ON a grey and cloudy September day thousands of people rise from their beds with a feeling in their belly that they can’t quite explain. It is that time again. To other people, outsiders, it is a feeling that is almost impossible to articulate.

It has been in the back of their mind for months, omnipresent during mundane conversations thoughts of the big day persist and egg on internal excitement. Joining droves of like-minded people dressed in their best they march on to the venue full of bravado and in unison. It might be Old Firm day in Glasgow, but this crowd is marching to a very different beat – Glasgow Comic-Con 2017 has arrived.

MCM’s Scotland Comic-Con descended on Glasgow for its fifth year this weekend, much to the delight of thousands of comic book fans. The two-day event was a sell-out yesterday, with over 33,000 tickets snapped up.

The first show in Scotland in 2013 was the biggest convention in Britain at the time and the audience has continued to grow, proving there is a thirst for escapism and fantasy in the notoriously mean city.

Comic-Con is a place where fans of comic books and superhero movies congregate in an open celebration of all things nerdy. Throughout the convention there are market stalls brimming with comic memorabilia, as well as panel discussions from authors and illustrators, picture opportunities and meet and greets.

On entering the SECC it is swamped with people of all shapes, sizes and characters. Elsa from Frozen enjoys a coffee alongside her friends Dr Who and Chewbacca. The whole event looks like you’ve taken a dip in Quentin Tarantino’s imagination and escaped relatively unscathed.

Once considered a fringe and niche hobby, it has exploded in recent years. The rise of comic conventions worldwide has meant that they have changed from a somewhat unassuming event with a small but hardcore fan base, to an all-encompassing celebration of the geek culture.

Speaking to the Sunday Herald, national event manager Danny Aindow says the likes of Game of Thrones and tje Iron Man films have helped drive the increasingly popularity of such events. “Pop culture and geek culture is so big in film and TV at the moment," says Aindow. “Netflix has done so much to advance those cultures and make it more mainstream. Shows like Stranger Things revel in being geeky and having the Marvel TV (superhero) shows on there too have really brought geekdom to the forefront and to new audiences. What we like to do here is to provide a place for people to come and celebrate all of that.”

Yesterday, fans had the opportunity to sit on the infamous iron throne from Game of Thrones, the hit TV show set in a fantasy universe where murder is commonplace, wine is cheap and zombies are real.

OLD VS NEW

Comic-Con Glasgow embraced the old and the new yesterday, with the likes of Pikachu from Pokemon rubbing blast-proof shoulders with Stormtroopers from Star Wars. Nostalgia has continually spurred on the genre among Comic-Con fans, with classics such as Superman and Star Wars proving popular year on year.

This year, a nod to the nineties saw the Power Rangers talk on a panel as well as voice artists from Pokemon appearing to sign autographs. Guests from Red Dwarf, a British sci-fi comedy franchise from the 80s, appear at a lot of MCM’s Comic-Cons and an appearance from Flash Gordon, aka Sam J Jones, at yesterday’s event had fans excited because of his affiliation with Scotland – the opening scenes to the movie were filmed on the Isle of Skye.

Event organiser Danny Aindow thinks that pop culture in this guise is not only a hobby, but intertwined with the way we live our lives. He said: “I have this thing where I often think, when can my son, who is two years old, be introduced to Star Wars? When can he watch The Empire Strikes Back and find out who Darth Vader is? I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know Vader was Luke’s father, and I almost think that my son will just be born knowing that.”

THE COSTUMES

For many at Comic-Con the biggest attraction is Cosplay, a shortened term for costume play.

Hayley Lewin, 20, travelled nine hours from Sheffield for the convention to dress up as her favourite character, a Japanese cartoon personality. “Cosplay is a kind of self-expression and in my opinion everyone is nice and accepting of it at these conventions. With cosplay you can be whoever you want to be and you can talk freely, dress freely, just be free.”

While the event was attended by an eclectic group of people, from tiny superheroes to elderly gentleman in dress-up, the majority were in their mid-twenties. The idea of community and a physical celebration of all things “geek culture” which stepped away from digital interaction was the reason for many attending and joining in Cosplay.

Bee Parkinson, 24, said: “I met the love of my life at Comic-Con and he proposed to me at this event last year, so I come to meet people who are like me, who accept me, who don’t look down on me as if I’m a weirdo.

“It’s very welcoming and an all-embracing community. If you are different in any way you will be welcomed as part of the family.”

Few would think of Comic-Con and consider it to be wholesome, but for the majority it appears the appeal is less on “geeking-out” and more about experiencing the feel-good factor that coincides with comic book conventions.

Chris Moore, 22, echoed these statements and said: “There’s been a lot of drag queens doing cosplay over recent years and I think that’s down to the popularisation of Ru Paul’s Drag race on TV – the inclusiveness of the conventions is such a big part of it, it’s why so many people come."