Gary being in a Guest seat was that he had people coming up to him looking for advice, who he could then send to Paul for (a) further info on a topic Gary can speak on and/or (b) info on something that only Paul knows about. (Namely, grants.)

It’s sincerely one of our favourite things about local conventions, because there are always people who are looking to get started but don’t know where to begin.

Without getting into the whole business of it, and without getting into specifics, there are a few simple things to keep in mind. Namely, if you want to start making comics:

  • Pay people to do the things you can’t
  • Pitch to anthologies to build up credits and to develop your skills
  • Don’t use AI to make any part of your comic

Next on the Calendar

As of Friday, we can confirm that our next event will be Dublin Comic Con. Paul will be leading the table, and likely accompanied by someone else from the team. The event may also serve as the launch for Wish Upon a Star – more details on that when the book is complete and we can plan that properly. (There are pages coming in regularly, they are beautiful.)

Until then, keep an eye on our socials and our newsletter for information on our next anthology, and details on when physical books are available from our store again.

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