I’m still looking forward to the next Comic Con, how about you?

What does Comic Con mean to you?

Recently, a large number of comic exhibition organizers in various places have successively announced the postponement or cancellation. According to the previous statistics of the editorial department of the Academic Party, there are at least 28 festivals and exhibitions of various types across the country, which have been affected to a certain extent .

 

Although it can’t represent everyone’s point of view, we chose to find 7 friends of different backgrounds and ages who have participated in the comic exhibition at this point in time to share with us some dusty memories for a long time.

Next, let’s listen to the private stories of TAs and Comic Con-

kaka: “Former Comic Cons Like Club Friendship”

The first time I participated in the comic exhibition was when I was in middle school in 2001, and I went to make soy sauce with the school’s comic club. It is located in the Tianjin Art Exhibition Hall near the Earthquake Monument. The venue is not large with only a few exhibition halls. There is a hand-painted very large NERV logo poster at the entrance of the exhibition hall as a logo code.

At that time, the comic exhibition was very simple, that is, the comic clubs of various colleges and high schools posted their members’ paintings on the wall, which was no different from the posters, and everyone’s level was uneven, and many paintings were copied. Each club has a wooden table with introductions printed by the print shop and some rudimentary doujinshi.

Everyone wandered around the venue, stopped and chatted when they met people who liked the same work or author, and exchanged mailing addresses or email addresses with each other, which was similar to holding a sports meeting or a cultural festival at school.

There is a cosplay part, most of the cos are pretty plastic, but for that time, everyone has worked very hard. The deepest impression is the sister of a cos humanoid computer angel heart, and the clothes are restored and the makeup is beautiful.

The popular IPs of the live cos include EVA, Shinsengumi, Shengzhuan, Tokyo Babylon, Hunter, Travelogue, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, etc. Clamp’s works are particularly popular, and a mother put her child cos Become the little Asura in the “Holy Biography”. During the cos performance, a group of people from the cos movie “Battle Royale” suddenly appeared and ran after them. There is also the part of singing the theme song of the animation, but I can’t remember exactly what I sang.

The proportion of domestic originals is very small, mainly Japanese comics, and basically no European and American comics. There must have been some comic book authors involved, just because people didn’t know much about the author’s appearance at the time, so there was no particularly chaotic star-chasing session.

I don’t know who the specific organizer of this comic exhibition is. I only know that the execution is done by various comic societies. Everyone uses love to generate electricity, and there is no sale at the scene. Here I would like to praise the president of our school’s comic club at that time, who is completely synonymous with high level of painting and strong organizational skills.

The overall feeling of this comic exhibition is that it is very simple and simple, and it is more similar to a community association , but the people who come to participate are very excited and happy. This is the first time I know that there are so many people around me who like to read and draw comics. When I saw that the manga club of the college club was doing a good job, I thought that I must join the manga club when I went to college. Later, I was disillusioned because the school I went to did not have a manga club.

I went to Comic-Con simply because I like ACG, I can communicate with my friends, and I can gain insights. In addition to the popular comic exhibitions, I also go to fan exhibitions and theme limited exhibitions, and I have a lot of fun every time.

After work, I accompanied the comic writers to participate in the comic exhibition, and also served as the exhibitor staff of the comic exhibition. The biggest feeling is that the domestic ACG industry has developed rapidly and comprehensively in recent years. Every small field has been subdivided into professional types of work. Whether it is the level of relevant employees or the industrial structure, it is very mature. The acceptance of industry enthusiasts and workers is also much higher. In the past, the content of national innovation in the comic exhibition was very small, and now the comic exhibition for the public is basically dominated by national innovation.

The comic exhibition provides a space for fans to gather together, a place that allows people to dream temporarily. There are also many authors who will motivate themselves to create with the goal of participating in the exhibition. The energy provided by this offline three-dimensional interaction is online. Impossible to achieve.

Xiaowei: “I will become a Quakwada in seconds”

When I saw the question of “going to the exhibition for the first time”, I subconsciously recalled who came first in SLO15 and CP26 in 2020, but in fact, my first comic exhibition experience was… I went with my family!

Hangzhou’s annual China International Animation Festival, because it is held on Labor Day, local newspapers also have full-page promotions. In the era when I haven’t touched the “two-dimensional”, it is a holiday destination for parents, children and friends.

This is an official “industry expo”. I remember that half of the booths in the China Pavilion are children’s channels of major TV stations, as well as signing events for local creators (Xia Da, Butterfly Blue, etc.) . However, the top floors are actually pirated stalls full of lucky bags, golden eggs and throw pillows…

Now that I think about it, the “China Cosplay Festival Finals” may be the most “fancier” part of the China International Animation Festival! The event with super high gold content, and 2013-15 is the heyday of cosplay stage play, unfortunately I have not watched it in one session (the venue is charged separately), I am very, very regretful

First with my family, then with my middle and high school classmates, the China International Animation Festival did run through my youth to some extent. (It also made me completely tired of the comic exhibitions where my colleagues were absent.) So now when I think of the “common exhibition”, the first thing that comes to mind is the pure white spiral staircase of the Shanshui Art Museum, and the hellish walking route of the “four-leaf clover”.

In my mind, the status of CP is about equal to the Jerusalem of the comic exhibition . The first time I participated in the exhibition, I was very impressed – I did my homework with my friends, bought a fan (heatstroke prevention) and Maza (anti-long team) , but I didn’t use it in the end. As soon as I got off the train, I went to the venue. I didn’t expect that there was no luggage storage in the venue, so I could only drag my luggage and walk the whole journey… (The next day I could get up in the early morning to scan the whole venue at Disney, and the young people’s physical strength was incredible)

Speaking of the meaning of Comic Con, Comic Con is a field where I can cry out for love at the center even though I don’t have the opportunity and am ashamed to express myself.

Pain packs, COS, no material, banners, pennants, posters… A large number of visual symbols filled the venue are “push し declarations” that can be conveyed without words.

Before each exhibition, it will be printed without material (free exchange of fan art) and distributed

Posters, pennants, couplets (cyber version)

At the same time, creators and viewers also move from behind the scenes to the foreground. “Mrs.” became the stall owner directly opposite, and the interaction was no longer a cold number of likes. Whenever I go to the booth, I am usually super-fearful, and I will turn into a quaquda person in seconds.

Either enthusiastically or secretly, the small antenna on each participant’s head is looking forward to receiving the same frequency radio waves.

In interactive situations, this tacit understanding becomes a collective carnival. Every time during the fanvid session of SLO, when the screams of CP merged into the tsunami of mountains and tsunamis in the venue, a huge sense of belonging will arise in my heart.

At slo15 shortly after the release of Star Wars 9, there were no less than ten graffiti banners and graffiti about the film in the venue, which brought great comfort to me who was suffering from anger and no one complained.

I participated in the second CPO online a few days ago. The main functions are almost the same as offline. Pixels can’t limit the creator’s ingenuity and enthusiasm. The virtual image and venue layout bring a completely different experience from offline. .

Drawing skins overnight, forcing friends to wear them and take pictures with me

But it always feels like something is missing…

The comic exhibition is the noisy and chaotic agitation in the venue, the touch of the paper when flipping the trial book, the smell of ink when it is newly printed and without material, the ecstatic dance after the radio waves hit it, and the heavy weight in the handbag.

You have come a long way because you know it was worth it.

Because the epidemic delayed three or four times and finally put up such a banner at SLO17 in January 2022. I hope that this time, the comic exhibition will not leave for too long.

Three slo’s manual

After the end, the purchased products will be photographed for feedback (ie repo)

Style: “k-on never graduates!!!”

The earliest I went to the comic exhibitions in Zhaoqing, Guangzhou and other places was about 12-13 years. Well, yes, it was the two years of “Sword Art Online” and “Beyond the Realm” cos “Branch Exhibition”.

At that time, the concentration of the domestic two-dimensional environment was still relatively high, and everyone had a very high sense of identification with Japanese animation works. Creation/Second Creation occupied the center of the comic exhibition. And at that time, there was no mobile game intervention at all, and the commercialization of the comic exhibition was relatively low. Maybe it could be regarded as a real “anime exhibition”. All doujin booths, booths and related game activities and guests are closely related to Japanese animation. Although many places are immature and rudimentary, it makes me very happy.

Including like a lot of cosplayers who don’t pay much attention to makeup, they mainly focus on the restoration of costumes and props. Although there were not so many handsome men and women with good makeup in those days, the simple but extremely restored coser also made me respectful.

The meaning of going to Comic Con was originally for me to find friends, to find communication, and to experience the “breaking walls” of the second dimension in an immersive experience. The deepest impression was that on a cover stage, a certain coser group sang the graduation song “Meet the Angels” of “Light Tone Girl”, which made me burst into tears, and everyone in the audience was shouting——” kon never graduates”! ! !

At that time, it was very exciting to see my favorite animation cv offline, hear the oped of the current popular animation, see coser of various works, meet a dazzling wife’s paintings or various figures. A strong sense of satisfaction and emotion.

Finally, I have to complain – now most of the comic exhibitions have completely lost their inner taste, and have transformed into comprehensive commercial exhibitions (ahem, mobile game exhibitions) . reunion.

When I went to Guangzhou Firefly recently, I saw that some game interactions have been defined as “two dimensions” based on “whether you have seen 10 animations”. Hmm, this makes me cry a little bit.

Takashi: This will, called “love”

I’m not a man who frequents Comic-Cons, but the few comic-cons in my life have impressed me a lot. The first time was in college. Before I entered college, I made up my mind that I must join the animation club in college, and I must participate in the comics as a creator. This wish came true in my sophomore year. At that time, the CP Comic Con in Beijing had just started, and I was among the first batch of creators to participate in the comic exhibition. That time, it was the fan fiction book of “Natsume’s Book of Friends”. I was in charge of the illustration, and several other friends were in charge of the story. The printing money was made by several of our main creators. Since the novel was not as easy to sell as the comic book, the goal at the time was not to lose money, and in the end it got what I wanted.

 

At that time, the ideas of creators were very simple, not for money or profit. To tell the truth for what, maybe it is for “love”. I still vividly remember the euphoria when I got the finished product from the printer. The brand-new print presents a sense of neatness unique to industrial products, and when opened, it exudes a unique ink scent.

In order to save money, I put each book into a plastic seal bag by myself, and put a special bookmark to express my gratitude to the creator in the few books I reserved in advance. After tossing and turning all night, coupled with the over-excitement and fatigue on the day of the official exhibition, I fell ill when I got back to the dormitory (the fault of my youth) .

Another impressive Comic-Con experience came after a lapse of many years. I was studying in Japan at the time, but due to poverty, laziness and fear of long queues in high temperature, I never went to the legendary 2D annual event, the Tokyo Comic Market . After entering the doctoral program, I was fortunate to meet several doctoral students who liked the same. With the encouragement of the same people, I finally decided to go on a “pilgrimage”.

On the first day, my friends and I arrived at the venue before 8:00 in the morning, but the queue had already lined up across the sea-crossing bridge. Fortunately, we came well prepared to avoid fainting from heat stroke during the queuing process. Before ten o’clock, the team has already started to enter the arena in an orderly manner. Although there are many people, the team has always moved forward in an orderly manner at an unhurried speed. We entered the venue around 10:30. Although I didn’t know much about the contents of many booths, the crowd of people in the venue still made people excited.

I split up with my Japanese friends. Since there was no purpose, I just bought some books in the area of ​​works that I was interested in ( such as Sid and the male protagonist who had been playing at that time) . Originally thought that there would be a surplus of funds for this event, but it was put together by the next day’s venue.

Mainly because one of the works exhibited on the second day was a personal original publication, and I saw a lot of strange studies related to or unrelated to the second dimension. The content includes but is not limited to the study of Showa women’s clothing culture, the study of tauren in H comics, the study of ancient mecha culture, and the study of abdominal incision. What impressed me the most was the “Dictionary of Chinese Two-dimensional Terms” launched by a university animation club, which collected a large number of Chinese two-dimensional terms and accurately translated them into Japanese. Probably because of the interesting selection of materials and excellent production, this dictionary has already come out to the fourth issue, and I bought it all at once.

 

In retrospect, this original exhibit is like a microcosm of Comike — a place where everyone has different ideas, voices and hobbies. You like Hei Changzhi, he likes a wife, I like eight-pack abs, and she may like the absolute field of office worker shirts… Although everyone has different preferences, they can respect each other, trust each other, and abide by it together , maintain an agreed bottom line. As described in “The Dragon Maid of the Xiaolin Family”, the people in the comic show seem to be enveloped by an invisible will.

This will is called “love”.

Produced out of love, gathered because of love, discovered each other because of love, and learned about the diversity of the world because of love… People should not blame themselves because of “love”, nor should they suffer because their “love” is different from others. To exclusion or even slander (of course, the premise is that one’s “love” will not hurt real people in real life) .

Thinking Ji: “Not only is the coser beautiful, but I am also beautiful, so nice”

The first time I went to the comic convention was highly overlapped with that of Takashi upstairs. I also worked with the school’s animation club as a fan creator to sell books (the fan illustration novel of “The Headless Horseman”, all ages) .

I specially made a high-speed train to go to Beijing to participate in the comic exhibition. In one sentence, it was described as Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden . The deepest impression was that the little brother Coser who walked around in the comic exhibition was in command of the horrific commander. When I saw one, I went up to ask for a group photo. Then I got a bunch of pictures of myself smiling and posing coldly. At that time, I was wearing a cute and thick-lined ethnic style sweater bought by my mother who was very rustic.

Then there are all kinds of small peripheral objects, plush, acrylic, affordable and unaffordable. All in all, everyone bought a lot of stuff. When I was about to close the stall and go home, my school girl was leaning over beside me and was happily flipping through a book I just bought. I glanced at it, and my heart pounded: Oh, it turns out that in the Comic Exhibition space, it is fair and bright. It is common sense to watch large-scale fan works (fog) .

that’s how it feels

But the deepest memory is still the handsome faces of the coser brothers. There are cos Lu Luxiu, cos Edward, and the little brother of Tomb Raiders Notes. Everyone is very involved in the drama, and their expressions and attitudes are in line with the characters. At first glance, it is really a blasting of the dimension wall. The excitement and excitement when taking a group photo should be no worse than that of a real star.

From now until now, looking for exciting coser group photos at the Comic Con has been the biggest motivation for me to visit the Comic Con.

The young ladies with excellent body and exquisite makeup were later added to my list of missing people at the comic exhibition. Seeing Hatsune in her energetic appearance and good figure, or the cute king Xiaoying with delicate clothes and a dreamy face, makes people feel like a spring breeze and feel at ease.

Catch beautiful coser with friends, many photos are too late to show on old mobile phones

When JOJO is on fire, the fun of taking photos has increased. Let’s take a photo together with the little brother and sister “JOJO Li” of the cos JOJO characters. It’s really double the joy to pose together.

that’s how it feels

At this time, I also began to pay attention to the dressing rules of the comic exhibition. Every time I went to start a full set of lolita from head to toe, I felt more equal when I took a photo with my favorite coser. Not only the coser is beautiful, but I am also beautiful. .

I’m still looking forward to the next time I go to the Comic Con. I’ll dress up a little more beautifully next time, and catch more beautiful coser to take a group photo.

Ruofeng: “Saber, where’s your sword?”

As a simple ACG enthusiast, I almost never buy peripherals, cos, or books… Perhaps the few contributions to the comic exhibition are tickets, convenience stores around the exhibition, and carbon dioxide for one person.

but! I really like going to comics! ! !

The first time I went to the Comic Con was in 2014, when I was dragged by my friend to comiday13 in Chengdu. At that time, my impression of Japanese animation only stayed on the light-tone girl, EVA, and the Shinigami Naruto Crayon Shin-chan… Even my friend’s cos Saber didn’t know it at all. . But this experience has become a kind of strange trigger. When I see people who really love something, and then show this love regardless of the eyes of others, I really have the illusion of being integrated into another world. .

There were a lot of things that left a deep impression on me at that Comic-Con.

Saber’s sword of her friend cos was confiscated in the subway, causing people who took pictures with her at the comic exhibition to complain “Saber, where is your sword?”; middle-aged uncles in wedding dresses and sailor suits wandered around the venue, shocked The new me has been a whole year; I saw the five-member group of Qingyin girls buying oden; my mother brought her daughter cos unknown to wear a blindfold in the second role; and the last performance on the last day of the exhibition, suddenly sounded “Slam Dunk” “Master” ending song “Until the End of the World”, a group of people who can’t speak Japanese are still roaring loudly.

Perhaps because of this experience, I really stepped into the pit gate of Japanese animation. Later, when I went to study in Japan, of course I also went to the legendary Comic Market. The deepest impression was that I sighed: It’s really amazing.

Everyone stood in line for hours under the scorching sun of 36°c+, and the huge exhibition hall spanning several venues was crowded with tourists from all over the world; all kinds of dazzling super high-quality cos make people do not know where to look ;I feel like I can’t finish reading all kinds of peripheral second-generation booths…

 

But in fact, what is most memorable and moving in retrospect is not the experience of the comic exhibition in Japan, but the comic exhibition in China that felt a little simple and even a little rudimentary. Maybe it’s because like-minded friends shyly took a photo with coser, maybe because they knew the difficult situation in China, but they could see everyone’s enthusiasm and the light in their eyes.

As a simple ACG enthusiast, I almost never buy peripherals, cos, or books… Perhaps the few contributions to the comic exhibition are tickets, convenience stores around the exhibition, and carbon dioxide for one person, but I also want and like ACG friends, and occasionally find a place to play together.

The first time in my life I participated in the comic exhibition on August 16, 2009.

I didn’t know anything about comics back then. There are two reasons to join in this fun: first, I just came back to my hometown for college vacation and wanted to get together with my high school classmates, so we must find something to do together; travel. But if you want to practice portraits, it is extremely difficult for a single dog – you must want to take pictures of girls, and win some in photography forums (the photography exchanges in those years mainly relied on traditional photography themes such as “Wu Ji” and “Humming Bird” BBS) focus on.

As for portrait photography, the evaluation criteria at that time (and may still be the case) are often that “content” is greater than the technical indicators of “composition, blur, and light”. provide this opportunity.

I still keep the photos I took at that time. I just browsed through the photos I took that day from beginning to end – I didn’t seem to get any coser, but the lonely old man who sold pirated paintings (see the picture above) . At that time, I uploaded all the photos of the comic exhibition to the school (Renren.com) , and named it “August 16 Chaos”, which is probably the first time I participated in the comic exhibition in my life.

In the second half of 2009, I joined the photography⑨ class (if anyone remembers this organization) , and also joined the university’s animation club.

These two things did have some impact on my future relationships and life trajectory, and of course, it also increased the frequency of my participation in Comic-Con – for two reasons: First, photography class ⑨ was Acfun’s photography enthusiast at the time. As the core, the main activity is to communicate without taking pictures at the cartoon exhibition (the word stirs the base ← the word has a sense of the times) ; secondly, if domestic universities run animation clubs, Cosplay is a way to improve the participation of members, increase the cohesion of the club, and improve the club. A well-known activity – so of course I have become a photo tool person who goes to and from various comic conventions with clubs and friends.

During my college years, I participated in many comic exhibitions, and I also accumulated a certain reputation in the local two-dimensional photography circle ( for the time being) at that time.

At that time, I was immersed in oriental projects, so most of the subjects I filmed and the groups I participated in were mostly oriental. In the summer of 2012, I was very busy. I was busy with graduation, meals, and travel. I also concentrated on participating in the “International Animation Festival” and “Chinajoy” that summer. But what I didn’t expect was that this turned out to be one of the few memories of the last comic exhibition. After graduating from college, my friends also dispersed, and with the subsequent further studies and travel, I have no motivation to go to the comic exhibition.

 

However, since I have always lived in a non-first-tier city, there are basically no fan exhibitions in the local area. The first time I participated in a fan exhibition was when I went to study abroad to participate in Comiket. However, the impression left is also running around to help domestic peers to purchase, especially Xia comi is very hot. Above are the few photos left from the search on the phone.

Interesting to say, 10 years ago in the spring of 10 years ago, I experienced an event where Comic-Con was closed. In the New Year, we went to these people who participated in the comic exhibition and waited until noon, only to realize that the comic exhibition could not be held. In the afternoon, the wind was very strong, and many of the sheds built in advance were blown over, leaving a place in ruins. But although I didn’t participate in the comic exhibition at that time, I took this opportunity to meet some friends, most of whom lost contact, and some who kept contact also lost their interest in the second dimension. The people who went to the comic exhibition together back then also became strangers who seemed to never meet again.

In recent years, I have heard that the technology of comic exhibition photography has continued to develop, and various new “genres” have emerged, such as “multi-lamp magic”, ring flash, super wide-angle long legs, etc., and the quality is getting higher and higher. Now that I have entered the workplace, I rarely even have the motivation to pick up and play with the camera. However, looking back on the “Comic Expo” for more than 10 years, what was the comic exhibition for me in those years? It grows with an instrumental purpose, is socially driven, and eventually dies with the demise of social relationships.

The good times were only yesterday.