The Barcelona Comic Fair kicks off on Friday (until Sunday) a complex edition, the 44th, with the usual great offer of activities but almost half the space of recent editions (from 50,000 square meters to 28,000). The popular comic book event, one of the most important in its genre, is constrained this year to Pavilion 8 of the Fira de Montjuïc and will not be able to use the overflow area that is the Plaza de l’Univers, one of its emblematic spaces. Among the attractions of the new edition, alongside an exhibition about the classic Paracuellos by Carlos Giménez, a legendary series by Carlos Giménez started in 1996, with original drawings, another dedicated to The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, which commemorates the 25th anniversary of the premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of Peter Jackson’s film series that adapted the novel, taking the opportunity to highlight other references to the work such as the rich parodic tradition in Spanish comics. This morning, some workers could be seen carefully transporting Sauron’s helmet, while a life-size figure of Gandalf watched them alertly and warmed up.
The director of the event, Meritxell Puig, acknowledged today when presenting the new edition the headaches caused by the change and reduction of space, motivated by the works at the Fira de Montjuïc. “We have done some juggling to fit everything and make everything flow,” she said, regretting the loss of the outdoor space (the Plaza de l’Univers) but emphasizing that there will be “more activities than ever.” The fair, Puig pointed out, will continuously monitor the flow of visitors to regulate it, and in fact, there will be no physical ticket offices this edition; tickets must always be purchased online to update and make the most of capacity availability at all times. “Visitors will behave differently this edition, we will see how they move.”
Puig warned that queues at the entrance are inevitable. The positive side is that in the pavilion “everything will be close.” The measure is provisional, and the fair will have to see year by year, while the works last, from 2026 to 2029 according to forecasts, which spaces it can count on.
Regarding the 44th edition, the general director of Ficomic and Comic Barcelona highlighted the 200 exhibitors, 108 authors, 12 exhibitions, and a multitude of other activities (43 meetings with authors, 38 workshops, 15 round tables), and especially the fact that for the first time this year the award for the best work by a Spanish author — which will be decided on Friday afternoon — will be won by a woman, as all five nominees are women (Irene Márquez, Emma Ríos, Teresa Valero, Anna Penyas, and Natalia Velarde).
Borja Crespo, content director of the fair, also pointed out as major attractions the presence of masters such as Milo Manara (with his adaptation of The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco under his arm), Shintaro Kago, mangaka of eroguro (without restrictions) whose work we saw in the exhibition about Sade at the CCCB and whose surname suggests his interest in scatology; Javier Rodríguez, Eisner Award winner, artist of Absolute Martian Manhunter and collaborator with DC Comics and Marvel, or Ken Niimura, also an Eisner winner, and author of I Am a Giant Killer, awarded the International Manga Prize in 2012 and adapted into film in 2018.
Both Puig and Crespo emphasized the importance of Comic Kids, the program of activities aimed at children aged 5 to 12, which encourages reading and creates new readers, and Comic Pro, dedicated to networking and connecting authors and industry. The fair, they stressed, aims to cover comics in all its facets, from Superpotato to Manara, and apologies for the joke. Puig did not consider the cancellation of the Angoulême festival especially relevant for this edition, although she acknowledged it might favor visits from industry people.
Among the exhibitions of this edition, the aforementioned ones of Paracuellos and The Lord of the Rings, which presents much material that will delight Tolkien fans, such as replicas of the elven armor or that of the Riders of Rohan (the helmets and swords of Théoden and Éomer), an elite orc (an uruk-hai) huge enough to make Frodo pale, or the terrifying head of the Balrog, before which one can only mutter “Flee, fools!”. Also, the one tracing Paco Roca’s trajectory from his beginnings at 9 years old drawing in school notebooks 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to the magnificent adaptation of Shelley’s poem Ozymandias. Other exhibits include one dedicated to the underground Barcelona fanzine Atraccions (1982-84), one devoted to five authors from Hong Kong, or one questioning AI, AI Dehumanizes: Who Does It BeneficIA?, against generative AI as parasitic on human creativity.
During the presentation, the fair’s organizers indicated that they are already preparing the next edition, the 45th, which has to be something special, and lamented the scarce public contribution — “laughable” — to a cultural event like Comic Barcelona, recalling that such subsidies represent barely 5% for Ficomic. The 44th edition has a budget of almost one million euros. Puig emphasized that they have tried to ensure that the sharp increases in costs do not affect ticket prices. Regarding Catalan at the fair, the director highlighted the progressive increase of publishers and authors in that language and said that activity in Catalan at the event amounts to 20 to 30%.
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