Obviously, the passing of Francisco Ibáñez had to have an important weight in a salon like Comic Barcelona, ??which in this 42nd edition will dedicate one of its exhibitions to him, El nostre Ibáñez, curated by Toni Guiral and in which, in addition to the family and its publishing has been collaborated by the readers of the author of Mortadel·lo, and which will include unpublished or rarely seen originals, but also tributes from professional colleagues. Another exhibition will be Bruixes-Sorginak-Brujas, an “illustrated sisterhood” with the participation of 30 authors including Núria Tamarit, Cristina Durán, Genie Espinosa and Sandra Uve. Blacksad: Work in progress will show the working methodology of Juanjo Guarnido and Juan Díaz Canales, vignette charmer Trini Tinturé, and the lost generation revisit the work of this illustrator, or other exhibitions such as Tribute to Mad Max: Apocalipsi drawn, the fantastic engravings of Tomás Hijo or an exhibition dedicated to the step From comics to the screen.
In addition to the exhibitions, up to a hundred local and international authors such as Beto Hernandez, Posy Simmonds, Tanino Liberatore, Emma Ríos, Pepe Larraz, Carla Berrocal, Paco Roca or Nadia Hafid will participate in the activities of the salon, from 3 to May 5, with around 220 exhibitors spread over 52,000 square meters – in pavilions 2 and 5 and Plaça Univers of Fira Barcelona – to consolidate the edition with the most on offer and which expects to receive more than 110,000 people with a budget of 920,000 euros from of which barely between 3% and 5% come from public funds. “Institutions must throw themselves into it more, as they do with other arts”, insisted Meritxell Puig, director general of the organizing entity, Ficomic, who “thanked for the aid because otherwise, we would be even worse off”, and that that as Borja Crespo, the salon’s content advisor, said, “we are in a moment of creative effervescence, but it would be another thing to get into who can make a living from comics”.
Comic Barcelona wanted to insist this year on the creation of new audiences in the line that they already opened a few years ago, but with increasing intensity, until becoming a whole cultural event that goes beyond stands and signatures of ‘authors, with numerous activities that include conferences, round tables, masterclasses, concerts, exhibitions or cinema, one of the aspects that has been promoted more, and more space for the rogue in the Comic Kids section.
Puig and Crespo presented this Monday the novelties of the festival and emphasized the creation of synergies with other sectors such as cinema and literature. In this sense, for example, they have boosted the Comic Vision section with a cinema that will host screenings such as Robot dreams by Pablo Berger and based on the comic book by Sara Varon, or the adaptation of the work La casa de Paco Roca, with the presence of the film’s author and director, Álex Montoya, on the same day it is released, as well as Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba’s Dispararon al Pianista, Juanjo Sáez’s Tender Heavies and the celebration of the 30th anniversary of El cuervo or documentaries about Ibáñez and other artists, and has even gone beyond the show’s opening hours with a science fiction movie marathon on Saturday until midnight in collaboration with the Fantastic Cinema Festival of Sitges, between others
In addition, in this 42nd edition – a figure that, according to Douglas Adams’s book Guide to the Galactic for Hitchhikers, answers the definitive question about the meaning of life, the universe and everything, and which gives its name to the 42nd Barcelona literary festival – have highlighted the creation of the Utopia Zone dedicated to the fantasy genre and with literary links, with the presence of emblematic publishers of the genre such as Minotauro, Puck, Obscura or Nova.
In any case, always keeping “the comic and the authors at the center”, Puig wanted to insist, warding off the temptation to turn the meeting into a kind of American-style ComicCon in which “it was a priority to bring a secondary actor from ‘a series that was in fashion twenty years ago’.
Regarding the family audience, Puig recalled that “in 2018 we created the Comic Kids space because we believe it is important for boys and girls to read, and comics are a good pedagogical tool to introduce reading, because in the pre-adolescents often stop reading and we want to play an important role in making sure they don’t stop reading. Being able to contribute to making families understand that comics are a reading tool”, all considering that not so many years ago “reading a comic was not considered reading”. Comic Barcelona, ??moreover, has been working “for years with the Department of Education with educational days to make known the comics that might interest them, and we are increasingly receiving more visits from schools, and also from book clubs. This Friday, for example, 100 members of reading clubs from all over Catalonia will attend a meeting with Beto Hernandez”. In this section there will be comics, face painting, workshops from the Joso comic school and visitors such as Geronimo Stilton or Bluey and even an escape room. Thinking of teenagers, in addition, the bedroom of the protagonist of Heartstopper has been recreated.
