Cyprus Comic Con welcomes back talented Greek Illustrator Siadora Papatheodorou!
Siadora is a comics artist and illustrator from Athens, Greece. Born in 1994, she always loved to draw and decided to follow her dream of studying art and enrolled at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Siadora mainly creates comics and illustrations and says that telling stories through her artwork is what she enjoys the most. She currently works as a freelance illustrator and has done concept art for video games as well as illustrations for other projects.
Make sure to visit Siadora’s website and to follow her on Instagram to stay up to date with her work!
In 2015, she completed her first comic book titled ‘4,5 SEASONS’, a collection of four-and-a-half fantasy stories, which she self-published and presented at ComicDom Con in Athens. In 2016, she returned with another self-published project titled ‘Danae thrown to the Wolves’, a (slightly longer) fantasy story. In 2017 she took part in the anthology ‘Pizza Pepperoni’ (Enati Diastasi publications, Comicdom Con Athens 2017) and her new comic is called ‘Pyr Nyx Alopyx’, a fantasy fairy tale adventure. She is now working on new stories and comics for the near future.
Illustrator Chrysso Vassiliou is returning to Cyprus Comic Con’s Artists’ Alley for another year!
Chrysso Vassiliou, (also known as “Chryssv”) is a young self-taught freelance artist. She was always a fan of art and design, but her true passion awakened a few years ago, when she started learning digital painting. She loves video games, movies and comics. She is inspired by both eastern (anime/manga) and western cartoons, both 2-D and 3-D. For the past 3 years, she has been taking on freelance commissions as well as selling prints of her art online. She has showcased her work at several events around the world, including Cyprus Comic Con, Malta Comic Con and Japan Expo!
Currently Chrysso is working on becoming a better artist and improving her skills even further. She aspires to work as a professional illustrator and concept artist and looks forward to creating her own video game or comic, or maybe even join a video game studio!
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson’s last name translates to ‘Bear’s Son’. A fitting name for a champion!
Game of Throne’s “The Mountain” is Cyprus Comic Con’s Special Guest Headliner for 2017!
Cyprus Comic Con has the great pleasure and honour of announcing the Icelandic professional strongman and actor Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson,also known as “The Mountain”, as its Special Guest Headliner for CCC17!
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Hafthor Julius Bjornsson), whose last name translates to ‘Bear’s son’, or just “Thor” as his fans fondly call him, was born on November 25, 1988 in Reykjavík, Iceland. With an impressive height of 206 cm (6 ft 9 in) and weighing 200 kg (400 lb), it is no wonder Game of Thrones producers chose Hafþór to play the notoriously fearsome warrior Gregor Clegane – a man known as “The Mountain” due to his enormous build. Prior to his acting and strongman career, Hafþór was a professional basketball player and his towering height made him a hit on the court.
In-Booth Signing & Panel Information
Booth Times*
Saturday: 09:00 – 20:00
Sunday: 09:00 – 20:00
*Hafþór will be at his booth for the entire duration of the event, except for his Q&A panel whose exact times will be announced at a later date)
Booth Prices
Signed Photo Autograph: 20€
Selfie/Photo Opportunity (guest’s own camera): TBA€
Acting Career
Hafþór was cast as Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane for the fourth season of the massively popular HBO series, Game of Thrones in August 2013. The show was looking to replace Ian Whyte who played Gregor Clegane in season 2 and Hafþór possessed just the right height and bulk required to play such a formidable character. He became the first actor to portray Clegane in more than one season, appearing in seasons 4-7.
Hafþór will be reprising his role as Clegane in the 7th season of Game of Thrones, to air on July 16, 2017.
Although he didn’t have any prior acting experience and his audition only included a few lines, the producers were more interested in seeing Hafþór’s movement and handling of a sword. Despite his enormous and muscular build, he proved to be fast and flexible and this impressed sword-fighting specialist CC Smith and Hafþór was offered the job a few days later.
Hafþór’s fans can anticipate to watch his second acting performance in the role of “Mongkut” in the upcoming 2017 martial arts film Kickboxer: Retaliation, the sequel to the 2016 film, Kickboxer: Vengeance.
As Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane inGame of Thrones
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the same man!
Basketball Career
Playing career: 2004–2008, Position: Center
Hafþór’s sports career began in 2004, not in the world of power-lifting or strength training, but in basketball. At 206 cm (6 ft 9 in) and 110 kg (240 lb) he started his senior team career with Division I club Breiðablik. In 2005 he joined FSu Selfoss in the Icelandic Division I.
After playing 10 games, it was discovered that Hafþór was playing with a broken bone in his ankle and required surgery. He missed most of the 2006-2007 season after a screw in his ankle shattered and had to be fixed by another surgery.
Between 2004 and 2006, Hafþór played 32 games for the Icelandic junior national basketball teams.
Hafþór’s basketball career came to an end when he suffered a severe knee injury at the age of 20 which prevented him from playing and he began to consider other sport and training options.
In 2008, Hafþór met Icelandic strongman Magnús Ver Magnússon (four times crowned as the World’s Strongest Man) at his gym “Jakaból”, where Magnús said that Hafþór seemed a good prospect as a strongman.
Strongman Career
Three-time winner of Europe’s Strongest Man!
Hafþór landed a spot in World’s Strongest Man after earning a wild card invitation to the 2011 contest, where he came 6th overall. His participation in ensuing years continued to impress, as he placed third in 2012, 2013 and 2015, while in 2014 and 2016 he was the runner-up winner and took 2nd place.
Since 2012, he has been a contender in the strength competition Arnold Strongman Classic, where he came 10th on his first attempt, 8th in 2013, 5th in 2014, 7th in 2015, 5th in 2016 and finally 2nd in this year’s event.
Hafþór has had an impressive run in the strength athletics competition Europe’s Strongest Man, where he placed 1st in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and 2nd in 2016.
In 2011, he received 4th place in Poland in the Giants Live qualifying tour for the World’s Strongest Man.
He also excelled at the Strongman Champions League by obtaining 3rd place in 2013 in the SCL Iceman Challenge IV, 1st in Latvia (2013) and 2nd in Germany (2013). while in 2015 he was crowned the winner of the SCL Iceman Challenge.
In the strongman competition Jón Páll Sigmarsson Classic, Hafþór took 2nd place in 2010 and 1st place in 2012.
Hafþór has competed multiple times in Iceland’s Strongest Man (IFSA), where he received 3rd place on his first attempt in 2010, but took 1st place in the years that followed, from 2011 to 2016. Furthermore, he was the first place winner of the Strongest Man in Iceland competition in 2010-2012 and 2016, as well as the first place winner of Iceland’s Strongest Viking in from 2010-2012. In 2009, he competed for the title of Westfjord’s Viking where he obtained 4th place and proceeded to win first place in the years 2010-2012.
Hafþór was also the first place winner in the 2010 OK Budar Strongman Championships.
On 31 January 2015, Hafþór beat a 1,000-year-old record set by Orm Storolfsson at the World’s Strongest Viking competition in Norway, where he carried a 10 m long (33 ft), 650 kg (1,430 lb) log for five steps!
As Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane, before becoming a mute, zombie knight.
Personal Records
Squat – 380 kg (795 lbs) raw
Bench press – 230 kg (528 lbs) raw
Tire deadlift – 450 kg (994 lbs) raw with wrist straps
Deadlift – 450 kg (990 lbs) 4.625 cronans raw with straps
Log Press – 206.5 kg (455 lbs)
Log carry – [5 steps] 650 kg (1433 lbs)
Keg throw – 7.15 m (world record)
Training lifts
Deadlift 450 kg (990 lbs) raw with wrist straps
Log Press 206.5 kg (455 lbs)
Squat 300 kg (660 lbs) for 10 reps, raw without knee wraps
Bench Press 220 kg (485 lbs) for 8 reps, raw
Icelandic Mountain Vodka
Since 2016, Hafþór has been the spokesperson and co-owner of Icelandic Mountain Vodka, a “super premium vodka mixed with natural Icelandic spring water”.
CCC17 welcomes back talented illustrator Nikoletta Kyprianou!
Nikoletta Kyprianou is a freelance artist and illustrator from Nicosia, with a BA Degree from Middlesex University. Nikoletta really enjoys creating intricate pen drawings of weird and out of this world characters. She grew up watching old horror and fantasy movies and reading books and comics like Shivers, Goosebumps and Tales from the Crypt, which eventually inspired her art. Her work is all hand drawn with some final Photoshop touches, depending on the commission.
Make sure to visit Nikoletta’s website, as well as to follow her on Facebook, in orderto stay up to date with her work and upcoming projects!
For the past 6 years, Nikoletta has been the art director for Power of the Night Festival and most of her current work includes, CD covers and booklets, concert and event posters and t-shirt design for many bands. Nikoletta has also illustrated the educational, children’s book ‘Animal Protest’, by Elena Erotokritou. Her work was also published at Delivering Views #11: From Cyprus With Love”, Book Launch, in the first two issues of ‘Aegis’ Magazine and her work will also be featured at the third issue of Silvae Magazine this August.
Nikoletta was included in the 2008 D&AD Awards as an In-book Selection, for creating a striking new look for the Space Opera book series, for the Orion Publishing Group. She was chosen amongst the best new-comer artists worldwide, for the Illustration category. She has been a part of various exhibitions such as the 2008 New Blood D&AD Awards Exhibition, Ark – Under the Trees, Cyprus Comic Con 2015 and 2016, the 9th Annual Akamantis Exhibition, the 2016 Nicosia Pop Up Festival and the group exhibition ‘Love Bytes‘.
Additionally, Nikoletta took part in a project by Write CY (The Comic Book Project), in which a group of young authors and artists combined their forces to create original comic book stories that were exhibited at the 2016 Cyprus Comic Con and if all goes well, why not also abroad!
Our next Featured Artist for CCC17 is Greek comics writer Melandros Ganas!
Melandros Ganas was born in Larissa, Greece. He has always been passionate about comics – reading and collecting them ever since he can remember! Melandros has been actively contributing to the Greek comic book scene for many years, as a long-time moderator at Greek Comics forum and more recently at Comicdom Con Athens, as he is responsible of the area for self-published works and fanzines. He is also the creator of Small Press Comics, a blog which catalogues the small press comics released in Greece. For the last four years, he has been a permanent columnist on Comicdom Con’s website.
His loyalty and dedication to comics, led him to founding a small publishing press, named “Εκδόσεις του Κάμπου” (Kampos Publications). “Εκδόσεις του Κάμπου” has produced more than 60 published comics until this day. In 2015, the comic “Freakshow” (script by Melandros and art by Nick Giamalakis), won the first prize in the category of Self-Publishing, the newly established institution of Greek Comic Awards at Comicdom Con Athens.
To find out more about Melandros and “Εκδόσεις του Κάμπου” visit their Facebook page.
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