Chennai’s first Comic Con sees 32,000 visitors interested in cosplay and comic books

Chennai's first Comic Con draws over 32,000 participants, showcasing elaborate cosplays, merchandise, and interactions with comic book creators from across the country.

As the sun sets, organisers of Comic Con India are trying to reroute cosplayers at Chennai Trade Centre to step outside for a quick group photo before they lose light. The clarion call brings at least 100 cosplayers in elaborate costumes, pink, purple and blonde wigs and armour that seem true to life, into one colourful, eccentric frame. Multiple Vecnas, Piccolos, Jokers, Harley Quinns and Darth Vadars pose in front of a temple-like structure. There is no better imagery than this of the city’s first comic con.

A cosplayer who rushes to join a group photo excitedly says, “I thought I’d be the only idiot in pink,” pointing to her wig. However, she is in the company of others who do not favour derision and critique about cotton candy hair. 

Inside the venue, it feels like nearly every attendee is now a katana-wielding (Japanese sword) warrior. Bobble heads and manga magazines dominate stalls. There is a rush to purchase posters, some shy meet-and-greets with comic book artists, and several unfortunate dents of the wallet. “I am going broke today,” is the most repeated phrase, as participants trawl through the merchandise, which includes comic books signed by Stan Lee, the Marvel comics frontman and the co-creator of several iconic characters, for a princely sum of ₹1.85 lakh.

At Chennai’s first edition of Comic Con on February 17 and 18, which drew over 32,000 participants, it is evident that everyone can be anyone they like, and indulge in fantasy that they once thought possible only in other major Indian cities. Now that the Con is finally in Chennai, judgement needs to be shredded at the entrance by the metal detectors.

Roshini Sekhar has been walking with a cosplay medic all evening and has promised to not move around too much so as to protect her costume. “I’m already done with my rounds,” she says as she carefully walks in her tiered black dress wielding a massive sword. She cosplays Saber Alter, an antagonist (rather, a dark heroine) of the Japanese visual novel Fate/stay night. “Most people think that cosplaying is like fancy dress. The thing they do not realise is that these are months in the making. Because I am in the industry (she’s a costume designer), I make many of the pieces I cosplay,” she says, adding that people spend up to ₹50,000 based on how elaborate their costumes are.

At the contest on both days, there are over 300 memorable characters from popular anime, television shows, films, manga, gaming and comics, battling it out for a cash prize of ₹35,000. While Batmans, Jokers and Marvel characters form a chunk of the cosplayers, one can also see characters from One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen and the Studio Ghibli films.

Wearing a spectacular blonde wig with chunks of spiked hair cascading down his back, a Goku (from Dragon Ball Z) cosplayer is constantly stopped for pictures and asked to pose. For these run-ins and photo-ops, there were photo walls set up across the expansive hall, where children and adults alike stop to click photos with the roving cosplayers.