Highlights from the Middle East Film & Comic Con 2016

Gulf News

Highlights from the Middle East Film & Comic Con 2016. The Middle East Film and Comic Con showcased another eclectic and fun-filled lineup of content on the 7th to 9th April 2016 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. An estimated 70,000 fans from 30 countries attended the highly anticipated event, now in its 5th year here in Dubai to take in some of the best art work from regional and international talent, meet and get autographs from celebrity guests and peruse a plethora of comic fantasy and sci-fi memorabilia.  See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

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00:00The Middle East Film and Comic Con showcase another eclectic and fun-filled lineup of

00:09content on the 7th to the 9th of April 2016 at the Dubai World Trade Center.

00:13An estimated 70,000 fans from 30 countries attended the highly anticipated event, now

00:17in its fifth year here in Dubai, to take in some of the best artwork from regional and

00:21international talent, meet and get autographs from celebrity guests, and peruse a plethora

00:26of comic book fantasy and sci-fi memorabilia.

00:28One of the many highlights of the Comic Con here in Dubai is the Artist's Alley.

00:32Here aspiring artists display their unique take on art and are always happy to talk about

00:36their work and what drives their passion.

00:37My artwork is inspired by the pop culture and the TV shows and the movies that are famous

00:44among the young generation, so I tried to capture those two movies and TV shows in my

00:52own art style.

00:53I'm interested in pop art and crayon melt, so I basically tried to mix both together

01:02by something like this, whereas first it was a canvas and then I melted the crayon, it

01:09was colorful, and then I just like played on one shot with this canvas instead.

01:14Established artists from some of the biggest names in the comic world are also on hand

01:17to meet and greet fans and show off some of their latest work.

01:20This little is the town full of criminals.

01:22This town full of criminals called Eden is where these bad guys are sent to have a new

01:28start, a fresh start with life.

01:30Crime does tend to continue to happen, so Mark, the town's mailman, who has Asperger's

01:35Syndrome, he's able to see these details that everybody else overlooks.

01:40So, he's predisposed to be the town's detective, but he's a Sherlock Holmes type character.

01:45This year, the Middle East Film and Comic Con brought over the creator of the Teenage

01:48Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kevin Eastman.

01:51He shared some insight on how he came up with the idea for one of the most successful comic

01:54franchises in the world.

01:56Peter Laird and myself, we shared a studio and we would team up and try to sell our ideas

02:00and work and things like that, and so one night I thought, if Bruce Lee was an animal,

02:05what would be the silliest animal that he would be?

02:08And I thought of a slow-moving turtle, fast-moving martial arts, and it made me laugh, and so

02:13I did this sketch.

02:15The turtle had a mask on, he had nunchucks strapped to his arms, and I put it on Peter's

02:20desk and I said, this is going to be the next big thing.

02:23You know, ha ha ha.

02:24A ninja turtle.

02:25And he got the response I wanted.

02:27He laughed and he thought it was funny, so we just kept bantering back and forth.

02:31It was like, if one, why not four?

02:33You know, alright, we have four turtles, each with a different weapon, well, what's their

02:37story?

02:38So we just sort of kept working and working, and it evolved as a joke that we enjoyed,

02:45and we wrote all the early issues for us, because we never thought anybody would buy

02:49them.

02:50So we just wrote something fun, and we put everything we loved about comic books into

02:54this idea and this story, and we were very lucky.

02:57Also on hand was Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, better known in comic-con circles as Jamie Lannister

03:02from the ultra-hot TV series Game of Thrones.

03:05I love working on Game of Thrones.

03:07It's a lot of fun.

03:08I mean, at one point it's going to end, and the way they've done it throughout the seasons

03:13is, you know, every character that has gone, it's made sense, it's been great, and you

03:19know, you're telling a story.

03:21So, yeah, I'm going to miss working with those people when that happens, but, you know.

03:27Not to be outdone, anime lovers were also in for a treat, as Veronica Taylor, the veteran

03:32voice actor behind Pokemon's main character Ash Ketchum, was in attendance.

03:36People have talked about, gosh, how watching Pokemon got them through being bullied at

03:42school, it got them through feeling different and not having any way to communicate with

03:47other people.

03:49People have met their spouse through Pokemon, through playing the cards, through a forum,

03:54through whatever.

03:56It's a connecting point, and I feel like for myself at a convention, we start with Pokemon

04:01and we go out from there.

04:03We talk about many other things, but that's where we start.

04:06Just like the Pokemon journey, it has a beginning, but never ends, you know?

04:11So it's been, I'm incredibly humbled by that, and I don't know, I'm just, I mean, here I

04:19am in Dubai, I mean, how crazy is that, from a girl in New York City to here, from just

04:25a job that I worked on.

04:26Of course, one of the main reasons people flock to the Middle East Film and Comic Con

04:30is to take part in cosplay, and the various costumes being worn range from video game

04:34characters, comic and sci-fi characters, to unique designs people thought up just for

04:40the event.

04:41What's the inspiration?

04:42Just like half Zombie, half Antidote, it's like Chucky, actually.

04:46A character from a video game.

04:48Who?

04:49He doesn't have a name, it's just like a guy from, like the guy on the cover, on the cover.

04:54As always, the Middle East Film and Comic Con was a truly unique and colorful experience,

04:58giving fans from around the world a chance to meet some of their comic book heroes, mingle

05:02with celebrities, and a venue to geek out for the weekend with friends and family.

05:06Logan Fish for Tabloid.

05:08Hey, I'm Veronica Taylor, and I'm here at Middle East Film and Comic Con in Dubai, and

05:12for myself and Ash Ketchum, you're watching GNTV!

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