BENGALURU: The sixth edition of Bengaluru Comic Con is here this weekend and once again there is a lineup of international artistes. City Express sits for a quick chat with Tabitha Lyons, a pro-cosplayer from the UK, and John Layman, an American comic book writer and author of the Chew series.
1. How were you introduced to Cosplay?
I found out about cosplay via Facebook. I always loved dressing up and playing games. Back in 2012, my father and I couldn’t stop playing Skyrim and we thought it would be really cool to design some armours inspired by the game. The photos we had clicked started to go a bit viral and everyone started commenting things like “cool cosplay”! I had no idea what cosplay was then so I did some research and feel in love with the idea. A few months later I attended my first convention.
2. I read an article about you where it was mentioned you spent £5,000 to cosplay Daenerys Targaryen. Is this true? If yes, tell us how did you do that and why?
This story is not true, you always have to be careful of whom your give interviews to as they love to twist the story to gain attention.
3. What characters have you cosplayed and what are your most memorable ones?
A costume that really stands out for me currently is my Wonder Woman cosplay. It’s my most recent costume and Warners Brothers sponsored us to make it so that we could teach people how to make the cosplay live on our Twitch streams.
4. Do you still have the dragon you made? How did you make that?
We don’t, we sold it to a gaming shop in Croatia. A lot of effort was put in to make that.
5. Who will you be at Bangalore Comic Con?
I will be Wonder Woman on Saturday and Supergirl on Sunday!
6. Have you participated in Comic Con India before?
I have never been to India before and I can’t wait to attend!
7. What are you looking forward to the most?
I can’t wait to see everyone’s cosplays! They always brighten up the halls!
8. Do you think Comic Con is a recognised profession in the UK as well as in India?
For me cosplay is all about having fun in costume and that’s it! There is a lot of aspects that require professionalism within cosplay which I think people recognise, for instance making props and modelling.
9. What are the challenges you face as a Cosplayer?
For me it’s always trying to find time to work on my own costumes! Time is so precious!
10. Who is your Cosplay inspiration?
My dad has always been the person I look up too. He is one of those annoying people that can make anything! I also love looking at Volpin props work, it’s just stunning!
11. Is there any Indian that you would like to don the look of? If yes, tell us who and why?
I recently cosplayed Captain Nimue and I loved it! All the gold bangles made her a pretty character. I would love to do more Indian characters – symmetra from Overwatch is a must!
12. What does Cosplay mean to you?
Cosplay to me is having fun in costume. Having fun making a costume, making friends at conventions and geeking out over the same fandoms are few of the best parts.
13. Do you have funny cosplay moments?
This is such a hard question. I remember when I was in my full armour (Kitiara cosplay) and I took my helmet off, a woman next to me went “Oooh it’s a girl!” She was so shocked her reaction made me laugh.. . Yes female can wear armours too!
1. What was your favourite comic when growing up?
Star Wars was my gateway into comics. Shortly after that it was Rom and Micronauts.
2. Who/what was your inspiration for Chew?
I had a grumpy friend named Tony who Tony Chu was based on. And the story came out of what I saw as ridiculous excesses of the George Bush administration. When CHEW was first conceived, there was a lot of news chatter about a bird flu. I thought, if a bird flu really did come and kill millions of people, how would the Bush administration respond? Why, they’d outlaw chicken, of course!
3. How did you get started with comics? Tell us your journey.
I was in newspapers, writing about comics, and attracted the attention of Jim Lee’s WildStorm Studios, which hired me as an assistant editor. I did that for a while, but went back to the newspaper, where I wrote a comic book column in the Books section. WildStorm later hired me back as a full editor. After several years doing that DC bought WildStorm, and I was suddenly a DC editor. I did that for a few more year and figured I learned as much as I needed to learn to strike it out as a freelancer. That was in 2001. I’ve been writing comics ever since.
4. Who are your favourite comic characters and why?
Batman and Spider-Man, mostly for their awesome rogue’s gallery. I also like the family dynamics of The Fantastic Four.
5. What are your thoughts on comics being adapted to movies? Which is your favourite one and why?
I tend to like all the Marvel movies, because I can enjoy them with my entire family. I have a ten year old, and, in years past, DC movies have been too dark enjoy with him. And that’s just wrong. A Superman movie not suitable for children? So we enjoy the Marvel movies together, and I’m a big fan of how accessible they are, and how they can serve to introduce comic characters and comics to people who might not otherwise get into a comic book store or give comics a chance.
6. Have you watched the new Justice League movie? What are your thoughts on it?
No, I’ve concluded DC movies are not for me. I was lukewarm on the Batman movies, and HATED Superman Returns, Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad. The movies were too dark, bleak and serious. By the time Wonder Woman came out, an actual decent DC movie, I found I no longer cared about the DC cinematic universe.
7. What word of advice would you give to aspiring comic book writers?
Don’t give up. It’s a rough, long, winding road, and it never takes anybody to the exact same place.