September turned out to be quite a month, yours truly here became 21, and for the first time I had no desire what so ever to celebrate the stepping stone. Since lately I have stopped looking at birthdays as a cause of celebration and more of a time of reflection , however that didn’t stop me from heading over to O2 for a spot of birthday pancakes where I ran into one of my favorite people!

Another even that marked September was in fact the first ever Libyan ComicCon, woohooo!

Comic Con is not something I expected to see in Libya anytime soon, majorly because I feel that it is one of those trends that can be seen as strange and unnatural and while a large percentage of the public deemed the event “Satanic” “A Halloween Celebration” and the “epitome of ignorance” which was quite ironic as everyone making this statement was (lets admit it) simply ignorant about all things comic con.

Starting on Friday the 23rd of September, Tripoli’s comic con took off in one of the halls in Tripoli International exhibition with high expectations and a mighty crowd armed with their tickets (Which came at the affordable price of 1 dinar sold at different spots around Tripoli). The opening day I went by in true Libyan Fashion, with the electricity cut, leaving the hall steaming hot, also managed to cancel tournaments, the music and disable the gaming contest.

However, I was amazed at the number of people who showed up in cosplay (Costume), at some point I even stopped counting. One of the most popular figures seemed to be The Joker, as around 4-5 people came dressed as him sporting the green hair, full face makeup and purple suit!

I went back on the third day in order to see the events procession without the electricity cut and was absolutely amazed (How much of a difference can electricity make you ask? A HUGE ONE!) The music, the gaming spots, the screen in the booths all came together to create a great atmosphere, not to mention the AC’s keeping us from melting!

As part of Radio Alsaa’s staff, I had the amazing opportunity to interview some of the people involved including the Japanese community founders, some cosplayers, and the people selling the merchandise. Although I personally did not purchase anything, my brother the actual geek brought some sort of key, a poster, and a ring from a manga thingy majigy, which is how I really know the event was a success, it pleased the audience it was targeted towards. I personally was about to attend dressed as Professor Snape when an ex-Friend pointed out how that was non-comic related and made me give up on the whole notion of cosplay.

Why am I writing this, while the reasons are many one of them has to be pride, I am overwhelmed with pride of everyone involved in this event, everyone who fought against circumstance to make it happen and while it may seem rather trivial, it certainly adds a sense of normality to our daily lives, the fact is Libya may be the hot spot of serious violence, hardships, and civil unrest the population has not forgotten how to enjoy and celebrate different cultures and this event is a living proof that this generation, while living against all sorts of odds is doing its best to move Libya and Libyans forward despite the popular misconceptions.