Metro Comic Con 2009: Where are the comics?

Metro Comic Con was held last August 8 and 9 in Megamall Megatrade Hall 1 & 2.   The event was organized by HobbyLink Productions, Inc. and was to be the biggest gathering of comics, comic book enthusiasts, artists, and publishers in the country.  I was able to attend the first day of the convention.

Entrance to the event was PhP100.00 though it wasn't abundantly clear when I was trying to find the price on their website.  There wasn't much of a line to the ticket booth and the entrance which was rather a welcoming site.  The event space was rather huge and quite spacious.  I did like the floor plan for the event. It was clear and unobtrusive.  They placed the stage area on the far right of the event hall, the major sponsors and exhibitors were placed in the middle with enough walking space to walk in between them, and the comics and independent titles on the far left of the event space.  I love the fact that there was so much space. 

There were a lot of booths and merchandise being sold at the events, typical of what you would see in a convention of this size.  There were times from toys, collectibles to anime and fashion merchandise.  However, it became quite clear that there was a severe lack of comics at this convention.  This is sad considering this is a comics convention.  Observers have said that this was more like a toy fair than a comics convention.

The independent comics market was cramped into the smallest section of the event space.  The artists were squeezed in so much that each artist had only a chair to sit on and the area in front of the chair to sell their titles.  You'd literally bump the person next to you if you so much as moved your hands and arms.  Noticeably as well that there were people standing behind the chairs, presumeably part of the artists/publishers but not having enough space for them to even sit. 

The organizers also had some trouble with regard to the limited amount of slots for the indies market to sponsors trying to reserve slots for tables/booths at the convention.  This reporter has also confirmed that New Worlds Alliance was also invited to the event as a sponsor, however, the invite came just a few weeks before the event and so the group had declined to join.

I had heard issues as well with regard to the security of the event.  An artist and guest speaker for the event had a laptop stolen.  It was even announced on stage.  It seeed for the next few hours they had checked everyone coming out of the convention to see if they had the said laptop.  However, in the end it seems that it was never returned. 

One of my expectations for this convention was that it was going to be a celebration of geekdom and that there wouldn't be a cosplay competition.  Of course, I am not saying there shouldn't be any cosplay as what is a comics convention without people portraying their favorite comic book characters, but I was hoping that they didn't need to have an actual competition to draw crowds. 

Day 1 was Costrip Day in partnership with COSPLAY.PH.  Cosplayers could come in their favorite outfits paying homage to our favorite local and western superheroes, or characters from anime and manga.  While I like the idea, what I couldn't wrap my head around is the idea that you would need to register to actually join in the costrip.  So what exactly is the difference now between a "registered costripper" and a cosplayer who competes?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of what a costripper is?  You decide.

I guess when it comes right down to it, Metro Comic Con was more of a typical mainstream convention.  While it was a moderate success, as a comics convention, it lacked focus on the true goal of the event.  Komikon, who caters to independent artists and comic titles, does a better job at providing a venue for comics in the rather small event space of Bahay ng Alumni than Metro Comic Con has.  Hopefully, by next year there would be vast improvements.

Some other views regarding the convention has been provided by Project Otaking - Otagonzo: Metro Comic Con 2009 and by Magnetic Rose - Metro Comic Convention 2009 Event Report.

I leave you now with some pictures from Day 1 of Metro Comic Con.