Dressed in plenty of superhero capes, masks and other wigs, thousands of fans flocked to Johannesburg on Saturday for the third African Fantasy Festival (Comic-con Africa), the first since the Covid pandemic.
Gathered in a vast exhibition center, they are scattered between escape game rooms dedicated to fantasy series, tattoo artists’ stands and comic book shops and replicas of science fiction heroes.
The four days of the biggest African fantasy festival will see the passage of several celebrities, including British actor Jamie Campbell Bower, known for his roles in the hit sagas Stranger Things and Twilight.
The African Comic-con, which was held for the first time in Johannesburg in 2018, is open to spectators in costume, like its Western versions like that of San Diego (United States), and this although the The fantasy industry is much less developed there than in the West.
After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the return of Comic-con in Johannesburg was eagerly awaited by fantasy fans like Luke Andalis, a 32-year-old South African, who polished up his costume down to the smallest detail. Aratak, a tribal chief from the video game “Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wild”.
“I have a mouth full of fur,” he says as he greets friends, his head and shoulders covered in a stiff green leather parka topped with similar fur that protects his character from the game’s arctic cold. video.
“It’s a very proud moment. I worked on this costume for eight months,” says Mr. Andalis, a costume designer and cosplayer (person who plays the role of a fictional character by imitating their appearance) for six years. .
For her first visit to Comic-con, Thifhuriwi Nephawe, a resident of Johannesburg, dressed up as Princess Neytiri, heroine of the American blockbuster Avatar.
“This character is for me that of an African woman who is very powerful and fights for her village, for the members of her tribe,” she explains to AFP.
“Strangers come to their house to try to take everything they have, so she tries to fight once morest that. Her power, that’s what inspires me,” she adds.
