The annual comics and games convention returns to Lucca, Italy, for another exciting year: Lucca Comics & Games 2023. The poster and trailer for the five-day festival were revealed back in June, with the theme being ‘together.’ They also released a recorded discussion about the artists expected to appear at this year’s event, which will take place from 1-5 November. Celebrating its 57th year as Europe’s largest pop culture event, the Lucca Games portion of the convention will also be celebrating its 30th anniversary with some exciting gaming guests.
The hour-long virtual roundtable featured a wide range of comics and games guests, each showcasing their specialties uniquely. The video began with festival director Emanuele Vietina introducing the creators of this year’s festival poster: Israeli-born twin brothers Asaf and Tomer Hanuka. They explained how their experiences growing up in Tel Aviv, Israel, shaped their influences in creating their comics.
Tomer added, “There are so many ways of being together—sometimes you can even be together with others by being apart, alone with yourself.” The brothers are most notably recognized for their concept art for animation on A Waltz with Bashir, which was nominated for the Oscar Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009. The poster inspiration was described as being similar to a Tarot card, drawing upon fantasy with a giant dragon and realism as it showcased the ambiance of the city of Lucca.
The next spotlight was on the actor Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike‘s Last Dance, True Blood) attending Lucca Comics & Games as this year’s event ambassador for his contributions to the comic and tabletop gaming world and representing Italian heritage. Manganiello was originally also promoting his Netflix animated series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, set in the Army of the Dead universe, but since the SAG Strike, word on that has been quiet. Afterwards, Vietina transitioned into the celebration of 30 years of Magic: The Gathering.
The worldwide trading card game phenomena will be highlighting its anniversary with a documentary created alongside the Netflix staff behind the series The Toys That Made Us and The Movies That Made Us: director Kelley Slagle (Cavegirl Production) and producers Brian Stillman (X-Ray Films) and Seth Polansky (Cavegirl Production). All three have also worked on the documentary Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons. Their new documentary will be called Igniting the Spark, The Story of Magic: The Gathering, and the director and producers will be attending Lucca Comics & Games this year.
The video game Myst is also celebrating 30 years in the industry. As part of the video game portion of the convention, the co-creator of Myst and Riven and CEO and Co-Founder of Cyan Worlds, Rand Miller, will be attending this year’s festival. Cyan Worlds’ games were recognized in the gaming world by redefining the adventure game genre. The following presentations showcased the event’s most important portion on comics, most importantly, international and domestic writers and illustrators.
Here are some artists at Lucca Comics & Games:
- Naoki Urasawa — one of the most influential Japanese mangakas, most known for 20th Century Boys
- Jim Lee — worked on many great comics, such as X-Men #1
- Luis and Romulo Royo — Luis is a very influential European artist, and now his son Romulo joins him
- Garth Ennis — author of Preacher and The Boys
- Craig Thompson — author of Rizzoli Lizard, Habibi and Blankets
- Howard Chaykin — author of Omnibus of Black Kiss
- Don Rosa — creator of the Scrooge McDuck saga
Lucca Comics & Games 2023 will also celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Venetian artist Dino Battaglia. He is considered one of the masters of comics, and an exhibition at the Chiesa dei Servi will pay tribute to his works of adventure and war, religious, fantastic-metaphysical-science fiction and fables. Vietina also mentioned keeping an eye out for further updates on their eSports expansion, along with further progress on the festival’s 60th-anniversary celebrations, which are said to be in the process of getting a venue dedicated to the Lucca Comics & Games Museum.
Join CGM in Italy next week! Check back here to follow all of our Lucca Comics & Games 2023 coverage. The festival has been ever-growing and has hosted other influential guests over the decades, like Sir Patrick Stewart, George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman (American Gods), Jean Giraud and Art Spielman (Maus). More details can be found on their website.
