For three consecutive days, the heart of the Greek comics community beat loudly in the center of its capital, calling to us for the 14th year, to the greatest comic celebration in Athens. During the 19th, 20th and 21st of April 2019, comic enthusiasts flooded once more the all too familiar Hellenic American Union and French Institute of Athens, as well as the nearby streets, growing the group of Comicdom Con Athens.
As always, this year included, international guests came from all around the globe of comics. British Dan Watters was present. (THE SHADOW-Dynamite Comics, and ASSASSIN’S CREED and WOLFENSTEIN for Titan Comics) responsible for the relaunch of LUCIFER and the newly formed Sandman Universe of Vertige, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. With him, Spanish Particia Martin, multiple Harvey Awards candide, having worked in titles such as WONDER WOMAN, BLOODSHOT REBORN, NINJAK, WRATH OF ETERNAL WARRIOR and SECRET WEAPONS, together with her compatriot Raul Allen, also multiple Harvey awards candidate, having started at David Aja’s side and cooperated with plethora of writers, such as Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker in THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST, Warren Ellis in SECRET AVENGERS. Fraction in HAWKEY and El Torret in DRUMS, while also having worked with multiple creators in SECRET WEAPONS and WONDER WOMAN. As an illustrator, he has cooperated with Quentin Tarantino in PLAYBOY, ROLLING STONE, BILLBOARD, BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK, WASHINGTON POST, WALL ST. JOURNAL, EL PAIS and ADIDAS. Following, Italian Stefano Zianchi, continuator of the tradition of Italian creators in Disney characters since 2012, when his first story “Paperino e il tassello numero uno” was published, until today, having participated -among others- in dozens of issues of the historic TOPOLINO, as well as the mini series DONALD QUEST, which was also published in greek under the title DONALT: THE CHRONICLES OF THE BEASTS.
Three were the expositions of this year’s event. The International exposition “ARCHIE:WELCOME IN RIVERDALE” was dedicated to Archie and his friends, allowing the visitors to admire original pages and collectible items from the Cartoon Art Museum and the Co-CEO of Archie Publishing, Nancy Silberkleit. In the FUTUROPOLIS exposition, 23 Greek creators guided us in theirs, another, or an imaginary city in a utopian, or dystopian future. Finally, the SPOTLIGHT Tasmar exposition housed the honored artist of this year’s event, with an anthology of his greatest works in a small, but greatly representative exposition.
During our festival, we enjoyed the first national airing of British Independent Film Awards winner movie LUNA, by internationally distinguished illustrator and director Dave McKean. A thrilling mixture of live action and animation, featuring Ben Daniels. We also watched french-speaking “LONG WAY NORTH”, a movie proving that 2D animation can still move us through its uniqueness. Finally, we had the chance to witness the first screening of the movie “APALEFTOI” by Giorgos Melissaropoulos and of course the 14 hilarious animation shorts of the Golden Age of Hollywood, starring, the eternal love triangle of Popeye, Olive and Bluto with beloved Shorty in POPEYE THE SAILOR.
The Festival’s schedule also included panels of various topics, from superhero ethics to the widely discussed top 100 overrated of Comicdom, as well as workshops from our international guests and selected Greek creators, a sketch event dedicated to the creators of Spider Man, a children’s program, the entertaining and very group-friendly COMICOM’S ULTIMATE GAME SHOW and as every year, the Comicdom Cosplay Competition and the Greek Comic Awards’ Ceremony: The awards for the best Greek comics creators of the past year, given by an Academy of professionals, consisted among others, from creators, publisher and journalist experts in the field.
Comicdom CON Athens 2019 was organized by Comicdom Press, the Hellenic American Union and the French Institute of Greece.
- Date: 19,20 & 21 Απριλίου
- International Guests: Dan Watters, Patricia Martin, Raul Allen, Stefano Zianchi, Nancy Silberkleit
- Tasmar illustrated this year’s poster