Games and comics have and will always have a place in the
culture and history of a country. This is also true in Malaysia. This past
weekend, KDU University College (Damansara Jaya campus) was the host of the Malaysia
Games and Comic Convention of 2012.
It was a star studded event that spanned
the 19th and 20th of May which attracted over 2,500 people
The
convention opened at 10:00am sharp on Saturday and suffice to say that the
stars were out in force: the Cosplay
Queen Alodia Gosiengfiao, renowned Cosplay Photographer Jay Tablante, Marvel
Comics artists Leinil Yu and Carlo Pagulayan
and Malaysia Marvel / Top Cow artist Billy Tan were just a few of the many
industry icons and experts.
The
day was simply packed with events. There were fan sessions and autograph
signing sessions as well as interviews,
talks and presentations galore with everyone from MDEC to Gilamon, Rhythm &
Hues (on demystify digital visual special effects) as well as KDU's own Bazil
Akmal, Chapter Coordinator for the International Game Developer Association
(IGDA) Malaysia to talk about careers in the gaming industry. Attendees were
also given access to the making of "Tekken: Blood Vengeance” by the
acclaimed director of Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Mouri Youichi!
Sunday
saw Jay Tablante giving a detailed presentation, "What's Cosplay
Photography All About?" which focused on photography as an art form that
must focus on the subject as opposed to technology and techniques. Ubisoft
Singapore was also on hand to discuss what "developing world class
content" takes.
The highlights
of the day were twofold: The first was the "meet the fans" sessions
with Alodia who looked simply stunning as the character "Mirai" from
Mirai Millennium. The second was Fight Saber Malaysia whose exhibition duels
(three performances, each with three to five duels) during the course of the day.
For
those who could drag themselves away from Diablo 3, or Modern Warfare 3 to try
gaming on a console, it was a battle on the Playstation 3 with Street Fighter X
Tekken on Saturday and Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3. Some however, prefer not to
play games, and prefer to develop games. They had the opportunity to join the
24-Hour GameDevThon, which is exactly what it sounds like: Twenty-four hours to
develop a game from scratch fueled by pizza and cha time. For artists and
graphic novelists, and even those who just want a challenge, the 24-Hour Comics
Challenge was exactly that: Storyboard, write and draw a comic in24-Hours.
Suffice to say that while nobody came in Cosplay as a zombie there were a
number of them shambling around on Sunday.
Those
looking for books, back issues of comics and related merchandise were spoiled
for choice with over vendors selling everything from Avengers through to G.I.
Joe, and X-men comics. “Borders” was also on hand, selling a selection of
current and back issued graphic novels and of course a selection of bestselling
novels. Carlo Pagulayan was on hand, doing a limited number of commissioned
works, as were Confused Monkey Studios, who boasted the youngest artists on the
floor at ten and seven years old! Their work was great and I can see them both
as comic artists, or graphic novelists in the future.
Jay Tablante also held an exhibition of works
that were on sale and of the twenty works on sale.
Of
course, no games and comics convention would be complete without the Cosplayers
themselves. Alodia stopped traffic on both days in the guise of Black Widow
(Saturday) and Mirai (Sunday). Star Wars fans were out in force with 501 Legion
brining out their heavies - Dark Vader, Darth Maul supported by Storm Troopers
and Republic Commandos. There were a few surreal moments when PMCG brought an
assault rifle to a lightsaber duel, and a certain KDU staff (who shall remain
nameless) learned the folly of mocking a short tempered Sith Lord with a
lightsaber.
No
matter how you look at it, the gamers, gaming addicts, comic addicts, graphic
novelists of Malaysia got to share their passion, making the event one that
successfully blended community and industry together. With a little bit of
luck, KDU will be hosting this next year. There's a couple of pictures here,
but there are literally hundreds more available on KDU University College's
Facebook page, so check them out!
Source: Adam Majid (Special Projects, Executive)
No comments:
Post a Comment