When is Comic Con? What to do at Comic Con Russia

A festival is taking place in Moscow over the next four days. Comic Con Russia, the main event of the year for fans of comics, video games, TV series and simply pop culture. Last year's festival was more like a beta version (in modern times), much like the original San Diego Comic-Con in 1970, with 100 people showing up. This time everything is changing: Comic Con will have two halls, several notable geek stars will come, and Russian comic book publishers are preparing big announcements. Look At Me posts three simple instructions for the festival - depending on your preferences.

Normie

You don't know what to do at Comic Con. Maybe your child forced you to go, maybe you went with friends, or you just bought a ticket because you didn't know what to do on the weekend. One way or another, you know almost nothing about comics and video games, you don’t understand why Twilight Sparkle differs from Rainbow Dash. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun.

Learn to draw. There will be some workshops from BUBBLE artists at Comic Con - and it could be fun. The comics industry in Russia is young, so you might be lucky and they’ll hire you to draw Besoboy, and in next year coming to Comic Con as an author.

Try a little of everything. The festival can be overwhelming and chaotic, but there is sure to be something to enjoy. Walk around, look at everything, talk to people - this is not an accountants' conference, you should have fun and feel comfortable, even if you don't quite understand what's going on around you.

Limit yourself to one day. Comic Con is open to the public for three days, and probably main question for a person going to it for the first time, how many days to take a ticket for. For the first time, one day will be enough for you; Most likely, you will have time to see and try everything.

We are a big text about you, going to Comic Con last year. You already know what comics will be announced at Comic Con (is there anything bigger than Sex Criminals this fall?), what artists will be there, and what games you'll be able to play. But you've already discovered this material, so see what you can do.

Spend the whole day at Comic Con. Arrive when it opens at 10:00 am and leave when it closes at 6:00 pm. Yes, the second year of Comic Con may not have something to keep you occupied for the whole day, but it is still a unique experience. Give yourself time to sit on the floor and relax.

Wear comfortable shoes. You will have to walk a lot. This may seem like trivial advice, but pay attention to it: you will get tired anyway, but at least this way your legs won’t hurt. Sneakers or sneakers (with cushioning!) are ideal.

Make yourself a schedule. There's a lot going on at Comic Con this year, so check the website for the schedule and decide in advance what exactly you want to see and hear.

Look at the presentations of Russian publishing houses. In 2015, the local comics industry has developed enough and publishers are going to make several important announcements at Comic Con. Something you will probably be interested in. Crossover from BUBBLE? New imprint of Zangavar publishing house? "Sex criminals"? "Sex criminals."

Take a walk along Authors Alley. Comic Con Russia continues to borrow everything from the original San Diego Comic-Con. This time the festival will feature a real alley of authors from 16 Russian artists- they will sit at tables, communicate with readers, sell books, draw sketches and sketches and give autographs.

Try cosplay. Of course, you should think about this in advance - and you no longer have time to make yourself a full-fledged costume. But going to a festival in costume is a separate, unique experience. Plan for next year, borrow a suit from a friend, or try a quick budget option.

Play Board games. Hobby World will have its own area at the festival. Spending several hours at a festival on Colonizers or Carcassonne may seem like a strange idea, but firstly, there are faster board games, and secondly, if you spend a few days at Comic Con, you will definitely find the time. By the way, at Comic Con will show several new games.

Look at the company stands. Comic Con features several important companies from the world of pop culture: Cartoon Network, Marvel, Disney, Sony Pictures and others. We don’t know exactly what will be there, but last year the most interesting stands were just such ones - so it’s worth at least approaching them.

Post in social media. Usually in the “Digital Etiquette” section we advise not to clog up your friends’ feeds and behave politely, but at Comic Con you can make an exception: write on Twitter, take photos on Instagram, don’t be shy, because you will see a lot of interesting things that you can tell your friends about .

Put on your helmet virtual reality Fibrum Pro. Virtual reality helmets will be main theme next year, and, most likely, everything will be much more interesting at exhibitions, but at Comic Con there will be a Fibrum helmet: it simply connects to a smartphone.

Fan

You don't go to Comic Con for the games and comics. You love TV series dearly, and this year you are lucky - your favorite actor is coming to the festival. Maybe you're going for Alfie Allen, maybe for Summer Glau or Tricia Helfer - or for everyone. Most likely, you are reading this material on the screen of your smartphone, sitting in a tent that you put up next to Crocus so as not to miss anyone.

If you want an autograph or photo with the star, you will have to buy an additional ticket. It doesn’t cost that much - 300 or 400 rubles, and the organizers introduced them to correct the mistakes of last year: then, because of the actor Misha Collins from the TV series “Supernatural,” real madness was happening.

Be prepared to stand in line. Comic-Con in San Diego is known for queues: it is possible that the Russian festival will not bypass this either. For example, all the stars will perform in the halls at the festival, and in order to get closer you will have to stand in line. Don't waste time - try, for example, talking to people around you.

Go see your favorite star perform. Unfortunately, there will be no Q&A format at Comic Con, but all questions must be

Most of our readers are definitely well acquainted with such a phenomenon as Igromir - after all, this is the oldest exhibition in Russia (held since 2006), dedicated to everything related to the computer games industry. However, not everyone knows that for the last three years, Comic Con Russia has also been held as part of Igromir, and the convention is becoming larger every year. And if our colleagues from gaming publications talk about Igromir, then we decided to study the main event for all geeks and nerds personally.

WARNING

A little history

The history of such conventions dates back to the sixties. Then, in 1964, the first exhibition dedicated to comics, organized by enthusiasts for the same enthusiasts, took place in New York. The idea of ​​such events was then picked up by the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, which ran from 1965 to 1978, and the Academy Con, which ran from 1965 to 1967. At that time, conventions were very intimate, usually took only one day and did not receive attention so often major representatives industry.

But with the growing popularity of such events, attitudes towards them changed. Thus, in 1970, the annual San Diego Comic-Con International (also known as SDCC or simply Comic-Con), then called the Golden State Comic Book Convention, was founded in San Diego. Today, probably only those who are fundamentally not interested in pop culture and deliberately avoid any things related to it have not heard of this annual event.

Along with Japan's Comiket and France's Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême, San Diego Comic-Con is one of the world's largest such events. It was originally conceived as a festival dedicated to comics, science fiction, fantasy, and related films and television shows. Now the event has gone far beyond this framework and has gathered under its wing a variety of pop cultural phenomena, ranging from computer games and television series to anime, manga and collectibles. card games. It is here that you can communicate with the leading comics artists on the planet, and it is here that every year new trailers for blockbusters and TV series, new comics, games, and so on are presented, and their creators generously distribute exclusive comments and communicate with the public. In addition, every year SDCC is visited by so many celebrities that such a crowd can only be seen at some kind of film awards ceremony.

Comic Con Russia

Dozens of similar conventions are regularly held around the world, but until recently Russia could not boast of the same. From major festivals you can only remember Starcon, but before the scope of SDCC, which in Lately visited by over 150 thousand guests annually, it definitely has a long way to go.
The situation began to change in 2014, when it was decided to hold the first Comic Con Russia within the framework of Igromir. At the same time, the organizers managed to bring to the event such special guests, like David Lloyd, one of the authors of the graphic novel V for Vendetta, or known for the TV series Supernatural American actor Misha Collins.

Even during the announcement of the event, the public responded to the organizers with skepticism rather than enthusiasm, and many believed that nothing good would come of this idea, and that something would almost certainly not work out with the foreign guests. However, the first Comic Con Russia took place as planned, much to the disappointment of skeptics. Of course, there were some hiccups: for example, people had to stand in queues for hours at the entrance and in queues at the stands, and fans of Misha Collins almost razed Crocus Expo to the ground, which, it seems, the organizers did not expect from them at all. There was even a small scandal: the White Unicorn publishing house decided to start selling art books at Dragon Age: Inquisition almost a month and a half before the official release. Of course, the owners of the exclusive immediately began to post detailed photos on the Internet, after which representatives of BioWare immediately presented serious claims to the “White Unicorn”, and they, in turn, to their customers.

Be that as it may, the event took place, giving all Russian geeks topics for discussion for the next few months. This alone can be safely considered a success.

But no one was going to stop there. Comic Con Russia was conceived as annual event, and he became it: for the third year now, Igromir has been going hand in hand with Comic Con. This year the editors ][ decided to assess with their own eyes the scope of what is happening. Frankly, our expectations could hardly be called too high, although the event program, lists of invited guests and planned events this year looked suspiciously promising. Heading to Comic Con Russia 2016, we were going to attend only one of the four days of the exhibition and mentally hoped that the organizers had taken into account the mistakes of past years and we weren’t in for hours of crushing in the ranks of someone’s crazy fans. As a result, we held three full days and realized that making mistakes is sometimes very healthy.

So, what did Comic Con Russia 2016, which took place from September 30 to October 2, delight its guests with, and why can a visit to this event give a charge of positivity that will be more than enough for the entire gray and cold autumn?

Comics

The cornerstone of any Comic Con is, of course, comics, because it was with them that everything began once upon a time and it is from there that the legs of many film, television and game universes “grow.” This year, visitors to the exhibition had the opportunity to communicate with such world-famous masters as illustrator, comic book artist and journalist Chip Zdarsky (author of Sex Criminals and Howard the Duck) or Croatian artist Goran Parlov (worked on Y: The Last Man and Starlight, also known for his work at Marvel on the Marvel MAX line of comics, in particular drawing the Punisher). Moreover, it was possible to either attend panel performances by masters, or privately receive an autograph or even a personal sketch - all days of the event, guests had access to their stands on the Authors' Alley. Just standing nearby and watching how these people draw is akin to observing some kind of magical sacrament.

The Russian comics industry was also represented in all its glory. So, the largest publishing house original comics in Russia, Bubble, organized its own Alley of Authors, and together with the “ComMission” festival at Comic Con Russia, the Alley of Authors of the ComMission was organized, in which independent authors of comics, manga and other drawn stories of any genres could register to participate in it.

Also within the framework of Comic Con Russia 2016 there was a presentation of the first Russian film, based on a Russian comic book, is “Major Grom” published by Bubble. “Major Thunder” is one of the most successful products of the domestic comics industry, published since 2012 and already has 48 issues. At the exhibition, the authors presented a trailer for the short film “Major Thunder. Day off”, which should precede the exit full-length film, planned for 2018.

Movie

Year after year, the biggest film studios bring a variety of exclusive content to Comic Com in San Diego that the rest of the world will see in best case scenario after a few months. Today, Russian Comic Con, surprisingly, differs little from its “big brothers”.

The Walt Disney Company CIS presented Marvel and Star Wars projects at the exhibition. Since the content is truly exclusive, at the entrance to the cinema hall, all gadgets were confiscated from visitors, and then excerpts and new trailer"Doctor Strange", a voluminous material dedicated to "Guardians of the Galaxy 2", which included much more than the recently released trailer, as well as materials from film set films "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Rogue One" Star Wars: Stories".

The Russian film producer is also trying to keep up. Thus, Fyodor Bondarchuk personally presented his new science-fiction film “Attraction” at Comic Con Russia, Sarik Andreasyan, together with the actors, presented his “Defenders” (a film about “Russian superheroes”), and Konstantin Ernst invited the guests of the event to watch the film’s trailer and exclusive materials for the painting "Viking". It is worth saying that these films also entertained guests at their own stands. For example, Viking decorators and artists recreated a piece of Kievan Rus 10th century, and at the Attraction stand you could charge any gadgets for free.

Also at the exhibition were premiere shows movie "The Blair Witch Project" New chapter"and the first episodes of the series "The Exorcist"; Amediateka presented with its own stand the new ambitious HBO show “Westworld,” and Ubisoft and the film company “Twentieth Century Fox CIS” dedicated a huge stand to the upcoming film adaptation of “Assassin’s Creed.”

Cosplay

Jokes about elves in mom’s curtains and Russian cosplay, meaningless and merciless, have long lost their relevance. Although anyone is free to come to Igromir and Comic Con in a costume, not only accredited, “professional” cosplayers, but also the majority of ordinary visitors to both exhibitions take their costumes extremely seriously. And there are a lot of cosplayers. No not like this. A lot of them. These guys (and girls, of course, girls) create an amazing atmosphere at Crocus Expo, a slightly crazy, but very friendly holiday. Although there could have been fewer Jokers and Harley Quinn :).

In addition, the special guest of Comic Con Russia 2016 was Lianna Vamp, American model, actress and world famous cosplayer.

Guests

We have already listed some of the famous guests of Comic Con above, but the main “cover” stars of the event year after year are: Hollywood actors. This year, the exhibition organizers have in some ways outdone themselves. Previous Comic Con Russia guests included actors Misha Collins (Supernatural), Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones), as well as actresses Summer Glau (Firefly, A Doll's House) and Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica). , then this time Nathan Fillion (“Firefly”, “Castle”) and Michael Cudlitz (“ the walking Dead", "Southland") and Sebastian Roche ("Supernatural").

Of course, a special highlight here is the visit of Nathan Fillion, whom science fiction fans from all over the world still know and remember as Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, rather than as Richard Castle from the series of the same name. The name of such a guest “in the frame” of the event clearly indicates that Russian Comic Con is growing, developing and is slowly gaining a name on the other side of the Atlantic.

Also, speaking about famous guests, one cannot fail to note the level of organization of autograph and photo sessions and performances celebrity guests(and the latter are open to all convention visitors). But more on that below.

Organization

Perhaps most of the complaints in past years were related to the organization of the event. Hours-long queues at the entrance, various time delays, confusion with tickets for photo sessions and signing autographs. Therefore, at the end of this short report, I would like to say something about the organization.

Based on the results of three days spent at the exhibition, we can say that the organizers definitely learn from their mistakes and deserve great respect and a sincere “thank you!” At Comic Con Russia 2016, everything worked like a well-oiled machine. If any discrepancies or misunderstandings arose, they all remained behind the scenes and the guests did not know anything about them. Everyone worked with a smile, from the volunteers to the security guards at the entrance. All shows, performances, panels and presentations started on time, and the inevitable queues for such festivals were clearly structured and took much less time than one might imagine.

The only significant drawback is still the Crocus Expo square, where both exhibitions were held. This year, Igromir and Comic Con Russia were visited by 163 thousand people (a new record!), and more than 250 companies presented their stands and presentations. As a result, especially on the weekend, Crocus Expo seemed too small for an event of such scale.

][ thanks the official photo bank of Igromir and Comic Con Russia for the photos provided

The Comic-Con festival, held annually in San Diego, is considered a Mecca for comic book lovers, fans, cosplayers and other geeks. Only here can you meet a hundred-kilogram bearded man masquerading as Catwoman, or a whole gang of transformers casually communicating with the same gang of hobbits. Only here you can put on a pink paratrooper suit from Star Wars, and only here nothing will happen to you for it. In any case, there is no other place in the USA where such trash and frenzy reigns.

40 years of evolution

Comic-Con was originally intended to be a platform for promoting comics and science fiction films. However, over the 44 years of its existence (the first festival took place back in 1970), the project has evolved greatly and today is a refuge for everyone who is in some way involved in the entertainment industry. Horror literature, anime, manga, video games, television series, music bands– the festival’s assortment does not fit into any framework and is replenished with new directions every year.

The festival traditionally takes place in a friendly atmosphere and is oversaturated with all kinds of parties with the participation of stars of various sizes. In 2010, Comic-Con gathered 130 thousand people under its roof, and this was in just 4 days, which are usually allocated to the event.

Marvel vs. DC

It has already become a tradition that the convention is a battlefield between two comics giants: Marvel and DC. You can meet almost everyone here famous heroes comics, and, unlike most cosplayers, in professionally made costumes, which the rest of the participants look at, drooling. As a rule, at Comic-Con, both publishers announce their future projects, show footage from films and bring actors who generously sign autographs and do their best to attract the public's attention to the upcoming films.

Trendsetters

The festival in San Diego is far from the only one. In fact, it ranks only third in popularity, behind the Japanese Comiquet and the French International Comics Festival. The advantage of the convention is its internationality. Literally in every developed country there is its own, albeit not so magnificent, Comic-Con. The festival reached Russia only in 2014, and before that the closest access point was Comic-Con, held in Odessa.

Annual international festival San Diego Comic-Con has long meant much more to the industry than just a comic book fan convention.

From July 24 to 27, San Diego, California will host Comic-con 2014, the next annual convention of comic book and science fiction fans, which will feature a number of high-profile television and film premieres. In the United States, interest in the event, which gathers 150,000 people over four days, is enormous - almost the entire federal press covers it in one way or another, and Hollywood bigwigs bring A-list actors and directors there.

We at CINEMAPLEX are most interested in the latter circumstance. Comic-Con has become a traditional platform for high-profile announcements of new projects (film adaptations of comic books, science fiction, TV series, fantasy, etc.), and in number interesting presentations not so much inferior to the American film markets and CinemaCon. At least in terms of the number of announced blockbusters, the event in San Diego is definitely not inferior to the latter.

And most importantly, this event works to attract a potential audience! Of course, industry participants need to know what kind of material they will be working with in the near future, but the main thing in the industry is still the viewer, and Comic-Con is the way to the heart of the mass viewer.

8 facts about Comic-Con 2014:

1. The festival was created and first held in 1963 by three comic book fans and science fiction- Sheldon Dorff, Ken Krueger and Richard Alf.

2. The first Comic-Con in San Diego was attended by 300 visitors and only 2 guests; last year’s Comic-Con was attended by 130 thousand people and dozens of guests from various segments of the entertainment industry.

3. Last year's convention sold out in 93 minutes, and San Diego's city coffers earned $165 million over the four days of Comic-Con.

4. The official Comic-Con 2014 program will not appear until two weeks before the event.

5. In addition to 1,000 exhibition panels (in 2013 there were 1,075), Comic-Con hosts two separate film festivals, its own film school and the legendary masquerade.

6. The first public showing of the trailer was announced at Comic-Con 2014 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON(April 2015).

7. A separate series of screenings will be carried out by television people - guests of Comic-Con 2014 will be shown materials on new seasons of such series as UNDER THE DOME, HANNIBAL, THE WALKING DEAD, etc., as well as the animated series THE SIMPSONS, AMERICAN DADDY and Family Guy.

8. Warner Bros. So far, it has become the only studio to announce its plans at Comic-Con. This time the Warners will bring Peter Jackson with them, who will tell guests about the latest part HOBBIT, as well as George Miller, who will present the first footage from the filming of the new MAD MAX. In addition, guests of the presentation will be able to see materials JUPITER ASSING with Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, the premiere of which the studio recently postponed to February 2015.

Comic-Con in Russian

Comic-Con for the first time this fall will pass and in Russia - the event will become a satellite of the Igromir exhibition at Moscow Crocus Expo. On the first day, October 2, the exhibition will be open only to professionals, and on the next three days all ticket holders, which are available on the official website of the event, will be able to visit it.

We will closely monitor the situation around the Russian Comic-Con as information becomes available - the ground for such a convention in Russia has been prepared a long time ago, and I want to believe that the organizers will work as professionally as possible, giving a powerful start to a new tradition for the market, and not just use it worldwide famous brand. It’s impossible to do without the participation of majors.