Fans Flock to First Singapore ComicCon

By Naman Ramachandran

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Wonder Women, Batmen, Baby Yodas and Ultramen were among the hundreds of cosplayers who showed up at the Singapore Comic Con taking place at the Marina Bay Sands on Saturday. Thousands more queued to get inside the massive event.

A bewitching array of almost every well-known comic character on the planet, and events around them were thronged by Singaporeans celebrating their weekend. Given the imminent Dec. 19 release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” evidence of that universe was very much on show.

Fans were deeply immersed in Gamersaurus Rex’s tabletop experiences where players enacted battles between opposing forces using hand painted miniature models, in games like “Warhammer 40,000,” “X-Wing,” “Dungeons and Dragons” and “A Song Of Ice And Fire.”

Pokemon fans exulted in the the #PlayPokemon trading card game and video game tournament from the official Pokemon Championship series. One of the big audience draws were the live matches featuring wrestlers from Singapore Pro Wrestling.

As is to be expected in a ComicCon, there were plenty of collectibles on offer from several brands including Spawn, Disney, Sacred Guardian Singa, Tintin and Sesame Street.

For those with a thirst for information, a range of industry practitioners shared their visions and their process, including Andy Kubert (“Batman”), Whilce Portacio (“X-Men”), David Mack (“Kabuki”) and Greg Capullo (“Quasar”). Participating comic/manga creators included Koh Hong Teng (“The Assassins”), Yasmine Putri (“Red Hood: Outlaw”), Livio Ramondelli (“Transformers”) and Takashi Shimada (“Kinnikuman”).

The event also features a Cosplay championship, the winners of which will represent Singapore ComicCon at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo in 2020.