After the massive success of the First Annual Indian Comics Convention (Feb ’11; Turnout – approx. 15000 and Sales touching 25 Lakhs) and Comic Con Express Mumbai, the traveling version of Annual Indian Comics Convention (October ’11; Turnout – approx 12000 and Sales touching 35 Lakhs); Comic Con India is coming back to New Delhi for its annual event, the Second Annual Indian Comics Convention, at Dilli Haat, February 17, 18 and 19, 2012.
2nd Annual Comic Con India has scaled greater than its predecessor. Now it’s a 3 day event with over 80 participants and more than 50 exhibitors. It will have close to 30 sessions with various artists, writers, publishers and related companies during the 3 days, it will also have special guests coming in from abroad for exclusive sessions at the convention. It will be most certainly the biggest celebration of comics this year. Cosplay will be bigger and better, with more prizes and more participants. There will be two different categories for cosplay contests for kids as well as for adults separately.
The upcoming Indian Comics Convention will also be the first year for the Comic Con India Awards, where the best new Indian Comics and Comics Creators will be honoured and felicitated, and will be given the recognition they deserve, among their peers. The first ever Comic Con India Awards is set to be held in the Capital at India International Centre on February 16, this year.
Talking to AnimationXpress.com Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India shares, “Awards is coming up great, lot of enthusiasm from within the industry and also from the mainstream publishers, lots of entries and a lot of hopes riding on the awards. The response to our unpublished work grant has been phenomenal; we have gotten entries from across India, from places like Varanasi, Patna to all the way in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The awards will essentially start off the convention with a bang on the 16th of Feb”.
The jury consisting of Orijit Sen(Graphic Artist & Designer), Vaibhav Kumaresh (Animation Filmmaker) and the Comic Con India Core team will go through the entries submitted and eventually shortlist them. For the unpublished grant, the winner or winners get 50K Prize + a publishing deal with Comic Con India. For all other winners, it’s a special Comic Con India Awards Trophy. For the unpublished grant total of about 140 entries have been received and for the rest, Comic Con India has received participation of all major comics’ publishers as well as stalwarts such as Penguin.
According to Jatin, they have over 20 new titles launching at the event. That might increase to 23 as they get closer to the event and have more details confirmed.
The sponsors and supporters of 2nd Annual Comic Con India includes Animation Xpress, ACK Media, Flipkart, Bombay Merch, 9XM, Inkfruit, Game 4 as well as partners such as DSN, MOCHA and Delhi Tourism.
About the expectations from this year’s Comic Con India Jatin says, “We are aiming to take everything involved up a notch, we want visitors spending the entire day with us. We also expect to double the number of footfalls this year. The number of exclusives at the convention has gone, there will be over 22 new titles being launched. We are working hard towards delivering a great event for all comic fans”.