Cape Town’s beloved pop culture festival has officially outgrown its home. Organisers of Comic Con Cape Town, which has been running in the City since 2018, plan to move the international event across the road, next year, to CTICC1 — a larger, single-level space that gives organisers room to do more.

Organiser Carol Weaving, MD of RX Africa, announced the planned move at a press briefing ahead of the four-day event, which is expecting 34 000 visitors — the biggest turnout the Cape Town edition has ever seen.

“We’ve now outgrown this venue and we’re going to be moving across the road to CTICC1, which is bigger and we have more space,” said Weaving.

A bigger stage for a bigger show

This year’s Comic Con Cape Town, which started today, is spread across three levels. The ground floor is home to pop culture, while the middle level is given over to tabletop gaming. The top level serves as the experience hall, and also features the pop culture stage, a CAF animation stage and a range of brand activations, including Burger King, which is joining as a new partner this year.

The outdoor area has been expanded, with more food trucks and a wider variety of food options.

Stars, stages and packed days

Seven — and possibly eight — cast members from the Netflix live-action series One Piece season 2 are among the international guests at this year’s show. The series is currently being filmed in Cape Town. Guests connected to Dragon Ball Z and Harry Potter franchises have also been confirmed, along with four international comic book guests and two cosplay guests.

Local comic book artists, who contribute to titles around the world, will also be in attendance.

The four-day programme is packed: cosplay competitions, tabletop and board gaming, anime, collectibles, cards, toys and after-dark events that include a coffee-and-comics session, a comedy evening on Friday and sets by DJ Elliott. A cosplay championship rounds out the highlights.

The event will run until Sunday May 3.

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Good for the city, good for the economy

The City of Cape Town’s Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said events like Comic Con are a vital part of what keeps the city’s economy moving.

“The top eight signature events in Cape Town generate around R4,5 billion for our city economy. That’s a big deal. That’s a lot of money that flows into businesses,” he said.

JP noted that the events industry, the film industry and tourism are closely linked — each helping the other grow. The filming of One Piece season 2 locally is a good example of this. He also pointed out that Cape Town is one of the few cities in South Africa, and in the world, that is successfully bringing down youth unemployment.

“Cape Town generates the lion’s share of jobs around our country. This industry, the film industry, the tourism industry, which are closely interlinked, are part of that equation — an important part of that equation,” he said.