Armageddon Expo 2011 (Auckland, New Zealand)

Myself and my awesome helper Renee

Again awesome Renee here with my other awesome helper fellow comic book creator, Susan Rugg.

I had been planning to launch our Online Comic Store at the Expo, which has been running now for a number of years. I had placed it in the top priority slot as its the biggest in Australasia. Numbers can usually vary around 18,000 and up - but this year it crossed 40,000!

This year was the third time I had attended but the first time I was there as a retailer myself. Being a retailer you get to see the amount of work that goes into putting in a such a huge effort into the smooth running of the events. I had a couple of very amazing young ladies help me out over the three days that we were there. The event itself was four days long. But I realised on Day 2 that it wouldn't be possible for me to stay the fourth day, so by the end of Day 3 we had packed up and left the venue, elated with the turnout and the response to us being there.

The death and life of Anime Con 2011

From CALF Short Films

The second animation convention organized by The Japan Foundation was held at Marwah Studios, in the heart of Film City, Noida. Of course, where this is anime aplenty and the promise of manga and much more, Comic Addicts were bound to be present in force. 

My initial taste of the Anime-Con felt bitter, for I was expecting a slightly better infrastructure to be in place. Events were even as I arrived getting delayed and pushed back. The events that were occurring seemed to be competing for an audience that was mostly disinterested. I suppose the venue being in Noida took away a chunk of the anime fans from far parts of Delhi and Gurgaon. Add to that the rainy weather and it is understandable if many of the diehards chose to stay in.

Not.

Why are they still calling themselves diehards? An anime con touches down in your city, and you miss out on it? Poor form Otaku-wannabes. Poor form indeed! Genshiken a recently founded anime appreciation club was present, nice to see. Although the much publicized Gaming Arena was a damp squib, with one console, one TV and a perpetual line coiled around it. The workshops were useful, however imparting knowledge at a festival has always put me off. I want anime and manga around me and I want it in the bucket loads. Where is the cosplay? Where are the comics? Where is everybody? My spirits by this time were sinking fast. They sunk further when the hyper expensive bento available at the Ai cafe proved to be another disappointment.

Relenting to the energy that seemed nearly palpable in the very air around us, I too was about to write off Anime Con as a badly mashed together festival sorely lacking in its target audience, all in all a poor excuse for me making the two hour trip from Gurgaon to Noida. However at that moment something caught my eye,