Comic Con SA – Here's what you didn't want to hear

Yesterday we posted a story about the recently announced Comic Con SA. Now there were certain issues that were really nagging at me, namely the short notice of the event, the lack of details, etc, but I tried to keep it positive, as I’m a super comic book geek who would love nothing more than to have our very own geek convention down here however. Turns out I should probably have listened to my Spidey-sense. 

The bad vibes began when I tried to contact the event organizers for some follow-up info, but it seems they were nowhere to be found. Tlou Ramathlodi, the main organizer was not responding to his emails, and the main email address listed on the Comic Con SA website was bouncing back. Then over on MyGaming, they amended their original article about the event, as they had been informed that earlier reported sponsor Marvel South Africa actually had nothing to do with Comic Con SA.

Then Gavin over at our sister site, Lazygamer, did some further digging, and what he uncovered is pretty damning. Here are the cliff notes:

• The event organizers or promotion companies don’t seem to exist outside of either a name on a poster or some very suspicious looking websites
• The organizers claimed to have acquired the rights to the Comic Con name, but the main Comic Con organization in the US knows nothing about this
• There is supposed to be a collectible card game tournament, but the main CCG organizations in the country were never contacted
• The venue, “Its A House”, can only hold a maximum of 150 people, and that’s including exhibitors and event staff

In short, this is quickly shaping up to look more like a “con” than a comic con. OK, maybe that is a bit harsh. This really just looks like a couple of guys, who have no inkling about the comic/geek culture, who heard about the success of the international version, and think they can cash in on it by just slapping together something willy nilly and calling it a day, relying on the local community to do all the heavy lifting.

For my fellow Capetonian geeks bummed about these revelations, World Free Comic Book Day is the very next weekend, on Saturday 4 May, and as they do every year, Readers Den in Claremont have organized a fantastic day, where all the things that Comic Con SA promised and more will definitely be delivered.

Last Updated: April 5, 2013