Superlópez and ‘King’ Kirby the stars of 2018 Barcelona comic fair

Superlópez has pride of place on the poster for this year’s Barcelona International Comic Fair. The 36th edition of the comic fair is paying tribute to the Superman parody created by artist Jan on the character’s 45th anniversary. Presented on Tuesday, the 2018 edition of the fair will take place between April 12 and 15 in the Fira de Barcelona venue on Montjuïc. Last year, the comic fair attracted a record 118,000 visitors.

Organized by the FICOMIC association, this year’s edition also pays tribute to Marvel comic artist, Jack Kirby (1917-1994), often referred to as the 'King of Comics'. The creator of Captain America will get his own exhibition, while there will also be a retrospective of writers during the 'boom' years of the comic book in Spain, from the end of the 1970s to the start of the ‘90s.

One of the novelties at this year’s event is a section devoted to the comic book public of the future, children aged between 5 and 12. 'Còmic Kids' will occupy some 3,000 m² and will have workshops, talks and other activities for the little ones, as well as an exhibition called 'Com es fa un còmic?', which will explain how a comic book is made.

Another novelty this year is to be seen in the official competition, for which the experts making up the jury will also add their own selection of comics and authors. The jury’s final decision will be based on the five nominees that get the most votes in the categories of best Spanish comic, best foreign comic published in Spain, best new author and best fanzine.

The venues for this edition of the fair have also been expanded to include the Auditorium in the Palau de Congressos (Palau 5) on Montjuïc, for which talks, musical performances, author meet-ups with fans, and the screening of documentaries about comics will take place. Meanwhile, plaça Univers will be the venue for the information points and food trucks. The rest of the fair will, as always, be located in Palaus 2 and 4 of the congress venue.