Comic Con Astana 2023 attracts 70,000 attendees

The international Comic Con festival has come to an end in Astana. It has become a real three-day holiday dedicated to the industry of anime, comics, video games and cinema for the guests and participants of the event. Fans were surprised by the rich festival program. The biggest highlight for them was a meeting with the main headliners, including Michael Rooker, the star of “Guardians of the Galaxy”. In an exclusive interview with our TV channel, the actor noted that such a large-scale event is a practical step in the development of the creative industry.

“We can do so much in the film world now with CGI and special effects, all those comic books with superheroes, we can make that come to life. You know the pendulum, swings one way, swings all the way back. The same thing happens in the film industry. The pendulum swings one way where all superheroes, comic books are coming alive, but there are always filmmakers, writers and actors, who much prefer the other side of pendulum,” said Michael Rooker, Comic Con Astana headliner.

It should be noted that a range of new characters was presented at the alley of comic book authors organized as part of Astana Comic Con. It featured a great variety of works by both foreign and domestic artists. Kazakh authors presented comic books for every taste and preference of fans of this art.

“We are presenting two comic books in Comic Con Astana, ‘Adamtas’ and ‘Zhastyk Shak’ in the Kazakh and English languages. They will soon be released online,” noted Aigerim Abdramanova, producer at an animation studio. 

“We are currently filming the ‘Batyr from the Past’ movie. The film is at the final stage of its production, we are planning to present it in December. Within the premiere, we are preparing a comic version,” shared Rustem Slamkhan, marketing director of a film studio.

Legendary characters from foreign bestsellers also spoke in Kazakh. Personnel of Kazakhstan’s publishing houses told about their work in translating books and comics.

“Our company translates world bestsellers into the Kazakh language to make them understandable to Kazakh readers. We’ve recently translated all seven parts of Harry Potter. They are in great demand,” said Ablai Sultan, artist and publishing house translator.

Comic Con Astana 2023 is a vivid testament to the growing interest in geek culture. This year more than 70,000 people have attended the festival. The organizers hope to hold such a grand event next year.