Organisers celebrate MCM Expo success

Last weekend's MCM London Comic Con smashed all previous attendance records, with more than 70,000 visitors coming through the doors of ExCel.

Claimed by the organisers as Europe's equivalent to San Diego Comic Con, MCM London Comic Con the team behind it say it has gone from strength to strength over recent years, and the latest show has seen another substantial hike in visitor numbers - 70,200 compared to the 64,000 attendees at the previous event back in May, which was itself a record figure.

"We are amazed by the turnout; we expanded the show floor space by 5,000 m2 from the May event and we were still packed," said show co-organiser Bryan Cooney. "It is wonderful to have so many attendees and companies like BBC, C4, Universal, Nintendo and Microsoft supporting our show. We are now looking to add a further 4,000m2 for May bringing us to 21,000 m2.

"We are also looking to the future and planning alongside our venue partner to make MCM London Comic Con the biggest show of its kind in Europe."

Running from Friday 26 to Sunday 28th October, Britain's biggest pop culture event welcomed special guests from a host of movies, TV series and SF shows, including Doctor Who's Matt Smith, Hollywood legend Bill Paxton and stars from shows such as Misfits, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Primeval: New World, Warehouse 13 and Continuum.

The MCM London Comic Con also played host to top games publishers such as Nintendo; Namco Bandai; Square Enix; Tecmo Koie Ubisoft; 2K Games; NIS; Konami and Microsoft. Show goers also explored the brand new VidFest UK zone celebrating online video; the UK's largest gathering of comic artists and writers; an expanded JapanEX zone and a colourful variety of costume competitions and fashion shows, including the finals of EuroCosplay 2012.

MCM London Comic Con returns to ExCel on 24-26th May 2013. The next MCM event is the UK's largest collectors' show, Memorabilia, held at NEC Birmingham on 24-25th November with special guest David Hasselhoff.

• You can find more about the event at www.londonexpo.com; on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mcmexpo; on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mcmexpo and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/mcmexpo

 

Eagle Awards set to soar back next year

“People often say ‘Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet’ and this is one of those times,” announced Eagle Awards chair Cassandra Conroy.

Referring to an announcement made by MCM Expo’s Bryan Cooney at the conclusion of 2012 Eagle Awards ceremony on Friday night, she added, “To paraphrase Mark Twain: The reports of the Eagles’ death have been greatly exaggerated.

“Neither my father (Eagle Awards founder Mike Conroy) nor I attended Friday night’s ceremony, which we were boycotting in response to actions that are now being reviewed by my lawyer. Thus we don’t know exactly what Bryan said,” she explained.

“However, with Bleeding Cool posting that Friday night’s ceremony was ‘the end of the road for the Eagle Awards after 30-some years and from next May, there'd be something called The MCM Awards instead.’ and others suggesting that next year the Eagles would be transformed into entirely new awards. I feel the need to put the record straight…

“The Eagles are neither dead nor morphing into anything else. MCM Expo is in no position to announce, imply or indicate otherwise,” Conroy stated. “In fact no third party can casually discard what my father has developed over the past 36 years. The Eagles will continue to soar into 2013 and beyond.

"We’ll be announcing further details of our plans for next year in the near future.”

DownTheTubes contacted the MCM Expo and asked for clarification of Mr Cooney's statement on Friday night.

Speaking for the organisation, which currently co-owns the Eagles with Cassandra, Paul Miley confirmed Mr Cooney had declared the Eagles were over last Friday folowing the ceremony - or at least it would seem, based on his comments quoted below, over as far as MCM was concerned.

"Bryan made a joint announcement for Bryan and I on stage last Friday to the affect that we have spent the last three years organising the Eagle Awards which we have enjoyed doing but it is time for change," Paul told us.

"It is most likely there will not be an Eagle Awards from this point forward and that we are looking to launch an MCM Awards next year.

"At this time we would not like to comment further on this matter but may in future."

MCM Expo Expands Comic Village as Tables Sell Out In Record Time

MCM Expo London Comic Con is expanding its Comic Village area after tables for the 28-30 October show sold out in record time.

Due to the massive demand, the Comic Village will now be enlarged by 50 per cent to give even more comic creators the chance to attend the UK’s biggest pop culture event.

“When all of the Comic Village tables were snapped up only a week after going on sale, we decided to expand the area so that some of those comic artists and writers who missed out can still come to MCM Expo London Comic Con,” commented show co-organiser Bryan Cooney.

“Attracting over a 100 top comic creators and 60,000 fans, London Comic Con is now one the most important weekends in the UK’s comics calendar, and the unprecedented demand for tables only goes to underline this.”

• For details about Comic Village, e-mail Comicvillage@mcmexpo.net

MCM Expo Reveals X-Men First Class Panel

X-Men: First Class writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz are to appear on a panel at the next MCM Expo London Comic Con at ExCel London on 27-29 May, show organisers have announced.

A prequel to the popular superhero franchise from Marvel and Twentieth Century Fox, X-Men: First Class focuses on the relationship between Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and the origin of their groups, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants.

Miller and Stentz also collaborated on the screenplay of another soon-to-be released Marvel Comics film, Thor, which stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins, as well as sharing writing and production credits on hit sci-fi shows such as Fringe, Andromeda and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

“We’re delighted that Ashley and Zack will be part of our X-Men: First Class panel,” said MCM Expo co-organiser Bryan Cooney. “As London’s Comic Con we play host to tens of thousands of comic book and film fans, so to have the writers of two of the biggest superhero movies of 2011 at the show is perfect.”

“Only last week we announced much-anticipated action-adventure Green Lantern as the MCM Expo’s official title sponsor, and the addition of two such talented writers helps ensure that this May’s show will be one to remember.”

• For more on X-Men: First Class, visit www.x-menfirstclassmovie.com

• For more on the London MCM Expo, visit www.londonexpo.com