Comic Con Northern Ireland | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Multigenre, covering popular culture elements including sci-fi, horror, fantasy, mainstream, wrestling and more |
Venue | Eikon Exhibition Centre |
Location(s) | Lisburn, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Inaugurated | 17–18 September 2022 |
Most recent | 7–8 September 2024 |
Next event | 6–7 September 2025 |
Attendance | 18,000k+ (September 2023 event) |
Organised by | Monopoly Events |
Website | www |
Comic Con Northern Ireland is a fan convention held once a year in the city of Lisburn, near the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom attracting 18,000+ attendees across the large venue Eikon Exhibition Centre situated in Lisburn, that celebrates films, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books and which is organised by UK based events company Monopoly Events.
Comic Con Northern Ireland began its annual run of events in 2022 when the obvious need for a large pop culture convention in the Northern Ireland area arose. Monopoly Events CEO Andy Kleek sourced a venue large enough to not only launch a first event from, but also house future expansion plans for the event to make a substantial event for the people of Northern Ireland to be proud of and to bring economic drive into the community. The first event which took place in September 2022 sold over half it's entry tickets more than a year before the event itself took place. [1]
The SAG-AFTRA Strike of 2023, affected many fan conventions worldwide. During the strike, SAG guidelines for appearances at fan conventions had to be followed by both guests and the convention organisers. While appearing at any event, guests were unable to discuss any past, present or future work projects as they would normally do when meeting fans, they were also unable to answer questions regarding work projects while on stage during Q&A panels. [2]
Often guests will choose to visit famous landmarks or attractions in the hosting city, in 2023 Comic Con Northern Ireland guests Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and Bernard Hill visited the famous Titanic Belfast museum as Hill previously portrayed Captain John Smith in the 1997 film Titanic. [3]
A large part of the event is devoted to the cosplay hobby where members of the public are allowed, and encouraged, to take part in dressing up as characters from popular genres such as film and television. Cosplaying has become one of the most popular parts of many fan conventions around the world and can be used as a platform to showcase the costumer's latest handywork, to show devotion to their favourite characters or engage in role-play with other cosplayers in the same series, as well as to meet new people with mutual interests as themselves. [4]
Belfast is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. It is the second-largest city on the island of Ireland, with an estimated population of 348,005 in 2022, and a metropolitan area population of 671,559.
Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, and a broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, rock music performances, video games and in some cases, original characters. The term has been adopted as slang, often in politics, to mean someone pretending to play a role or take on a personality disingenuously.
Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a public corporation providing public transport in Northern Ireland. NI Railways, Ulsterbus, Goldliner, Metro and Glider are all part of Translink. It is led by CEO Chris Conway.
MegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large speculative fiction convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, RPG, and gaming communities, often occurring in spring at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The convention is the largest fan convention event in the Southern United States and second largest in North America with an attendance of 190,000 and generating an economic impact of 205 million in 2024.
The Odyssey Complex, consisting of Odyssey Place and the SSE Arena, is a sports, entertainment and science learning complex located within the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,000 in 2022, it is North America's most attended fan convention. The New York Comic Con is a for-profit event produced and managed by ReedPop, a division of RX and Reed Elsevier, and is not affiliated with the long running non-profit San Diego Comic-Con, nor the Big Apple Convention, later known as the Big Apple Comic-Con, owned by Wizard Entertainment.
Tomo-Dachi was an anime convention based in Derry, Northern Ireland.
Otakuthon is a Canadian anime convention promoting Japanese animation (anime), Japanese graphic novels (manga), related gaming and Japanese pop-culture. It is held annually for 3 days in downtown Montreal during a weekend in August. It is a non-profit, fan-run anime convention that was initiated by Concordia University's anime club, named Otaku Anime of Concordia University. The name "Otakuthon" is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "otaku" and "marathon". Otakuthon strives to be a bilingual event, having programming, the masquerade and the program book in both official languages. The first edition of Otakuthon was held in 2006 in mid-June, but later moved to early-mid August / late July from 2007 onward. The most recent edition, Otakuthon 2024, was held on August 2-4, 2024 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.
London Film and Comic Con is a fan convention held annually in London that focuses on films, cult television, gaming, anime, cosplay and comics. It is organised by Showmasters Ltd.
The MCM Comic Con London is a speculative fiction fan convention held at the ExCel London twice yearly since 2002, usually on the last weekend in May and October. The convention primarily focuses on comic books, video games, sci-fi, cosplay, anime and popular media.
The Middle East Film & Comic Con is a speculative fiction convention held annually in the United Arab Emirates.
London Super Comic Convention was an annual comic book convention dedicated to comics that was mounted from 2012 to 2017.
Indonesia Comic Con, branded as wondrful Indonesia Comic Con under sponsorship with Bank Negara Indonesia, is an annual comic-based multigenre convention in Jakarta, Indonesia, established in 2015. It is organized by Panorama Media, the subsidiary of Panorama Sentrawisata, an Indonesian tourism service provider company. ICC emphasizes the five pillars of pop culture, namely comics, toys, movies, video games, and lifestyles. It has featured numbers of notable international actors and actresses, as well as comic artists, DJs, VTubers, and professional cosplayers.
Comic Con Liverpool is a fan convention held twice per year in the city of Liverpool, England, attracting 48,000+ attendees across two large venues situated along the Liverpool waterfront, that celebrates films, popular culture, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.
Comic Con Scotland is a fan convention held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland, that celebrates films, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.
For the Love of Horror is a fan convention crossed with a haunted attraction held annually in Manchester, UK that celebrates the horror genre in various formats such as horror films, horror fiction, horror comics, horror video games, and horror cosplay which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.
For the Love of Sci-Fi was a fan convention held annually in Manchester, England that celebrated the science fiction genre in various formats such as films, sci-fi fiction, comics, video games, and sci-fi cosplay which was organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.
Wales Comic Con (WCC) is an annual fan convention in the United Kingdom, held in Wrexham, North Wales in 2008–2018, and from 2022 onwards. From 2019 to 2023, the main event was held in Telford, England, due to demands for a larger venue than in Wrexham, although smaller events returned to Wrexham from 2022, alongside the ones held in Telford.
Comic Con Wales is a fan convention held once a year in the city of Newport, Wales, in the United Kingdom. It attracts 12,000+ attendees to the International Convention Centre Wales in Newport, and celebrates films, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books. It is organised by UK-based events company Monopoly Events.
For the Love of Wrestling is a fan convention held annually in Manchester, England that celebrates the sport of professional wrestling, which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.