This year Comic Con Africa is returning from 26 to 29 September to celebrate its 5th year of live shows! Having substantially grown since its inception in 2018, Comic Con Africa has become a dynamic and inclusive staple of fans’ calendars, attracting thousands of people to celebrate their shared love for comics, gaming, film, television, and all things pop culture.
Comic Con Africa has previously welcomed heavy hitter icons to the country, including Kevin Sussman in 2018 (Big Bang Theory), William Shatner in 2019 (Star Trek), Jamie Campbell Bower in 2022 (Stranger Things), and most recently Anthony Daniels in 2023 (Star Wars).
The four-day spectacle features people dressed up as their favourite characters, international celebrities making special appearances, an unparalleled pop culture shopping experience, competitive and casual gaming, trading cards, tabletop gaming, interactive experiences, anime, and more!
The Comic Con Africa Origin story:
Comic Con Africa initially started in 2018 and was eagerly expecting 15 000 fans to attend. These expectations were shattered when over 47 000 fans flocked to the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit. “I can remember being concerned that no one would come in costumes” said Talent and Content Director, Rene Staack who has been involved in the event since its inception.
“When the doors opened, and it was officially show time, I saw thousands of fans expressing their passion for pop culture by dressing up in cosplay – I exhaled with relief. There was a pulpable atmosphere of excitement to get a taste of this international phenomenon in South Africa’s back yard” Staack added.
The success of the pilot event gripped the nation, and a new introduction to the show floor, KidsCon, was launched – a dedicated area on the show floor that turned Comic Con Africa into the ultimate family day out. The 2019 show saw the attendance grow to over 70 000 fans in 2019. The event moved venues to accommodate the increasing demand and growth.
Current Show Director of Comic Con Africa, Carla Massmann reflected on this year saying “This was the year that we saw Comic Con Africa move from an event to a festival. We had larger stands, more brands get involved in big ways, and fans take the experience more seriously”
“It was at this point that we knew we were on the right track and the show would continue to go from strength to strength – we had built something really special for communities to connect and for likeminded people to come together in a judgement free and self-expressive environment. But then the world came to a standstill” Massmann said.
With the sister show, Comic Con Cape Town, set to take place in April of 2020 – boxes of branding and show items were packed and team members were excited to bring this amazing experience to the Mother City, it seemed like nothing could stop the rise and growth of Comic Cons in Africa. However, with the Covid-19 lockdown being announced in March of the same year, the festival’s growth was grinded to a screeching holt.
With the hand break on Comic Con and a massive question mark around the viability of Comic Con Cape Town returning after the investments already made for the show, the team remained dedicated to finding ways to keep connected to the fans, but more importantly to find ways for fans and communities to stay connected. The 2020 iteration of Comic Con Africa was reimagined to accommodate these circumstances to a free four-day online experience which included interviews across several digital channels, also welcoming a variety of local community members to share their tips, tricks, and lifehacks for all things geeky.
The Comic Con Africa team continued to engage with fans on a more intimate level than ever, learning community members by name, largely due to the weekly online fandom specific quizzes held on YouTube. In this confusing time, Comic Con Africa also explored streaming, podcasts, weekly YouTube interviews, and more.
“We all felt so connected” said Graphic Designer, Roberto Carlos. “It was exciting to get online and engage with the fans that had become friends during this time. We all had a passion and longing for the same thing – a live event – and in a weird way it felt like we were all going through this nightmare together. It made it easier being surrounded by fellow community members.”
Whilst still under restrictions for gatherings, in 2021, the organisers put on a soft relaunch to Comic Con Cape Town, where the organisers held the “Comic Con Cape Town Pop-Up” – which saw the event take over the Mother City with 17 different activities at various locations. This showed that there was still an appetite for a festival in Cape Town which was the spark of hope that the organisers needed to pursue a full show.
Fans continued to wait in anticipation for a full-scale return of the event. After countless meetings, planning, operations reviews, and endless email threads – the return of a live Comic Con Africa was confirmed to take place in September of 2022 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, a larger venue that could accommodate the demand and would give the show breathing room to grow even further.
“Expectations were high, and we wanted to deliver on every single one of them” Massmann said. “Quite honestly, we had some concerns that the mainstream had forgotten about us. We worked so hard in 2018 and 2019 to establish the festival to appeal to both hardcore fans and the everyday audience who seek a platform of self-expression. But the overwhelmingly positive response from the fans to the announcement of our return humbled and reinvigorated us; we knew our work towards a comeback would be appreciated and something the country needed after such a collective traumatic season”
In 2022, Comic Con Africa welcomed over 70 000fans once again, proving that the community was still connected and ready to come together again. Brands also saw this as a massive opportunity to reconnect with their audiences, going bigger than ever on stand builds and activities.
April of 2023 finally saw the official pilot of Comic Con Cape Town, welcoming over 28 000 fans to the initial event held in partnership with The City of Cape Town.
“The fan response in Cape Town was everything that we had hoped for” said Staack. “From the first day of Cape Town’s show, we knew it would grow very quickly. We were finally able to give fans the experience they deserved and had been so patient in receiving.”
Comic Con Africa continues to grow each year. This year Comic Con Cape Town grew to welcome more than 32 000 fans, and Comic Con Africa is set to celebrate its 5th live iteration from 26to 29 September at Johannesburg Expo Centre (Nasrec). So far, Comic Con Africa has announced the participation of several comic book artists and international cosplayers, with the first international celebrity – Dan Fogler of “Fantastic Beasts”, “Balls of Fury” and “The Walking Dead” fame – being announced last week
Tickets to celebrate the 5th live show of Comic Con Africa are now available from Howler from only R200: https://comiccon.howler.co.za/events/comic-con-africa-2024-ab9a
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