September 8th and 9th

I was quite excited when I heard there was going to be a Comic Con held in ‘Namma Bengaluru’. After all, a convention exclusive to all things geeky (other than electronics & IT) isn’t something we get a whole lot in the country. But the folks behind the expo are all coming from the right backgrounds. This was a comic convention run and managed by comic book lovers – so I my hopes were high.

To makes things even better, the two day event was free! Even better? It was held at Koramangala Indoor Stadium, 5 minutes from where I live!

(Note: These photos are from both the days I attended, but I’m writing this post as one)

For some god forsaken reason, they switched off the lights inside the hall for a while.

For a first year, Comic Con Express Bangalore 2012 was a really good show, and quite a success judging by the crowds. Although the cosplay was cool and a lot of great merchandise available for sale, the big takeaway for me from this show was the sheer amazing talent available in India! I know studios like Dreamworks Animation and several special effects houses get a lot of work done in India, and the animation industry is grows quite strong year after year – but you don’t see a whole lot of cool, funky, original content that’s intrinsically Indian.

Mainstream animation plays it safe the world over, mostly because of monetary returns (cute talking animals vs. violent storylines), but it was really cool to see independent animators and artists come up with great original work for the love of it. I wish I had enough money to buy every Indian comic creation on offer, or the resources to turn the ones I liked into animated features, but for now, all I can do is applaud their passion and support their craft in any (free) way I can.

The organizers have already confirmed they will be back next year with a three-day event, which I’m sure will be bigger and better. And mind you, there were many other vendors who set up stalls, I only showcased the ones I paid attention to.

Still, hats off to the organizers for bringing the Con to Bangalore. To end this post, here are a few more cosplayers my brother photographed using his phone at the end of Sunday.

So until next year… “Excelsior!“