NEW DELHI: Comic Con India, which has been held successfully in Delhi and other cities, is now moving to the city of pearls, Hyderabad.
The Hyderabad Comic Con will be held from 10 to 12 October at Hitex Exhibition Centre to mark the beginning of an annual Comics Convention for Hyderabad.
The Comic Con express Hyderabad, the travelling version of Comic Con India in September last year, saw a turnout of over 25,000 and sales worth over Rs 75 lakh in just two days.
Comic Con founder Jatin Varma said, “With the tremendous response at Comic Con Express Hyderabad last September, we felt that a permanent event was required for the city. Hyderabad fans were simply awesome and this year we are ensuring that we bring everything down to the city, and the best of Indian and International content will be on display.”
Comic Con India (CCI) has taken a big leap as they recently 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 joint venture 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.
Over the past three years, Comic Con India has created a first class pop culture experience, acting as a stage for local and international talent to showcase creativity and interact with enthusiasts. With this joint venture, Indian fans should now expect new events and better experiences in the coming years.
Hyderabad Comic Con 2014 will be hosting interactive 40 hours of programming through panels, launches, sessions, gaming and more. Famous international personalities like Ron Marz, an American comic book writer who is well known for his writings for Silver Surfer, Green Lantern; Nathan Edmondson, an American writer best known for Image Comic’s espionage comic series Who Is Jake Ellis?; Vivek Tiwary, a New York Times Best Selling and Eisner Award Winning Author and a Tony Award winning producer; will be attending and taking special sessions here.
Hyderabad Comic Con will be a ticketed event to further expand the scope and size of the event. Only a limited number of VIP tickets will be issued. The tickets would be priced at Rs 250 per day - online and Rs 300 per day - at the venue and Rs 650 for the Super Fan VIP Ticket for all three days. Super Fan ticket offer is available in limited numbers and can be booked online only, these will not be available at the venue.
Cosplay (Costume Contest), one of the major attractions at Comic Con India, will continue to give assured prizes to everyone in costume. Comic Con India has created five categories to increase one’s chances of winning gifts. Each day, one winner will be chosen from each of the five categories:
1. Comic book/graphic novel
2. Animated Series/Movie
3. Manga/Anime
4. Sci-Fi/Fantasy
5. Gaming
All three days, one lucky winner out of the chosen five will get an awesome chance to win a ticket to Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo 2015.
Fans will find a “Pop Culture Village” at the Hyderabad Comic Con. It is a zone, exclusively dedicated for hosting the trend-setting creative brands that are making the waves in the design & crafts field. Quirky merchandise, funky designs, collectible toys, pop art & technology and the very best of Indian pop culture industry, everything will be under the same roof.
For the sheer love for Comics, more than five new titles will get launched at the convention.
There will be international exhibitors like Oni Press, an American independent comic book publisher based in Portland, Oregon & Toynk.com, a company carrying collectible toys, action figures, replicas/props, statues/busts and other collectible items, bringing international content from all across the globe, especially for Hyderabad.
There will be some anime & manga merch from Japanese merchandiser IINE Toys, along with the best and most exclusive International merchandise at the convention from across the globe. Exclusive Indian merchandisers including Kook N Keech by Myntra, Wacom, Collectors Heritage, Hysteria, Chumbak, Chimp, Planet Superheroes, Lazy Ninja among others will also be present.
The main participants for the Hyderabad Comic Con 2014 are Amar Chitra Katha, Orange Radius, Pop Culture Publishing, Random House, Campfire Graphic Novel, Holy Cow Entertainment, HarperCollins Publishers, Raj Comics, Scholastic India, Mario Gallery, Westland Publishers and Pan MacMillan.
