Well, it finally came and went. The first MCM expo of 2011. It seems like over a year since I made the decision to make a comic by this time, but in fact it was only 7 months ago when I left the MCM Expo in October with such a resolute attitude. And the resulting comic, Chloe, only began began at the end of February with an email from Stuart Claw over at MCM Buzz. 3 months later I had 6 episodes online as 45 pages of Manga and a 4-panel yonkoma comic strip in print in the MCM Expo Official Show Guide. Looking down at the expo floor from the buzz office, I think I knew that whatever sense of achievement I expected wouldn’t really settle in until later.
Working for the MCMBuzz
The main difference this year, apart from attending more as a comicker than in my capacity as a composer, was my almost full-time role as a writer for the MCMBuzz. That’s how I originally got involved in this game and I wanted to help out especially with all the support they’ve given me for this expo. Well, they’re certainly getting their money’s worth out of me because I didn’t realise I’d be running around the expo like a headless chicken all weekend in order to keep www.MCMBuzz.com constantly updated with anything and everything exciting happening over the expo weekend! I tried to study the timetable in the Official Show Guide as best I could, but no matter what I still found myself missing out on key events that needed coverage, but luckily I wasn’t alone! Meet the official MCMBuzz ‘expo’ team for the weekend.
From left to right - Kye Sutton, Jenny Brundle, Christopher Chong, Sayem Ahmed and Shalimar Sahota
5 people ought to have been enough to cover the main areas of Games, Cosplay, Comic Village, Stalls and Movies…but it wasn’t! In October hopefully the team will be bigger be bigger because the MCM Expo itself is combining with the Memorabilia event which means news coverage is going to be even more difficult. On that note, if you’re keen to start your writing career with MCMBuzz then contact info@mcmbuzz.com. We have many other writers working day-to-day but for the expo only 5 people were selected to cover the show live.
It was brilliant fun though and despite what I say about working really hard, I had the best time ever. It’s possible that I had a better time than if I’d actually managed to get a table at Comic Village this year (I missed the deadline >_< FAIL) because I was able to run around and meet all the people I’d heard of/met online through tumblr/twitter/facebook/comic networks.
I'm Collecting Loons
One of my articles for the MCMBuzz was a feature on the plethora of comic anthologies available for sale in the Comic Village. In the process of writing it and whilst generally milling about the tables I met Emma Vieceli, Sonia Leong, Morag Lewis, Irina Richards, Chris Bottoms, N Gingerboom (nattherat), Sephryn Grey (non-repro), Giles Mead, Karen Rubins, Willie Hewes, Rowan Clair and Rebecca Burgess who you can see pictured above. I have no doubt that not everyone will be flattered by their depiction here so sorry in advance lol. I ran out of balloon space but I met many many other people too like the chaps from Blank Slate Books, New British Comics, Failboat Press, Murky Depths, Image Comics…too many to name really. And everyone, whether pro or indie, all seemed to have the exact same idea – we’re here to share and network. I didn’t meet a single person who was hell-bent on selling a million copies in order to make a huge profit. I met people and made connections that will last forever (one hopes ^_^).
The busiest parts of the event as an MCMBuzzer were definitely the Euro Cosplay Qualifier and the Eagle Awards for Comics. Swapping cameras with Jenny and alternately popping SD cards into the iPad we managed to get photos updated on the MCMBuzz site more or less as it happened live! The photos had to be low-res because I was on an unstable, shared 3G connection. Still, it worked so I was happy. I also got to sit right at the front for both the Euro Cosplay Qualifier and the Masquerade held on Sunday because I had my Press badge (WIN).
Winner of the Euro Cosplay Qualifier
Attending the Eagle Awards was a fantastic experience and I have to admit I felt like a bit of a fraud sitting amongst the tables with the nominees and the Roll of Honour winner – Dave Gibbons (Watchmen). To top it all off we got free booze so I can’t complain about that!
Billy West (Futurama Voice Actor) co-hosting The Eagle Awards
Dave Gibbons' comical speech after winning the coveted Roll Of Honour Eagle Award
...and subsequently walking off stage without the Eagle Award itself.
Attending as an giant consumer
Luckily it wasn’t all work work work as I had many chances to catch up with old friends! Here’s a quick shout out to a few of them – Maria, Kelly, Joanna, Brinny, KK, Jane, Hideki and David (TokyoToys). Sadly Kerri couldn’t make it this time and I somehow managed to miss Yves, L.A. and Gina Lucia on the one-day that they were at expo during the weekend! Argh! Ah well…next time! I also dragged some of my non-expo friends for their first expo experience! Well done Tom Digby-Rogers and Yo Nakajima for bearing with me as I frequently stopped mid conversation to get my iPad out to post something on the MCMBuzz.
One of my expo highlights is always the Bagel Factory. I love bagels, but I was particularly glad I stopped by on Saturday because I managed to capture this particular spectacle on my camera as I waited for my lunch to arrive.
Annoyingly, or perhaps thankfully, I didn’t actually get to shop at the stalls very much. In fact, the only things I managed to buy were comics by people I knew and a single box of Pocky which I gave away anyway. Here’s the obligatory swag photo.
Swag
I’m quite annoyed I couldn’t walk around finding new comics I hadn’t seen before but I’ll plan ahead next time (that is, if I’m even in the country in October…I might be still working in Japan!).
Really though, work and shopping aside, there’s nothing that can really top the feeling of seeing Chloe in print in the Official Show Guide.
Bring On October!
The way I’m feeling now, the next Expo can’t come soon enough. There are however, some great ways to ward off the expo blues if you liked reading this post. Check out my fellow comicker’s blogs to get some very different angles on this giant event.
N Gingerboom’s first expo – http://rodentnetworks.blogspot.com/2011/05/london-mcm-expo-may-2011-amazing.html
Emma Vieceli’s expo round-up – http://www.emmavieceli.com/blog/2011/5/31/a-bit-of-a-round-up.html
Chris Bottoms’ expo complete – http://ushiospad.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-london-expo-2011-complete.html
Rowan Clair’s wonderful experience – http://rowan-.tumblr.com/post/6047941900/london-expo-online-shop
George Beeham’s MCM Roundup – http://notregret.com/jambo/?p=373
Finally putting faces to names from the internet was especially great, if a little nerve wrecking at first. It’s been an awesome weekend and to top it all off I went to Disneyland Paris with my family for 3 days after expo finished so I’m finally home and getting back to work. It’s not over yet though and I’ll be sorting out my plans for the continuation of Chloe in whatever shape or form that may take. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling on a printed version of the first Manga which is parts 1-6 available still to read completely free online at http://www.mcmbuzz.com/2011/05/20/exclusive-free-manga-chloe-part-6.
Ja ne!
-Christopher
Related posts:
