National manga event to take over Penrith book store this September

Manga fun is coming to Penrith.
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National retailer QBD Books is bringing its inaugural Mini-Con to Penrith, showcasing the booming ‘manga’ genre of books, comics and graphic novels, which has surged in popularity in the last five years.

Mini-Con is a free event that draws inspiration from the popular Oz Comic-Con and Supanova conventions – which centre on manga, anime, cosplay, and video games – and aims to bring a convention feel to regional consumers, who may not always be able to access these predominantly city-based events.

Running in special pop-up locations in Westfield Penrith from Thursday, September 7 to Sunday, September 10, Mini-Con will feature four days of manga giveaways, gift vouchers, cosplay competitions, and manga/anime character standees.

The promotion forms part of QBD’s wider Book Fest activation, which is running across Australia.

While manga has an already-established fan base in Australia, QBD has seen an enormous amount of growth in the sector, says QBD Books CEO Nick Croydon.

“There has been a continuing growth in the popularity of manga in Australia since 2017, when publishers Simon & Schuster picked up the media imprint for the US-based Viz manga titles, making this genre more readily accessible to Aussie consumers,” he explained.

“Popularity then exploded during the COVID-enforced lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, when people consumed a lot of anime via streaming services, and wanted to read the corresponding source material in manga graphic novels.

“Location-wise, the growth in manga fandom is widespread, so we came up with the idea of Mini-Con as a natural way to bring the feel of an event such as Oz Comic-Con to people outside of our capital cities, to help us meet the voracious appetite our valued customers have for these stories.”

A manga event is coming to Penrith.

According to Sarah McConville, Fiction Buyer and Category Manager at QBD Books, Mini-Con will cater to the incredible local community of manga, anime, comics, and cosplay fans, as well as a new generation of readers.

“One of the things people love about manga is the community it generates – when you find someone who likes the same thing as you it’s super exciting, and when you find a community in your local area, it’s like coming home,” she said.

“Manga appeals to a lot of different people because the stories are easy to read, and mostly consist of fun, action-packed adventures. As a genre, shonen manga has always been a gateway to reading for young adult male readers, but it is now reaching a broader audience, with adults snapping up these titles as well.

“Manga is an inclusive community that is also popular with all genders in the 18-38 age range, but we’re now finding these demographics are being broken down as families and older readers begin to immerse themselves in manga.”

During Mini-Con, Australian manga fans will have access to popular titles such as Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen and Spy x Family, with a special ‘buy one get one half price’ offer available on Viz titles.

To find out more about the QBD Books Mini-Con, please visit: http://www.qbd.com.au.

Weekender Newsroom

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