Events
There are two major comics events that I make a point of attending each year: the Birmingham International Comics Show (BICS) and the Bristol Comic Expo.
Both of these conventions are an enormous amount of fun, and definitely seem to be good places to make the kind of connections you need to break into the comics industry. It’s fair to say that most of the comics gigs I’ve landed can, directly or indirectly, be traced back to contacts I’ve made through one of these shows.
The MCM show in London is more of a Manga/Anime event but there is a small "comics village" section and Starship Troopers seems to go down well there.
From 2008, I've also added the deeply cool Thought Bubble sequential art festival in Leeds to my convention calendar.