THE COMIC CON HANGOVER

By ObiWayneK

It has been exactly been 23 hours: 34 minutes: 42 seconds since The 2nd Annual Indian Comics Convention (aka Comic Con Delhi) got over and even after such a span most of my body parts hurt, my head is spinning a little, there is some sort of a pain culminating in a void-like feeling in my stomach (probably because of all the momos I had) and the only thoughts that fill up my mind are my memories from the past 3 days. 
I am actually having a classic comic con hangover. 
But despite being in such a physical and mental state I can hardly wait to start digging into all the reading material that I have procured from the convention, start working on my costume/get up for the next convention and conjure dreams about all the beautiful female cosplayers I saw and interacted with. (oops did I just mention that!!?)

The comic con may have its dilapidated definitions which are coined by corporate tools and capitalists, but for us, the comic addicts and comic book geeks, the comic con is not just a platform for comic book releases and a forum for us fans to meet, but an event symbolizing a unique amalgam of perseverance, passion, patience and resilience. So how did the 2^nd edition (technically the 3^rd) of this almost-sacred gathering exactly pan out?

Well to describe the experience, apprehensions, appreciation and complains in a generic and regular paragraph would be an absolute blasphemy and a crime on my part. 
Thus we should proceed to the 3C categorical analysis of The 2nd Annual Indian Comics Convention and its offerings.

1. The Comic Books:

It brings a satisfied smile to my face when I say that this edition of Comic Con was an absolute paradise for comic book readers. There was a plethora of comic books available for sale and quit a few interesting previews of comics to be released soon. Another great thing about the available comic books especially the Indian ones was that they actually covered many different and untapped genres (most of them bending and mashing genres) not just being limited to mythology or the usual superhero motif. Apart from the Indian publishers, there were well known international comics available at the con including gigantic names like DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, etc. for fans to splurge on.

Some of the indigenous comic books that we at comic addicts are really looking forward to reading/reviewing are Untitled #1 by Akash Anand, Ravanayan #5 from Holy Cow Entertainment, The Kuru Chronicles: Ari by Kuru Chronicles, Damned and Rica #2 by Chariot Comics, Daksh and Odayan by Level 10 Comics, Aveon 9, Aren and Metafreakz by Rovolt and truly many more.

The Future: there is no doubt that I really feel satiated in the terms of the comic book launches; surely variety was the spice of life at Comic Con. I expect the same growth in the no. of launches and no. of comics available at the next convention. I would love to see names like Franco-Belgian comics, Image Comics etc. and of course some Manga and international Indie stuff being featured in the next editions.

2. The Cosplay:

One of the biggest highlights of Comic Con this year was the near-immaculate cosplay that we all witnessed. It was great to see the kind of effort that the fans put across to develop the costumes and looks symbolizing the characters of their choice, which were also very diverse in nature from being as common as Rorschach, Superman, Wonder Women, Obi Wan etc. to being as rare and interesting as Patch, Crow, Grifter, Assasin’s Creed’s Desmond Miles, Freddy Kruger etc. And of course there was Indian cosplay as well, I mean fans dressed up as Chacha Chaudhary, Supandi etc. But the cherry on the cake was the fact that some of players tweaked their costumes and added their own personal touches to their look which I personally found very interesting. Some examples of this kind of tweaking would be the Geisha-spy, the Super pussy-cat, the Man-in-Black of alien origin, the friendly neighborhood pirate, etc.

The Future: It would really be something if the cosplayers would dress up as characters from the present Indian graphic novels like Ravanayan, Daksha, Odayan etc. It would certainly help the crowd identify better with the characters from these books and frankly I feel that somehow it would make us proud seeing someone like Daksh and Ravan amidst the ranks of Batman and Superman and the rest.

Apart from this, it would be wonderful if at the next con we see cosplay death matches, debates and contests where the cosplayers actually defend and enact their characters to the core rather than just walking in the crowd and striking poses for photographs.

3. The Convention:

Finally let’s talk about the convention itself. This time we had an array of wonderful and well known international writers and artists like Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky Crumb, Gary Groth, Ron Marz and Chris Oliveros and some big names in Indian comic book and entertainment industry like Abhishek Sharma and Shamik Dasgupta present at the Comic Con. But to tell the truth all these panels fell a little flat. I did not see the kind of fervor that was expected from comic book readers; in fact the seats set aside for all the panels were never actually occupied to their maximum capacity.

Coming down to the movie launches and promotions at the con, in contrast to the panels, they were absolutely exuberant in all contexts. Both John Carter and Avengers were great crowd pullers. Their innovative contests, uber cool merchandise and the fantastic range of actual props and statues from the movie sets kept the crowd on their feet, attracting even the non-comic book readers. I mean who would have imagined freaking Iron Man himself distributing the prizes for the cosplay.

Certainly we, at Comic Addicts, are really looking forward to the official release of both these movies. 
 

The Future: the administration needs to figure out a way to make the panels equally or more important in terms of turn out when compared to merchandise/comic book sales.

As I have already mentioned I would love to see competitions and contests among cosplayers as well as contests, workshops and activities centered at the general visitors so that the visitors actually have reasons to be at Comic Con from 11-9 on all 3 days.

This time around the fine line between jam-packed and overcrowded (claustrophobic actually) was crossed a number of times during certain periods in the last 2 days. Thus the administration needs to figure out a solution for that as well.

And finally is it too much if we ask for an actual international movie star or someone like Stan Lee to bless us with his/her presence at the next Comic Con???!!!! Just imagine the kind of impact that would have.

With all said and done I would just have one last thing to say: The countdown for the next convention has begun. Tick tock tick tock…………