Fest celebrates comics, zombies
Fans were turned away this weekend at the gates of the Kyalami Racing Circuit in Midrand during Comic Con Africa.
Those without a golden ticket to the sold out exhibition missed out on one of the most inclusive events in South Africa this year, considering the variety of exhibitors at Comic Con.
From catering to fandoms, gamers and cosplayers, as well as celebrating comics as an evolving art form in Africa, the festival was remarkably diverse.
Phillip Steyn, the creator of Gay Idiot Comic, was just one of the exhibitors whose work goes beyond mere superheroes.
Steyn uses his own life experiences to create comic strips that provide a running commentary on life, or draws inspiration from gays to create illustrations that features archetypes from gay South African subculture.
His art celebrates gay identity, something that goes beyond the mere pow! bang! pop! of more mainstream illustrated works.
Steyn travelled from Cape Town to use the exhibition to introduce his work.
As an artist’s platform, Comic Con Africa featured many South African illustrators of comic books and strips.
With a growing interest in the art form, many of the exhibitors are multifaceted artists providing other services as well, such as storyboard art for TV productions and also animation.
Comic Con also served as a way to introduce fringe activities like live action role-playing to a larger audience.
Known as larping, Comic Con featured a post-apocalyptic larp that used a locally written rules system, and a world that used boffer swords and nerf guns – as participants explored a new world filled with old-world artefacts while risking being exposed to radiation.
The second larp at Comic Con called Dahograin Empire was a semi-full contact game featuring foam medieval-styled weapons where players need to use strategy to emerge victorious.
But Comic Con also tied in with real-time events.
The Walking Dead’s ninth season premieres on Fox Africa on October 8.
To celebrate this new season and get fans looking forward to the premiere episode, Fox set up a Walking Dead activation complete with walk-in cage, online gaming, live zombies and Walking Dead merchandise.
To make it even more interactive there were zombies roaming freely around Comic Con at the weekend.