I've attended Comic World twice now, once last fall and again this weekend. As far as cons go, Comic World is pretty basic: there's a big room for people to sell their art and there are cosplayers. There are events too, but nothing as extravagant as what I'm used to seeing at American cons. In fact, Comic World is pretty small when directly compared to conventions like Comicon in America or Comiket in Japan. But it's the biggest event of it's kind in South Korea, so it's the place to go if you need a con fix.
One of the things I like about Comic World is I get to see where the interests of Korean, American and Japanese fans intersect, as well as where they diverge. From what I could tell, what's popular elsewhere is popular in Korea. Shonen staples like Naruto and Bleach had a strong showing despite their age, fan favorites from Japan like Touhou and Fate/stay night got more attention than I would have expected, and of course, this being Korea and all, a lot of love was given to League of Legends. The most humorous surprise for me was the volume of interest shown in western properties like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty; I didn't think Koreans played any American video games other than League of Legends.
In the artists' room, most of the fanart for sale centered around the already mentioned titles or whatever cute girl show is currently a hit in Japan. I spent about an hour walking up and down the aisles, but pretty quickly it all began to blur together. That's not a crack at any of the artists; by all means the work they had on display exhibited a good degree of talent. It's just that I can only absorb so much anime before feeling over saturated by the countless doe eyed girls with pastel colored hair. Oh, and gay stuff. If you're in the mood for a Thor and Loki forbidden romance comic or some hot Captain America on Iron Man action, look no further than Comic World.
For me, the highlight of Comic World (or any convention for that matter) is the cosplay. The cosplayers at Comic World do not disappoint, though most aren't present inside the actual convention hall. To see the best, you have to go outside and follow the foot bridge behind the building into nearby Yangjae Citizen's Forest, where cosplayers prance about and pose for photographers while old people out for a weekend stroll look on with staunch indifference, having long ago accepted that they must share their woods with costumed invaders every month.
Photo etiquette is about the same as it is in America: ask for a picture, the cosplayer poses, take your photo, do a little bow and say 감사합니다. More popular cosplayers would have a queue of hardcore photography hobbyists lined up to take their pictures; these guys were fully decked out in gear and brandished cameras that looked strong enough to take photos of the American flag up on the moon. I felt intimidated standing next to them with my little Canon Powershot, so I'd wait patiently in back for a turn to get a quick pic.
All of the cosplayers were courteous, and some even attempted to stay in character when I approached them. Every now and then a cosplayer would attempt to speak English with me, and I would return the favor by attempting to speak Korean. Like I wrote about in my hiking post, the people in Korea are more eager to interact with strangers when doing what they love, and cosplay is definitely a case of that.
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