Following the recent announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the indefinite ban on large gatherings is still prohibited, the 2020 edition of Comic Con Africa will not happen.
As people, we have heavy hearts – but as organisers, we know that this is the only responsible way to ensure the safety of Comic Con fans, exhibitors, suppliers, and staff.
“During a pandemic which is expected to peak in September, we simply cannot go ahead with hosting the many tens of thousands of fans who attend Comic Con Africa annually” said Carol Weaving, Managing Director of organisers Reed Exhibitions Africa. “Despite months of planning, diligent consideration of the state of the pandemic dictates that cancelling the 2020 edition of Comic Con Africa is the only way forward”.
However, this doesn’t mean that fans of Comic Con Africa will not be able to meet up and immerse themselves in all things pop culture. Comic Con Africa’s passionate organising team are going virtual. This means that Comic Con Africa will be bringing fans and communities an abundance of online content to enjoy, connect with, learn from, share, and be entertained by. Keep an eye on our social media channels as we are already sharing engaging and unique content created for each community and fandom.
But there’s something else even more exciting.
On the originally planned dates of 24 – 27 September 2020 the Con MUST Go ON…line! Comic Con Africa aims to break the internet, bringing a virtual Con to fans in their own homes. Comic Con will be sharing a wealth of exclusive interactive content over the weekend including many of fans’ favourite elements of a real-life Con.
Live chats, Q&As, panel discussions, and the opportunity to virtually meet celebs, fan meet ups, live draws, talks, gaming tournaments and streams, artist panels, Q&As, special exclusive exhibitor deals and more. Everything the Con would usually offer will still take place in exciting and unexpected ways.
“We work hard all year to bring our fans the best in pop culture entertainment and content. By taking the Con Online we know that we will never be able to offer quite the same experience as connecting and engaging at the actual show, but we also don’t want to stop bringing our fans the fun and entertainment in 2020. COVID-19 won’t stop the dedicated fandoms and communities that Comic Con Africa engages with, so by offering an Online Con experience we can still not only keep our communities together, but connect more fans and grow to ensure that our 2021 show is the biggest yet!” said Carla Massmann, the Portfolio Director for Comic Con.
Comic Con Online will be new, it will be exciting, it will be innovative, and it will still be the ultimate pop culture (virtual) festival in Africa.
For anyone who has already bought tickets for Comic Con Africa 2020, we have prepared a plan to roll over the existing tickets to 2021 with a price freeze, or to refund any ticket holders who request it. All ticket holders will receive a direct communication from our ticketing partner Howler over the next few days outlining how that will happen. As of this announcement, 2020 ticket sales have closed.
Comic Con Africa will see you again in 2021. Our virtual offering has no borders and will expose pop culture to an even wider audience. Communities and fandoms will grow and fans will meet each other across the country and into Africa – which means that next year’s Comic Con Africa will be bigger than ever before.
The team cannot wait to bring fans the best in film, series, Cosplay, gaming, role play and tabletop gaming, books, artists and creatives. Ready your internet connection, book out 24 – 27 September 2020 in your diaries, and come get your Con Online with us.
We look forward to seeing you in 2021 when we return with our partners, KFC, Telkom, VS Gaming, and Luno to bring you a bigger and better experience than ever before!
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