Fandom, ASSEMBLE!

It’s our favourite time of the year again: Comic Con Cape Town returns to the Mother City for its second annual event and we are SUPER excited.

Master the art of the quick change (there are no telephone booths around so you can’t pull a Clark Kent to Superman transformation, though 😊), transform into your best costume and meet us at the Cape Town International Convention (CTICC) 2 from Saturday 27 April to Wednesday 1 May 2024.

We’ve been attending the Comic Cons, hosted by Reed Exhibitions, since 2018, so we know quite a few fantastic tips that you, the most die-hard geek, can use to Hulk Smash your way through your first one.

Here is the Superfans SA Insider’s Guide to Comic Con Cape Town 2024:

Book your tickets:

There will be no joining the Dark Side or gaining access to nerd Valhalla without your must-have tickets. Unlike Charlie, you are not going to find these in special chocolate bars (don’t worry, this event is 100% real, unlike that Glasgow incident, and you will not be left high, dry and without chocolate – in fact there are several options available at the Food Hall so pick up your favourite bar there!).

Here’s a look at what those must-have tickets got Con attendees last year:

You can book your tickets via the Con’s amazing website. Saturday is already sold out so be faster than The Flash and book yours TODAY.

Get your Meet and Greet Packages:

We are fangirling HARD for the top tier guests that the Con organising team have managed to pull out of their magic hats! For literal years, it’s been our dream to have Cape Town’s very own talented performer and star of hit international shows including Lucifer and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Lesley-Ann Brandt, appear at a Con on home soil and it’s FINALLY happening! We cannot wait to have her speaking Lilim, aka Afrikaans to us.

Amongst the absolute must-haves for your photography and autograph collections are Sean Gunn of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy fame; most of Netflix’s wildly popular show One Piece’s cast (we are personally madly infatuated with Langley Kirkwood, one of South Africa’s choice actors since his days as a charismatic cult leader on now cancelled soapie Isidingo) and the absolute bevvy of artists,including our favourite Bill Masuku.

Make memories with your idols by booking your sessions here.

Plan your Con schedule:

The Con team have conveniently popped their schedule onto their website. We strongly suggest you download the Comic Con app and plan your experience around your meet and greets, any of the guest panels you want to attend, the sideline events (there is a speed dating event too so who knows? You may meet the MJ to your Spiderman!), mealtimes and how far you can walk around in your costume.

Plan your Comic Con schedule via the app so that you don’t miss out on any of the cool things on offer, including Q&As with your favourite guests! Image credit: Superfans SA

Trust us on this: you do NOT want to meet Veronica Taylor of PokΓ©mon fame when you’re sweaty from being in a leather costume all day, dangerously hungry or your feet are aching from walking around in your Harley Quinn heels and carrying around that heavy bat.

Suit up:

Unless you have an Alfred living in your garage, whipping up a bullet-proof costume in record time, you are going to need to either make your own or rent one.

Leonie is our resident wardrobe mistress and there are a few places that she loves sourcing our costume basics and makeup from including Party City, Clicks and Crazy Store in Gardens. For all of our heavy-duty make-up and prosthetic needs, she loves Masque Makeup & FX Warehouse. From bald caps and liquid latex, to fake teeth and special contact lenses- they have it all.

Leonie rocks our Comic Con cosplay creation with a variety of specialized suppliers. Image credit: Superfans SA

If you are not quite ready to take on the mantle of Costumer Designer, we suggest visiting your nearest costume rental store or pop over to the Cosplay Cape Town group on Facebook to see what’s for sale.

Top up your bank cards:

The Exhibitors’ Hall is a treasure trove of geeky goods. Before you go spending like you’re Bruce Wayne, please ensure you’ve topped up your debit or credit cards and don’t forget to bring them along or load them onto your phone so you can shop until you drop.

Most of the vendors will have card machines or Yoco so you are in good, safe hands.

An extra tip: on the final day of the Con, the vendors tend to seriously drop their prices and there are plenty of bargains to be had.

Fuel up at the Food Hall:

In the great words of the late Remus Lupin, Professor of the Dark Arts at Hogwarts:

Listen to Professor Lupin. Image credit: Tenor

The CTICC’s in-house catering team really shines a Bat Signal on all things super food related at the Con and we’ll admit to feasting on ALL of their epic character themed burgers EVERY single day of last year’s event πŸ˜‰

Just look at one of them:

Hulk Smash Burger into our mouths! Yum, those CTICC caterers really got the superhero memo for Comic Con Cape Town. Image credit: Superfans SA

You’ll find the Food Hall on the second floor, right next to the Gaming Arena.

Charge those batteries:

You will be taking hundreds of photos and videos throughout the Con so be sure to charge your devices outside of your loadshedding schedules. Bring along a portable charger too.

There are some fantastic things to see, film and snap a photo of. You do NOT want to miss the Hugo Lambrechts Orchestra’s Disney set at the opening ceremony, the Cosplay Contests, the table top games sessions and more.

Here’s the Orchestra using the Force at last year’s Opening Ceremony:

Bring your manners along:

Aside from just generally being a good Con attendee who doesn’t litter, bully or push into lines, please be respectful of other cosplayers’ personal spaces. Ask their permission to take a photograph or video of or with them and under no circumstances will inappropriate behaviour and touching (both verbal and physical) be tolerated.

Channel your inner Matt Murdock/Daredevil and familiarize yourself with the Con’s policy so you can understand the legalese around it.

That’s it from us! Have a super fun Comic Con Cape Town 2024, Everyone.

If you want to come and say Hi to Leonie and I during the Con, pop us a DM on Instagram or Facebook and let’s set up that pow wow.