Lilo and Fury | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Comic Con India returns to Hyderabad bringing joy to its fans who look forward to all things entertaining related to anime, gaming and pop culture. Students, artists and storytellers meet to learn, explore their craft and exchange ideas during the three-day festival from 15 to 17 November at the HITEX Exhibition Centre.

Expect exhibits, demonstrations, experience zones, competitions, cosplay, merchandise, gaming tournaments, invitational matches, speaker sessions, retro games and much more.

Hyderabad’s Comic Con 20204 promises to bring international and national artists, including Josh Baylock, who has published nearly 1000 comic books and is known for founding Devil’s Due and relaunching G.I. Joe . Indian artists are Indusverse, Yali Dreams Creations, Graphicurry-Prasad Bhat, Lilorosh, Garbage Bin, Corporate Comics, Bullseye Press, Holy Cow International, Bakermax, Art of Savio, Tadam Gyadu, Happy Fluff, Rajesh Nagulkonda, Soumin Patel, Abhikini, Halluboi .

Tadam Gyadu from Arunachal Pradesh, who draws sketches for Marvel Comics from India, is eager to share and exchange ideas with those who want to pursue sketching as a career. Tadam, a fan of Spider-Man and Wolverine, says his break with Marvel is his biggest accomplishment and a dream come true. “Getting into Marvel wasn’t easy,” says Tadam; I got my break in 2022 when I contacted an art representative.

How can one recognize the miraculous work of Tadam? “Look for subtle Indian things, like Hindi on graffiti on the wall, or an Indian character in the background.”

Jatin Verma, Founder, Comic Con India is excited: “This year, we are taking it up a notch by expanding the festival to three days. The passion of the fans has inspired us to expand this program, creating even more exciting experiences with a wide range of activities for everyone to enjoy. This will be our biggest event yet in Hyderabad, showcasing some of the best of Indian comics, fan activities, cosplay, gaming and geeky shopping.

Tadam Gyadu’s take on Spider-Man Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Comic Con India 2024 will also feature sessions with Amar Chitra Katha, Raj Comics, Crunchyroll and other leading Indian creators. Fans can look forward to special stand-up acts from popular comedians like Harsh Gujral, Azim Banatwala, Ravi Gupta and Syed Bashar. There will also be performances from Daisuki cosplay band, Geek Fruit and hip hop artist Karan Kanchan to name a few.

Garbage Bin’s Faisal began by clarifying that his brand name does not represent his art; This was the name of the folder in which he saved his nostalgic artifacts. Garbage Bin strips in Hindi created a stir via Facebook. Faisal says, “My partner Shahnawaz and I started with mobile games. During the Anna Hazare protests, we had made a comic strip named Angry Anna. Although it became very popular, I was disappointed that we weren’t able to meet our goal of making as many mobile games as we thought we could. That’s when I created two characters, Guddu and Shaan, to provide comfort through art. Designed as gags (four strips of comic), it was all about nostalgia. I stored these in a folder on my system that I named Garbage Bin, probably inspired by the popular American comic brand MAD.

At Hyderabad Comic Con, Faisal to launch preview of his collaboration with Nikhil Pran of Pran Comics Chacha Chaudhary fame.

Hyderabad Comic Con 2024 will be held from November 15 to November 17 from 11 am to 8 pm at HITEX Exhibition Centre. For passes, visit www.comiccon.in and BookMyShow.