After years of waiting Comic Con Africa 2022 is here as a physical event this week, finally bringing the local fandom back together in one place.
The Johannesburg Expo Centre will play host to this incarnation of the Con between 22nd and 25th September as a four-day event.
Tickets are still available for all four days so it’s not too late to participate if you’re so inclined.
As a primer for this long weekend of fun we’ve put together a list of the top five attractions at the show that we’re most looking forward to.
5. The cosplay Comic Con Africa 2022
No convention is complete without cosplayers roaming the halls and Comic Con Africa 2022 is shaping up to deliver on that regard with both amateur and professional cosplayers in attendance.
The guest cosplayers from overseas include Taryn Cosplay and Leon Chiro, both from Italy, and Elizabeth Rage from the USA.
A competition is also taking place and you can find a dedicated subsite for everything cosplay at the event here.
Our top pick: While professional cosplayers are a huge draw our favourites are always the fan cosplayers which you will see walking around and enjoying the convention like everyone else. Both of the cosplay images you can see above were from random fans we encountered at Comic Con Africa 2019. See the full gallery here.
4. The sales
South Africa is a nation obsessed with finding a good bargain and Comic Con Africa 2022 promises a host of sales on the floor.
The most recent of these announcements is from GammaTek, the local distributor for Funko Pop. Not only will Funko Pops be sold for as low as R100, but 14 exclusive figures will be up for grabs.
These exclusives were priced at between R350 and R400, but they have since been reduced to a flat R350 for them all.
That’s just one example and, from our experience, the best deals are seldom advertised ahead of time and found innocuously on tables at the convention.
Our top pick: There will be a dedicated kids section at the event called KidsCon that will host stalls, stores, events and more focused on younger attendees. We’re hoping to find some sales there to stock up on Christmas presents… and maybe some LEGO for ourselves.
3. The competitions
At Comic Con Africa 2022 you can look forward to both random chance competitions and more serious competitive competitions where you’ll need to work for your prizes.
As an example of the latter, Doritos is hosting the “Crunch Cup”, a series of esports events across Fortnite, Tekken 7, Street Fighter V and FIFA 22. Any attendee can participate in organised play to win R4 000 and a hamper of Doritos every single day.
Our top pick: We’re going offline for the competitions we’re most looking forward to as there is a dedicated Table Top Gaming section available. Tournaments across games like Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Pokémon TCG will all be taking place with prizes awarded to winners.
2. The celebrities
Celebrities from franchises like Stranger Things, Teen Wolf, Shazam and more will all be in attendance to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
The full celebrity list can be found here, with the top billing awarded to Jamie Campbell Bower after his recent role in the latest season of Stranger Things.
That list also includes the artist and authors who will be available, which attendees shouldn’t miss out on on. The Artist Alley is the perfect place to get your books signed or even get a custom piece of art made right there.
Our top pick: As you may have guessed by the picture of above, we’re most excited to meet the actor who played the Red Ranger in Power Rangers Turbo, along with several others. Selwyn Ward will be there and we’re disappointed in ourselves that we couldn’t find a replica of the helmet he’s holding to have signed.
EDIT: Since the original publication of this story it has been announced that Selwyn Ward will not be attending “due to personal reasons“.
1. The food
While it may be gluttonous for us to have food at the end of our list, anyone who has attended a convention knows how tiring they can be, and how great it is to sit down and fuel up after walking the halls for hours.
Comic Con Africa 2022 will have a food truck village offering many eating options for everyone to enjoy. If you’re like us and feel that, somehow, food tastes better when it comes from a truck, this should be one of the first stops when attending.
Our top pick: KFC has revealed a slew of food that is exclusive to this event, including its famous Zinger and Dunked sauces which you can buy in a bottle and take home. As for actual food we have to try the “OP Donut”, which you can see above, which is a chicken fillet hamburger with donuts instead of a bread roll. Is that insane and likely won’t be as satisfying as a proper hamburger? Yes. Are we going to try it anyway? Also yes.
