Amin Abbas Dubai

eComic Con Live will be the first virtual Comic Con to take place in the Middle East on July 3, organized Domain Entertainment and Panache Middle East.

The two of the pioneers of pop culture entertainment in the Middle East have banded together to develop a new form of entertainment for the community, starting with an online, live cosplay competition.

Domain Entertainment, a leading pop-culture and talent management company in the region and Panache Middle East, creators of Comic Con Arabia, the first-ever comic con in Riyadh, have joined forces to ensure fans still have a community connection during these challenging times, which saw the cancellations of many major events across the globe.

Arafaat Ali Khan, co-founder of the region’s premiere pop culture event, Comic Con and current Managing Director of Domain Entertainment said, “The idea behind eComic Con Live is to bring as many elements of what people love about Comic Cons to an online, virtual space. From artist workshops to celebrity panels, eventually to merchandise and performances, nothing is off the table.”

“The fans have always been the reason we do this, there wouldn’t be a community without their passion and creativity. Top among them are the cosplayers and we thought this would be a great place to start to keep spirits high as we all adapt to deal with the current world situation,” he added.

Niladri Mondal, CEO of Panache Middle East said: “Our core value and our goal is to engage and bring people together, be it on a traditional or a digital platform. The idea of ‘eComic Con Live’, is a futurist approach to ensure the enthusiastic and engaging community of pop-culture fans are active throughout the year and to bring the entire pop-culture fraternity together globally on one platform. Panache and Domain combined, hold more experience in pop-culture than any other entity in the region and we wish to share this joy globally.”

The ‘eComic Con LIVE’ will kick off with a Cosplay Competition on July 3, which is currently scheduled to take place over a professionally produced LIVE stream to ensure every participant has a chance to shine. Celebrity judges already on board include Michael ‘Knightmage’ Wilson, one of the premiere cosplayers in the world and Cavin Lam, known for his uncannily realistic Spider-man cosplay costumes. Both will be featured on live panels discussing their passion and techniques with the fans in the lead up to the competition.

More details of the Cosplay competition’s entry, prizes and rules are available on www.comicconarabia.com and will eventually migrate to a new stand alone ‘eComic Con Live’ platform in the near future.