Lucca Comics & Games 2023
From 28 October to 1 November big events, prestigious guests, previews and releases
Together, Together is the keyword of Lucca Comics & Games 2023, the most famous Tuscan fair dedicated to lovers of games, video games and comics, which returns to animate the streets of Lucca from 1 to 5 November.
In a world in which technology increasingly pushes us towards the cult of the self and detachment from others, the value of sharing experiences finds a powerful and vital form of expression in pop culture. This is why Lucca Comics & Games, aware of this need for connection, has chosen TOGETHER as the dominant theme for the 2023 edition. An opportunity to break the barriers of virtual isolation and regain possession of our social potential.
Lucca Comics & Games 2023GUESTS
In this global edition, there are over 45 international guests from all over the world: the United States, Japan and Europe, of course, but also South Korea, China, Canada, Argentina, Israel and Turkey. From the world of manga and manwha comes Usamaru Furuya, also as the protagonist of an exhibition at Palazzo Ducale entitled This Time is Different; Naoki Urasawa, author among others of 20th Century Boys; Hiro Mashima with the cult Fairy Tales; Masaaki Ninomiya with the bloodthirsty Gannibal; the independent mangaka Eldo Yoshimizu; Satsuki Yoshino, author of Barakamon; the master of guru Shintaro Kago, who presents his first comic series.
And again Frank Miller, author of the Dark Knight trilogy, 300, Sin City and many other comic masterpieces; Jim Lee, cartoonist, writer and entrepreneur who, after leaving Marvel, founded Image Comic; and then Garth Ennis, Howard Chaykin, Don Rosa, Bryan Talbot, Craig Thompson and many other names that have marked the history of comics.
Among the Italian guests Gipi, Milo Manara, Leo Ortolani, Pera Toons, Silvia Ziche, Paolo Bacilieri, Igort, Fumettibrutti, Werther Dell'Edera, Barbara Baraldi, Simone Bianchi. Special mention for the Gigaciao group, studio and publishing house of Sio, Dado, Fraffrog and Giacomo Bevilacqua.
SHOWS AND EVENTS
On the first day of the event, Wednesday 1 November, Academy award-winning director Michel Gondry arrives in Lucca. I Wonder Pictures presents: A Lucca con Gondry: into the mind of the brilliant director of If You Leave Me I'll Erase You. An invitation to discover the master's creativity, through previews of The Book of Solutions, Michel Gondry, Do It Yourself and In Bed with Michel Gondry and a masterclass in dialogue with writer Manlio Castagna (1 November at 2 pm, at the Astra cinema).
Music is gaining an increasingly important space. Among the big guests announced are Max Pezzali, in a meeting with Roberto Recchioni for the presentation of a new American-style comic book; the Oliver Onions, together with Italian TV stars Franco Nero and Giancarlo Giannini; Cristina D'Avena, in an orchestral concert accompanied by the fantastic art of Paolo Barbieri; Giancane and the latest, straight from the world of Zerocalcare.
Max PezzaliOn Friday 3 November at 7 p.m., the Stadio Porta Elisa (Lucchese's stadium) will host the first edition of the Cthulhu Cup, a quadrangular five-a-side football match between designers, fans, board game professionals and some representatives of Lucchese.
Chef Damiano Carrara and his Atelier fully embrace this year's claim, Together, and present some products designed and made especially for the participants of Lucca Comics & Games, including, in a limited edition, the Sweet Game Dice, a praline version filled with various flavours.
Richer than ever is the Games area, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary - an anniversary shared with Magic: The Gathering, represented with an exhibition, a section dedicated to 18 artists, and the Italian premiere of the documentary Igniting the Spark, which recounts the origins of the game-phenomenon of the 1990s
Lucca Comics & Games 2023The collaboration with the Archdiocese of Lucca continues, offering numerous and articulated activities in the parish premises of San Pietro Somaldi, in the historical centre of Lucca, throughout the festival. In particular, four initiatives are sponsored by Lucca Comics & Games: the exhibition Kan Takahama. Le storie nascoste curated by Msgr. Paolo Giulietti, Olimpia Niglio and Asuka Ozumi, set up in the parish rooms of the Church of San Pietro Somaldi, presents a selection of drawings by the Japanese cartoonist Kan Takahama from the Nagasaki Trilogy, a work that deals with the theme of hidden Christians.
A comic strip, all from Lucca, is dedicated to Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci, Lucchese inventors of the internal combustion engine.
