US actor Ross Marquand has praised the South African people and the organisers of Comic Con Africa for their warmth and hospitality during his visit to the country.
Marquand who played Aaron in The Walking Dead and Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame is currently in South Africa and one of the many celebrities gracing the pop culture and gaming festival at the Johannesburg Expo Centre (Nasrec).
Comic Con Africa, which started on Friday, has drawn massive crowds dressing up in their favourite characters.
Marquand told The Citizen, he is delighted to be back in South Africa.
“I was at the Cape Town Comic Con in April and that was just incredible, everyone was so nice and friendly. The staff here at Comic Con Africa has been extraordinary and any chance I can come back here I will jump at the opportunity.”
Marquand said he is working on a number of projects.
“I am working on several projects that I am very excited about, but unfortunately because of non-disclosure agreements, I can’t say anything. But, I will just urge people to stay tuned because it is gonna be stuff that I’m most excited about.”
Marquand, who also loves comedy, is awesome at celebrity impersonations. During the interview he impersonated the late James Gandolfini who played the character of Tony Soprano, an Italian-American mafia head in the TV series The Soprano’s.
ALSO READ: More than 80,000 fans expected to attend Comic Con Africa
Meanwhile, the second day of Comic Con Africa welcomed thousands of guests to a sold-out weekend of pop-culture and gaming fun.
On the main stage, South African K-pop dance crew, Seoulflame Saga set the stage ablaze with their performance before South African actor, Steven John Ward, best known for his work in Netflix’s latest hit series One Piece, made his first appearance to give fans the low-down on his recent success and what lies next in his career.
Providing something for old and new fans alike, the con hosted a variety of vendors which spoke to the interest of various fandoms and audiences.
Gaming, which is a growing segment in South Africa, owned hall 5 with incredible free-to-play offerings from Nintendo, Toyota, Koodoo as wells as Doritos who presented the Doritos Crunch Cup.
As the heartbeat of any Comic Con, with its unique positioning inside hall 7, the Artist Alley is a place devoted to celebrating local and international comic book artists, original pieces, fan fiction, and more. Fans get the opportunity to engage with their favourite artists, get their comic books signed, and add to their collections.
Launching the Comic Con Cruise at the festival also created a lot of excitement as fans got ready to embark on a voyage like no other. The first-ever Comic Con Cruise promises to be an extraordinary experience.
Hosted on the MSC Splendida the Comic Con Cruise is setting sail 15 to 18 March 2024 from Durban to Cape Town.
Comic Con continues to amaze and delight visitors, and offers a lot more over the last two days of the con than visitors know.
Only tickets for Monday are still available for purchase on Howler. Also, make sure to check out the Comic Con Africa website for more information on the programme to plan your day.
ALSO READ: Iconic ‘Star Wars’ character C-3PO heading to Comic Con Africa
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.