On the occasion of Puccini’s centenary, the Lucca Comics & Games festival presents itself as a true operatic composition, entitled The Butterfly Effect. In addition to a clear reference to Puccini’s masterpiece, the title refers to the well-known “Butterfly Effect”, a corollary of Chaos Theory which studies the way in which small changes can lead to large consequences.
It is a theme that resonates perfectly with the spirit of Lucca Comics & Games, and to visually represent the three acts of this unique Opera, an icon of global design was asked, Yoshitaka Amanoto create not one but three images, each representing an act of this work.
Opening
The first act, “Ouverture”, marks the beginning of the dance with the press conference on June 26th. This inaugural moment is represented by the work that Amano dedicated it to Tosca by Puccini. An embrace between two characters, between physicality and imagination, which captures all the exuberant energy of the festival and the thousand colors of its audience of butterflies.
Crescendo
In September, in Milan, the second act of the festival will arrive, which in a crescendo of news and announcements will populate its stage with the most beloved characters from the world of comics, fantasy and gaming. The image that will accompany this second phase will be dedicated to Madama Butterfly, to evoke the growing enthusiasm and anticipation that characterize the period preceding the festival.
Finale
The wait will culminate on October 30th, in the third act, the festival itself, which will be performed with a third work by maestro Amanothis time linked to its immortal princess Turandot, to reflect the apotheosis of creativity that is Lucca Comics & Games.
Finally, between 2024 and 2025, Lucca Comics & Games will leave the city’s urban walls and land at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan with the exhibition I love the Body of the Souldedicated to Yoshitaka Amano. This exhibition will offer a complete overview of his work, highlighting his ability to blend Anime, Video Games and contemporary art in a single, inimitable artistic vision. More than 100 original works to tell the story of animation and world entertainment; the epic images that have consecrated the “boy from Shizuoka” in the Olympus of Contemporary Artists will range from Tatsunoko to Final Fantasy, passing through Vogue. From November 13, 2024 to March 1, 2025, “Amano Corpus Animae” will be the first retrospective to celebrate the Master’s 50-year career.
The first big announcements of Lucca Comics & Games 2024
Netflix returns to Lucca Comics & Games with a highly anticipated event: Squid Game 2. On Thursday, October 31st, creator, writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk and protagonists Lee Jung-jae and Wi Ha-Jun will be in Lucca to meet fans and reveal to the world some new features of the highly anticipated second season. The second chapter of Squid Game, which is still today the most popular series on Netflix More than two years after its release, it will be available only on Netflix by the end of 2024.
On May 5th, the celebrations for the World Cup started simultaneously in Milan, Berlin, London, Madrid and Paris. One Piece 25th, on the occasion of the birthday of Monkey D. Luffy, the famous straw hat pirate, but it will be in Lucca the most important moment to close the celebrations in style and with all the numerous fans. In fact, two great guests from Japan will participate in Lucca Comics & Games: Tatsuya Nagamine (director of the last years of One Piece and previously of many other Toei titles, including Dragon Ball Super: Broly) and Kenji Yokoyama (historical animator from the first episodes to today ).
From the encounter between the imagination of David Lance “Dave” Arneson and the systematic thinking of Gary Gygax, which led to the publication of Dungeons & Dragons in January 1974, fifty years have passed. The world of gaming has changed profoundly and the cultural revolution of interactive storytelling has exerted a decisive influence on popular culture, moving from the classic form of the board game to the live role-playing game, from the spread of the gamebook to the development of digital platforms for computer games and online gaming.
Lucca Comics & Games has decided to dedicate not one but two tributes in the world at Dungeons & Dragons, to transform this anniversary into a gigantic collective party.
For the first time the Koder Collectionwith original masterpieces by Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, Keith Parkinson, Brom, Todd Lockwood, in a unique exhibition in the world: “Gateway to Adventure: 50 Years of D&D Art”. It will be curated by Jon Peterson, one of the most important historians of the game, author among other things of Dungeons and Dragons – Art & Arcana and of the extraordinary collection of rare documents The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977, recently published by Wizards of the Coast, and by Jessica Lee Patterson, art historian who has been working on cataloging the collection since 2022. The municipal administration of Lucca, then, he will name the basement of the bastion San Paolino, definitively, to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, creators of Dungeons & Dragons. This is the culmination of a journey started 15 years ago, with Larry Elmore, Tracy and Laura Hickman, which has finally found its definitive approval by the city.
Finally, in Lucca there will be Jeremy Crawfordlead rules designer di Dungeons & Dragons e lead designer del nuovo 2024 Player’s Handbook.
Video games on the walls of Lucca in 2024
Larian Studios opens the doors to the Forgotten Realms of Baldur’s Gate III within the walls of Lucca. Game of the year at the latest The Game Awards, praised by enthusiastic reviews globally and capable of exceeding 10 million copies sold in less than a year, Baldur’s Gate III by Larian Studios has redefined the canons of the modern role-playing game. Lucca Comics & Games is pleased to welcome some of the leading creative minds behind this incredible success. Jason Latino, cinematic director, Joachim Vleminckx, art director, and Borislav Slavov, music composer, guests of the festival, will share with the people of Lucca background, curiosities and insights into the birth and development of one of the most appreciated titles of recent years.
Tetris will celebrate its 40th anniversary at Lucca Comics & Games featuring the creator and game designer and co-founder of The Tetris Company. In 1984, Alexey L. Pajitnov, a programmer at the Moscow Academy of Sciences and avid puzzle enthusiast, introduced the world to what would become a true global phenomenon: Tetris. One of the most iconic and beloved video games of all time, with hundreds of millions of copies sold across over 50 platforms, Tetris continues to delight fans of all ages around the world. Alexey L. Pajitnovcreator of Tetris, and Henk B. Rogersco-founder of The Tetris Company, will talk about the history of the game, its impact on pop culture and will share with Lucca Comics & Games participants their thoughts on the direction the brand is taking.
Piccoli Chivi returns to Lucca Comics
Born as an author of comic novels, under the pseudonym of Jovial Bob Stine (his first novel is titled How to Be Funny, 1978), Robert Lawrence Stine is today synonymous with “shivers”. The author of the acclaimed series of novels for girls and boys Goosebumps, comes to Italy for the first time to meet his fans, from young readers to the more experienced ones who have grown up with his series. Passing through the media, from the TV series (the last one released in 2023) to the board game (1995) to the films (2015 and 2018), the prolific horror saga has raised (and scared!) entire generations of fans. RL Stine, however, is not only the most read horror author for girls and boys, but has also written books such as Advanced Dungeons And Dragons Storybook. The Forest Of Enchantment and GI Joe: Find Your Fate.
The masters from the east at Lucca Comics & Games
Also in this edition Lucca Comics & Games is ready to welcome the world of manga, in all its forms. In Act I which kicks off the Road to Lucca, the first four great masters who will be present during the days of the festival were announced.
His clear drawings and unique style have earned him the support of many fans, and with SEX – a story of love and revenge that moves against the backdrop of an Okinawa marked by American military occupation – he saw the consecration of his talent. Thanks to the collaboration with saldaPress, which publishes his works in Italy, Atsushi Kamijo will be among the protagonists of Lucca Comics & Games. Born in Tokyo in 1963, he debuted in 1983 with the publication of Mob Hunter in Shonen Sunday Special Issue. To-y has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday since 1985. Among his most representative works are also Aka x Kuro and 8-Eight-. In September 2024, an exhibition will be held at the Yayoi Art Museum in Tokyo to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his activity.
Known to the general public for dedicating his career for twenty years to transposing the works of HP Lovecraft into manga, Lucca Comics & Games is ready to welcome – thanks to the collaboration with J-Ppo Manga – Gou Tanabe, one of the greatest visual interpreters of the horror universes of the famous American author. Born in Tokyo in 1975, Tanabe received the special jury prize at the Afternoon Shikisho in 2001 and an honorable mention at the Enterbrain Entertainment Awards in 2002. His work, known for its extremely high quality, has earned him several international awards, including numerous nominations at the Angoulême Comics Festival. The Milanese publisher has brought numerous masterful interpretations of him to Italy, including The Innsmouth Mask, nominated for the 2024 Eisner Prize.
A boy with a big dream, culinary challenges, tasty recipes and an elite cooking school: these are the ingredients of the Food Wars manga! which in Japan has been adapted into various media, including an anime TV series, a series of video games and novels, finding favor with an increasingly wider audience of enthusiasts. Since 2024 it has been published in Italy by Panini Comics and, thanks to the collaboration with the Modena publisher, the authors Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki are ready to meet their fans in Lucca (and discover the best of Italian cuisine).
