MCM LONDON COMIC CON – EXCEL LONDON – 23-25 OCTOBER 2015

Record numbers of visitors flocked to Britain’s leading pop culture event MCM London Comic Con this weekend. The three day show saw 130,560 pass through the doors of Excel London, eclipsing the record-breaking 122,600 attendees at May's Comic Con and the 110,200 at last October’s event. 

Essentially this cements MCM London Comic Con’s position as the third largest Comic Con on the planet — just behind illustrious US rivals in New York and San Diego. To add some UK context it’s also around 10,000 more people than attended both the Man United v Man City and Sunderland vs Newcastle matches this weekend — two of premier league football’s biggest derby matches.

Visitors to MCM London Comic Con enjoyed a whole host of sci-fi, film, television, comic book, videogame, anime, manga and cosplay content. Featured panels and Q&As included Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss on Sherlock and Doctor Who; Alan Tudyk and Nolan North on new comedy Con Man; Noah Wyle on Librarians; Charlie Higson on Jekyll and Hyde; and Gareth Evans on his acclaimed martial arts movie The Raid. 

Comic Con also hosted panels by cast and crew from zombie phenomenon The Walking Dead, hit sci-fi series Humans, historical fantasy Da Vinci's Demons, re-imagined classic Thunderbirds Are Go, Dark Age epic Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands; upcoming horror drama Outcast and CBBC sci-fi show Eve, not to mention screenings of Amazon Original's The Man in the High Castle and Mr. Robot.

Other special guests meeting fans at the show included Arrow's Cynthia Addai-Robinson; The Flash’s Candice Patton; Breaking Bad's RJ Mitte; Game of Thrones’ Ian McElhinney, Ian Beattie and Eugene Simon; Continuum's Victor Webster; Warehouse 13's Saul Rubinek; Under The Dome's Alexander Koch and Colin Ford; Doctor Who's Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy; Red Dwarf’s Robert Llewellyn and Danny John-Jules; Adventure Time’s Jessica DiCicco and Anime Guest of Honour Shigeto Koyama (Big Hero 6, Kill la Kill). 

Meanwhile, the Comic Village was home to more than 200 talented comic book artists and writers including Bob Layton, John McCrea and Tony Lee; Vidfest’s gathering of online video talent featured The Yogscast, Rooster Teeth and The Hillywood Show amongst many others; and the games zone played host to publishers such as Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Koei Tecmo, NisA Europe and Rising Star Games, as well the MCM eSports Arena.

MCM London Comic Con returns to ExCel 27-29 May 2016

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I was one of the lucky people who attended NYCC a few weeks ago. That’s New York Comic Con for the uninitiated. It’s the East Coast equivalent of what San Diego has to offer. Now, the big guns normally reserve all their surprises and treats for San Diego, but occasionally, those of us attending the “other” convention are privy to some goodies as well.

It just so happens that Warner Brothers (their television equivalent known as WBTV, anyway) brought along a lot of their shows for panels; “Supergirl” happened to be one of them. Those of us in attendance were then rewarded by being shown the pilot before it aired for the rest of the country.

This is the first time I’m reviewing a television show. As such, I’m taking something of a different approach. My reviews will be more “review-like” as opposed to mere recaps. I am a writer, after all. After a long wait, we can finally enjoy what is no doubt one of the most anticipated series this fall season.

Much like “Arrow” and “The Flash”, both produced by Greg Berlanti on sister network, The CW, “Supergirl” starts off with an opening monologue from the lead character. A nice flashback helps give the audience an idea of who Kara Zor-El is in relation to her more famous cousin, Kal-El, otherwise known as Clark Kent/Superman.

Kara is an adolescent, much older than her cousin. It is her mission to protect him as they head to Earth. However, the pod she was in becomes stuck in the Phantom Zone, where time doesn’t move. By the time Kara arrives on Earth twenty-four years later, her cousin has already revealed himself to the world. Yet, she is still a child. She is taken to the Danvers family. We get a nice call back to the mythology (and a nice nod to the fans) as both Helen Slater and Dean Cain play Kara’s adoptive parents. You’ll recall that Slater first played Supergirl in the 1984 cult classic of the same name and Cain played Clark Kent in the 1990s series, “The Adventures of Lois and Clark”.

When we first meet a grown-up Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), she is not a hero. In fact, she’s made it a point not to use her abilities at all. She is just a personal assistant to one of the most influential women in National City, Cat Grant. Grant, played wonderfully by Calista Flockhart, is in a similar vein to the assertive and confident female boss, as exemplified best by the film, “The Devil Wears Prada”.

In the beginning, there appear to be a lot of similarities, with Kara being a seemingly insignificant subordinate. Not long after, we are introduced to Superman ally, James “Jimmy” Olsen, played by Mehcad Brooks. It is through Olsen that we get a glimpse of Superman (although the pilot goes through great lengths never to mention him by name).

We get to see the relationship between Kara and her sister, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh). What’s most refreshing about these two characters is that Alex knows about Kara’s secret. They fight like normal sisters, they laugh, and cry. It is a relatable approach to female relationships that is sorely lacking in the genre.

Alex is bound for Geneva, and it just so happens (as is the magic of storytelling) that the plane she is on is having “engine trouble”. Knowing that she was born with the same hero-making gifts as her cousin, Kara wastes no time coming to the aid of the passengers on the fated flight.

Her sister, however, is none too pleased that Kara revealed herself to the world. Cat Grant, however, sees this as her chance to save one of her failing acquisitions. She begins to use “super girl” as a beacon for National City and a way to make money by having the hero on the cover of her newspapers and magazines (sort of like what the Daily Planet is doing in Metropolis with Superman). Much has been made about the speech Cat Grant gives Kara in regards to calling the female hero “girl”. Personally, I like seeing a different array of opinions from women and I’m glad that the writers included that scene in the show even if it had mixed messages.

Of course, it can’t all be roses. There has to be a bad guy. Halfway through the show we get our first glimpse at the bad of the episode. He has a connection to Kara and Alex. It was his doing that caused the plane’s engine to fail. It is also revealed that he has history with Kara’s mother, who jailed some of the worst criminals in the galaxy.

But what good is a superhero show without a costume montage?! Winn (Jeremy Jordan), also our resident tech guy, is let in on Kara’s secret and agrees to help her with a new outfit. She finally decides on one, after some trial and error. It’s a nice, updated look to Supergirl’s traditional outfit. I found myself grinning as the bullets flew off Kara’s body and she proceeded to take down and beat up random baddies to some classic music.

However, Kara soon finds herself in a bit of trouble and confusion before she can even get started when she is drugged (with Kryptonite, of course) and taken to a secret location. It is there that we first meet Hank Henshaw (David Harewood). We also learn that Alex works in said secret location, soon revealed as the DEO, or Department of Extranormal Operations. Henshaw explains the need for the organization (her pod crashing, her cousin’s arrival, and the Kryptonian prison that so-happened to crash land on Earth along with Kara). Those prisoners spent the last decade in hiding until recently; it’s clear there’s a Big Bad at play. Henshaw is also not a big fan of Kara and her dangerous, alien physique.

Alex’s position with the DEO brings some tension between the sisters. Much like Superman before her, we get the awesome “behind the alley, taking off the shirt to reveal costume” scene right before Kara goes and meets the man behind the plane engine failure, Vartox (Owain Yeoman). Needless to say, it doesn’t end well for her; she’s still learning. The DEO comes to Kara’s aid before it can get too messy.

There’s a nice little scene between Kara and Alex, who reveals her own insecurities. We’re also treated to a message by Kara’s birth mother, who tells her to be her own woman. Kara, with the approval of Alex and Henshaw, goes back to take on Vartox. She bests her man, after a brutal fight by using her laser eyes to heat up his special alien ax, though he takes his own life (and offers a cryptic warning).

Turns out, James knew about Kara the entire time. Her cousin (it’s always “he”…) told James to keep a look out for Kara and help her, but he also wanted her to find her own path.

It wouldn’t be a superhero show without a little epilogue, wouldn’t it? Kara’s aunt, Alura Zor-El appears to be the Big Bad the show was alluding to earlier. We learn that she wants to rule Earth (and was apparently meant to rule Krypton).

It has to be said about the special effect on this show. It’s not like the cheesy effects used on “Once Upon a Time”. Supergirl tries to ground itself in realism as much as possible.

We’re all probably wondering how this show will work on a network like CBS, home of the procedural (and dare I say, conservative viewer). If this pilot is anything to go by, I’d say they have it covered. There’s bound to be a bad of the week, as well as an overarching theme for the season.

“Supergirl” appears to be a breath of fresh air. With the inclusion of “Agent Carter” and the Netflix series, “Jessica Jones”, the rise of female-led superhero titles is prominent. Hopefully, the series can rejuvenate the tired male-dominated genre.

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8pm Eastern Standard Time on CBS.

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The Doctor interrupts "the Knightmare" as he commits a robbery in 1651. The Doctor is able to find the artefact first but it drives off before he can take it. In talking to the robber, the Doctor learns that it's actually Ashildr, whom he resurrected in last week's episode but at the cost of her becoming immortal. She's lost touch with many of her memories and grown increasingly isolated. She's re-named herself as "Me" as a result. She begs the Doctor to take her away but he refuses. He looks through her journal and finds many memories have been torn out and the pages are tearstained. It turns out that Me also had three children who all died in the Plague but this memory has been kept in the journal as a reminder to never have children again.

Me and the Doctor are able to steal the artefact, known as 'the Eyes of Hades'. Legend has it that the artefact can open a portal to the afterlife or into space. The Doctor and Me are able to escape from a rival, Sam Swift. The Doctor learns that Me goes by "Lady Me" and is living her life as a wealthy woman with a servant. An ally of hers named Leandro is a leonine alien who originally owned the artefact and crash-landed onto Earth. Leandro has agreed to let Me come along to travel the galaxy in return for helping to retrieve the artefact. But in order for it to work, a life must be sacrificed and Me plans to sacrifice her old blind servant Clayton, something which the Doctor strongly objects to.

Two men arrive to say that "the Knightmare" is in the area and Sam Swift is about to be hung. Me turns the Doctor over to the pikemen and leaves to use Swift's death to activate the artefact. The Doctor escapes and follows Me. The Doctor is able to fake a pardon for Swift using his psychic paper but Me attaches the artefact to Swift, effectively killing him and opening the portal. Leandro then reveals that his true intentions are to invade Earth. As the ships of his people begin killing the cross present, Me's conscience is triggered and she uses the second Mire medical chip to bring Swift back to life which closes the portal, but not before Leandro is killed by his people for failing.

The Doctor says that Swift may or may not be immortal since the chip's power might have been drained by closing the portal. Me says she promises to stay true to the Doctor as his friend and will look after the people whom he leaves behind. He goes to meet Clara, who shows him a selfie taken by one of her pupils. In the background of the photo, Me can seen looking straight into the camera.

Doctor Who airs on Saturdays on BBC One.

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Abbie and Ichabod team up with Jenny to track down the "Tooth Fairy," a monster that has terrorised a local child, and the encounter was witnessed by her sister. The trio is informed about the case by Joe, who works as EMT. Young Jessica falls into a coma after being attacked by the tooth fairy and no one but our heroes believes Jessica's sister Saffron, as the demon is only visible to children. When Saffron draws what she saw, Crane remembers about a sickness that effected many children, including Betsy Ross' niece. The children would fall sick after losing their teeth and would never wake up. Betsy called in Paul Revere, who used his job posing as a dentist to ward off the Tooth Fairy by giving children silver coins after losing their teeth. The Tooth Fairy is actually an Ibizu, an Assyrian demon that eats children's souls. The process takes 48 hours in total to complete so the clock is ticking for our heroes.

Ichabod and Jenny head to the local elementary school to find which children are about to lose their teeth. One of the children, Gregory, is very quiet as Ichabod gives a presentation on all the historical inaccuracies they have been taught. Gregory not only has a loose tooth, he has been stalked at night by the Ibizu, but his mother hasn't believed him since she can't see the monster. Jenny gives Gregory a silver coin to protect himself, sensing that something was off with him. They decide that Ichabod and Joe will keep an eye on another little girl in the class that's about to lose a tooth, while Jenny and Abbie will watch out for Gregory.

Gregory's so busy being ignored by his babysitter that it's up to Jenny and Abbie to come running when Gregory screams after losing his tooth and using the silver coin to ward off the Ibizu. Jenny gets knocked out while using the hose to make the monster visible. Abbie stabs it but then gets thrown against the porch and knocked out too. The Ibizu runs off and Abbie is put in the hospital. Ichabod tells a sleeping Abbie to heal while Jenny assures Saffron that her sister will make it.

Pandora pays a visit to Abbie, waking her from her sleep. Pandora wants to give her backstory: her father beat her till she couldn't speak and then sold her as a slave. She then gained her ability to speak back and promptly convinced her owner to feed her father to a lion. She also talks about how Abbie treats life like a duty.

Ichabod and Jenny have figured out that they need to put a gun together that will be loaded up with silver nitrate because it will make the Tooth Fairy visible. The monster goes after Saffron after she follows an idea planted in her head by Saffron to use a tooth and fight the monster. Ichabod and Jenny save Saffron and chase the monster into the woods and are eventually able to illuminate it so Jenny can stab it through the heart with a fireplace poker. It turns to dust.

Jessica wakes from her coma and Crane visits the dentist for the first time in hundreds of years. He gets high on painkillers and dreams of Betsy. But upon waking he looks up the word Pandora used to describe him and Abbie and finds that it's Sumerian for "destroyers" and the pair realise that Pandora knows something bigger about them than they themselves know.

Sleepy Hollow airs on Thursdays on FOX at 9PM.

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Daisy learns of Coulson's having teamed up with the ATCU and is less than pleased about it. She finds an encoded email at the scene of a Lash attack and uses it to track down an Inhuman named Dwight Frye, who is negatively affected by the presence of other Inhumans. Lash has been using Dwight to track down their targets.

May comes to S.H.I.E.L.D. to express her concerns to Coulson that Hunter is taking his mission to personally and it's making him reckless but while in the facility, she refuses to talk to Garner, who had left her while the pair were making effort to reconcile.

The ATCU takes Frye, and Daisy and Mack come along to see their base and Inhuman facilities. But when Lash ambushes the van, Frey is killed, Mack is injured, but Daisy is spared. She sees Lash transforming into an ordinary human after the attack.

Hunter is brought on a Hydra mission but when he is seen by Ward, he is attacked. May arrives on the scene but when Ward reveals that he has Strucker ready to kill Garner unless Ward is allowed to escape. May cannot bring herself to let Garner be killed so she agrees to back off but Hunter attacks anyway and shoots Ward in the shoulder. Ward is able to get away but Strucker seemingly kills Garner.

Fitz learns of Simmons' intention to rebuild the portal and go back to the planet and confronts her about it. She admits she needs to get back there and asks him for help. She says that something happened on the other side and says she is ready to tell him the truth about everything.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs on Tuesdays on ABC at 9PM.

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The Doctor rescues Clara from space using the TARDIS but after they land on earth, they're taken captive by Vikings. The Doctor tries to defend himself with his sonic sunglasses but a Viking just breaks them instead. When The Doctor pretends to be Odin, they dismiss his attempts to tricks them. An image of Odin appears in the sky and invites them to Valhalla, after which some armoured suits come and seemingly disintegrate the Vikings. The Doctor however, determines that the suits are using advanced technology to teleport the warriors away.

Clara tells a young girl named Ashildr to use the sonic sunglasses to get them free but they end up struck instead by the weapons. The suits disappear and the Doctor is left alone with the remaining citizens of the village. Clara, Ashildr, and the other Vikings are on a spaceship where the male Vikings are dying by being drained of their adrenaline and testosterone. Clara and Ashildr escape and meet "Odin" who is the leader of the Mire, a hostile alien species that prides itself on its fearsome reputation. Clara wants to negotiate peace, but Ashildr declares war for her people. "Odin" will attack in 24 hours and returns the women to the planet where Clara tells the Doctor about all that transpired.

The Doctor tries to get the villagers to abandon the village until the Mire have left but they want to stay and fight, though they have no skills or experience in combat. The Doctor tries to train them but it doesn't make much of a difference. Using Ashildr's homemade puppets, the Doctor learns about electric eels the fisherman have caught and uses this knowledge to form a plan.

The Mire arrive at the village to attack only to find that the villagers are throwing a party. Confused, they hesitate to attack and this distraction allows the villagers to use the electricity from the eels to overload the suits and remove one of the helmets. The Doctor modifies it and gives it Ashildr who uses the images from her stories which causes the Mire to envision a dragon attacking. The Mire run off and the Doctor threatens to broadcast a recording of this cowardly display if "Odin" doesn't leave. He fears this loss of reputation so he leaves on the Mire ship with all his shulders.

The villagers rejoice in their victory but the Doctor finds that Ashildr has died from heart failure due to the stress of using the helmet. The Doctor then remembers how he chose the face he currently has to resemble Caecilius whom he had saved in Pompeii. He is inspired to once again break the rules so that he may save Ashildr. Using a modified computer chip from the helmet, he implants it in Ashildr and gives her father a second chip for her to use later. The chip regenerates her and she is brought back to life. But the Doctor tells Clara that he may not have done the right thing, since the chip will never stop working so Ashildr is now immortal. The second chip is for Ashildr to give to someone else once she finds someone she can't live without. We then watch as Ashildr watches the world age and her expression shifts from awe, to grief, to rage.

Doctor Who airs on Saturdays on BBC One at 9PM.

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Ichabod decides to apply for American citizenship so he can better navigate his way through the world. But he and Abbie will need to work to stop Pandora's unleashing of the spirit of Jack the Ripper. A dagger has the power to unleash an unquenchable bloodlust in the person who picks it up and Pandora gives it to a "nice guy" named Nelson Meyers who want to impress his co-worker Emily whom he harbours feelings for.

When Nelson can't seem to get on her radar at a club, since Emily is dancing with someone else, Pandora charms Nelson with a dance and then he wakes up the following morning with the dagger on his bedside table. He kills the man whom Emily had danced with and Abbie and Ichabod are called in to examine the body that's been completely drained of blood. Ichabod shares the story of how his best friend in his youth was killed the same way.

Ichabod and Abbie track down Nelson after he doesn't show up for work. At his apartment, they find him more overcome than ever, as the weapon has been magically fused to his arm. Abbie shoots him when he attacks, but he simply walks away after falling through his window onto a car.

Meanwhile, Jenny and Joe are working together to track down the shard that was stolen from them. After tracking down Randall at a motel, they find that it's been absconded by a woman, whom Jenny follows to a diner. Jenny finds the shard hidden in the woman's car battery, a trick that matches August Corbin's teaching, leading Jenny to wonder just how many apprentices he had and what exactly is so important about the Shard.

Abbie and Ichabod are able to determine that the knife can't survive after feeding on infected blood. They learn of Nelson's obsession with Emily after finding photos of her on his hard drive so Abbie orders her to be placed into protective custody but Nelson tracks her down anyway. Ichabod and Abbie end up in a stand-off with Nelson who had Emily captive. They're able to get Emily away and Ichabod fights with Nelson while Abbie runs to get Emily to safety. Ichabod ends up stabbed by Nelson but immediately injects himself with a disease which quickly causes Nelson to drop to the ground and the knife releases its bond with him.

Ichabod is able to recover since he had infected himself with malaria, something he already suffered form as a child and is thus immune to. On Abbie's sofa, he mumbles about his gratitude to her for having his back and that they will defeat Pandora's evil plan once they've figured out what it is. Pandora is shown to be spying on them through her magic pond while her mystical tree of fear keeps growing.

Sleepy Hollow airs on Thursdays on FOX at 9PM.

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