MCM Comic Con back in the capital, bigger and better than ever before.
After the recent acquisition of MCM by ReedPOP the improvements are clear. The second MCM London Comic Con of 2018 took over the entire ExCel complex, and the line-up of guests from film, tv and the world of comics has never been broader.
The most noticeable difference to previous events was the number of official booths; Marvel, Funko, and Doctor Who all had huge presences, along with the likes of Rick and Morty, and Harry Potter and an awesome DC booth.
The Marvel Station Experience is coming to London in November, and to tease fans ahead of the full launch they have brought Cap’s bike and Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, to the con.
The huge DC booth allowed fans to pose with a screen used quin-dent from the Aquaman movie in a green screen booth that put them into a motion poster.
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Funko brought a range of convention exclusive Pops to the con, including a glow in the dark Ghost Rider variant Doctor Strange (which is awesome) and the cutest twin pack of baby nifflers from the forthcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel.
The line for the Funko store was like this pretty much all weekend!
Funko Baby!!
Friday
The Comic Village was where I spent a considerable portion of the first day, it was great to see it absolutely thriving. After picking up #4 and the first TPB of The Devil in Disguise from Matt Garvey (and my limited edition John McCrea print & poster), we decided to do a complete circuit of the Comic Village floor. There was some amazing talent on show, as always. I actually managed to resist the urge to spend all my money in one go.
I did pick up a few bits, including one of the few remaining Red Jacket copies of The Dark Wood. There was the option to pay little extra for a sketch inside the cover and by god was it worth it. Not only is it a lovely, dark little story, with some beautiful illustrations, but I also got the most beautiful wolf sketch. If you are interested, you can find illustrator Nick over on twitter here.
I stopped by the BHP Comics booth to pick up a physical copy of the brilliant cyberpunk comic Killtopia. While I was there they managed to talk me into buying a bundle of awesome Frank Quitely goodies, and then to come back later that afternoon as the man himself was going to be signing.
I have no idea what I was saying, but Frank and I had a great chat!
Well I didn’t need telling twice. They also told me that Dave Cook, the writer of Killtopia, was going to be there on Saturday, so I resolved to take Killtopia back to get signed the next day!
Autographs
Most of the guests I wanted to get autographs from were only attending on the Saturday/Sunday, but the one who was there on Friday was the lovely Katharine Isabelle. Now, many of you will know her from things like Hannibal, or maybe Ginger Snaps. If you were a 90’s teenager then maybe you remember a little gem called Disturbing Behavior. For me, that movie has been the seeds of almost every single one of my fandoms. Actors, writers and directors alike have gone on to be in almost every show and movie I’ve loved. I already have one signature on my DVD case, that of AJ Buckley, so I was excited to add Katherine. When I handed over the DVD cover she got really excited. We talked a bit about the movie, and the fact that she was 17, playing a 13 year old in OshKosh overalls. She recently watched it again for the first time in about a decade and says it’s still the coolest 90’s movie. I’d have to agree!
Panels
I managed to make it to only one panel on Friday, X-Men Through the Ages on the Comic Stage. Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr. took the stage alongside Frank Quitely and Jorge Molina.
Comic legends Frank Quitely, Jorge Molina, John Romita Jr. and Chris Claremont.
I think my favourite moment during this panel was listening to how each of the four came to know the X-Men. Jorge said that his first experience of the characters was the 90’s animated cartoon series. Goes to show that not everyone has read every comic, and it’s okay if you first discovered a character through a movie or TV show.
Saturday
Saturday saw us joined by Sophie, and all three of us runed up, donned our coolest black outfits and prepared to hunt some Shadows. After some transport snafus (god I hate the DLR) we made it to ExCel for day two. The Shadowhunters cast members attending the convention were Katherine McNamara, Alberto Rosende, Emeraude Toubia, Chai Hansen and Jade Hassoune.
Panels
There was a Shadowhunters panel scheduled for the live stage at 4:15 but before that I really wanted to attend the panel for The Last Kingdom. Cast members Alexander Dreymon, Eliza Butterworth, David Dawson, Emily Cox, Millie Brady and (the unannounced) Toby Regbo joined writer Stephen Butchard on the main stage.
We got a first look at the trailer for season 3 of the Netflix show, and some insights into what will happen when the show returns to Netflix on November 19th. Check out the trailer below and let us know if you’re excited for the new season!
The Shadowhunters panel was absolutely PACKED, which is one of the biggest downfalls of the MCM live stage. It’s almost impossible to hear what’s being said unless you are within the boundaries of the stage. For this panel, fans were stood 6 or 7 deep right around the edges so I sadly missed a lot of what was said.
The Shadowhunters cast on the MCM live stage
Look at these precious babies!
My report will continue in part two.
