Three years have passed since the last event was held in 2019 Barcelona comic face-to-face and after two editions exclusively ‘online’ due to the pandemic, the publishers are turning to their launches for the long-awaited appointment, which will last until eMay 8 at Fira Montjuïc. A couple of weeks ago we already recommended some titles that were already on sale for the Sant Jordi; Now we select the latest news and the works of some of the authors invited to the show:
‘Elise and the new partisans’ / ‘Elise i els nous partisans’
‘Elise and the new partisans’ / ‘Elise i els nous partisans’
Dominique Grange and Jacques Tardi. Salamander Graphic. 25 euros
Jacques Tardi, author of the memorable ‘Trench Warfare’, ‘Fucking War!’ or ‘Yo, René Tardi’, presents in the salon, along with his partner, Dominique Grange, this latest work, loosely based on her experiences in May 68. With a critical eye, they recall the active fight against social injustice , racism and police violence. In addition, Norma rescues in one volume two first independent comics, ‘The true story of the unknown soldier’ (1974) and ‘Charlot’s scale’ (1976).
‘drunk mermaids’
‘drunk mermaids’
Kat Leyh. Rule. €29.50
The American Kat Leyh is invited, always sensitively normalizing the gender difference: co-writer and cartoonist in the series ‘Leñadoras’ (Sapristi) and author of the spectacular ‘Snapdragon’ (Spaceship), a children’s/youth book that has been nominated for Best International Work at the salon awards. It brings more naughty novelty for a ‘young adult’ public: three mermaids go to land in search of wine and after a monumental hangover they don’t know how to return to the sea.
‘The Hate Chronicles 2’
‘The Hate Chronicles 2’
Peter Bagger. The Dome. 32 euros
The veteran reference of the American ‘underground’ returns to Cómic Barcelona with the second volume (of 5) that compiles the iconic stories, bathed in autobiography, starring the young Buddy Bradley, his marginal roommates and a handful of illustrious secondary in the Seattle of the early 90s. The crazy portrait of an era.
‘If I am’
‘If I am’
David Ramirez. Rule. €19.95
After recounting how she lived through her husband’s hospitalization due to covid in the first wave in ‘COnviVIenDo 19 dias’, David Ramírez returns with more of his tender humor and costumbrismo that he also poured into ‘As is’, making the reader identify with your day to day. The cartoonist is also nominated for the award for Best Children’s Comic at the show for ‘Todo Dinokid’ (Spaceship).
‘Revelry’
‘Revelry’
Brecht Evens. Astiberri. 30 euros
The author of ‘Pantera’ visits the fair with this comic, Special Jury Prize at the 2019 Angoulême festival. Its pages, in watercolor and with his characteristic and colorful psychedelic style, immerse the reader in a festival night at the hands of Jona , who goes out to say goodbye to the city before moving. The hustle and bustle will end up turning into a crazy adventure.
Carles Schembre. Comic Planet. €18.95
Carles Esquembre continues his line of rescuing the memory of the Civil War behind titles like ‘The Lincoln Brigade’ and ‘Lorca, a poet in New York’. Now he pays homage to another bard persecuted by the Franco regime, a Miguel Hernández whose life is structured around ‘the three wounds’ that gave the title to his posthumous poem, written in prison, and which Joan Manuel Serrat would popularize in the form of a song.
‘The Hodges Meteorite’
‘The Hodges Meteorite’
Fabien Roche. Garbuix Books. €24.95
Roche delves into some unusual real events: those that occurred on November 30, 1954 in Sylacauga, Alabama. There, while Ann Elizabeth Hodges sleeps in her house, an 18-centimeter black rock comes through the roof and hits her in the hip. It’s a meteor. The incredible event will trigger a series of unexpected events that will change her life.
‘On Tyranny’
‘On Tyranny’
Nora Krug / Timothy Snyder. Salamander Graphic. 23 euros
The committed American author, who traced her roots back to her family past, in Nazi Germany, in ‘Heymat. Away from my home’, visit the room with this personal adaptation of historian Timothy Snyder’s essay, written to reflect on Trump’s totalitarianism but where answers to Putin’s behavior in Ukraine are also found.
‘gentlemind’
‘gentlemind’
Juan Díaz Canales, Teresa Valero and Antonio Lapone. Rule. 28 euros
Díaz Canales, screenwriter of ‘Blacksad’ and the reborn Corto Maltés, and Teresa Valero, author of the celebrated ‘Contrapaso’, which is nominated for Best Work of National Authorship at the show, form an infallible tandem, together with the pencils of the Italian Lapone: a story set in 1939 about ‘Gentlemind’, a women’s magazine that the owner’s young widow turns upside down by taking the reins.
‘Boreal Wolf’
‘Boreal Wolf’
Nuria Tamarit. The Dome. €27.50
The author of ‘Giganta’ and ‘El enebro’ will be signing her latest work, this ‘Loba boreal’, starring Joana, who arrives in the new world in search of gold. To get the precious metal, with which she intends to recover a kingdom that has ceased to exist, she joins an expedition whose men are reluctant to take women with them.
‘Forn de calç 2’
‘Forn de calç 2’
VVAA (Marc Charles Ed). Extinct Editions. 17 euros
Watch out for this comic book magazine coordinated by Marc Charles, whose first volume is up for the award for Best Fanzine of the show. With a cover by the American Alex Graham, it brings together 15 short stories that make the underground scene visible in Catalan with authors such as Cristian Robles, Raquel Gu, Blanca Hernández, Natalia Zaratiegui, Eixa or Jaume Pallardó.
‘Giant Days 11’
‘Giant Days 11’
John Allison and Max Sarin. Fandogamy. 14 euros
Like ‘Snapdragon’, this youthful fresh air series by John Allison, who is also a guest author, has been among the nominees for Best International Work at the show. With light-hearted humor and without prejudice, it follows the adventures and misadventures of its three young protagonists in their daily lives since they entered a university in England.
‘The little genius and the game of shatranj / ‘La petita…’
‘The little genius and the game of shatranj / ‘La petita…’
Alvaro Ortiz. Astiberri. 18 euros
Debut in the children’s comic by the author of ‘Murderabilia’ and ‘The bat goes out for beers’. The Aragonese Álvaro Ortiz puts his humor and good work at the service of the young reader to present an apprentice genius, Ayu, who offers to fulfill the wish of a sultan, whose daughter, Amina, has asked him for an opponent for a game of chess-like table. Because no one is perfect and everyone can fail.
‘Celestia’
‘Celestia’
Manuele Fior. Salamander Graphic. 25 euros
The author of the award-winning ‘Five thousand kilometers per second’ (recently reissued) and ‘The Interview’ will be in the room with his latest work, ‘Celestia’, a new dystopia full of magic where humans have evolved to be, in some cases, able to read minds. It takes place on the mysterious island of the title, which could well be the Venice of the future.
‘Ten thousand elephants’
‘Ten thousand elephants’
Pere Ortín and Nzé Esono Ebale. Reserve Books. €24.90
The Valencian journalist and the Guinean cartoonist travel to 1944 to tell how that year a team of photographers and filmmakers traveled to Equatorial Guinea to portray life in the then Spanish colony in Africa. The narrator is Ngono Mbá, one of the porters of the expedition, whose testimony turns the official truths upside down.
‘Pink’
‘Pink’
Gaelle Geniller. The Dome. 34 euros
The French cartoonist goes back to the Paris of the roaring 20’s to tell a surprising story about difference and identity, about family, friendship and love. In this environment, in a brothel run by her mother, Rosa has grown up, a 19-year-old young man who, after a happy childhood, only wants to dance and express his innate talent on stage.
‘Dig and shut up!’
‘Dig and shut up!’
Pepe Gálvez, Manuel Granell and Sento Lllobell. Fin. €19.90
After the excellent ‘El Partido de la muerte’ (Desfiladero), where he recovered the dramatic real soccer match between Ukrainians and Nazis during the Second World War, the screenwriter Pepe Gálvez returns to the anti-fascist memory, about which he has given titles such as ‘ Miguel Nunez. A thousand more lives’. He now rescues the life of Marcelo Usabiaga, a victim of Franco’s repression.
‘with bare hands’
‘with bare hands’
Leïla Slimani and Clément Oubrerie. Liana Publisher. 23 euros
Surgeon and committed feminist Suzanne Noël, a pioneer of cosmetic surgery, operated on numerous horribly disfigured soldiers during the First World War. The renowned writer Leïla Slimani (Goncourt Award 2016) vindicates her figure in this graphic novel that reflects how Noël defended her specialty as a tool for the emancipation of women.
‘The little wooden robot and the trunk princess’ / ‘El petit robot…’
‘The little wooden robot and the trunk princess’ / ‘El petit robot…’
Tom Gauld. Salamander Graphic. €15.95
The brilliant Tom Gauld makes his debut in children’s comics. In it, the Scottish cartoonist recounts the adventures of a wooden robot looking for his lost sister, a trunk princess, both heirs to kings who asked a witch for help because they couldn’t have children.
‘shortcomings’
‘shortcomings’
Related news
Adrian Tomine. Sapristi. €18.90
Sapristi launches a new edition of the first graphic novel by Adrian Tomine, an American of Japanese origin, who has already published the celebrated ‘Intruders’. In ‘Shortcomings’, based on accurate dialogues, he accompanies his protagonists, a couple in their thirties, in the progressive decline of their sentimental relationship.