“Bilal, what are your plans for the weekend?”
“I am going to Comic Con.”
“Where in Dubai? Or somewhere abroad?”
“No no silly here in Karachi”
“Wait, Karachi has a Comic Con?”
The above exchange took place between myself and a well-known PR agency that I regularly work with for brand endorsements. A doctor by profession, I’m also a content creator on the side for which I’m in regular contact with advertising agencies.
These agencies are very well connected and they tend to be pretty up-to-date on the happenings within Karachi — Pakistan’s largest city. It’s a sprawling megalopolis of well over 30 million people so you can imagine how large of a task it must be to keep track of the ins and outs around town.
Much to my surprise, Karachi’s upcoming Comic Con had totally slipped through their radar. The bigger shocker though was the fact that this was to be the fifth official edition of the event.
The idea of holding a comic con was conceived by a group of friends who are now aged between 22-25 years old. Their organisation is called Geek Haven. The first two editions were small-scale and held on the college campuses of the organisers. It was only from the third event onwards that they opened it up to the public.
Despite this very few from outside its sphere of influence even knew about its existence.
“We’ve always stayed true to our aim, to create a space for counterculture enthusiasts in Karachi,” said Muhammed Yasir Obaid, Geek Haven’s campaign strategist.
He recalled the hurdles they had to face when they started. Lots of people, even those close to them, discouraged them saying there’s no interest for “such stuff” in Pakistan.
“Now it’s a happening place to be. People come from as far off as Hyderabad, Lahore and Islamabad to partake in this event,” he said.
Pakistan is undergoing a silent youth-led cultural revolution. Pakistani music has gone global, Pasoori was the most-googled song last year. Movies like The Legend of Maula Jatt have gone on to break blockbuster records and films like Joyland have gone on to win accolades in the awards circuit.
The Pakistani youth are the most connected generation in the history of the country. Now more than ever they want to be a part of a greater global culture rather than confine themselves to a state-sanctioned identity of what a Pakistani should be.
I see Comic Con as a big part of this current revolution — a redefinition of Pakistani identity through culture.
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A community effort
Truth be told I am quite happy that the event has stayed relatively insulated and true to its roots. You see in Karachi when such mega events take place the big corporations and industries hijack the gatherings one way or the other. They put up their hoardings, stalls and salespersons harass you every 2 minutes to make you try their latest products.
Comic-Con was far removed from any capitalistic aspirations. You’d be hard-pressed to find even one major corporate brand or sponsor at the event, it was put together with the help of ticket sales and funds from the community.
“I know this isn’t a sustainable model but we have zero capitalistic ambitions all we want to do is create a community. I think we’ve done that successfully,” said Obaid.
He added that sponsors are also difficult to come by because of the economic situation in the country as well as the lack of understanding of the subculture.
“Instead of sponsors, we got a bunch of media partners like IGN, FHM and City FM89 on board. They helped us spread the word through their respective platforms,” he said.
The event took place on 5 February at the Arts Council of Pakistan its iconic red sandstone facade is located in Karachi’s bustling downtown borough.
It sits at the junction of three major thoroughfares — I.I. Chundrigar Street often dubbed the Wall Street of Pakistan; Burns Road, the famed foodie hub of the city; Court Road, home to both the High Court of Sindh and the Sindh assembly.
The building transformed into a haven for comic book and anime lovers.
Apart from international characters, people were also dressed up as characters from Pakistani pop culture. Commander Safeguard and the Billi (cat) from the Ding Dong bubble gum commercial were two that stood out.
“Most public events in Karachi are very much centred around food and music. It’s refreshing for a change to be in a space that celebrates a completely different culture,” said a 16-year-old teen dressed as Spider man.
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A space for community
As an outsider to comic book culture, it took me a while to figure out what was happening. Most of the attendees came dressed in their best cosplay. From Death Note’s Shinigami to Dragon Ball Z’s Vegeta, characters from comic books around the world were in attendance.
“I am so happy to be here today and see with my very own eyes how big our community is in Karachi. I feel represented and part of a space that I didn’t even know existed in our part of the world,” said a 22-year-old dressed as anime character Kusuo Saiki.
Everyone who I interacted with shared similar thoughts.
Cosplay wasn’t the only draw of the event. There was a sprawling bazaar selling all sorts of paraphernalia related to the comicverse from rare books such as first edition Superman comics to costumes including Yubaba from Spirited Away and action figurines of the cast of Avatar the Last Airbender and more.
Homegrown studios
I’ve been covering Karachi and its people as a journalist for well over 10 years. And one thing I’ve learnt over the years is that Pakistanis have a way of exceeding your expectations.
What took me most by surprise at the event was what was happening inside the auditorium. On the agenda was the screening of three animated films by Lahore-based production company, ‘Puffball Studios’. I was able to watch two of the films.
The homegrown animated film industry is still very much in its infancy and most of it is geared towards young children. I was taken aback when the films dealt with heavy topics like Partition and blasphemy.
The first film was called Rest in Paper. The 8-minute film was based on the horrors of Partition and how people on both sides of the border lost their documentation papers.
The other film, Swipe addressed in graphic detail how the blasphemy laws in Pakistan are misused and used to settle past scores. The most jarring aspect of the hand-painted short film was how it managed to highlight the fact that the indoctrination of these ideals starts at a very young age.
The screenings were followed by a lively panel discussion with Arafat Mazhar, the director of Swipe.
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Teenage fight club
Just when I thought I’d seen and experienced everything I stepped into the gaming arena of the complex. It was not just people playing video games on consoles, there were even impromptu Beyblade tournaments.
I felt like I was part of a teenage version of the fight club. The atmosphere was intense and competitive; after all, there were cash prizes up for grabs.
But this was not so much of a surprise, Pakistan has a very lively gaming culture. Every block in the city is lined with gaming arcades that are open late into the night. Pakistan has also produced some prolific gamers like Arslan Ash who is part of Red Bull’s eSports team and a world champion in Tekken.
There were also rumours floating around the gaming room that recruiters were scouting incognito for future gaming talent which pushed everyone to bring their A-game.
The event that everyone was most looking forward to was the Cosplay ramp walk. It was the grand finale of the night. The person with the best costume would walk home with a cash prize of PKR 1 lakh.
Dressed as Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail, Aqsa Khan came out on top, she was followed by Wasia Tariq who donned an Alphonse Elric outfit from Fullmetal Alchemist.
Conformity is a very big part of Pakistani culture — boys are told to be tough and masculine, while girls are told to be shy and demure. At Comic Con, they were breaking the chains of conformity en masse by dressing up as their superhero or heroine. I met girls dressed up as Loki and Spiderman and boys dressed up as Wednesday Addams. The gender of the character didn’t matter.
“I just really like that character, I think shes really cool,” said Hamza Sadiq who was dressed up as Jinx from League of Legends (a female character).
M Bilal Hassan, better known as Mystapaki, is a Karachi-based content creator and cultural commentator. He tweets @mystapaki1. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)