Fantasy Basel

The Fantasy Basel - The Swiss Comic Con is a Swiss convention for film, fantasy, game, comic and cosplay fans. It was first held in Basel from May 14–16, 2015, and has been held annually since then, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With more than 90,000 m2 of space, it is one of the largest pop culture conventions in Europe.

Organizer and venue
The convention was founded by Martin Schorno, the organizer is FantasyCon AG in Zurich. Fantasy Basel - The Swiss Comic Con takes place in the halls of Messe Basel.

Programme
International guests from Hollywood, the film and TV world, fantasy and comics, and the international cosplay scene can be seen on the stages and at autograph sessions and photo sessions. Over 200 illustrators, tattoo artists and urban artists can be met annually at Artist Alley. Cosplay competitions, exhibitions, panel discussions, workshops, premieres, live art shows, game worlds and medieval and steampunk are all part of the program. A hall is dedicated to e-sports as well as gaming, and board games, tabletop and role-playing games are also represented.

History
The first Fantasy Basel - The Swiss Comic Con 2015 attracted more than 20,000 visitors. In the second year, the area was expanded from 15,000 m2 to 30,000 m2. In 2017, the area was finally increased by another 20,000 m2 and the convention recorded a total of 43,000 visitors. In 2018, the event took place on 60,000 m2 for the first time. The fifth anniversary of Fantasy Basel - The Swiss Comic Con took place from May 3 to May 5, 2019 and recorded over 54,000 visitors. In 2020, the festival was held virtually. In 2021, the exhibition area was increased to 70,000 m² and 45,000 visitors were present.

Guests
Every year since it was first held, the convention has featured several guests from different creative industries:


 * Kevin Sussman (The Big Bang Theory)
 * Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones)
 * Natalia Tena (Game of Thrones and Harry Potter)
 * Tom Wlaschiha (Stranger Things, Game of Thrones)
 * Ricky Whittle (The 100)
 * Alfred Enoch (Harry Potter and How to Get Away with Murder)
 * Daniel Portman (Game of Thrones)
 * Georgia Hirst (Vikings)
 * Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts, The Walking Dead)
 * Alison Sudol (Fantastic Beasts, A Fine Frenzy)
 * David Haydn-Jones (Supernatural)
 * Martin Klebba (Pirates of the Caribbean)
 * Sean Pertwee (Gotham, Elementary)
 * Carla Juri (Blade Runner 2049)
 * Angus MacInnes (Star Wars)
 * Josefin Asplund (Vikings)
 * Ian Beattie
 * Toby Sebastian
 * Kiran Shah
 * Didier Queloz (Nobel Prize winner, astronomer)