Birmingham Comic Con – Nov 2015
This weekend, the November weather arrived in force, but that wasn’t going to stop us, so on what felt like the coldest day of the year, Geektown headed to the NEC in Birmingham for fun and games at November’s MCM Comic Con.
The Guests
This Con had an interesting mix of old and new, with Andrew Lee Potts (Primeval, The Mill, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man) there to promote Wireless, his new web series, along with his sister Sarah-Jane Potts (Gracepoint, Waterloo Road), and Jemima Rooper (Atlantis). Liv Tyler (Armageddon, Lord of the Rings) made an appearance on Sunday, but was only really there to meet fans and sign rather than do press, so consequently was near impossible to get near unless you’d paid in advance. Going a little old school, the 60s/70s/80s TV legend Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Fall Guy) was there to do a panel, and was highly entertaining.
Lee Majors Panel – Comic Con Birmingham
The couple I really wanted to talk to though was Merrin Dungey & Victoria Smurfit who play Ursula and Cruella De Vil in Disney’s fantastic Once Upon A Time, and we had the opportunity to take part in the press interview with them, which you can see below.
Merrin Dungey & Victoria Smurfit from Once Upon A Time
The Comics
As usual there were lots of independent comic guys there, but the one that really caught my eye was TPub’s Tabatha from Neil Gibson and Caspar Wijngaard. Set in LA where we’re introduced to Luke, seemingly an ordinary guy, working as a mailman, hating his job, buts seeing it as ‘a means to an end’… That end being to suss out properties which he and his friends can come back later and rob. However, on one of their nightly excursions to relieve an unsuspecting mark of their valuables, in the basement of the house, they discover something wrong… very very wrong… You can see more about it online here.
The Cosplay
As usual there were lots of people in costume. Some homemade, some more professional, but everyone having fun and taking photos. It’s very clear that DC know what they’re doing with the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, as the Harley Quinn’s where out in force this time around. Not only the traditional Batman Animated Series Harley, but also the Arkham Game’s Harley, and a lot of the new look Suicide Squad Harley. There were of course a number of Jokers to go with her, and I even saw one guy as the full shirtless Jared Leto Joker, which given the weather this weekend was a commitment above and beyond the call of duty! To counter the DC villains, there were thankfully a number of heroes. Arrow being very popular, along with some Batmen & Supermen. On the Marvel side… The occasional Spider-man, but if the costumes are anything to go by, the Deadpool movie is going to be a huge hit.
From the gaming side, not unsurprisingly, there were a lot of Fallout 4 vault suit people around, and a number of people selling Fallout 4 goodies. Interestingly, not that many Lara Crofts though. Could be that exclusive XBox deal Microsoft did for Tomb Raider has effected the popularity of the character…
On the Star Wars side, I thought there maybe more people from the new film. I did see a Rey and a few Kylo Ren’s, but mainly it was Stormtroopers, Fetts, and of course Jedi… I suspect that may change after the new film comes out next month.
Overall, a great Con, and lots of fun. The next is on the 13th of Feb for Comic Con Midlands in Telford, so book your tickets!
