Entering its second decade in triumphant fashion, Comicdom Con Athens renewed its appointment at the Hellenic American Union and expanded to two more venues, The French Institute of Greece and the Municipality of Athens Culture Centre. This way, a whole neighborhood in Athens was transformed, with various activities, happenings, and exciting street events.
Continuing the tradition of having international guests from all aspects of the 9th Art (both geographical and aesthetic), the Con το Φεστιβάλ featured an astounding guest list (both in terms on talent and sheer numbers), composed of British artist Charlie Adlard (with a 12-year run on THE WALKING DEAD), famous French cartoonist Ted Benoit, one of the artists who revived Edgar P. Jacobs’ legendary series, BLAKE & MORTIMER, British writer Al Ewing (ULTIMATES, NEW AVENGERS and CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS), Eisner Award-winning Croatian illustrator Goran Sudzuka, with collaborations ranging from French publisher Delcourt to US companies like DC Comics, established 2000AD artist P.J. Holden, first female German mangaka Christina Plaka, multi-faceted Israeli cartoonist Mysh, South Korean mangaka Sookyung Yoo, world-renowned comics journalist Chris Thompson, and the three founders of CURRENT COMIC BOOK ANTHOLOGY, the first comics anthology in Cyprus, Tassos Anastasiadis, Nearchos Konstantinou, and Anna Fotiadou.
This year’s featured Greek artist was Tomek, who illustrated the official Comicdom Con Athens 2016 poster and artwork.
For this year’s main international exhibition, we collaborated with the Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center and the Kyoto International Manga Museum, presenting for the first time to the Greek audience, an exhibition with works by Hideko Mizuno, one of the first female mangaka, and internationally acclaimed artist Hiroshi Hirata.
Besides the main exhibition, we also included as part of the festival the historic comics and illustration exhibition En Aithria, with more than 50 established and rising Greek creators giving a rounded view of a thriving and hugely creative local art scene, as well the international exhibition Open Borders, with works by artists from all 28 countries in the European Union.
Our rich screenings schedule featured the exclusive premiere of TV series OUTCAST, the spotlight film DC FILMS PRESENTS: DAWN OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, the animated PEANUTS MOVIE, various animated features and shorts (both from the vast French Institute collection and in collaboration with international animation festival Animasyros), the cult short action film THE ROCKIN’ DEAD – ENTER POPACALYPSE, and COMICDOM: THE DOCUMENTARY, focusing on the festival itself as well as the Greek comics scene.
The festival’s program also featured street events, panels with topics ranging from the History of 9th Art in Greece to the current trends in superhero comics, workshops on writing and illustration techniques by our international guests and world famous Greek artists Michael Dialynas and Ilias Kyriazis, as well as a masterclass by veteran creator Tasos Apostolidis, and of course the Comicdom Cosplay contest, the Greek Comics Awards, and a Sketch Event with pop culture phenomenon THE WALKING DEAD as its theme.
- Date: April 15, 16 & 17
- International Guests: Charlie Adlard (THE WALKING DEAD), Ted Benoit (BLAKE & MORTIMER), Al Ewing (ULTIMATES, NEW AVENGERS και CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS), Goran Sudzuka (Delcourt, DC Comics), P.J. Holden (2000AD), Christina Plaka, Mysh, Sookyung Yoo, Chris Thompson, Tasos Anastasiadis, Nearchos Konstantinou, and Anna Fotiadou (CURRENT COMIC BOOK ANTHOLOGY)
- Tomek illustrated the official Con artwork.