Event London Movie Comic Media Expo 2008
Date 25-26 October 2008
Website www.londonexpo.com

With over 30,000 visitors and a cosplay world record attempt in the offing, the MCM Expo was a crowded and crazy affair.

Cosplay, for the uninitiated, is the largely Japanese trend of wearing outfits inspired by popular characters from manga, anime and computer games, to conventions. At times like these it’s perfectly normal to find yourself face to face with a Cylon, while Cloud from Final Fantasy eats a burger nearby, and a kid dressed as Naruto phones his mum on his mobile behind you.

However, there seemed relatively little to keep the crowds busy, especially in the console games department. Queues for a sneak preview of Dead Space were intimidating, although not as intimidating as some of the cosplay outfits. The Mortal Combat Vs DC Universe and Street Fighter IV were likewise difficult to get to, and there seemed to be less consoles available than the previous year’s event.

The location of ‘Stage 2’ right next to the crunching and smashing of the robots display didn’t bode well, especially if you were interested in hearing what Ben Templesmith (of 30 Days Of Night) fame and Antony Johnston were saying during their interview with Tony Lee. The writer/artist team spoke about their work on the Dead Space graphic novel, that will serve as a prequel to the much talked about game. Templesmith also commented he was working on the G.I. Joe comic by IDW, although he much prefers Cobra to the Joes evidently.

The manga and anime content was particularly high, with any number of stalls featuring robot kits, Hentai, Yaoi and Shonen. In addition to this the comics village was populated by the great and good of the UK comics scene, including Kev Walker, John McCrea and Lee Bradley to name just a few. Talent from further a field comprised of Ethan V Sciver (seen having a very complicated conversation about politics) and the aforementioned Ben Templesmith.

Heroes fans had a (brief) chance to catch up with Greg Grunberg, Ken Lally and David H Lawrence and nab an autograph and even a picture. The actors also featured on a panel discussing the future of Heroes.

However, the MCM Expo delivered a real coup by presenting Michael Hogan, better known as the permanently scowling XO of Battlestar Galactica, Saul Tigh, who proved to be a relaxed, passionate and amusing actor with plenty of great anecdotes about the popular show.

It all made for a lively and enjoyable celebration of cult entertainment. Den Patrick