Friday, November 2, 2018

Comic Con Africa to return in 2019, adding a 4th day and moving to the Gallagher Convention Centre.


Comic Con Africa will return for a second edition in 2019 but is moving to the Gallagher Convention Centre and is adding a 4th day in September next year.

Attendance numbers were good for the first Comic Con Africa held in September at the Kyalami Race Track convention centre, but visitors complained about parking, the hot sun and a lack of shade, expensive food and drink prices, long walking distances between parking and the building and complaints about not knowing where to go and how to walk to get inside.

The organisers are now moving the event to the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand next year.

Comic Con Africa 2019 is also adding a 4th day, and will take place from 21 to 24 September and include the Heritage Day public holiday in order to accommodate more people.


The Gallagher Convention Centre has a capacity for 80 000 people, meaning double the number of visitors would be able to go to Comic Con Africa next year.

With Reed Exhibitions Africa and ReedPOP having more time to organise, there will also be hopefully less pull-outs from the promised international talent line-up like what happened this year.

Around 45 085 visitors attended Comic Con Africa 2018, with 212 exhibitors and almost 400 media. The organisers say Comic Con 2019 will include new features, celebrities and talent that will be announced in the months to come.

Tickets for Comic Con 2019 will go on sale from the end of November.

"We exceeded our own expectations in 2018 and you are going to see bigger and better in 2019," says Carol Weaving, the managing director of Reed Exhibitions Africa, responsible for organising Comic Con Africa.

"We have listened to our fans first, which means we needed to find a venue that is bigger, with more parking, more shade, easy access and the Gallagher Convention Centre fits this bill perfectly. We have also added a public holiday on 24 September to accommodate the crowds."

"We want to make sure that in 2019 we can offer this experience to many more people," she says.

"Our fans come first, and we have done extensive research on how to make 2019 even better. The 4-day festival and the new venue will all help us to make Comic Con Africa the go-to event of the year for all things pop culture related. Once again, this event will bring the very best of this world together in one place."