After being postponed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Comic Con Cape Town 2023 was a huge success. Held at the CTICC in Cape Town, the event ran from April 27-30 and attracted thousands of attendees. The con was packed with activities, from cosplay to vendors to gaming tournaments. Every day was also filled with experts and creators from across the country participating in panels. Here are some of the best panels from Comic Con Cape Town 2023.
Bumfluffski attentively hosted this panel featuring streamers, GamerTannie , LelaWithGlasses , GamaGachi , and SkyVitrixe . My main draw to this panel is that LelaWithGlasses, Gamagachi, and SkyeVitrixe are virtual youtubers. I’m a big fan of virtual youtubers and it’s great to see them being recognized at an event like this. Bumfluffski had very clearly done his research on the panelists beforehand, which led to easy conversation. The panel involved interesting discussion on managing charisma as virtual characters. Some key points involved using toggles to change their models’ expressions and your voice to express your emotions. My main take away from this panel was that being authentic is the key to charisma.
Watching this panel felt like being in a lecture, but an actually interesting one. Which makes sense as Sarah van der Westhuizen, the panelist, is a lecturer at the Stellenbosch University Japan Centre . Drawing on foundational cyberpunk works like Akira and Ghost In The Shell , she unpacked the origins and key elements of cyberpunk and how they relate to and critique our current reality. This hard-hitting and insightful panel ended by discussing how cyberpunk has fallen victim to repressive desublimation , which is the idea that capitalist society causes art to be flattened out and turned into a commodity to be incorporated into society, rather than challenging society. She concluded by asking the audience to consider the future of the genre in our world.
Terri (Toonibug) Ferreira swept in dressed head to toe as a very convincing Lady Dimitrescu , immediately capturing the audience and asserting her authority on the topic. She gave useful tips on topics like the importance of thrifting, dumpster diving, and online shopping from places like Shein and AliExpress. Her main point was to see the potential in every item, from using bottle caps as badges to cardboard boxes for a Barbie cosplay. Even for someone with no prior knowledge of how to cosplay (such as myself), the panel was informative and enjoyable.
Awali Comics had a relaxed yet confident air as he took the stage. He began by raising the question “Who here loves Japan?” Of course, an audience of anime and manga fans raised their hands unanimously. Awali went on to explain that, despite never having been to Japan, we love it because of how manga and anime represents Japanese culture. He proposes to pioneer work that combines Japanese manga-style art with African mythology to form a genre called Afro-manga. This plan of his isn’t only big dreams, as he has published six volumes of his manga, Siri Watu , making it South Africa’s first ongoing Afro-manga. This panel was truly inspiring and a fantastic example of South African artistic innovation.
Comic Con Cape Town was filled with non-stop excitement. But don’t feel bad if you couldn’t make it because Comic Con Africa is coming to Johannesburg from 22-25 September. Don’t miss out on this awesome event and get your tickets fast