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Showmasters Collectormania event cancelled, will return in 2024

By John Freeman on July 26, 2023

Collectormania: Film & Comic Con Birmingham 2023

Showmasters has announced the cancellation of Collectormania: Film & Comic Con, which was due to take place 2nd – 3rd September 2023 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

The cancellation is the result of uncertainty about the appearance of many American film and TV stars, and behind-the-scenes creators, who are involved in what look to become long-running labour disputes.

A large number of British celebrities were lined up to appear at the event, including Doctor Who stars such as Colin Baker and Katy Manning, and comic creators, too.

Showmasters has advised ticket holders that a full refund of all entry tickets and any guests photo shoots would be refunded automatically with no action needed by buyers.

“With the Screen Actors Guild actors strike affecting appearances that have not already been closed with a signed contract it has made it very hard to make A list and supporting guests appearances work to be able to attend this year’s event,” the team said in a statement.

“With the first Film & Comic Con Birmingham / Collectormania after Covid going so well last year, we thought things would start to get easier and we could move forward fast to get things back to normal, but with this strike it has made it where we just cannot deliver the high end guests that you have expected from the event, and that has meant we are going to reschedule the next Birmingham event to 31st August and 1st September 2024.”

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John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.