Ever since John Wesley, a client service executive at an event management firm, came across the concept of Comic Con through the show Big Bang Theory, he wanted to go to San Diego to attend one. His wish was fulfilled when he attended Comic Con at Bengaluru this year. Now, John and many others like him, who want a similar convention based on comics to be conducted in Chennai, have formed a group through which they aim to spread awareness about this niche culture in Chennai.
The group, which was formed only two months ago on Facebook, is going strong with around 250 members already. With Comic Cons and Cos Play (where participants wear costumes or carry accessories made famous by characters) becoming more popular in the last four years, they hope Chennai is the next chosen destination.
Vaishnavi Prasad, a travel writer, says, “Chennai has always been considered a conservative city; hence, the organisers feel that they may not find the right audience here. But, like Hyderabad, where the response was awesome, a Comic Con in Chennai too could be full of surprises.”
Kaushik S., founder of Eatitude Gourmet Technologists, who has been into comics since he was five, and has a collection of 3,000-4,000 comics, has not attended any comic con as yet. He feels an event in the city will help him relive his childhood days.
Though the organisers of Comic Con India were aware of the petition that was initiated initially by Chennaiites, they did not think many people were interested. “It is not about culture; if we find the infrastructure, we will be more than happy to come. Chennai has been on the cards for quite some time, but we haven’t been able to finalise on it yet,” says Jatin Varma, founder of Comic Con India.
Comics afficionados are desperately hoping the mega event, which has already been held in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, comes to the city
