Riding the seemingly ceaseless wave of pop culture, comic conventions have become a global mainstream event, including in Indonesia.

Organized by Reed Panorama Exhibition in Jakarta since 2015, Indonesia Comic Con is part of the ReedPOP portfolio, which covers over 40 comic con events such as New York Comic Con, Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, PAX, Oz Comic Con and Star Wars Celebration.

With online marketplace Shopee Indonesia as a major partner starting this year, the latest Indonesia Comic Con — held in October at two of the largest halls of the Jakarta Convention Center, Central Jakarta — recorded a steady increase in both participants and visitors.

“The pop culture-based industry is not a large industry, but it’s not on a small scale either. Tens of thousands of visitors a day is a good number because all of them are pop culture fans,” said Reed Panorama exhibitions project director Maria Achti.

The number of daily visitors this year increased to 30,000 from 10,000 last year, thanks to easier access provided by Shopee’s online ticketing system.

During the early years of Indonesia Comic Con, there were only about a dozen artists selling comic books or hand-drawn comic and anime characters.

Today, the Artist Alley section was extended to cater to more artists selling everything from comic print T-shirts, accessories made of Lego toys and merchandise of characters of their own.

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