National retailer QBD Books is bringing its inaugural Mini-Con to Maribyrnong, showcasing the booming ‘manga’ genre of books, comics and graphic novels.
Mini-Con is a free event that draws inspiration from the Oz Comic-Con and Supanova conventions.
Both centre on manga, anime, cosplay, and video games – and aims to bring a convention feel to suburban and regional consumers, who may not always be able to access these events.
Running in Highpoint Shopping Centre from Thursday, September 7, to Sunday, September 10, Mini-Con will feature four days of manga giveaways, gift vouchers, cosplay competitions, and manga/anime character standees.
The promotion forms part of QBD’s wider Book Fest activation, which is running across Australia from Thursday, August 17, until Sunday, September 10.
QBD Books chief executive Nick Croydon said while manga has an already-established fan base in Australia, QBD has seen an enormous amount of growth in the sector.
“There has been a continuing growth in the popularity of manga in Australia since 2017, when publishers Simon & Schuster picked up the media imprint for the US-based Viz manga titles, making this genre more readily accessible to Aussie consumers,” he said.
“Popularity then exploded during the COVID-enforced lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, when people consumed a lot of anime via streaming services, and wanted to read the corresponding source material in manga graphic novels.
“Location-wise, the growth in manga fandom is widespread, so we came up with the idea of Mini-Con as a natural way to bring the feel of an event such as Oz Comic-Con to people in suburban and regional areas, to help us meet the voracious appetite our valued customers have for these stories.”
During Mini-Con, Australian manga fans will have access to popular titles such as Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen and Spy x Family, with a special ‘buy one get one half price’ offer available on Viz titles.
