After President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement that that the indefinite ban on large gatherings is still prohibited, the 2020 edition of Comic Con Africa will be cancelled.
But as they say, the show must go on! But how will we enjoy the convention if it was cancelled, you may ask.
Lovers of geek and pop culture can look forward to four days of fun - online, that is.
On the originally planned dates of 24 – 27 September 2020, Comic Con Africa aims to break the internet, bringing a virtual Con to fans in their own homes.
"Comic Con will be sharing a wealth of exclusive interactive content over the weekend including many of fans’ favourite elements of a real-life Con. Live chats, Q&As, panel discussions, and the opportunity to virtually meet celebs, fan meet ups, live draws, talks, gaming tournaments and streams, artist panels, Q&As, special exclusive exhibitor deals and more. Everything the Con would usually offer will still take place in exciting and unexpected ways," the organisers said in a statement.
“During a pandemic which is expected to peak in September, we simply cannot go ahead with hosting the many tens of thousands of fans who attend Comic Con Africa annually” said Carol Weaving, Managing Director of organisers Reed Exhibitions Africa. “Despite months of planning, diligent consideration of the state of the pandemic dictates that cancelling the 2020 edition of Comic Con Africa is the only way forward”.
Comic Con Online promises to be new, exciting as well as innovative. It also hopes to still be the ultimate pop culture (virtual) festival in Africa.
“We work hard all year to bring our fans the best in pop culture entertainment and content. By taking the Con Online we know that we will never be able to offer quite the same experience as connecting and engaging at the actual show, but we also don’t want to stop bringing our fans the fun and entertainment in 2020. COVID-19 won’t stop the dedicated fandoms and communities that Comic Con Africa engages with, so by offering an Online Con experience we can still not only keep our communities together, but connect more fans and grow to ensure that our 2021 show is the biggest yet!” said Carla Massmann, the Portfolio Director for Comic Con.
For pop culture fans who have already bought tickets for Comic Con Africa 2020, organisers have prepared a plan to roll over the existing tickets to 2021 with a price freeze. They may also refund any ticket holders who request it.
All ticket holders will receive a direct communication from our ticketing partner Howler over the next few days outlining how that will happen.
Please not that 2020 ticket sales have closed.
One thing is for sure: Comic Con Africa (the physical con) will be back in 2021.