Cosplay festival brings universes together for charity
Heroes and villains from all of the comic and film universes descended on a Sandwell shop for a day of fun.
The Cosplay Festival at Voodoo Attic and Crosswell Inns in Langley on Saturday saw characters from the Marvel universe mix with those from the Star Wars Galaxy and the DC universe.
Darth Vader, Boba Fett and a collection of Jawas were seen, as were two different types of Spiderman and Judge Dredd, all in the name of charity for Central Legion and Volks Magic.
Paul Johnson organised the festival as a way of bringing more attention to his home of Langley and as part of his own personal love of collecting and cosplay.
He said: "I've been into this for quite a few years as a collector and through selling at my shop Voodoo Attic and at Comic Cons and Toy fairs.
"Every year, I do a little event for Central Legion, such as having a Halloween display in the shop window in October 2020 with Batman and a scarecrow, as we were under lockdown and couldn't have Halloween parties.
"I then revamped my story in February, with Stormtroopers outside, and everyone went nuts, so I knew I had something and, instead of a Comic Con when you have celebrity signings, I decided to do a family fun day with cosplayers.
"I also wanted to boost the local economy of Langley through working with the charities and put it on the map as it gets overlooked at times and I wanted to do something about that."
The day featured a raffle with a lot of prizes, a series of table top vendors selling comics and crafts and a cosplay competition, with three categories of Under 10s, 11 to 16 and 17 and over, with all money raised being split between Central Legion and Volks Magic.
Mr Johnson said cosplaying was a way for people to inhabit their heroes through dressing up and portraying them and said he knew a lot of people who went to different events and raised money for charity.
He also spoke about his own character, which was inspired by the Judge Dredd comics.
He said: "I have a cosplay character called Judge Voodoo, which was inspired by my friend Richard Abbott as he has a Judge Dredd outfit and we've done a uniform mash-up and created a universe of what Britain would be like after the apocalypse.
"It's fun to play that character and I'd like to be able to run these events again and have spoken to one of the local councillors about making it bigger and better next year.
"Cosplay, to me, is about bringing smiles to faces and allowing people to be able to play their favourite characters, as well as seeing kids enjoy interacting with Batman and Superman."
