Obviously, the death of Francisco Ibáñez had to have an important weight in a show like Comic Barcelona, ??which in this 42nd edition will dedicate one of its exhibitions to him, Nuestro Ibáñez, curated by Toni Guiral and in which, in addition to his family and readers of the author of Mortadelo have collaborated in his editorial, and it will include unpublished or rarely seen originals, but also tributes from colleagues. Another exhibition will be Bruixes-Sorginak-Brujas, an “illustrated coven” with the participation of 30 authors, including Núria Tamarit, Cristina Durán, Genie Espinosa and Sandra Uve. Blacksad: Work in progress will show the work methodology of Juanjo Guarnido and Juan Díaz Canales, Trini Tinturé, charming of vignettes, and the lost generation reviews the work of this illustrator, in addition to other exhibitions such as Tribute to Mad Max: Apocalypse drawn, the fantastic engravings by Tomás Jr. or an exhibition dedicated to the transition from comics to screen.
Along with 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 show, from May 3 to 5 , with some 220 exhibitors distributed over 52,000 square meters – in pavilions 2 and 5 and the Univers square of Fira Barcelona – to consolidate the edition with the most offer and which expects to receive more than 110,000 people with a budget of 920,000 euros of which Only between 3% and 5% come from public funds. “Institutions have to do more, as they do with other arts,” insisted Meritxell Puig, general director of the organizing entity, Ficomic, who “was grateful for the aid because if not, we would be even worse off,” and that as has been said Borja Crespo, content advisor of the show, “we are in a moment of creative effervescence, but another thing would be to enter into who can make a living from comics.”
Comic Barcelona has wanted to insist this year on the creation of new audiences along the lines that they already opened a few years ago, but with increasing intensity, until it has become a cultural event that goes beyond stands and author signings, with numerous activities that include conferences, round tables, masterclasses, concerts, exhibitions or cinema, one of the aspects that we wanted to promote the most, and more space for children in the Comic Kids section.
Puig and Crespo presented the festival’s news this Monday and emphasized the creation of synergies with other sectors such as cinema and literature. In this sense, for example, they have promoted the Comic Vision section with a movie theater that will host screenings such as those of Robot dreams by Pablo Berger and based on the comic by Sara Varon, or the adaptation of the work La casa by Paco Roca, with the presence of the author and the director of the film, Álex Montoya, on the same day it is released, as well as They shot the pianist by Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba, Heavies tendres by Juanjo Sáez and the celebration of the 30th anniversary of El cuervo or documentaries about Ibáñez and other artists, and has even been taken beyond the hall’s schedule with a science fiction film marathon on Saturday until midnight in collaboration with the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival, among others.
Furthermore, in this 42nd edition – a figure that, according to the book Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, answers the definitive question about the meaning of life, the universe and everything, and which gives its name to the 42nd literary festival in Barcelona – they have Highlights include 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, Oscura or Nova.
In any case, always keeping “the comic and the authors at the center,” Puig wanted to insist, avoiding the temptation to turn the meeting into a type of North American-style ComicCon in which “it would be a priority to bring a secondary actor from a series that was fashionable twenty years ago.”
With respect to the family audience, Puig recalled that “in 2018 we created the Comic Kids space because we believe that it is important for boys and girls to read, and comics are a good pedagogical tool to introduce reading, because in pre-adolescence They often stop reading and we want to play an important role so that they do not stop doing so. Being able to contribute to making families understand that comics are a reading tool,” and even more so considering that not so many years ago “reading a comic was not considered reading.” Comic Barcelona, ??in addition, has been working “for years with the Department of Education in educational workshops to publicize the comics that may interest them, and we receive more and more visits from schools, and also from reading 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 comic telling, face painting, workshops from the Joso comic school and visitors such as Geronimo Stilton or Bluey and even an escape room. With teenagers in mind, the room of the protagonist of Heartstopper has also been recreated.
Catalan version, here
