Hey Students,
Professor Ashley writing to you solo on this week’s Blog Post! If you follow me on social media you may have noticed my recent stint being a professional geek overseas. This marks the return of our travel series “Geeky Postcards” which hasn’t been revisited since Geeky Postcards from Canada in February of this year!
I’m actually finishing up this Blog Post from London Heathrow International Airport waiting for my flight back to Los Angeles departing in a couple hours.
If you happen to have some travel coming up in your future don’t forget we have a great list of Geeky Travel Accessories we use on our own adventures and highly recommend!
As a video host attending MCM London Comic Con I was able to focus my time in London near ExCel London (the convention centre where the event takes place annually). Despite being a dual-citizen MCM was the first international comic book or pop culture convention I’ve ever visited. I’m coming for your next, Canada! The hotel I stayed in was called The Good Hotel and when I tell you it is on the water it is literally ON THE WATER. You cross a bridge over the Thames and make your way to the little pockets of safety and rest in between days running around at MCM London. What I found particularly unique about The Good Hotel was the lack of televisions in the rooms. As someone born and raised in North America I’m used to accommodations from homes to hotels featuring at least one television - if not multiple televisions across multiple rooms. The stay was calming and I had the opportunity to get a lot of reading done. Over on the Jawiin Discord I’ve been sharing my reading journey through Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and I was able to make more progress through the world of The Endless than I have made all year. Come join us over their to share in my journey!
With MCM London Comic Con being my first comic book convention in a foreign country I was very interested in the little differences between what I think of as being a “traditional” comic book and pop culture convention and what I experienced over the three day event. Reflecting on the experience, there are two main differences. Stateside conventions are a bit like sport. There is a competitive nature to getting the latest exclusive or being the first person at a photo op or snapping up the front row seat at the most anticipated panel (you know those ones, the ones with the trailers, casting announcements, and clips which always wound up leaked on Twitter before they’re even over ….), whereas at MCM London Comic Con there wasn’t any of the running or swearing at the top of the day I was anticipating. Just a lot more folx in cosplay than I’m used to seeing calming walking to their destination. Our joke was a constant refrain of “how civilized”.
The second major difference was the panels themselves. Stateside most convention centres have several floors of dedicated panel rooms which are each sound proofed (perhaps sound-resistant is more accurate), and decked out with the typical equipment of a panel: a podium, a bunch of folding tables with tablecloths placed over them to disguise the fact they are folding tables, with various and sundry microphones, screen, speakers, and wires to make sound and visuals carry. At the Excel Centre panels take place on the show floor. Yes - I thought it was wild! For the Geek History Lesson x Books to Last Podcast Best Geek Reads Panel we were on the Creator Stage which is tucked just behind Artists’ Alley protected from the din by nothing else save some hanging black curtains with salon-style comfy chairs to sit in. Ultimately the sound was good enough it didn’t matter and the panel was a success and felt more like I was having a themed chat with a close friend than some of the more presentational panels I’ve been a part of in the past.
In case you are reading this and you weren’t able to attend this latest Geek History Lesson panel live in London - have no fear! We do have an excellent audio recording of the panel. There are plans to drop it in the main Geek History Lesson feed for you to have access to. Right now the date hasn’t been selected, but it should be in the next couple months. Keep your ears peeled for when that comes your way!
MCM London Comic Con gives similar vibes to Emerald City Comic Con. Even though there are guests, booths, and experiences from across the pop culture sphere there’s a super heavy focus on the comics. It’s a vibe I very much enjoyed!
Every day I was in London I did yoga. Recently I posted a TikTok about the importance yoga to keep your body from falling apart as you run around a convention filming videos all day every day. My go-to is always Yoga with Adriene. I follow along whatever she suggests and enjoy the view from the hotel window of the water and the Royal Victoria Dock Footbridge.
Of course there are a ton of comic book shoppes all over the city of London. England and the United Kingdom have their own unique comic book scenes (in terms of creators and readers), which are amazing. Forbidden Planet is probably the most widely known of the retailers across the pond. The last time Jason and I were in London together we actually went to Forbidden Planet in London and Jason was recognized by a gentleman from his work on DC All-Access! They also had quite a presence on the show floor at MCM London Comic Con this year, so I feel like I was able to get the Forbidden Planet experience without having to leave the Excel Centre specifically to seek them out this time around. This time around I wanted a real sense of what an English local comic shoppe was, the key word being “local”, so I stopped by Gosh! Comics the day before MCM was in full swing. The two-level store offers an amazing selection of curated (with a heavy focus on UK and European Comics), upstairs and all the superhero fare you expect from the big two publishers as well as an entire wall of manga available in the basement. Definitely worth the stop!
just some of the amazing cosplay I took some snapshots of at MCM London Comic Con
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out all of the amazing fans who said hello over the course of the weekend! There were a number of Geek History Lesson listeners I had the pleasure of meeting at the Excel Centre, having in attendance at the Geek History Lesson panel, speaking with on the Geek History Lesson pane, and meeting up for coffee with in my time spent in both England and Scotland. Thank-you to everyone from the United Kingdom who came out and shared your geeky energy with me as well as imparting your love of the podcast!
Oh, and my best cup of coffee? I knew you would want to know! There’s a chain in the UK called Caffè Nero which is described as “Italian-influenced coffeehouse company headquartered in London, England”. I really love to pop in for a flat white AND, if you are so inclined, you can order to beans to your home anywhere in the world. Needless to say, I spent more than one day at Caffè Nero.