While there are popular formats and festivals to acknowledge the love of music, film, television and other form of entertainment, it is only fair that Comic Lovers would follow suit with a property of their own.
For past few months, I was pursued by several promotional messages on my social media pages which announced of the upcoming Comic Con in Mumbai. This got my interest piqued, and considering I have never before participated in the same, I was pretty sure I wanted to have a dekho about the buzz around it.
I read about the famous ComiCon before I headed out and was informed that the first ComiCon was hosted way back in 1964 in New York. Since then various countries have followed suit with their own improvisation.
Once we landed at the venue, I was quite awe-struck with the burgeoning crowd outside the ticket window arena which resembled a fair – kids, youths and even adults fans had gathered for the same. The giveaways with the ticket looked pretty interesting and they even had a bonus for the ticket holders for both day. Jeehan was a tad bit disappointed not to receive his gift, but I guess he was pretty upbeat about being there amongst the best of the Comic World.
As we entered the expo premise, I realised the event focuses primarily on comic books and its culture, in which fans gather to meet the creators, experts and mingle with each other. There are a wide variety of activities and the biggest being the Cosplay as we witnessed several people dressed to represent a comic or a Super hero they loved.
While there are quite a few exciting segments of Comic Con that every comic aficionado looks forward to – book launches are certainly ranked Number#1. Assuring a plethora of these to the fans, Comic Con Mumbai had a brilliant lineup of exclusive book launches!
The book launch session began with ‘Magic in Mussoorie’ by renowned publisher Penguin Random India House. There was also an intriguing special session held by Lawtoons and artist Abhijeet Kini titled ‘Comics and the Law’. Abhijeet Kini also introduced his series ‘Rhyme Fighters’ along with ‘Sanskarshala’ and ‘The Dabbawala Comic’. This was followed by the launch of ‘Blame it on Rahil’, an amazing collection of artist Rahil Mohsin’s work so far. TBS Planet also debuted their brand new series ‘The Pune Haunting’. Later on, an interesting comic book based on the life of legendary wrestler and politician Dara Singh, called ‘The Epic Journey of Dara Singh,’ was released by his son Vindu Dara Singh along with the team behind the book. Decked up with such amazing launches, the first day of Comic Con Mumbai 2018 was definitely a paradise for graphic novella and comic fans in the Maximum City!
We also experienced some of the most wonderful interactive sessions. Will Conrad, Brazilian comic book artist famous for Buffy series as well as his association with Marvel and DC, held an insightful meet-and-greet session with his fans.
To bring about a fun quotient to this evening, Sahil Shah of the EIC performed a special set. This was followed by a special performance by comedians Jasmeet Singh Bhatia aka Jizzi and Talha Siddiqui. Among other special sessions that were held, Radio One, We Bare Bears, extremely bold session by Doritos, XP Pen, Sony Pix, Games the Shop, AXN Live R.E.D., Pocket Box Office, and The Timeliners from TVF deserve a distinct mention each!
As the sun set, the event witnessed a vibrant sight, as the highly talented cosplay artists huddled together in the Arena to compete on Day 1 of the Cosplay Contest which amassed a pool prize amount of INR 1 Lakh , including the whopping first prize of INR 50,000. Last year’s Mumbai Cosplay winner #JeetMolankar (who won the title for playing Reinhardt from the game Overwatch) was the much talked about character at the cosplay. This year he had a custom suit of IronMan designed for the same.
These cosplayers battle each other to win a coveted chance of representing the city at the Indian Cosplay Championship 2019. The winners would get an opportunity to represent the country at the Crown Championship of Cosplay to be held in Chicago.
Jatin Varma, Founder of Comic Con India remarked, “Mumbai always has the most enthusiastic bunch of pop culture fans, and this year seems to be no different! We were glad to see everyone around having a blast on the opening day of Mumbai Comic Con, and we cannot wait to see how the final day turns out to be.”
The 8th Maruti Suzuki Arena Mumbai Comic Con also had an exclusive fan experiences to offer through zones from renowned names such as Maruti Suzuki Arena Vertical Challenge, Marvel Studios, Amazon Prime, Hot Wheels, Doritos, AXN and Sony Pix, among others.
Filled with the best of merchandise, interactive sessions, energetic fans and an electric vibe, Comic Con Mumbai ensured that the attendees had a gala time which marks the extravaganza for the year.
LIFESTYLES OF MUMBAI 