It is hard to describe Lucca Comics & Games, but even after four years of covering the festival, it remains one of the most unique events held anywhere in the world. With its 60th year now in the books, the massive event that takes over the small city of Lucca, Italy, has found new ways to excite people from around the world. Bringing people together through a shared love of all things nerdy, Lucca Comics & Games is building a legacy that will last a lifetime. It is one festival I keep championing whenever I talk about gaming and comic events, no matter where I am in the world.
There is no denying that Lucca Comics & Games is one of the biggest festivals of its kind anywhere in the world, and for its 60th year, it still managed to impress, welcoming 345,000 visitors to the city over five days of energy and shared passions. The program included more than 900 guests from around the world, 800 exhibitors, over 1,500 events, and 14 exhibitions.
Even with the sheer number of people, Lucca manages to feel truly special. This year also marked the beginning of something bigger, with a push to make the impact of Lucca Comics & Games felt year-round. This included opening an exhibition running throughout this year in the iconic tower, chronicling the festival’s history and how it helped shape the city’s modern landscape.
Stepping into the exhibition, it was amazing to see how Lucca Comics & Games has changed over the years and how the people behind it helped the festival evolve from its beginnings as a small comic swap into the internationally renowned event that now takes over an entire city. Looking at the collection of artifacts is like opening a time capsule of all things comics and gaming, with everything from programs and posters to signed comics and unopened Magic: The Gathering boxes from the 1990s.
It is astounding to see how the festival has changed over the years and how Lucca itself has evolved alongside it, preserving its history while embracing new ideas. With so much passion from the people behind the event, it is easy to understand why. Hearing how those involved in the festival’s early days helped champion the concept and push it forward was both inspiring and exciting, showcasing just how special Lucca Comics & Games truly is.
The exhibition’s curators have managed to create an experience that encourages visitors to interact with the various elements of the space. From a room set up like a record store, complete with listening stations where visitors can hear how different elements helped shape the festival’s legacy, to a room featuring every poster from Lucca Comics & Games on a rotating track, each space offers a glimpse into how the event has changed over the years. While every room is incredibly unique, they all help tell the story of the festival’s history and showcase how it has evolved.
What was even more exciting was the announcement of plans to build a dedicated comics museum in the city. While the project is only just getting started, there already seems to be a solid vision for what it will bring to Lucca and the festival. Planned for a building that once housed a tobacco factory, the new museum is being championed as a space to celebrate the art form and provide a year-round venue for exhibitions showcasing art from Italy and around the world.
Even from the layouts and plans on display at the Lucca exhibition, it looks like it will be a remarkable addition to the city and a great way to celebrate the human effort that goes into creating comics, manga and everything in between, bringing to life the stories that people seek out and enjoy every day.
Hearing Lucca Comics & Games deputy director Emanuele Vietina talk about the project, it is hard not to be excited by the concept. “So to be stronger in communicating with foreign countries, we also need a permanent platform,” he explained. He continued: “Basically, that setting is supposed to last for eight years. In the meantime, we want to create the International Comics Museum. On opening day, there were the Japanese and the French ambassadors. The Japanese were there because Japan has the International Manga Museum in Kyoto. Basically, that is our example that we want to follow, but also the museum in France, in the city of Angoulême.”
“So for us now, video games are probably one of the most forward-looking disciplines. And as we told you, Lucca wants to look forward.”
But Lucca Comics & Games has also taken major steps to embrace new aspects of culture as it evolves with the times. While it started by focusing almost exclusively on comics, it has expanded to include tabletop gaming, movies and eventually video games, dedicating more time to showcasing these different forms of entertainment and embracing their fandoms as part of the festival as a whole. Even over the four years CGMagazine has been attending, the video game portion has changed drastically, bringing in more developers and creators and even launching its own mobile game this year to celebrate the festival’s legacy.
While there used to be a scattering of development talent on site, this year’s event felt much more expansive, giving organizers an opportunity to showcase not only the talent behind games like The Witcher 3 and the new Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 anime, but also industry figures such as Hideki Kamiya and Stephen Bliss, alongside a dedicated area for indie developers to showcase their work. It still has a way to go before it can compare with the likes of gamescom, but it is a major step forward. Hearing how the organizers are making it a priority to invest time and effort into expanding this aspect of the festival is truly exciting.
As Emanuele Vietina explained, “Yes, we already had video games, but in the last five years, we decided to put more investment into video game talent.” He went on to elaborate: “It’s a specific strategy because probably now more than ever. Of course, we realized together that movies are going to become more interactive and video games are becoming more cinematic.
“So for us now, video games are probably one of the most forward-looking disciplines. And as we told you, Lucca wants to look forward. We decided to create something special, as we did 25 years ago with the fantasy artists, investing in Ciruelo Cabral and all the big masters. Now we are doing the same with video games, and it seems to work.”
But Lucca Comics & Games is so much more than the physical spaces that house its various exhibitions and experiences. It is the community that has helped push the festival forward over 60 years, a community with a passion for comics, tabletop gaming, video games, manga and movies. It is a community that travels to a small, walled city in Italy, putting differences aside to celebrate the many cultural works they love.
