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Comic Conventions & Festivals in Africa

This page lists all the comic centred events in Africa, past and present. Recurring Comic Conventions such as the Lagos Comic Con, FanCon Cape Town and others as well as new players like Comic-Con Africa and Ibadan Comic-Con among others. These conventions will be linked to our subdomain, database.squidmag.ink where further details will be provided on each event.

We’ve categorized the conventions based on their regions. You can click any region below to immediately jump to that page.

• West Africa
• East Africa
• Southern Africa
• North Africa
• Conclusion

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West Africa Comic Cons

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vcg_textblock]Next to Southern Africa, this region has the highest number of comic book centred events. This unique region is a mix of French and English speaking countries, offering a diverse range of events. Nigeria dominates in the comic industry in Africa and as you’d expect, has the most comic book conventions in the region. The most prominent events in this region are all from Nigeria, namely, Lagos Comic-Con, Abuja Comic Con and Comic Connect Africa.[/vcg_textblock][vc_tta_tour shape=”square” color=”turquoise” gap=”2″ active_section=”0″][vc_tta_section title=”Lagos Comic-Con” tab_id=”1577209438474-163a1af3-67ae”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Mboa BD” tab_id=”1577209438474-f9b1123f-06be”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Geek Planette” tab_id=”1577209528185-4f0de97c-025a”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Nerd Con” tab_id=”1577209537583-23406087-8f34″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Abuja Comic Con” tab_id=”1577209542490-9227ac2a-dfed”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Senegal Manga Festival” tab_id=”1577209546649-f1819c7f-4f87″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Coco Bulles” tab_id=”1577209650775-07fdbb3a-f25a”][vc_column_text]

Coco Bulles is the International Festival of Cartoons and Comics of Abidjan. The aim is to give a panoramic view of the comic literature and graphics in Africa.

The festival contains art exhibitions, workshops, conferences and roundtables. The venue for the festival was the Culture Palace of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Ibadan Comic Con” tab_id=”1577209709646-746dee9f-a44a”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”The Geek Showcase” tab_id=”1577209734269-8b14d25d-3b3f”][vc_column_text]The Geek Showcase by Squid Magazine is a chill space to explore the things geeks love. At the showcase, we’ll explore comics, video games, animation, VR, beat-making, programming, digital illustration, skateboarding and hip-hop music. 

The Geek Showcase will be the place for music aficionados, design nerds, storytelling wizards, game gbees, tech gurus and other creative people to come together to let loose, brainstorm, innovate and create. [/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_tour][/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text]

East Africa Comic Conventions

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vcg_textblock]Southern Africa and more specifically, South Africa has the biggest collection of comic book events on the continent. The most recent addition, Comic-Con Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town) are arguably the most internationally recognized comic book event in Africa. This is thanks in large part to the organizers, Reed Pop events who are responsible for larger conventions like the New York Comic-Con. Besides Comic-Con Africa, other prominent players are Icon CGC and FanCon Comic-Con.[/vcg_textblock][vc_tta_tour shape=”square” color=”turquoise” gap=”2″ active_section=”0″][vc_tta_section title=”Comic Con Africa” tab_id=”1577211024357-da3682e0-7bc1″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”FanCon” tab_id=”1577211024358-43d24b13-35bc”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Icon CGC” tab_id=”1577211024358-097bbf36-bb94″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”rAge Expo” tab_id=”1577211024359-6446fb98-d566″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Comic Con Cape Town” tab_id=”1577211024359-80b77f7b-c842″][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_tour][/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Southern Africa Comic Cons

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vcg_textblock]We canvassed the geek and comic centred events within this region. The East African bloc consists of Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe among the other states. The most prominent geek gatherings in this region are Nairobi Comic-Con, Comexposed, Lusaka Comic-Con and DigiArt Fest[/vcg_textblock][vc_tta_tour shape=”square” color=”turquoise” gap=”2″ active_section=”0″][vc_tta_section title=”Nairobi Comic-Con” tab_id=”1577210395953-084ab17b-5f80″][vcg_textblock]

Nairobi Comic Con (NAICCON)

NAICCON is East Africa’s premiere and leading Comic Convention. Since its humble inception in 2014, NAICCON now attracts audiences of well over 3,000 attendees.  NAICCON was founded by Thomas Imboywa and is part of the DISCOMICS Alliance of Comic Conventions.

In 2019, the convention hosted the fourth preliminary rounds of Anncey’s Animation du Monde Competition. Here’s a recap of Nairobi Comic Con 2019.

Nairobi Comic Con logo

[/vcg_textblock][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Movie Jabber Expo” tab_id=”1577210395954-421b87ff-a6a5″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Comexposed” tab_id=”1577210395955-42c16330-f7c2″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Lusaka Comic Con” tab_id=”1577210395955-74ff52bf-0bbd”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”DigiArt Fest” tab_id=”1577210395956-880cb8f0-fdc6″][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_tour][/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text]

North Africa Comic Conventions

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vcg_textblock]Southern Africa and more specifically, South Africa has the biggest collection of comic book events on the continent. The most recent addition, Comic-Con Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town) are arguably the most internationally recognized comic book event in Africa. This is thanks in large part to the organizers, Reed Pop events who are responsible for larger conventions like the New York Comic-Con. Besides Comic-Con Africa, other prominent players are Icon CGC and FanCon Comic-Con.[/vcg_textblock][vc_tta_tour shape=”square” color=”turquoise” gap=”2″ active_section=”0″][vc_tta_section title=”EGYcon” tab_id=”1577256146289-95633f54-e10e”][vcg_textblock]

EGYcon

EGYcon is a unique event for Otakus, Cosplayers, Gamers, Comic enthusiasts, Artists & Geeks of all sorts in Egypt. EGYcon is Egypt’s premiere comic convention and was founded by Islam Risha in 2014.

first EGYcon poster in 2014

EGYcon however first started in 2013 with a series of mini meet-ups and in 2014 a whole convention was held as a big meet up that literally “escalated quickly.”

The first EGYcon was held on February 28, 2014 at the Al-Sawy Cultural Wheel. It has subsequently taken place at the GrEEK Campus in Egypt.

The main goals of EGYcon according to their Facebook is twofold,

• Spread the anime, games and comics culture in Egypt; and
• to create a day of fun for all ages.

Find out more about EGYcon on this Facebook page.

[/vcg_textblock][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Comic Con Tunisia” tab_id=”1577256146290-3d689072-fb3f”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Comic Con Libya” tab_id=”1577256146290-7b6087e9-67ea”][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Geek Fictions Convention” tab_id=”1577256146290-ca6dcc6d-ed56″][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Comic Con Egypt” tab_id=”1577256146294-541ce670-dcad”][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_tour][/vc_column][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Conclusion

Comic conventions are inextricably linked with gaming and animation which all make up the geek experience. For this reason, we’ve also included some gaming conventions as well as cosplay events (yes, there are cosplayers in Africa. Look up Jessie Chan on Instagram). We have however, dedicated another page to animation festivals and animation themed events in Africa.

Below is an alphabetical list of all the comic conventions and festivals as well as some game specific conventions in Africa. This table provides a quick overview of all the conventions listed above along with some extra details.

List of African Comic Conventions

Ink Creativity.

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Discover upcoming African geek events including conventions, book launches, exhibitions and more below. 

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