Comic Con Africa 2025 in Johannesburg kicked to August due to other Nasrec event and renovations

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African organisers of this year's 2025 Comic Con in Johannesburg have been forced to move it from September to August due to the conference centre no longer being available and to "protect the interest of its fans and the event".

Comic Con Africa 2025 will no longer take place in September in Johannesburg but has now been pushed a month earlier with cosplayers who will don their finest from 28 to 31 August at the Johannesburg Expo Centre at Nasrec.

Comic Con Cape Town will still go ahead as planned from 1 to 4 May in the Mother City's Cape Town Convention Centre (CTICC).

The organisers now say the date and month change for the Johannesburg event is because of another event taking place at the venue in September. They are however unwilling to say what Red Hulk exactly kicked Com Comic Africa from September to August. 

South Africa is set to host the G20 summit in November and this specific convention centre happens to currently be busy with extensive renovations for whatever event is hiring the space during September and got Comic Con Africa 2025 kicked forward.

"This change is unavoidable due to a major international event taking place at the Johannesburg Expo Centre which will be announced in the media shortly," says Mogul Media who organises the South African Comic Cons. 

Carla Massmann, show director, says "Comic Con Africa's fans often plan months ahead of time to attend the con, and travel from all around South Africa to get there. Comic Con's incredible fans are the reason behind everything we do".

"We offer our sincerest apologies to them should this date change be an inconvenience.

"Our incredible fans have been the backbone of the festival since 2018. Whilst we are disappointed that we must change the dates of our 2025 festival, the Johannesburg Expo Centre is the perfect home for Comic Con Africa and so changing the venue was not an option."

"A festival of Comic Con Africa's complexity requires a large venue with multi-usage spaces that can accommodate all of the many aspects of the festival."

"And of course, when you have over 70 000 people in attendance, the size of the venue is of key importance. The Johannesburg Expo Centre has the capacity and the space we need to accommodate our high volume of fans."

"We are excited to see the results of the renovations, and we believe the upgrades will positively contribute to our fans’ experiences at Comic Con Africa in future editions.”

Comic Con Africa 2025 will still showcase and include gaming and eSports tournaments, cosplay, tabletop gaming, fandom merch, anime and manga, comics, trading card games, as well as film and series personalities, panel and Q&A sessions, screenings and interactive experiences.

Comic Con Africa 2026 is envisioned to again take place during September next year.

Comic Con Cape Town revived as a one-day pop-up event set for 2 October 2021.

by Thinus Ferreira

The organisers of Comic Con Cape Town, a planned parallel spin-off of Comic-Con Africa in Johannesburg with both events that went physically dormant because of the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, has revived the Cape Town get-together as a one-day pop-up event that will be held on 2 October 2021.

In June Reed Exhibitions Africa announced that it has set 22 September 2022 as the return date for Comic-Con Africa 2022 that will take place at a new venue, the Johannesburg Expo Centre.

The inaugural Comic Con Cape Town was again delayed in 2021 due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. 

"While a traditional Con is not possible in 2021, Comic Con Cape Town, in partnership with the City of Cape Town are excited to announce that they will be bringing a taste of Comic Con to the city this October," the organisers said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Comic Con Cape Town will be hosting a series of pop culture pop-up activities at different locations around the city for one day only on 2 October 2021.

According to the organisers fans can look forward to exploring pop-up activities like cosplay competitions for professionals, casuals and kids; the Comic Art Drink & Draw & Sketch-off competitions, pop culture quiz sessions, fandom meet-ups across the city, gaming and tabletop competitions and film watch parties.

"There will be a strong focus on connecting the geek and pop culture communities of Cape Town, with these pop-up activations at various locations with Covid-19 regulated capacities," the organisers say.

The Comic Con Cape Town pop-up around Cape Town will run alongside the renowned Cape Town International Animation Festival and the FAME Africa Week.

"We have been navigating the landscape of the pandemic with caution and creativity, and the pop-up activities during this one-day-only fan day gives us the opportunity to connect with the Cape Town Comic Con fans, while we wait for a full force festival," says Carla Massmann, show director.

"It allows for us to stay true to Comic Con's spirit, which is to bring people of all fandoms and interests together and facilitate friendship and connection, all whilst celebrating the love of all things pop culture."

Alderman JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, says "Cape Town is Africa's premier film and media destination, and the city is fast becoming recognised as the continent's game development hub with more than half of South Africa's game development studios based in the Mother City".

"Combine that up with an enthusiastic geek scene, Cape Town is the perfect city to bring the comic book culture alive."

"For the City, we believe providing support to film and media events such as Comic Con enables the creative sector to grow and the industries can work towards recovery post the pandemic."

ALSO READ: Reed Exhibitions Africa sets September 2022 as the return date for Comic Con Africa 2022 that will return for a 4-day event to the new venue of the Johannesburg Expo Centre.

Comic Con coming to Cape Town in 2020 with a bigger focus on TV, film and animation; Comic Con Cape Town 2020 set to take place in May at the same time as the Cape Town International Animation Festival.

The franchise rights holders for Comic Con Africa will be testing the waters with a first Comic Con Cape Town that will take place in May 2020, with a bigger focus on TV series, films and animation.

While the second Comic Con Africa 2019 is set for September this year at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, nex year will see a Cape Town extension besides a possible Johannesburg one.

Since Cape Town is the film capital of South Africa, Comic Con Cape Town 2020 will have a stronger focus on films and series.

Reed Exhibitions Africa and ReedPOP announced that Comic Con Cape Town will take place from 1 to 3 May 2020 that will be slightly different and with its own line-up of talent.

"It is the natural next step to bring this format to the city of Cape Town," says the organisers. "While the style of this Comic Con will be slightly different to Comic Con Africa, we still expect the same level of entertainment focusing on our key pillars which include film, series, animation, cosplay, comic books and gaming," says Carol Weaving, managing director.

Comic Con Cape Town 2020 has formed a strategic partnership with the Cape Town International Animation Festival as the only dedicated animation festival in Africa.

From next year the Cape Town International Animation Festival will take place at the same time as Comic Con Cape Town.

"This partnership will ensure the longevity of both festivals by bringing together the fans into one venue at the same time. This partnership is aimed at creating a larger following for animation in Africa. As animation plays a big role in both films and series, this partnership is designed to grow the offering for those avid fans," says Carol Weaving.

"The success of Comic Con rests in the ability to create platforms that address the wants and needs of the fans. Partnerships like this simply make sense to bring together two formats in order to grow the level of interest and skills in the animation industry."

"We are proud of this association and hope to be able to grow both the Cape Town Animation Festival and Comic Con Cape Town through this partnership."

Comic Con Cape Town 2020 will include both local and international celebrities in the film and series industry as a main focus.

The organisers say that the dates for the event were researched in great detail.

"When looking for a venue to host Comic Con Cape Town the venue advised the organisers that FanCon would be taking place in June 2020 which meant that hosting Comic Con Cape Town right at the beginning of May over a public holiday would allow adequate time between both events and Reed Exhibitions and Reed Pop are more than happy to collaborate and co-promote any other pop culture event for the good of the industry."

Comic Con Africa will take place from 21 to 24 September 2019, at Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg.