Gotham City’s loss is our gain when a life-sized and legal Batmobile makes its way south for Comic Gong. Photo: Zac Mihajlovic.
Holy horsepower, Batman! A bona fide, legal and road-ready Batmobile will be hard to miss as it rolls into the Gong this week — but behind the wheel, in place of Bruce Wayne is Sydney’s Zac Mihajlovic.
The self-made caped crusader of car customisation is back for Comic Gong, where he’s been a fixture since its inception.
Like the real Batmobile, Zac’s full-scale version — a meticulous replica of the vehicle from the 1989 movie — is more than just eye candy, a crowd magnet and a photo op; it sprang from a desire to do good.
Zac was looking for ways to get involved with charity, particularly to help sick kids, and settled on dressing up as his favourite superhero. While he was researching the costume, some Batmobile parts from the original 1989 film came up in an auction.
Those parts were the catalyst for a two-year project that saw Zac, with help from a couple of expert engineers, build a registered, fully functional, jaw-dropping Batmobile.
With it, an aluminium mask he fashioned himself and a costume made by a local creator, Zac became part of a network of real-life heroes who use their custom suits and cars to brighten the lives of sick kids and support community causes.
Most Batmobiles start with the cut-up chassis of an old Lincoln, but they’re too valuable now. That’s why Zac’s Batmobile was built from scratch.
Luckily, his unusual upbringing made him the right man for the job.
Zac was raised by his grandparents, and his grandfather was a mechanical engineer.
“Growing up we were always making things. I always had the coolest slingshots and toys. To this day I still have my Year 12 design technology project – a motorcycle trailer,” he said.
“We started humble and eventually started restoring old cars together. We got more and more extreme and this is where it led us.
“I love watching people’s reactions to the Batmobile. It’s such a cool piece of memorabilia and people have a real emotional connection to it. It provides escapism because it’s so out of this world.”
Ash Sargent says lightsaber combat is a form of dance expressed through martial arts form and technique. Photo: Chasing Rabbits.
Alongside the Batmobile, fans at this year’s Comic Gong can expect a super-charged line-up of cosplayers, artists, traders and pop culture panels — plus a few surprises worthy of their own origin story.
Whether you’re Team DC, Marvel, anime or indie, the Gong’s biggest geekfest has something for every flavour of fandom.
Ash Sargent is a case in point — the director at Wollongong’s Ironsaber Academy will be staging demonstrations at the event.
The academy offers training in a sort of home-brew swordplay, combining techniques from fencing, a variety of martial arts like kendo and specialised lore-informed choreography.
Participants use specially made lightsabers fashioned from durable, combat-grade polycarbonate. Yes, they glow, and yes, they make the sounds.
Ash was inspired to start the business a few years ago when he looked into lightsaber combat for himself.
“There was nobody around who taught it, so I taught myself,” he said. “I studied forms of swordplay and martial arts, plus lightsaber lore and sort of developed my own curriculum.”
Ash’s students range from people who simply want to learn artistic flow methods like “saber spinning”, so they can pull off a few cool moves, to those more interested in theatrical combat aspects like duelling and other more hardcore disciplines dedicated to learning fight sequences.
“All forms are a kind of dance with lightsabers, expressed through form and technique,” Ash said.
First held in 2013 at Corrimal District Library and Community Centre, Comic Gong now attracts more than 10,000 fans of all ages for a fun, immersive and inclusive experience unlike any other.
The full, jam-packed and eclectic Comic Gong experience takes place this Saturday 24 May from 10 am to 3 pm at Dapto Ribbonwood Centre.
