Angoulême,
For more than half a century, comics have been becoming strong as a cultural proposal suitable for all types of audiences in Angoulême: in addition to hosting a museum with a rich collection of original plates and engravings belonging to different geographies and styles of the so-called ninth art, that French city comes celebrating for 52 years an international festival that extends to all spaces in the urban center. Its next call, between January 29 and February 2 of this year, will include around twenty exhibitions, eight thematic axes, master classes, an off festival or a program of religious-themed comic strips that will house temples such as the Cathedral of San Pedro or the Church of San Martial.
Spain will be the guest country this time, the Country Focus in the name of this exhibition: under the motto “Spain, talent in cartoons”, a hundred authors of the genre in our country will travel to Angoulême within the framework of a project that seeks to review the yesterday and today of comics in our country and which have been organized by the Ministry of Culture and Spanish Cultural Action, in collaboration with the Comics Sector. The aim is to give prominence to the good times of this discipline, to its diversity in terms of styles and languages and also to the growing number of authors who choose it.
For the occasion, some of the winners of the National Comic Award since this recognition began to be awarded in 2007 have been summoned, from its first winner, Max (Francesc Capdevila Gisbert, to whom the official poster is due), to the last, Bea Lema; Winners of the Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards will also attend, such as Salvador Larroca, David Aja, Bruno Redondo and Juanjo Guarnido; long-standing artists (Marika Vila or Albert Monteys), new artists (Nadia Hafid, Yeyei and Alba Chan) or researchers and theorists in this field, such as Elisa McAusland or Ana Merino.
The works of the aforementioned and other relevant figures of comics in Spain can be studied and debated in seven master classes and meetings with the public and in more than twenty round tables on various topics, including Genealogies and comics, Comics and memory, Writing with drawings, The boom of the 80’s, Popular pop and folklore, Creating readers, Cartoons and feminism, History of Spanish comics: tribute to Ibáñez, The times of TBO: tribute to Josep Coll either social comic.
In the Pavilion, a space of almost 250 square meters designed by the Jesús Moreno y Asociados studio, there will be an activities area, with uninterrupted programming; a professional area intended for meetings between agents of the sector; and an exhibition, which will be complemented by another bibliographical exhibition that will cover an overview of comics publishing in Spain, with works by the participants of our delegation. In addition, proposals with a Spanish seal will reach the entire city: the exhibition “Graphic Constellation”, already exhibited at the CCCB and dedicated to nine authors, will move to Angoulême; the Spanish Pavilion will show pieces from those recognized with the National Award; The Espace Jeunesse will host works by creators already known in the French market, such as Miriam Bonastre, Kid Toussant, Verónica Álvarez and Pau and, in an atrium in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, we will be able to visit the montage “Spain talent in cartoons: a historical vision, of the present and future of Spanish comics.”
Regarding the activities, Barcelona Comic Pro will be presented, a table on internationalization strategies or the White Book of Comics in Spain, a complete x-ray of the sector. Our country will also have a stand within the International Rights Market (MID) of the festival, which will be offered to national publishers for their commercial activities.
Considering, by the way, the data from the aforementioned White Paper, the sector has nearly four million readers and more than 200 specialized bookstores on this side of the border; 335 stamps publish comics (50 of them specialized); and there are more than 150 self-publishers and fan editors.
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