MCM Comic Con London 2022 Experience
- Joe Carrick-Lawson
- Jan 20, 2023
- 15 min read
This portfolio will discuss and analyse my experiences at MCM Comic Con London on the 28th of October 2022. This was a university-led trip in order to gain a more in depth understanding of how conventions operate through location, marketing and special events, as well as garner an awareness of the demographics that come to such events. I walked around the convention with a friend from the course, who had been to several conventions before and was an avid fan of some of the celebrities scheduled to appear. However, as this was the first convention I attended, I was apprehensive about whether I would find anything that interested me as I would not class myself a major fan of anything. Although, as this portfolio will discuss, there was certainly lots I could enjoy, and multiple things I was interested in.
Event, Expierences, and Conventions
Events and experiences have been a staple in human society for millennia. As George G. Fenich remarked: ‘Once humans developed permanent settlements, each town or village had a public meeting area, often called a town square, where residents could meet, talk, and party’ (2008: 15). As Getz explains, this makes events ‘’social constructs’ that emerge through tradition and common expectation’ (2016: 46). Specifically, events require a time and a place as they ‘occupy and temporarily transform spaces (or venues), and for the duration of the event one’s experiences of that place is altered’ (Getz, 2016: 20). One such type of event that encompasses this are conventions. George G. Fenich defines conventions as an ‘Event where the primary activity of the attendees is to attend educational sessions, participate in meetings/discussions, socialize, or attend other organised events’ (2008: 511). In this, the space is altered to include a variety of stalls and stages, which unite likeminded people to interact with each other about their passions, hear from interesting people who are most likely professionals in the field, and attend other competitions and games occurring within the area. An example of this is Comic-Con. In terms of MCM Comic Con, this is a biannual event in May and October hosted in both London and Birmingham, in which pop culture industries such as those involved in comics, films, television series, and video games display new and upcoming products to attendees who may be interested.
Conventions, such as Comic Con, rely on “The Experience Economy” to promote and sell tickets and products to attendees. As Pine and Gilmore discussed, this strategy occurs: ‘whenever a company intentionally uses services as the stage and goods as props to engage an individual’ (2011: 17). In this case, the service is access to the building and the goods are the merchandise and celebrity opportunities available to buy, but the fact it is in person with lots of other attendees, and lots of things to interact with, creates the engagement needed for the experience. Pine and Gilmore further discussed this through defining four experience realms that categorise experiences based on an attendee’s level of participation and level of involvement. Conventions are best defined as “escapist experiences”, in which ‘guests […] are completely immersed in them as actively involved participants’ (2011: 49-50), as the surrounding world can be affected by any attendee, for example, a celebrities response in a Q&A will be determined by who chooses to ask what questions. This, in turn, is a reason as to why experiences are so popular and thus marketable, as individual interactions means ‘No two people can have the same experience […] Each experience derives from the interaction between the staged event and the individual’s prior state of mind and being’ (Pine and Gilmore, 2011: 17). Therefore, as that specific event will only happens once (with a specific list of celebrities, panels, and unforeseen events), you must attend otherwise you have missed out. Overall, this means there has been a growing appeal in people preferring experiences over material goods, and therefore businesses can profit from charging higher than for just the individual products.
Attending the Convention
MCM Comic Con is hosted in the ExCeL centre in London. The location itself is very important as it provides the basis of why the convention is so popular. For large conventions to be successful and worth it financially to investors, the city needs an economy that ‘grows in line with their access to resources and customers, which in turn attracts groups of traders, who then come to have lower transactional costs compared to their competitors in smaller towns’ (Howkins, 2013: 213). As the capital of England and the UK, London has seen lots of development to make it the heart of the country. Firstly, it has a dense travel infrastructure which allows easy access to ExCeL via the DLR, which connects to the underground for travel around London and national rail networks for further connections outside of Greater London. Secondly, its strong industrial and financial background allowed for the construction of the exposition centre, with enough business wishing to use it that it could be used all year round. London is also culturally significant, being a multi-cultural city and having a wide array of museums, galleries, and studios.
The massive scale of the event is the first thing I noticed when attending MCM Comic Con in October 2022. Stepping off a crowded DLR and being ushered across a raised terrace next to ExCeL (Exhibition Centre London), seeing the large building as you walk for a further five minutes through the loading bays on the side, before reaching the first room of the interior, itself a warehouse sized area only containing queue lines for tickets and entries. Upon entering the main areas, you are greeted by the catering boulevard that divides the centre of the building. It was like a shopping mall, with food stalls bordering the seating in the middle of the walkway. These included various establishments, from popular chains such as Costa, to smaller business serving a variety of food from Bagels to Burritos to Pizzas, all priced quite highly, but required for the convenience of needing food at a six-hour event, especially when you’ve travelled for four hours to arrive on top of that. On each side of the boulevard was a massive hall with six large doors providing easy access to the rest of the compound.
Figure 1: MCM Comic Con London Map for October 2022
The halls were filled with rows of stalls, interspersed with some stages obscured by vast black sheets, and larger display sections dedicated to the more popular media showcased on the day. These showcases included a lightsabre training arena for Star Wars, a fantasy setting photoshoot area for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and interactive transforming models of characters from Transformers: Earthspark. The stalls were mainly dedicated to independent sellers, collectors, and creators. A variety of merchandise was available to purchase, for instance t-shirts, pin badges, jewellery, signed memorabilia, board games, collectable comics, action figures, collectable stickers, vinyl records and about a dozen stalls selling Funko Pops. Other stalls included small food businesses such as one that sold cupcakes and other sweet treats, and independent artists selling work namely 3D portraits, detailed character poses, and handmade jewellery.
Figure 2: Silver Sabre’s Lightsabre Combat Academy
Figure 3: Stall selling primarily Comic Books
These various stalls were marketed in different ways. The most employed method was point of sale publicity which ‘aims to arrest attention, to inform and to compel’ (Carton, 1949: 34) by having the product in sight and near the seller. This includes having the products on display high up, so they were more visible over the top of crowds of people walking past. Commonly, the higher places were reserved for the more expensive items, both for risk of stealing and to entice an audience with the more interesting products. However, one such company selling paintball tickets had a more aggressive approach. Firstly, they would call out to people walking past beckoning them over, rather than let customers peruse on their own accord. This allowed them to then discuss the company and demonstrate some of the paintball guns they had on display which customers could hold. The employee I spoke to also built a repertoire with myself and my friend as he came from a similar area as our Uni, therefore could add personal allegories of how easy to get to the site was, and how it is better than specific forms of entertainment also on offer in the area. This leads on to the pricing method, in which they were selling 10 tickets for £140 to be used in the next three months. This is an unlikely purchase as to arrange a day out with nine other people in that short space of time, especially around Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's, would be difficult. Therefore, to make the deal seem better, the stall owner stated everything is included and that he would instead take off the three months use by date. When I was reluctant again, he stated he would throw in 20 extra tickets making it 30 tickets for £140, noting that if I sold each ticket for £10 to my friends who came with me (half the normal retail price of £20), I would make a £100 profit. This I agreed to and was rushed into paying before I could read everything over as he wanted to talk to other customers. This meant I didn’t notice the small print that said paintballs weren’t included, and would likely cost £10 to £20 more per person, to which I promptly emailed the company demanding a refund. This strategy of using impulse buys and deals proved effective to somebody like myself, who overwhelmed by the pressure, and who had disposable income set aside for the event, relented to the idea eventually.
Figure 4: MCM Comic Con London's Main Stage
Apart from the stalls, the other main selling point of the event is celebrities and panels. The idea of the celebrity is highly profitable as fans want to meet the people they admire. As Chris Rojek states: ‘In such circumstances desire is alienable, transferable, since wants must be perpetually switched in response to market developments. The market inevitably turned the public face of the celebrity into a commodity’ (2001: 10). For this reason, there was a row of booths in the back corner, with lines to meet notable people such as Anthony Daniels (C-3PO in Star Wars), John Rhys Davies (Gimli in The Lord of the Rings), and Paul McGann, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy (all from Doctor Who), as well as the cast of other shows such as Smallville, the English voice cast of the anime Spy x Family, and the cast of video games such as Overwatch. Panels also allowed fans to interact with celebrities and hear from them on upcoming projects. These included a lip sync battle hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Lawrence Chaney, a talk with the cast of Nickelodeon’s new show Transformers: Earthspark, and a talk with the cast of Netflix’s new show The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself, the latter I attended. This was hosted on the main stage, the largest of the four stages present. The area itself, despite being a temporary closed off section from the rest of the hall, felt completely different to the main floor. The set-up felt like a cinema or a theatrical performance. The stage consisted of a raised platforms with a DJ deck and chairs, with three large screens above it, used throughout to show live close-ups of the panellists, clips from the show, and adverts at the beginning. The lighting was intertextual of a festival, using vibrant spotlights that moved around in time to music or to highlight key aspects of what was occurring. Before the show started, music was featured, consisted of remixed popular songs (included Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry, Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, and the theme song to DuckTales) as well as specifically remixes of Halloween songs (Thriller by Michael Jackson and Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett) due to the event being three days before that holiday. This was followed by adverts for recently released films (namely The Amazing Maurice), TV shows (namely Transformers: Earthspark, which had a panel directly after), and books (namely The Atlas Paradox an anticipated sequel from Olivie Blake).
When the panel started, the guests entered the stage to sit on a series of sofas laid out for them. The guests were Joe Barton (the creator), Colm McCarthy (one of the directors), Jay Lycurgo (Nathan Byrne), Nadia Parkes (Annalise O’Brien), Emilien Vekemans (Gabriel Boutin), and David Gyasi (Marcus Edge). With a host to ask the panel questions, the talk started with Barton and McCarthy describing the show, and the actors describing their characters, prior to a short trailer and exclusive clips of the show (prefaced with a notice to not record them on personal devices). The series was based on the Half Bad Trilogy by Sally Green. The show is about Nathan Byrne, a 16-year-old Blood Witch who is discovered to be the illegitimate son of Marcus Edge, known as “The World’s Most Dangerous Blood Witch”. With the other type of witches, Fairborn Witches, fearing Nathan will turn out like his father, they attempt to hunt him down. Joined by his Fairborn Witch friend Annalise, and Blood Witch Gabriel, the alliance attempt to avoid assassination and aim to find and confront Marcus. With the premise described, the panel mainly focused on humorous stories, such as Emilien Vekemans slipping on a carpet while performing a stunt where he jumps out the window, and a focus on the visual spectacle the show prides itself on, such as a scene where a security guard is pulled apart inside out in a gruesome and graphic way by the alliance. Following the main section, the remaining panel time was dedicated to audience questions, where two microphones at the front could be queued behind with the intention to get through as many as possible. To avoid questions unrelated to the show, and to keep as much as the panel engaged, the host specified questions can not be targeted to one individual. Questions asked included one by a young girl asking how the primarily young cast got into acting, one by a pair of teenage girls asking whether the cast identified with their characters, and one by a journalist asking about the recent information on the lack of pay the industry provides to actors. Across all questions, the panel thought thoroughly and discussed directly with the audience member their thoughts and opinions, and tried to give a full answer even when their answer was simply “not really” to begin with. Even after the show fan interaction continued, as the panel did a group signing of a provided poster for all panel attendees. This allowed a quick one-on-one conversation with the members, allowing me to compliment each one individually on what appeared to be an amazing show. After this, deciding we were exhausted (and that it would be difficult to carry an A3 poster around
without damaging it), we left the venue.
Figure 5: Signed Poster from The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself
As an overall experience, there was some faults it had. These mainly came in the form of the accompanying app that assists with maps, panel times, and people present. Firstly, due to the bad connection in a crowded space with lots of people connected, the app took a while to download, even when resorting to data. The app also lacked some information, for example not mentioning that YouTuber Thomas “TomSka” Ridgewell, a personal favourite, had a stall set up in the back corner, nor did the app update to notify that Andy Serkis, who was meant to be on The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself panel, was unable to come due to personal reasons. The day was also exhausting with the amount of overwhelming content and marketing, as well as the repetition of stalls selling similar merchandise, namely Funko Pops. However, the excitement from the event, the interesting and unique stalls to peruse around, and the amazing variations in cosplayers to spot around the event certainly made up for these faults. As someone who was originally worried that I would not fit I as I am not a fan of the main franchises that were featured, it was very comforting to see people cosplay from some of my favourite, but more niche texts, including Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, Attack on Titan, and The Dream SMP. This seemed to be a main appeal, as there were many ways to interact regardless of what you are a fan of. This includes meeting celebrities, finding a variation interesting merchandise and collectables, and talking with likeminded people, such as multiple interactions I saw of people cosplaying as the same character happily discussing the show.
Figure 6: Stall selling Funko Pops
Analysing the Attendees and Discussing Fans
Originally, I was hesitant due to the popular portrayal of fans as ‘frighteningly “out of control”, undisciplined and unrepentant, rogue readers’ (Jenkins, 1988: 39). However, this clearly was not the case as the attendees at Comic-Con were not all running around, hunting collectables, and quizzing everyone on obscure details, but rather simply enjoying the event in their own way. This negative representation, as Jenkins discussed, can ‘isolate potential fans from others who share common interests and reading practises, marginalize fan-related activities as outside the mainstream and beneath dignity’ (1988: 40), such as how I personally felt prior to attending.
The attendees as MCM Comic Con, as a rough estimate, appeared to have an average age of around 21, with the majority of attendees being aged between 16 and 30. However, this isn’t to say a decent proportion appeared older than that range, and several families with young children were also seen walking around, showing the event was popular with a large demographic of ages. From observation, the convention seemed to have an even split between masculine and feminine identities. It appeared that there was an equal number of groups of just men, just women, or a mix. This too, goes against the stereotypes often portrayed. As Jenkins argued, women present at such events are ‘not teenyboppers wanting to hamster-pile Robert Pattinson, not girlfriends of male fans, and not exhibitionists trying to see how much skin they could show’ (2012: 29). Although, this even split suggests this stereotype is becoming less harmful as conventions popularity increases.
Similar to the stigma around women appearing to be reduced, the stigma around LGBTQIA+ attendees seems to also be decreasing as there appeared to be a larger than average portion of LGBTQIA+ individuals. This was through noticing pride flags and pins, queer dress codes, and cosplays of queer characters or characters from queer-coded media. This may be due to purposeful targeting by companies. Quoting an attendee at Comic-Con International 2009, Ben Bolling noted: ‘There may be more gays in comics or in sci-fi or whatever. But it’s not because fans want it. It’s because they – the big companies – they know gays have money. And we’ll pay them to see people like us’ (2014: 48). Although, to contrary this, many independent creators on stalls seemed to champion LGBTQIA+ identities and shows, rather than major companies themselves at this event, suggesting fans come to express themselves and meet likeminded people more than they come to purchase specific LGBTQIA+ merchandise.
Self-Reflection
Overall, looking at my experience at Comic-Con, there was many strengths and weaknesses I displayed. In terms of strengths, I overcame multiple anxieties I had prior to the event. For example, I feel overwhelmed in crowded spaces full of lots of noise, however, I managed to get use to the noise in the convention and not feel overly stressed. I also had anxieties over doing a meet and greet, but was able to do one with the panel from The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself. As well as this, I had anxieties over not feeling like a “true fan” and that I could be mocked due to the stereotype I should know everything on topics, but upon realising that wasn’t the case, I could engage with various stalls with various themes. A different strength I had was being able to cover the whole circuit within the time frame, allowing me to experience as much as possible and find stalls that interested me without missing out.
In terms of weaknesses, I did not manage to remain focused on making field notes and taking quality photos throughout being distracted by the event, or as Jenkins describes it ‘“going native” as they abandon their research to chase after autographs’ (2012: 34). Also, I wasn’t able to overcome my anxieties when it came to things I was a bigger fan of. This includes the YouTuber Thomas “TomSka” Ridgewell, who I really enjoy and admire as a creator for the seven years I have watched his channel. Despite him doing a free fan meet-and-greet at his stall, I felt too overwhelmed by the prospect and therefore walked away. Finally, my other main weakness was being too susceptible to marketing strategies, such as in the case of the paintball stand.
If I go to another convention (and seeing as I enjoyed this one I am planning to go to MCM Comic Con or maybe EGX in 2023), I would definitely try and interact with more stalls I find personally intriguing for longer, for example TomSka’s stalls if he is there again. I would also bring my better camera, as I am more likely to use it to take photos. Finally, I would aim to talk to more cosplayers and try and get more photos with them, perhaps going in cosplay myself.
Bibliography
Carton, Dennis (1949) ‘Advertising Explained’, Abingdon: Routledge
Fenich, George G. (2008) ‘Meetings, Expositions, Events & Conventions: An Introduction to the Industry’, New Jersey: Pearson Education
Getz, Donald and Page, Stephen J. (2016) ‘Event Studies: Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events – Third Edition’, Oxford: Routledge
Howkins, John (2013) ‘The creative economy: how people make money from ideas’, London: Penguin Books
Jenkins, Henry (1988) ‘Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching’, in Jenkins, Henry (ed.) ‘Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture’, New York: New York University
Jenkins, Henry (2012) ‘Superpowered Fans: The many worlds of San Diego’s Comic-Con’, Boom: A Journal of California, 2(2), Oakland: University of California Press
Pine II, Joseph B. and Gilmore, James H. (2011) ‘The Experience Economy’, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing
Rojek, Chris (2001) ‘Celebrity’, London: Reakiton Books
Texts
The Amazing Maurice (Film: Genkel and Westermann, 2022)
The Atlas Paradox (Book: Blake, 2022)
Attack on Titan (Manga: Isayama, 2009-2021; Anime: Araki, 2013-2023)
The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself (Television Series: Barton, 2022)
Doctor Who (Television Series: Newman, 1963-1989, 2005- ; Film: Sax, 1996)
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (Web series: Pelling and Sloan, 2011-2016; Television series, Pelling and Sloan, 2022)
Dream SMP (Web Series: Dream, 2020-2022)
DuckTales (Television Series: Youngberg and Angones, 2017-2021)
Johnny B. Goode (Song: Berry, 1958)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Films: Jackson, 2001-2003)
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Television Series: Payne and McKay, 2022)
Monster Mash (Song: Pickett, 1962)
Overwatch (Video Game: Blizzard Entertainment, 2016, 2022)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (Television Series: Murray, 2009- )
Shake It Off (Song: Swift, 2014)
Spy x Family (Manga: Endo, 2019- ; Anime: Furuhashi, 2022- )
Star Wars (Franchise: Lucas, 1977- )
Thriller (Song: Jackson, 1982)
Transformers: Earthspark (Television Series: Malinowski, Ward and Dubuc, 2022)
Figures
MCM Comic Con (2022) ‘28-30 October 2022 Map’, Available at: https://twitter.com/mcmcomiccon/status/1584847269253480450 (Accessed 4th January 2023)
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