Cowboys, criminals and superheroes: the main attractions at the 31st edition of the Barcelona International Comic Fair

Barcelona (ACN).- The 31^th edition of the International Comic Fair of Barcelona is a Catalan initiative organised by FICOMIC, a non-profit entity whose principal goal is to spread and promote comic and Japanese manga culture. This year it will take place from the 11^th to the 14^th of April at the Fira Barcelona’s Montjuïc venue. Superheroes will have also their own space with some retrospective exhibitions devoted to the 75 years of 'Superman' -created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster-, 50 years of 'X-Men' and 'The Avengers' -created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Another focus of this year’s Comic Fair are the presence of artists such as Manu Lacernet, Guy Delisle, Liniers and Lorena Canottiere who have confirmed their participation at the Fair. At the same time, visitors can find exhibitions by the winners of last edition and enjoy different conferences and cultural activities.

Carles Santamaria, director of the International Comic Fair of Barcelona, pointed out that recently the Western genre has come back to life thanks to greater comic specialization, such as cinema. Santamaria also commented that superhero comics 'are renewing their stories due to new cinema adaptations, but the comic has been one of the most important sources for the seventh art'.

FICOMIC maintains the same budget as 2012, estimated between €650,000 and €700,000 in spite of the financial cutbacks in public grants given by the Catalan Ministry of Culture, the Barcelona Town Hall and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. This reduction has forced the organisers to look for private investment. Even with this economic situation, FICOMIC expects to obtain the same number of visitors as in previous years, and expects between 100,000 and 108,000 visitors.

Nowadays, the International Comic Fair of Barcelona is a reference for all followers of comic culture and a must for cartoonists. This is the nine consecutive year that the Fair will hold a new edition at the Fira Barcelona’s Montjuïc venue with 19,000 square meters dedicated to exhibitions.

As for the programme, one of the remarkable activities are the special exhibitions by the winners of last edition: the Great Comic Fair 2012 Prize given to José Ortiz for his whole Western work; José Domingo, winner of the prize for the Best Work for 'Aventuras de un oficinista japonés' ('Adventures of a Japanese officer'); Lola Lorente, the winner of last year’s New Author prize and Esteban Hernández, winner of the Best Fanzine Prize for 'Usted' ('You'). These exhibitions are part of the main agenda of the Fair along with the authors and illustrators conferences and presentations.

An important characteristic of the International Comic Fair of Barcelona is the presence of recognised authors, cartoonists and illustrators from all over the world. The French cartoonist Manu Lacernet, creator of 'Tim Oruno' will be present at the fair with his new project 'The apocalypse according to Saint Jacki' which will be published in Catalonia by Norma Editorial at the end of 2013. The Canadian Guy Delisle will present at this Fair his latest work 'Bad dad guide' and Liniers will offer in advance some details of his new comic 'Macanudo 8' which will be published in April.