MCM London Comic Con

MCM London Comic Con

MCM Expo May 2011
Status Active
Genre Multi-genre
Venue ExCeL London
Location(s) One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London Docklands, London, E16 1XL
Country United Kingdom
Inaugurated May 2002
Attendance 133,156 in May 2016[1]
Organized by MCM Central
Website
http://www.mcmcomiccon.com

The MCM London Comic Con[2] (formerly known as the London MCM Expo) is a multi-genre fan convention held in the London Borough of Newham twice yearly, usually on the last weekend in May and October. The convention mainly focuses on anime, manga, video games, sci-fi, cosplay & popular media from the United Kingdom, United States and Japan.

History and organization

The MCM (Movie Comic Media) Expo Group are organisers of the London, Birmingham, the Midlands, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Belfast, Manchester, Scotland, Liverpool, Stockholm, Malmö, Copenhagen, Belgium and Hannover MCM Comic Cons. It was founded in early 2001 by Paul Miley (ScifiShows) and Bryan Cooney (Wolf Events), both well known organisers within the fan convention entertainment industry.

The convention is held twice each year, usually on the last full weekend of May and October. There have occasionally been exceptions to this; May 2009 being one of them.

The event started as a single day and has now expanded to run across three days attracting attendance and involvement from industry luminaries such as: Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, Manga Entertainment UK, All the Anime, NEO Magazine and Marvel Comics, amongst others.

Show features

Exhibit Hall

The MCM London Comic Con features a large floor-space for dealer stands and exhibitors which include media companies such as film studios and TV stations. There is also a theatre space that includes a large stage with projection monitors on either side and seating for approximately 1000.

Guests

Guests from popular media are commonly invited to the show. They take part for a variety of reasons. Often, this is to promote their latest product or production whether it be movie, TV or print. Sometimes it can be to raise awareness and funds for a charity or cause important to them. It is common to see television and film personalities selling autographs and interacting with their fans both in person and on stage during Question and Answer sessions. Along with panels, seminars and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming television and feature films, portfolio review sessions with video game companies.

Autographs

The event also includes an autograph area where big names in movies and TV will sit and sign items for the public.

Cosplay

Ticket holders are allowed, and in many cases encouraged, to take part in cosplay. Cosplaying has become one of the most popular parts of the show. This can be to show off the costumer's latest work, just to show devotion to their favourite characters or engage in role-play with other cosplayers in the same series, as well as just meet new people with mutual interests. The show is also home to the EuroCosplay championships which takes place every October with one of the UK qualifying entries being decided at the May event.

Comic Village

Comic Village is an area of the show that is co-ordinated by Gary "Wheels" Howe, a member of the MCM Expo Group. This area hosts approximately 200 tables, where amateur as well as professional artists/writers/publishers sell their comics as well as prints. This area also has a signing area where big names in the comic industry come and sign for members of the public, previous guests have included Gail Simone, Kevin Eastman, Frazer Irving, Antony Johnston, Karen Gillan and many more.

MCM Fringe Festival

In 2010, MCM Fringe Festival was re-vamped and given a new logo. The main purpose of Fringe is to allow cosplayers to organise photoshoots, meet-ups, picnics and get togethers. Organisers are more easily able to create their own event within the Expo and broadcast it. At the same time, the rest of the Expo Attendees can search the website and decide to go to it. Photoshoots will be more successful and likely to get more people from the same anime or game to take part. Previous events have included picnics, dances and video gaming tournaments.

Eagle Awards for Comics

The Eagle Awards were founded in 1977 and are the longest running fan voted awards for the comic industry. They were held at the MCM London Comic Con each May until 2011, since when the Eagle Awards no longer run.

VidfestUK

VidfestUK is an area of the expo dedicated to online visual media, such as animations, vlogs and various web series. Notable guests include YouTube partners such as TomSka and MrWeebl.

MyM magazine

MyM's stand hosts celebrity signings, which are available to anyone who purchases a copy of the magazine at the event. Past signings have included voice actors Mark Meer (Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard), Courtenay Taylor (Resident Evil: Damnation, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), D. C. Douglas (Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Transformers: Rescue Bots) and Adam Howden (Anders in Dragon Age II, Shulk in Xenoblade Chronicles and Pipin in Final Fantasy XIV).

Location and dates

Title Dates Location Attendees Notable guests
Expo 18 29–31 October 2010 ExCeL London 50,000+ Glenn Morshower, Colin Ferguson, Saul Rubinek, Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Camille Coduri, Chris Gauthier, Jordan Hinson, Lucas Bryant, John de Lancie, Tony Todd, Roger Craig Smith, Michael Sinterniklaas, Stephanie Sheh, Jack Kenny, Adrian Hodges, Tim Haines, Sam Ernst, Jim Dunn
Expo 19 27–29 May 2011 ExCeL London Under 60,000[3] Billy West, Lauren Tom, Thomas Craig, Johnny Harris, Craig Olejnik
Expo 20 28–30 October 2011 ExCeL London 62,000 Salli Richardson - Stargate, Eureka, I Am Legend; Jonathon Young - Nikola Tesla in Sanctuary, Eureka, Stargate: Atlantis Vic Mignogna - the voice of Edward Elric, Ikkaku Madarame and many many others;Agam Darshi - Sanctuary; Jaime Paglia - Writer/Producer/Creator of Eureka; Alexa Havins - Torchwood; Arlene Tur - Torchwood; Eve Myles - Torchwood and the voice of (DA 2) Merrill; Gideon Emery - the voice of Balthier and Fenris; Adam Howden - the voice of Shulk and (DA 2) Anders; Peter F. Hamilton (Saturday only) Britain's Number 1 Sci-Fi Writer. List accurate as of 29 September 2011.[4]
Expo 21 25–27 May 2012 ExCeL London 62,000-70,000 Danny DeVito, Kimberly Brooks, Kevin Eastman, Raphael Sbarge, Tyler Hoechlin, Holland Roden, Stephanie Sheh, Michael Sinterniklaas, Noel Clarke, Pascale Hutton, David Giuntoli, Johannes Roberts
Expo 22 26–28 October 2012 ExCeL London 70,000 Matt Smith, Bill Paxton, Lucas Bryant, Ali Hillis, Eric Balfour, Andrew Lee Potts, members of the production studio Rooster Teeth, members of the production studio Eddsworld, Warwick Davis
Expo 23 24–26 May 2013 ExCeL London 76,000 Edgar Wright, Jason Flemyng, Mark Meer, Dougray Scott, Barrett Foa, Andrew Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Shinichiro Watanabe, Tom Hopper, Alexander Vlahos, Camilla Luddington, Tyler Hoechlin and fellow cast members of Teen Wolf, Rob Van Dam
Expo 24 25–27 October 2013 ExCeL London 88,000 Kelly Hu, some members of Studio Wit, Lucas Bryant, Emily Rose, Andrew Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Colin Ford, Troy Baker, Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt, Roger Craig Smith, Elias Toufexis, Richard Epcar, Kai Owen, Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Eddie McClintock, Thomas Jane, Alexis Cruz, Sydney White
Expo 25 23–25 May 2014 ExCeL London 101,600 Lyndsy Fonseca, Yoshiki, Dylan Bruce, Meghan Ory, Beverley Elliott, Seychelle Gabriel, Drew Roy, Connor Jessup, Colin Cunningham, Luciana Carro, Tamara Taylor, Greg Finley, Wendee Lee, Phil LaMarr, Greg Cipes, Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Hideo Baba, Kazutoki Kono, Takamitsu Inoue, Atsushi Takahashi, Sarah Louise Madison, Henry Winkler, Robert Llewellyn, Shane Richie, Craig Fairbrass, John Altman, Julian Glover, Nina Wadia, James Cosmo, Scott Adkins, Nick Nevern, Jason Maza, Leonard Lies, Ian McNeice, Annette Badland, Caroline Munro
Expo 26 23–25 October 2015 ExCeL London 130,560[2] Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Alan Tudyk, Nolan North, Noah Wyle, Charlie Higson, Gareth Evans, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Candice Patton, RJ Mitte, Ian McElhinney, Ian Beattie, Eugene Simon, Victor Webster, Saul Rubinek, Alexander Koch, Colin Ford, Robert Llewellyn, Danny John-Jules, Jessica DiCicco, Shigeto Koyama, Bob Layton, John McCrea, Tony Lee, The Yogscast, Rooster Teeth, The Hollywood Show (and others) and some of the cast and the crew from The Walking Dead, Humans, Da Vinci’s Demons, Thunderbirds Are Go, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, Outcast, Eve, The Man in the High Castle and Mr. Robot.
Expo 27 27–29 May 2016 ExCeL London 133,156[1] Warwick Davis, Sean Kelly, Daniela Ruah, Eric Christian Olsen, John Noble, Scottie Thompson, Elizabeth Henstridge, Andrew Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt

MCM BUZZ

MCM BUZZ is a website in association with MCM, bringing all the latest in media related news from movies, comics, interviews with celebrities and a live podcast.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 McIntyre, Alex (May 31, 2016). "MCM London Comic Con celebrates record-breaking weekend". Wharf.co.uk. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Record crowds join the stars at MCM London Comic Con!". Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Expo 19 is done Bring on Expo 20". MCM Expo. 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2011-07-03.
  4. ↑ "MCM Expo". MCM Expo. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
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