There are only three days until MCM Comic Con in London, are you excited yet? Are you prepared? You’ve got your tickets, arranged your transport, and left the cat with your sister? But what will you do once you get there?

Well, may we suggest that you drop by the angelKat Entertainment table in the Comic Village (table J1) and say hello! We’re a friendly bunch and our neighbours are too. The Comic Village is brimming with amazing indie comics, beautiful artwork, and friendly artists. We’ve been exhibiting since 2010, and trust us when we say that you’ll love the variety in the Comic Village. Sure, there are other attractions – the gaming booths from Capcom, Nintendo, etc. or the amazing selection of merchandise dealers, guests, and of course the League of Legends tournament finals on Sunday.

But in the Comic Village you’ll get to meet these lovely people; DestinyBlue, Rob Cureton (Orful Comics), Hester ‘Morti’ Macfarlane, Jeremy Biggs (Subversive Comics/Zombie Bears), Naniiebim, Lisa ‘Baggy’ Cummins, Huy Truong, Emily and Ally (Footloose), Tanya Roberts, Kai Lynn (Di-San), Ryuuza, Jack Lawrence, and many more. And us, I guess you could meet us if you really wanted to.

It should be noted that our good friends Dr Geof Banyard and Mr Tab Kimpton (Khaos and Shades of A) won’t be joining us in the Comic Village this year, as they are out gallivanting in the exhibition areas. You can find Geof in the Steampunk Exhibition to the right of the Comic Village – next to the MCM eSports tournament theatre. Tab will be in the section marked C on the map below, to the far left as you enter the hall.

We’ll have the usual assortment of goodies, including the first two issues of Fera, the last of the first edition issue #1 of The Editors, the angelKat Adventures mini-comics, brand new posters and artwork, new art cards, badges, and I will be sketching caricatures and butts, because that’s apparently something that I do now. As always, if you’re the first to turn up in cosplay as one of our characters you’ll get a free comic, or free sketch/digital commission. We’ll also have exclusive convention deals – so you can get bundle offers and discounts that won’t ever be available in our online store (you know, when that launches next month).

Depending on internet access at the event, we might post some fun contests on twitter – either my account ( @t_iii ) or Donnas’ account ( @donnakebab ). If we can, they’ll likely take the form of questions that you must answer by coming to the table, or they’ll be treasure hunts where you have to find a particular thing at the event and bring us proof that you found it. If we can do this, the prizes will range from quick sketches, to full digital commissions.

So, to find us, you want to head to the Comic Village, but how to best get there you ask? Well, if you follow the main “MCM Boulevard” you will pass Manga UK, Capcom, Bandai, and finally Nintendo – once there we are at the far end of Row J, which is just one row to the left of the main Boulevard. Click the map below is you’d prefer a visual guide.

MCM London Comic Con May 2013 is a post from: angelKat Entertainment

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(Spoiler Warning)

It was with some trepidation that I collected my tickets to go see Star Trek Into Darkness. I will admit it from the start that I did not like the 2009 reboot of Star Trek, but I resolved myself to go into this with an open mind. After all, I reasoned, wasn’t Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a spectacularly terrible beginning to a movie franchise that then climbed to giddy fights of awesomeness with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan?

And that right there was the problem with this movie, clearly some executive somewhere had decided that what the new franchise required was a star spanning revenge saga and sought to emulate that previous success. Unfortunately though the characters motivations seem incredibly random and they just end up lurching from action set piece to action set piece, even one of the dramatic twists, on which the plot hinges, has to be revealed during a superfluous two minute action scene.

Of course the movie does have its upsides the action scenes are, for the most part, thrilling and will leave you on the edge of your seats, the Klingon fights and the space battles spring to mind. The acting is top notch, especially Benedict Cumberbatch who brings to life a colder, more reptilian Khan rather than the hot-blooded, passionate Khan played by Ricardo Montalban. Sorry for the spoiler there folks, but frankly that was the worst kept twist that J.J. Abrams has thought up since revealing to an uninterested world that the characters of Lost had been dead all along.

At the end of the day Star Trek Into Darkness is incredibly slick and polished looking, although some old school fans of Star Trek will miss the wobbly set / grown man in a lizard costume charm of the originals. What struck me most about the new Star Trek movies has been that, like most modern reboots, they have been sucked dry of any and all quirky and original features that made us fans in the first place and what we are left with is a competently made but soulless movie. Star Trek Into Darkness is an enjoyable movie don’t get me wrong but it lacks the soul that made us obsessed with the franchise in the first place, more people will end up seeing this movie and more importantly most will have enjoyed it and it will definitely make more money than all of them combined but no one will love this movie, it will never be anyone’s favourite movie, nobody will want an Into Darkness themed wedding, internet forums won’t erupt into flame wars over whether Shatner or Pine is  a better Kirk? Mostly because Chris Pine has done an excellent impression of William Shatner but that’s all it is, an impression with nothing new to set him apart from his predecessor.

In summary if what you are looking for is an enjoyable, popcorn movie that requires very little effort to enjoy go see it, with my blessings, but please leave your Starfleet uniform at home and just enjoy it for what it is.

Final Score: 6 out of 10

Review: Star Trek Into Dorkness is a post from: angelKat Entertainment

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Since the massive success of The Avengers in cinemas across the world fans of comics, Marvel, and let’s be honest, Robert Downey Jr. have been waiting with baited breath for the latest instalment of Iron Man. The first in the series of films that will no doubt influence the sequel to The Avengers – Iron Man 3 does not disappoint. For many fans the Iron Man film series thus far has seen a consistently brilliant portrayal of Tony Stark, by a man who might as well be the ‘genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist‘ we all know and love, and this film does the franchise justice once again.

In our local cinema there were three screens packed on opening night – a midnight screening complete with a cosplayer in full armour loitering in the foyer. The audience were enthralled from the first moments, with bursts of laughter, awed silence, and the moments of genuine concern for the characters. The whole cast gave a fantastic performance, including Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin. Whilst some die hard Marvel comics fans may not like this version of the character, I personally think that the part was well played, the reveal on the character was both smart and funny, and cleverly arranged for the current live action universe. To be clear, this is not The Mandarin from the comics, but I’m not convinced that the comic version would fit into this film particularly well. It’s played very much as a shadowy puppet theatre of terrorists and puppet masters -resulting in a far more threatening version of the Ten Rings organisation we saw in the first film.

Amidst all of this we see some impressive character progression, whilst characters that play bit parts in the conspiracy plot are shown as being very human with their motives relatable enough that we can feel sorry for them to some extent despite their actions. Over the course of the films we’ve seen Tony Stark go from weapons guru, to prisoner, to a veritable phoenix. Iron Man 2 forced him to deal with his alcohol and womanising issues and The Avengers saw him being utterly selfless. In this film we see the effects of these things, and the role that Pepper Potts plays in his life.

The scene we’ve all seen from the trailer of Pepper in the Mark 42 armour “rescuing” Tony is very central to their relationship at this point. In this film Tony is suffering from the effects of the events in The Avengers. He’s a normal man who has fought with gods, battled an alien invasion, crossed dimensions, and faced his mortality in a brave almost-sacrifice. This film is partly how he as a character responds to that. He’s thrown himself into his work as expected, but can’t sleep due to nightmares, and is experiencing anxiety attacks due to the New York incident. It’s very well played, and it’s a hand that if it had been left to a less subtle direction and actor, it might have been distracting – but in this it helped cement the character further, whilst making his achievements and his relationship with Pepper that much more important.

Iron Man 3 is at least partly about a man who is facing his past and putting his life back together and perhaps finally reaching that light at the end of the tunnel. There are some heart wrenching moments of course, but there are some very sweet and often hilarious moments too. We’re returned to the cheeky humour and not-quite-right-yet gadgets of the first Iron Man film – with Robert Downey Jr. once again playing the wit and charm of Tony Stark perfectly. A mention has to be made of Ty Simpkins, who plays Harley – a kid who is much like young Tony in some ways, and provides an excellent foil for him at times whilst maintaining himself as a unique and memorable character in his own right.

This film truly is Tony Stark at his best but gives a completely new atmosphere to the series which I can only describe as real, and in part remarkably optimistic. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays into the upcoming Marvel films, and ultimately the sequel to The Avengers. Definitely a film that needs to be seen on the big screen, I’m not convinced 3D really makes a difference with this one – but that’s up to you to decide.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Review: Iron Man 3 is a post from: angelKat Entertainment

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