While OTAKUKON 2023 is going to be Zimbabwe’s first ever full day anime convention, a lot of work has been done and continues to be done to grow the community. One such section of the community is that of comic books and manga. A significant portion of the OTAKUKON community has read or continues to read manga and comic books, most of these are read on digital platforms. We would like to see the comic book and manga community grow in Zimbabwe. That said we want to grow several elements; the comic book and manga creation side as well as the consumption, that is, the readers.
Creating comic books is not an easy task. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and creativity. One of the biggest challenges around creating comic books is learning how to do it as a business. Many artists struggle with the business side of things, such as marketing, distribution, and financing. OTAKUKON Zimbabwe aims to help artists overcome these challenges by providing them with the lessons and opportunities they need in order to nurture the skills necessary to obtain the resources required.
How to go about growing the comic book and manga community in Zimbabwe
Comic Book Competitions
This year, OTAKUKON has already hosted a comic book competition in partnership with Bill Masuku, one of Zimbabwe’s most successful comic book authors. Bill is an author who’s work consistently has him featuring at Comic Con Africa and on projects with big names like Netflix. Together we share a passion around African and even more specifically, Zimbabwean storytelling. There are a lot of stories to tell within Zimbabwe and over time and with more comic books coming out, the quality and quantity of these stories can be vastly improved upon.
Comic Book and Manga Libraries
In the 5 year window to follow, we would like to establish a comprehensive library of manga and comic books, ranging from local to international works. We understand that coming up with this collection of books will not be easy to begin with so we will work at it slowly and engage partners with a keen interests in the cultural exchange benefits of a program like this one and the literary impact it can have on a country like ours.
Once we have built up a small library, the starting point will be to have a library active at OTAKUKON mini events. This will allow attendees to take a seat and read one or some of the books available while the event goes on. This will hopefully mature into a mobile or even a physical location library at the end of our 5 years. Accessibility to this content will not only benefit readers and enthusiasts but it will also benefit local creators by giving them a channel to distribute their work. OTAKUKON events
