Photos from Comic Con Express Bangalore 2012

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)

Comic Con poster Bengaluru
Instructions
Comic Con Express Bangalore Koramangala
I got to the venue at noon with my younger brother
Bangalore Comic Con Koramangala indoor stadium
Day 1, and the turnout was already impressive
Stormtrooper helmet Comic Con Bangalore India
As soon as I entered, I was hit with cosplayers (Cosplay = ‘costume’ + ‘play’)

Naruto Pokemon Ash Comic-Con Bangalore
Naruto’s universe meets Ash from ‘Pokemon’
Six paths of pain Naruto cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
More ‘Six paths of pain’ from Naruto
Level 10 entertainment stall Comic Con Bangalore
There were a lot of homegrown comic publishers in attendance
Hand drawn sketches Level 10 entertainment
The one thing I was keen on seeing was the amazing Indian talent on display
Brainwave booth Comic-Con Bangalore
I don’t know what these guys were up to though
Readwhere stall Comic Con Bangalore
Could have presented themselves better, but having visited their website, Readwhere is an e-publishing platform. Pretty neat, check them out!
Cgtantra.com stall Comic Con Bangalore
Anything and everything to do with visual arts was also present, including some educational institutes.
Letraset booth Comic Con Bangalore
Letraset‘s stall
Xquisites mimobot booth Comic Con Bangalore
Expensive USB sticks
Wacom booth Comic Con Bangalore
Wacom, the modern-day sketch pad

Wacom tablet sketch Comic Con Bangalore

Pop culture bobble-heads Comic Con Bangalore
There were many vendors dealing in pop-culture figurines and other merchandise. They were doing brisk business!
Joker Modern Warfare soldier Comic con Bangalore
(L) One of the better Joker cosplayers I saw; (R) I initially thought he was a soldier from Metal Gear Solid, but he told me it was from Modern Warfare instead
Two-Face cosplay Comic Con Bangalore India
One of the best cosplay that I saw at the Con: “Two Face”!

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

Pipedream comics at Comic Con Bangalore
Pipedream Labs, another Indian brand
Holy Cow comics Bangalore
Holy Cow! comics, loved their art work
Cupcakes Comic Con Bangalore
Ms. K Cupcakes (+99167 90969) were selling creamy sweet goodness topped with edible superhero logos. I tried Wonder Woman. Wait…
Wolverine blades cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
This guy had a Wolverine-Batman crossover going on
Monkey.D Luffy cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
Luffy from the insanely popular ‘One Piece’. Sure, longer hands and huge eyes would have completed the look, but not a bad attempt.
Velma Daphne cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
These cute girls dressed up as Velma and Daphne from ‘Scooby-Doo’
Tony Stark Jr. Iron Man cosplay
This guy attempted ‘Iron Man’ Tony Stark
Joker cosplayers Comic Con Bangalore India
Joker was hands down the most popular cosplay character here
Chariot comics Aakash arts stalls Comic Con
Chariot (http://www.chariotcomics.com/) – another Indian comic group
Graphicurry paintings Comic Con Bangalore
Absolutely loved Graphicurry‘s works – we bought two of their portraits
Graphicurry pop-art portraits Comic Con
We’re gonna be framing that ‘Pulp Fiction’ caricature
Graphicurry artist brother Comic Con Bangalore
(L) Prasad Bhat, the founder of Graphicurry; (R) his brother… who works at Valve Software. Seriously. And yes, I asked him about ‘Half Life 3’. And no, he kept his mouth shut.
Rare vintage comics booth Comic Con Bangalore
A lot of retro comics on display
Flash Gordon comic display Indrajal
Ahh, Indrajal comics. I remember reading ‘Phantom’ and ‘Mandrake the Magician’ when I was a young kid. My uncle collected so many, all thanks to the India-published issues by Indrajal.
Old Indrajal comics on display Comic-Con
They seem to have rich history of publishing several famous stories – both Indian and foreign
Harry Potter cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
Harry Potter, pretty good; Ghost Rider… erm, that’s a tough character to cosplay – for obvious fire hazard reasons!
Naruto Comic Con Bangalore stage demo
They had a stage which was used for presentations and book launches
Dora Ninja Hattori Comic Con Bangalore
Nickelodeon brought down Dora and Ninja Hattori for the (much) younger crowd
Art for sale Comic Con Bangalore
Plenty of independent artists had their work on display
Nithin Kumblekar paintings Comic Con Bangalore
Nithin Kumblekar, another amazing artist!
Cocoman Comic Con Bangalore
Probably the one group that left me the most impressed was the LiberaArtisti/Dragon Mill Media folk
Libera Artisti Dragonmill Media artists Comic Con Bangalore
They had some amazing work on display (www.dragonmillmedia.com)
Auto Pilot Dragonmill studio characters Comic Con
These two characters are from their own comic book titled ‘Auto Pilot’
Poison Ivy Riddler cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
More awesome cosplay: Poison Ivy and The Riddler team up
Batman joker Comic Con Bangalore
But Batman was busy chasing (okay, posing) with the Joker
Mugen Jin Bleach cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
From one of my favourite anime series ‘Samurai Champloo’ – Mugen and Jin posing with a female character from ‘Bleach’
Cosplay pose Comic Con Bangalore
Cosplayers (and random attendees) pose
Chandresh Mithun Comic Con app
Taken on Sunday with my friend Chandresh. This was some nifty AR app on demo.
Chumbak booth Comic Con Bangalore
A lot of artsy merchandise on sale

Bombaymerch stall Comic Con BangaloreBobble heads Comic Con Bengaluru

Marvel graphic novels Comic Con Bengaluru
Special editions and graphic novels available for sale

Graphic novels Comic Con BengaluruGraphic novels Comic Con Bangalore

Pandavas5 Comic Con Bengaluru
‘P5’ – An updated take on the ‘Mahabharatha’ mythology, published by Rudra Matsa Entertainment
Muthu comics Comic Con Bengaluru
Muthu comics, a Tamil publisher
Blaft tamil pulp fiction Comic Con Bengaluru
Blaft‘s Tamil pulp fiction
Sanjukta arts Pruthvi 3D Comic Con Bangalore
Sanjukta Arts’ “Pruthvi” – India’s first 3D comic
Rovolt entertainment Aveon 9 Comic Con Bangalore
Rovolt entertainment‘s booth. ‘Aveon 9’ is one of their many creations.

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.

Agent Smith Matrix cosplay Comic Con Bangalore
(L) The guy really has the facial structure of agent Smith, doesn’t he? (R) I don’t know which characters they were cosplaying but they were one of the finalists on Sunday
Logan Wolverine Indiana Jones cosplay Comic Con India
Logan (a.k.a Wolverine) and Indian(a) Jones 🙂
Hulk cosplay Sharat comic con Bangalore
Big Hulk meets tiny Hulk

So until next year… “Excelsior!

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20 Comments

  • Josh

    17/09/2012

    Picture 9 – showing off non-newtonian fluid dynamics using cornstarch – pretty keen from a company called brain-wave 🙂

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  • Omr

    18/09/2012

    Great stuff….Thanks for sharing 🙂

  • tejasvi

    18/09/2012

    awesome pics!!

    Mithun Divakaran Reply:

    Thanks man! 🙂

  • Sarthak

    19/09/2012

    Excellent pics man 🙂

  • Arun Prasad

    25/09/2012

    Awsome Pictorial Essay on the event… Do a pictorial write up on Vintage Comics… i can help u out on that … 🙂

  • Milan

    03/10/2012

    what was the name of the stall in the back ground of the indiana jones( penultimate pic) picture?? help pls!

    Mithun Divakaran Reply:

    Some independent artist who went by The Kuru Chronicles. Here’s his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.207830269248038.58326.104555912908808&type=1

  • Manoj Sreekumar

    07/10/2012

    You didn’t catch DUALITY’s performance at the Con?

    Mithun Divakaran Reply:

    Don’t think so. I went in the mornings.

  • Anand

    24/10/2012

    Loved the pics. Wooohhh!

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  • rerun

    29/11/2012

    I got here coz your blog was linked on io9.com

    I can’t believe I didn’t hear about a Comic Con till after 2 months!! I would have a leave from just to have attended. Sigh.

    Neat blog, dude.

    Mithun Divakaran Reply:

    Thanks dude! 🙂

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  • Ashish

    04/12/2012

    Was Naagraj and Super Commando Doga also there?

  • Dileep

    08/02/2013

    Can’t believe i missed it! Was hoping to finally get my hands on some long lost comics 😛

    Hoping for this year *fingers crossed*
    These are some great pictures! Kudos!

    Mithun Divakaran Reply:

    Thanks, and do go if you get the chance. It’s a fun event!

  • Sumedha

    26/02/2014

    (R) is Ikaku from Bleach..one of my favs in that anime..:D

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