Comic World: Busan's Comic Convention

Comic World is a bi-monthly comic convention held at BEXCO in Haeundae. I'd heard about it the first few months I got here, but information on it seemed a little elusive, so when I finally found out definite dates for this weekend, it was on!

As soon as we walked into BEXCO's square, we could see girls with long candyfloss coloured hair, lots of masks, tails, wings and other unusual body parts. There were some pretty impressive characters just casually milling around, nonchalantly posing for photos whenever anyone asked. It was a swelteringly hot day, so I don't know how any of them could stand to be in the heat in their big, padded costumes, but they all looked fantastic.

We decided to hide from the sun and went inside. The entrance fee was only ₩4,000, so even though none of us are avid comic book fans we decided to check it out. It was a massive room half filled with stalls advertising all types of comic book characters.

Lots of the characters were manga-esque, all doe eyed with long pigtails and big smiles. Even more amusing were the comic books that made it very obivous where they took their inspiration from. We saw a Mr Burns style character and no face looked like he'd been lifted right out of Spirited Away. Every stall was selling comics, pens, badges and bags, to the point that it all got quite samey.

Lots of noise came from the stage that had been set up, and literally everyone started running towards it and sat on the floor, we followed but sadly it was a quiz completely in Korean that wasn't very visual.

From inside the event, you could tell it was a frequent thing, it lacked the atmosphere and excitement that one off events have, and it felt more like a gathering of old friends who saw each other at every event. Not that that's a bad thing. Before leaving though, we found our favourite costume of the day, which we aptly named Bag Head. There were so many intricate costumes with lots of props and poses to boot, that this guy stood out like a sore thumb with a painted paper bag on his head. I would love it if anyone could tell me if this is actually a character or whether it was his own artistic endeavour.

We eventually headed back outside to take some more pictures. We found a nazi who was very modest about what poses he was happy to do in his uniform, a girl with wings that looked like they weighed more than her and the most extravagant costume, which was a girl in a pink, frilly number and a long green wig.

I loved seeing everyone dressed up, it was interesting to see how much effort they made and the attention to detail they paid to their costumes. It's pure dedication travelling across the city in costume in that heat!! If you're a comic book fanatic then I imagine this would be the perfect way to spend an afternoon. If, like me, Scott Pilgrim is the limit of your comic world knowledge, then I don't think you would miss much from not going into the actual event. The spectacle of the other guests outside was enough for me!