Round Up: Comics and Cosplays Galore as the 6th Maruti Suzuki Arena Hyderabad Comic Con Comes to an End
• Sai Roshan as THE HULK BUSTER from Hyderabad, won the Cosplay Championship at Day 1 and took back home INR 50,000 as the winning prize money.
• An epic day 2 with amazing performances and interactive sessions with some of the best talent from the comics community brings the curtains on the 2 day event, promises bigger things for next year
Hyderabad, October 14th, 2018: Building high expectations with an epic Day 1, the 6th edition of Maruti Suzuki Arena Hyderabad Comic Con made sure it catered to the city’s ultimate pop culture obsession with just as amazing a lineup of screenings, comic book launches, interactive sessions with international and Indian artists, cosplay contest, exclusive gaming and experiential zones and tons of merchandise on the second and the final day of the event, fulfilling their promise to make it #TheBestWeekendOfTheYear.
The second day of this amazing event dawned with an exclusive comic book launch by the very popular artist Abhijeet Kini. Tongue-in-cheek with a humorous twist, Rhyme Fighters: The Collected Odes to our Unsung Heroes is as Indian as it gets. This Tinkle Magazine artist also took a session, teaching fans to create their own comic strip and characters. The Warner Bros India team had a treat for fans with an fun, interactive session at the Arena stage. The Day-1 saw the winner of Cosplay Championship on Sai Roshan, cosplaying as The Hulk Buster. He took home INR 50,000 as the winning prize money. As a result of this win, Sai has automatically entered the running to represent India at the Crown World Championship of Cosplay in Chicago.
AXN Live R.E.D. was back on Day 2 with a special screening of favorite hit series on the Arena stage, as fans gathered around to catch their most-loved moments from their most-loved shows. The convention was then taken up by the very funny and talented comic writer Matthew Rosenberg of The Uncanny X-Men and The Punisher fame. Apart from talking about writing comics, Matthew also shared insights of his life and love of pop culture. Post that, Hyderabad’s very own comedy group, VIVA engaged the audience with another hilarious performance.
One of the major attractions of Day 2 was the Comic Con Binge Worthy session with Luke Kenny, VJ, musician, comics creator and actor from the fan favorite Sacred Games series. From his Rock On days to his stint as a comic creator, his love for zombies and his recent show—Luke had a fun Q&A session with fans. This was followed by a session with Eisner award winning comic artist Ty Templeton, who has worked on everyone’s favorite classics of all time: Superman, Batman, The Simpsons, to name a few. The celebrity sessions came to an end with a special standup act by the very funny Rahul Subramanian, who engaged the audience that was eagerly waiting for their most important event next.
After the interactive sessions, all the excited cosplay artists and fans gathered at the Arena for the second and the final installment of the event they look forward to the whole year—the Comic Con Cosplay Contest! Essaying characters from all their favourite comics, movies and television shows, an overwhelming number of cosplayers battled against each other to win the prize amount of 50,000 INR and a chance to represent the city at the Indian Championship of Cosplay 2019. Each fan attending the event made sure to not miss onto this and the plethora of colours and costumes on the Arena stage was a beautiful sight to behold.
Continuing on the second day were the exclusive experiential & gamig zones from Maruti Suzuki Arena, Sony Pix, Marvel Studios, Creed II, Aquaman, Fantastic Beasts from the Harry Potter Universe, AMD Game On and ESL India Premiership; letting fans from the city have amazing experiences and witnessing some of the biggest e-Sports events in the country, a cosplay makeover, engaging with their favorite superheroes and characters, a glimpse of the fiction world and loads of goodies. The fans got way more than what they hoped for!
The 6th Maruti Suzuki Arena Hyderabad Comic Con saw participants like both nationally as well as internationally acclaimed publishers namely DC Comics, Penguin Random House India, Darkhorse Comics, Viz Media, among others. Exciting merchandise from exhibitors such as Souled Store, Every Flavour Geeks, Planet Superheroes, Crossword Bookstores, and MC Sidd Razz etc. also brought a smile to the attendees’ faces.
Acknowledging the overwhelming enthusiasm exhibited at the event, Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India remarked, “Six years in Hyderabad and the city never disappoints! I, on behalf of the entire Comic Con India fraternity, would like to thank the fans here for their passion which helped us stay true to the hashtag: #TheBestWeekendOfTheYear! And as always, we promise to be back next year bigger and better!”
As the second day came to an end, fans reluctantly bid bye to the event that they wait for the entire year, hoping to find it even bigger and better in 2019. And with a team as Comic Con India dedicated to creating a platform for fans and exhibitors to rejoice their never-ending love and passion for all things pop culture, it is pretty possible a thing to happen!
About Comic Con
Comic Con India is a unique event celebrating the illustrated medium, which brings together the whole comics industry and related fields such as Merchandise, Toys, Games, Films and Animation, along with fans of this culture from all age groups. It has now grown to multiple events across the country. The mission has now evolved to create unique pop culture events and engage with fans all across the country.
The properties include Delhi Comic Con, Mumbai Comic Con, Bangalore Comic Con & Hyderabad Comic Con. Along with a traveling property - Comic Con Express, which was last held in Pune in 2016.
Comic Con India (CCI) took a big leap as they recently (In September 2014) announced a joint venture with Reed Exhibitions; part of the FTSE listed Reed Elsevier Group, to grow the pop culture space in India and bring world class events to Indian fans. The Comic Con India team will now work closely with the ‘ReedPOP’ division of Reed Exhibitions, the largest producer of pop culture events in the world.
With this JV in place, CCI enters the burgeoning ReedPOP portfolio of pop culture events which includes New York Comic Con, PAX, the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, Oz Comic-Con, Singapore Toy, Gaming & Comics Convention and Star Wars Celebration among many others.
