MCM Comic Con London 2022
Last weekend saw the return of MCM Comic Con London 2022 to the halls of the Excel, set in the weirdly beautiful Docklands and making the most of the new Elizabeth Line (which I am genuinely only referencing because the name annoys me. Why didn’t just call it Elizabeth?!).
With a range of entertainment guests, comics creators and merch spread across the three days, this is usually the biggest con of the summer, and size wise is normally only matched by… MCM Comic Con London in October!
Artists Alley
This is always my favourite part of any comic con, and I wasn’t disappointed by the choice this time. I’d heard prior to the event that in order to get a table you had to have actual printed comics, or some form of sequential art, to stop it being multiple tables of fan art. Whether or not this was true, there was a massive selection of books, art styles and fandoms to choose from.
Much as I would like to name drop everyone that I saw, there were just too any great artists and writers there, in lovely little booths, to name everyone. I was pleased to stop and chat with Paul Cornell (I Walk With Monsters) and Emma Vieceli (Life Is Strange, Breaks), who were tabling next door to one another and both had copies of their book The Modern Frankenstein for sale.
The indie crew were doing a good job of holding their own, with Dave Cook (Killtopia) going home almost empty handed having sold so many books, and Joe Glass (The Pride) saying that this event was doing better than the last October show, which was the big return post-covid! I love to see it when creators do well, and when the visitors to a con get to go home with awesome new reading material.
Guests
Compared to the usual roundup of TV and movie stars, this years guest list was pretty wrestler-heavy, with arguably the biggest entertainment name – Nolan North – dropping out the day before the event. This didn’t matter for a lot of fans though, as there were queues for autographs and pictures at all times, with plenty of anime voice actors, a few Harry Potter / Fantastic Beasts actors, and pretty much the entire cast of Sneakerhead there to keep fans entertained.
With four stages across the building there was also a huge range of panels, with everything from game shows to interviews, costume contests to sing-a-long Encanto, to keep fans of all types entertained.
I dropped in to the first panel at the Creator Stage on Friday, a highly entertaining 45 minutes of madness hosted by the aforementioned Emma Vieceli, as the ‘Writers Vs Artists’ panel mashed up Taboo and Pictionary with a series of increasingly difficult prompts. For those keeping score at home, the writers won by a fair margin, helped in no small part by Mark Ellerby (Rick and Morty) crossing the floor as a last minute replacement and pretending to be a writer for the session!
There was a whole host of activities to keep every fandom entertained, with light sabre lessons in the middle of the floor, a steampunk R2D2 causing great joy, Daleks rolling around causing chaos and even a TARDIS console – much loved by the Dr Who cosplayers!
Atmosphere
Given the reduced number of stalls and booths since the before times lending a lot of space, the event was absolutely buzzing. Cosplayers as far as the eye could see, families and friends making the most of the weekend, and an absolutely brilliant atmosphere.
This is what makes MCM for me, the way that fans come out in the their droves to celebrate the things the love. From a 7 foot tall Lady Dimitrescu holding court, to seeing Luisa lending Shrek her donkey for a photo op, this is what I love about comic con.
Random chats with people I’ve never met before – and probably never will again – about the last two years of Marvel / Disney+ shows, sitting in the sunshine watching Tiana chat to Queen Ramonda while a group of Jedis poses for a photo… it’s everything I had missed about big con season.
So… same again in October?!
