MCM London Excel was MASSIVE!

This was my first time at the Excel for MCM London and I was absolutely overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. It was simultaneously exhausting and thrilling meeting so many comics fans at once – the venue is 0.8km long and holds 68,000 people! Crossing the hall felt like walking up and down Oxford Street at rush hour except with more smiles and cosplay.

I was debuting my new cyberpunk book Chrome Roses as well as Death Sentence: The Complete Edition from Titan comics, published early July 2025. We did a panel on the Artists Alley stage which drew a good crowd, more than for some of the Star Guests appearing later, with incisive questions and answers on making creator-owned comics from myself, Dave Cook (Killtopia), Norm Konyu (Downlands) and Chris Shepherd (Anfield Road).

After that the panellists returned to signing, sketching and selling books in the hall, with brisk traffic from 10:30am on. I also found time to buy a few things myself, and catch up with creators and friends I hadn’t seen for a while. I had some great chats with Dave Cook, Norm, & Jim Zub about Conan in particular – and Jim even asked for a signed copy of Chrome Roses. What a gent.

Of course at an event this big not everyone is there for you – and I could see a few comic creators getting ground down by the large volume of traffic passing by their tables. For artists and writers in that situation I think it’s best to stay on your feet, make eye contact, smile, and simply pass the time of day. After all, you’re among the most like-minded group of people you could ever find. Asking after people, discovering what they’re excited by, and then explaining a little about what you do, goes a long way. Even the biggest star in comics means very little to your average film or TV fan, but you can soon excite them about what you’re making. For a cyberpunk book like Chrome Roses, I found just chatting about it with enthusiasm helped find new readers among all the sci-fi fans in attendance. You’d be amazed how many people are looking for new and exciting books to read, especially detective stories or cyberpunk – and meeting creators in the flesh is a real buzz for them.

The event did a great job of integrating prose books too. The books stage was buzzing with a lot of big writers in attendance. It’s the best I’ve seen it done at a comic con, right up there with the Cheltenham Literary Festival.

Can’t wait for next year!