• 2025 event to take place on 30 and 31 August at Kolamba Kamatha

One of the key events that celebrates geek culture and creative expression, while also supporting small businesses, artists, and creators, is Lanka Comic Con. Founded by members of the Geek Club of Sri Lanka, Lanka Comic Con is now managed by the Lanka Comic Con Trust, a nonprofit.

This year will see the year 10 edition of the event, with Lanka Comic Con 2025 set to take place on 30 and 31 August. It will be held at Kolamba Kamatha, BMICH, Colombo, with key segments including cosplay showcases, tabletop games, workshops, performances, the artists’ alleys, trivia contests, and fandom meetups.

Given the significance of the 2025 event, organisers and partners of Lanka Comic Con recently addressed the media to share more details about the event.

Building a community

Speaking about the community that has grown around the event, Lanka Comic Con Trust Principal Trustee Thilani Samarasinha explained that the event has been something very dear to the organisers, volunteers, partners, and attendees. This means that the event goes beyond one of commercial value or one done for publicity.

“It has been something that people have done with a lot of heart. And that includes our sponsors and vendors, because in 10 years, most of these people have become friends,” Samarasinha said, adding that the community and its involvement is how the event gained momentum.

Over the years, this community has seen school-leavers wishing to explore their talent becoming professional designers and young attendees of the initial events attending more recent events with their spouse and children.

During the panel discussion, Samarasinha elaborated on this further. She explained that Lanka Comic Con was different to other global comic cons for many reasons. One was how costly it was to bring down foreign artists and celebrities. However, on the other hand, the founding members also wanted to give a platform to the actors, filmmakers, artists, and other creators within the local community who needed that visibility and recognition.

This thinking enabled Lanka Comic Con to become an incubator, where people and small businesses could share their ideas and concepts and meet potential customers.

“That’s how it has grown and evolved. And we are very much these community-spirited people who want to try and discover new talent,” she said, adding: “We want to find talent within our own communities and bring it to public attention.”

Over time, the perception of Lanka Comic Con has also changed to become more inclusive. Samarasinha admitted that the initial perception was that Lanka Comic Con was for certain English-speaking circles. Pop culture being based in Hollywood and using English language as a primary medium contributed to this perception.

However, today’s geek interests such as anime and manga don’t originate from Hollywood. Nor are they originally created in English. Such works transcend any language barriers, with fans from all parts of Sri Lanka, whether they speak English, Sinhala, or Tamil, coming together at Lanka Comic Con to express their creativity and meet people with the same interests.

“We want it to be an event for everybody. It doesn’t have to be necessarily a certain economic demographic or a language demographic. You can come be yourself, whoever you are,” Samarasinha said.

Inclusive and safe

Lanka Comic Con founding member and Paintedfigs founder Navin Weeraratne also addressed the gathering, saying that Lanka Comic Con is different to the many other events we see in Colombo because it is very much a cultural celebration of a specific cultural group.

“About 12 years ago, some friends and I got together and started something called the Geek Club of Sri Lanka. And it was exactly what it sounds like. It’s a bunch of nerds playing with their toys and talking about their cartoons,” Weeraratne said.

He explained that people already had their interests, but the founders wanted to connect them and create a space where they were comfortable sharing what they were doing with each other and the larger world outside. This was especially needed since many geeks feel completely alone or made fun of, Weeraratne added.

“We wanted to get these people to come out and share. And we knew Geek Club would be something that would help make this happen,” he said, describing how Lanka Comic Con became a place of community for people who felt isolated.

In terms of creating a safe space, Samarasinha stressed that Lanka Comic Con has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. The event is also LGBTQIA+ friendly.

“We do not tolerate people who would bully or cast comments or in any way make people feel uncomfortable,” she said, adding: “If someone is harassed at Lanka Comic Con, the harasser will be banned. They will be escorted out.”

Support and partnerships

Anim8.lk Chair Dinesh Rajawasan shared his thoughts as a long-term partner of the event, saying joining in when the event was still in its early years was very much a leap of faith. “It started very small, and then it grew. Every year, it became bigger and bigger and every year I get surprised at the scale that it has become,” he said.

Speaking about the community that has built around Lanka Comic Con, Rajawasan said: “That inclusivity has gone from strength to strength, because the people who are behind it have pushed that narrative of inclusivity and getting more people, and increasing availability and the accessibility.”