TO Puccini et al Japan the 2024 edition of will be dedicated Lucca Comics & Games, scheduled from October 30th to November 3rd. There comic fair and the largest games in Europe will celebrate the centenary of the death of composer from Lucca with three posters made for the first time by a Japanese master, Yoshitaka Amanoillustrator and character designer famous for having taken care of the graphics of the video game saga Final Fantasy. The first poster, Overturewas revealed today at a press conference at the Giunti Odeon theater-bookshop in Florence, together with other surprises, including the Netflix world premiere of the second season of Squid Gamethe Korean series record viewership in the pandemic, and the naming of an entire bastion of the walls of Lucca to the creators of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax and Dave Arnesonon the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the role-playing game.
The new motto: The Butterfly Effect
Everything will wink at the operatic dimension of the Maestro Puccini. And so the triptych of posters: the next ones (Madame Butterfly And Turandot) will be unveiled in September in Milan and then in Lucca at the opening of the festival. The motto of this edition, after all, will be “The butterfly effect”the butterfly effect in homage to Puccini.
The exhibitions and the comics
For the second year in a row the guest of honor is Japanese Yoshitaka Amano — last year he was the mangaka Naoki Urasawa. Amano is famous not only for Final Fantasy but also for his collaboration with Neil Gaiman for Sandman. The master has worked on anime such as Vampire Hunter D And Tekkamanas well as for the theater and magazines such as Vogue. His style, elegant and refined, and at times in the Viennese secession style, is well suited to Puccini’s operatic world.
The first major European exhibition on which he worked will be dedicated to him Lucca Createthe direction of the festival, together with the Milanese POLI.design, and with the curatorship of the gamification expert Fabio Viola. It will be called They love Corpus Animae and will be held from November 13 to March 1, 2025 at Steam factory in Milan. It will be previewed in Lucca in a reduced version at Ducal Palacefrom October 19th until the end of the fair.
Following what has been done by Venice Biennalethe festival, directed by Emanuel Vietina, promises to be even more multicultural, calling on cartoonists from all countries. Among the names confirmed, for now, the sensei Atsushi Kamijo and Gou Tanabethe artist for children Kazu Kibuishithe American Scott Snyderthe authors of the Taiwanese comics house Dala Publishingand the cover artist Marvel Peach Momoko. Particular space will be given to three female artists under 30, to whom the palace exhibition will also be dedicated Ducal Kalimatunaour words of freedom: the Italian-Tunisian Takoua Ben Mohamed, the Moroccan Zainab Fasikiwho Time magazine has included among the leaders of the new generation, and the Egyptian Deena Mohamedconsidered by the Washington Post one of the “five women who are changing the world”.
For young cartoonists, the festival confirmed the presence of international editors who will do talent scouting. Between them, Karen Berger, co-founder of the Vertigo label for Dc Comics and winner of three Eisner Awards — the Oscars of comics — in the Nineties as best editor. The publishing houses Fantagraphics and Les Humanoïdes Associéswhich has been publishing the famous science fiction magazine since ’74 Metal Hurlantthey will also have their own stands.
Among the founders of Les Humanoïdes associés, Jean-Pierre Dionnet will be a guest at Lucca Comics & Games 2024. The Jubilé Hurlant exhibition at Palazzo Ducale will celebrate fifty years of the magazine that launched authors such as Moebius and Philippe Druillet.
Squid Game and One Piece
The collaboration then continues Lucca Comics & Games with Netflix. The streaming platform has already launched its most important titles in the Tuscan city in the past, bringing important guests, as in 2022 Tim Burton For Wednesday. This year, on October 31st, the trailer for the second season of will be presented as a world premiere Squid Gamethe Korean director’s deadly social Darwinism-style romp Hwang Dong-hyuk. The series, still released during the pandemic period, had achieved a record 111 million views on Netflix in just 28 days. The director and the protagonists are expected to be guests at Lucca Comics Lee Jung-jae and Wi Ha-Jun.
For the 25th anniversary of one pieceinstead, expected Tatsuya Nagamine & Kenji Yokoyama, the director and animation director of the series. A space for stand up comedy will then be inaugurated The Comedy Club and Stefano Raponewhile 20 years of the Music and Cosplay area will be celebrated.
Dungeons & Dragons and Tetris
The 2024 edition of Lucca Games will be dedicated to fiftieth anniversary of D&D. The fair has always dedicated the evocative medieval bastions to role-playing games. This time, in agreement with the centre-right mayor and former president of Lucca Crea, Mario Pardinithe San Paolino bastion will be named after the creators of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
For the 40 Years of Tetris, however, the creator Alexey L. Pajitnov is expected. In addition to him, guests will also include the makers of the video game – the most recent but still a blockbuster – Baldur’s Gate III: Jason Latino, cinematic director, Joachim Vleminckx, art director, and Borislav Slavov, music composer.
Younger people — or nostalgic adults — will finally be able to meet Robert Lawrence Stinethe author of the successful children’s book series Little shivers.
Tickets
This year Lucca Comics & Games has chosen to follow what other festivals have done and is making special tickets available on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform, which will be available from 18 July to 9 August. Last year there were 314 thousand paying spectators.
