In what seems like a lifetime ago, 2001, Paul Miley (Sci Fi Shows) had an idea to create a large scale collectors show along the lines of the established Memorabilia shows at Birmingham NEC, but for London. A partnership was formed with Bryan Cooney (Wolf Events) and that idea became the first London Expo May 2002 at the new EXCEL London centre.
The 
show became Bi-Annual in 2003 with shows held May & October with a rebranding in 2004 to London MCM Expo (Movies Comic Media) this was in an effort to make the show title more descriptive for consumers. The format which was very much a collector and autograph show, evolved in 2005 and moved more towards a US Comic Con style show with the addition of Feature areas, Comics, Anime, Video Games as well as Movie and TV promotions. It soon turned the show into a huge success as a platform for consumers and industry to interact.
In 2007 Midland MCM Expo was launched at the International Centre Telford followed shortly after in 2008 by the acquisition of the Memorabilia Show at the NEC Birmingham from Expo Management. All the shows now came under the umbrella of MCM Expo Group. In 2010 the brand evolved to further reflect its standing as the UK’s biggest pop culture event with a wide rebranding exercise to COMIC CON for all the MCM Shows.
2011 seen the successful launch of Manchester Comic Con and the return to London for the Memorabilia Show after a gap of almost 14 years. 2011 also seen a record attendance across all the shows in excess of 170,000.
MCM Expo Group continue to expand the pop culture market with the 2012 launch of Birmingham Comic Con co-located at the NEC with its successful Memorabilia event. What will be next?
