By Matthew Murray

This weekend the ExCel Centre in London will be taken over by the London MCM (Movies Comics Media) Expo. For three days the convention centre is playing host to probably the biggest comic related event in the UK, and there will be plenty of fans and guests on hand.

Comic book guests include Sean Phillips (Criminal, Incognito), Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Forever), Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram, Suburban Glamour), Antony Johnston (Wasteland, Daredevil), Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and the MI: 13, Action Comics), Jock (The Losers, Detective Comics), Kieron Gillen (Phonogram, Uncanny X-Men), Andy Diggle (The Losers, Daredevil), and a gaggle of other artists and writers less well known outside of the UK. They’ll be there selling their wares and participating in panels, or maybe just sitting in the pub. MCM is also the new home of the Eagle Awards, and those will be presented over the weekend.

There will also be a strong Asian flavour, as Viz, Tokyopop, and Manga Entertainment are setting up booths, while the combination of Halloween, the large presence of anime and manga fans at the con, and the first ever EuroCosplay Championships mean that the number of people dressed up as comic book and video game characters is going to be through the roof. Make sure you bring (or in my case buy) a camera.

In addition to the comics content there will be presences from many video game companies, including Nintendo, Capcom (who’ll have a playable version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3), and Ubisoft amongst others, science fiction writer Peter F. Hamilton, and a number of actors from science fiction TV shows and movies.

We’ll have a full con report next week, but if you want more information, and a full listing of events and guests, check out their website.

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Matthew Murray can’t stop travelling. When he does manage to sit down somewhere he reads a lot of zines and comics, yet he always wants more.