Back on May 31 through June 2 Kazakhstan’s first Astana Comic Con was held in Nur-Sultan, to the delight of eager fans of comics, graphic novels, sci-fi and fantasy.
The Astana Comic Con drew a crowd of 53,000 and will become an annual event hereon.
The globalization of comics is perhaps best-evidenced by Ermek Batyr, a Kazakh superhero comic created by Madibek Musabekov and Bekzat Myrzakhmetov that launched on Amazon-owned Comixology and immediately found a receptive audience in the US and around the world. Negotiations are on-going for Amazon Studios to adapt the comic as an animated series.
Meanwhile in Ukraine the Ukraine Comic Con is on its final day as this post goes live, with “tens of thousands” of visitors piling in for the main event and the Cos Play event, where fans dress up as their favourite characters – everything from superheroes to characters from Star Wars to Game of Thrones.
But as the Kyiv Post reported in March, the very name “comic con” has caused controversy and law suits.
The Kyiv Comic Con which launched in 2015 in Ukraine, is suing the much bigger Comic Con Ukraine claiming to own (in Ukraine) the term “comic con,” while Comic Con Ukraine asserts the term is now so widely used as to be generic. Interestingly while Kyiv is claiming to own the term the first Ukrainian comic Con was held in Odessa in 2014.
As the Kyiv Post notes, Comic Con Russia won a lawsuit over Comic Con Saint-Petersburg, forcing it to change its name.
There have been similar cases in the US.
Also finishing today, September 22, is the two day Comic Con Baltics 2019 event, for the third time in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Finally here to note AzeCon – the Azerbaijan CosPlay Convention, will be happening in Baku in October.
