As Middle East Film & Comic Con prepares to celebrate its fifth anniversary this weekend, we caught up with co-founder Arafat Ali Khan to get the story so far.
In the beginning
“It was one of those moments where Ben [Caddy, co-founder] and myself were just talking like geeks, saying: ‘Why doesn’t someone bring Comic Con to the Middle East?’
“We did a double take, looked at each other and went ‘hang on – we’re geeks. We have a communications agency that does PR and advertising. Why don’t we do it?’
“That was in 2010 and we started researching and talking to people then, although the first event wasn’t until 2012.
“It was just a question of faith in the idea. I think the timing was auspicious, too. We didn’t time it that way intentionally, but it was right at that time that superhero movies were really picking up.
“We had no idea how successful it would be, but it just kept growing and it’s become crazy now.”
Growing places
“We started out at Dubai International Marine Club. In 2012 we attracted about 15,000 people, which we thought was not bad for a first event. Last year, we had more than 54,000.
“We’re not creating this growth with some business plan to grow the venture, it’s just that people keep coming.
"And it's not just the fans but the exhibitors, too. For example, this year we have Nickelodeon exhibiting and they're bringing down Kevin Eastman, the co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
“This is the real beauty, in our eyes, that it just brings so many passionate people – we almost don’t even have to try.”
Maintaining the ‘vibe’
“The really cool thing about starting where we did, at DIMC, was that outdoor festival area and all the activities going on the stage there. That was very special and something that we wanted to keep when we moved to [World Trade Centre in 2014]. It’s something other events I’ve been to don’t really do, but it works well for families, for fans – and makes it a proper weekend out.
“We’ve been really careful to keep that same festival, fun vibe in the new venue because that’s what we’re all about. We loved DIMC, but it just wasn’t viable anymore.
“The reason the event works so well is because we’re all geeks and we look at what we would want as fans, not at market research.
“For example, this year we’ll have, I think, the most food trucks of any event at the trade centre – I think we have 13 this year, which is almost like a food festival on the side.”
More than a convention
“We could make the whole event so much simpler, just get a few tables and some comic-book sellers, a few celebrity guests.
“But we really want to create a true platform, for local fans, artists and publishers. That’s a really big part of what we do – we want to help local comic-book artists get their work out there, too.
“I think that separates us from a lot of events. This is our home and we want an event that’s the best it can be and that we’re really proud of.”
The inside scoop
"We've Got Darryl McDaniels coming this year – aka DMC from Run DMC – because he's doing his own comic book now [DMC, from McDaniel's own Darryl Makes Comics imprint, co-written by him and Damion Scott], so he's going to be doing a short slot at the event, and he's also going to play at one of the official after parties, too, so that's really cool. We'll be making an official announcement before the event.
A capital idea
“I can’t give too much away, but we’re going to be launching an event in Abu Dhabi in October.
“It will be a pop-culture show that we’ll be building up based on Comic Con, but in a different genre focusing strongly on animation. We’ll have an official announcement at Friday’s MEFCC press conference in Dubai.”
cnewbould@thenational.ae
