Saudi Arabia Finally Got Their First Comic Con

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia finally accepted Western entertainment and comic books, as well as showing evolving social norms by hosting its first comic convention this past week.

At Saudi Comic-Con, over 20,000 co-mingled while checking out the cosplay and panels, including an appearance by Doctor Strange’s Mads Mikkelsen. Comic book, video game, and anime fans celebrated on what could have been a milestone to Saudi.

The global comics expo was held in Jeddah under the favor of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, as part of the kingdom’s “Vision 2030" initiative. The goal is to issue a wave of cultural reforms that will diversify the kingdom’s economy further into entertainment and away from oil dependency.

There were separate entrances for men and women, as is custom, but they weren’t segregated at the event itself. Women kept on their traditional abayas, even if they were wearing costumes. There was a private women’s-only tent where they could show their costumes to other women.

A lot of Saudi nationals wanted to repeat this event annually. Many of them never expected the government to sponsor a comic convention, giving them a chance to publicly bond with others over their mutual love of comic book heroes and video games.

All images are from Associated Press