A veritable geek palooza

Creative folk swarm pretty much every place imaginable, but at the Comic Con held at St James Cavalier last weekend, freaks, geeks and all kinds of artists were able to lose their outsider status and wield their ingenious human powers while comfortably being in their element.

The true lure of the Comic Con lies in the palpable and unrestricted passion every artist oozes with such agility

As soon as I set foot inside the venue, it felt like I was punching through a different dimension. The place was packed with clusters of people, some of whom were rocking costumes – thick glasses, brightly-coloured wigs, flashy make-up and nerdy ties to spiff them up – from their favourite films, games and cartoons.

One of the organisers of the event, Fabio Agius, explained that most of the costume wearers were members of the Maltese Islands Cosplay Association.

Admittedly, the most striking guy was the one dressed as Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy; his enormous buster sword was hard to miss amid the crowd. All the detailed, homemade costumes made me regret not having rolled out my own.

The ground and upper floor plans accommodated a plethora of artists of all levels of expertise from a multitude of countries, who weren’t just exhibiting their work but were also freshly drawing new comics and art works to put on sale.

A couple of tables adorned with tiny handmade figurines were drawn up for war-gaming and role-playing aficionados, who eagerly played on for hours. The most famous attractions for the ever-growing teenage audience were the games room and the cinema theatre, in which quintessentially action manga movies such as Green Lantern, Grave of the Fireflies, Logorama and Lupin III were shown.

What originally started off as a tightly-knit group of friends bound by a common passion for the arts kneaded itself into an aggregate of people branching out into different directions.

Another organiser, Chris Galea, explained that he and his friend Michael Quinton’s inclination towards comics was what led them to hold the first comic gathering in 2005, which they wittingly called ‘The Big Bang’.

The staggering response to this event incited a series of workshops for local creators, and consequently the first local Comic Con in 2009, the flagship event of Wicked Comics, which is what Galea and his fellow bunch of “proud-to-be-geeks” call themselves.

The third edition of the Comic Con was innovative in many respects. Although the comics exhibited were predominantly in English, Maltese, French, Italian and even Cypriot comics were also laid out.

Among the comics on display this year were the role-playing gaming books, Ħal Mudlam, For Gallantry, Apocalypse Rocked, the unpre-cedented steam-punk comic called Pilot, which was a collaboration between no less than eight artists, the first ever locally-made graphic novel The Golden Lizard, the launch of another graphic novel Worlds End, as well as a preview of the upcoming web comic called Cas in Sarcasm.

The true lure of the Comic Con, however, lies in the palpable and unrestricted passion every artist oozes with such agility. What ultimately sold me on these genuine lovers of art was their unyielding support towards one another. At one point, I even noticed one artist going over to his neighbours’ stand to congratulate them on their work and to buy a copy of their latest comic.

A wide array of talks and discussions were held during the convention, the most interesting of which I found to be the one about the use of comics as an educational tool.

Before attending this discussion, I wasn’t even vaguely aware that selected classic literature was being turned into comic form to educate students by enabling them to engage through the simplification of text and the use of visuals simultaneously.

Wicked Comic’s undertakings and near-future projects include a partnership with the British Council for a series of educational lectures in eight schools.

Galea stressed the significance this non-profit voluntary organisation gives not only to sustain the comic culture in Malta but to promote the mentality that one can earn a living by being creative. Comic artists make exceptional teachers, graphic designers, video games creators and storyboard creators.

With a considerable marked improvement in attendance, this year’s Comic Con was definitely made memorable through the high quality art showcased by the fervent artists.

I am definitely converted to geekdom.