Komikazen, the International Festival of reality Comics in Ravenna

Blooming of independent comics in Europe

Two days of meetings between authors and editors and exhibitions, which will run until 2 December 2007. - Map making of the European comic independent scene and light on the 'Stripopeka Initiative' from Sarajevo


By MARCO RICIPUTI
from Ravenna, ITALY


The main event of Komikazen is the exhibition European Comics Cartography that counts about 50 European authors. The exhibit opens up to a virtual journey, through the youth imaginary, in Europe, a country that widened its borders allowing the flow of comics' styles and stories.

Artworks of authors of well-known magazines like Strapazin (Switzerland), Babel (Greece), Glomp! (Finland), Chili Com Carne (Portugal), and Stripburger (Slovenia) together with new self-productions coming from new members of the EU, like Romania, active with the magazine Hard Comics and the young authors of Stripopeka, a Bosnian collective based in Sarajevo. Of course, the Italian independent scene with the collective Canicola and Monipodio and the magazine MAH!gazine. And don't forget the amazing and expensive serigraphy of the Marseillaise collective Le dernier cri.

As you can imagine, the work of so many artists are totally different. But a couple of thing deserve attention. Your eye will be hit for sure by the boundless imagination of 'Le dernier cri', with its crowds, impressive and limited edition serigraphy. Again, the latest Stripburger production, 'Honey Talks', a collection of stories that draw inspiration from Slovenian folk tradition of painting beehive panels. Last, I can stress the explosion of color of the quarterly Finnish Glomp!. Moreover, you can be surprised to know that the northern land boasts a noteworthy tradition in the form of an international, prestigious festival in Helsinki and the Finnish Comic Society association, active since 1971, whose sole purpose is to promote comics.

'Almost personal experience'

Which Europe represents the independent and avant-garde comic scene? If you are expecting a clear-cut answer, you will be disappointed. 'Authors almost always depict personal experiences, a sort of autobiographic mini-story', explains Elettra Stamboulis, curator of the festival alongside Gianluca Costantini. These personal experiences usually revolve around the same problems: lack of space, lack of money and the difficulty in being accepted as an artist. For these reasons, the young artists from Sarajevo behind Stripopeka, but also seasoned underground artists like those published in 'Le dernier cri', moved from crowded Paris to the more tranquil Marseilles - much to the disappointment of Paul Gravett, journalist and comic critic, who would like to see more young artists attend his Comica Festival in London.

Ideas to breathe fresh air into the underground comic scene are rife. 'A European network, a blog to keep in touch, circulating exhibitions and European funding would be great,' suggests Elettra. Gravett is thinking about a comic with detachable and replaceable stories according to the reader's favored language. Last, Pakito Bolino of 'Le dernier cri' has another idea of an interactive European map which could be updated with the latest innovations from the independent scene of each country.

News from Sarajevo

'A common blog? I think it's a great idea, and as we can see, there's a boom going around the globe of online communities - why not make a European Artists Network?' say Emir Pasanovic. Together with Filip Andronik, Emir is the founder of the 'Stripopeka Initiative', a web space where you can see, according to the website, 'different comic books competitions and events presented, as well as some comic book art by Bosnian authors'. The main scope of the initiative is back to life the comic tradition of Bosnia. Especially after the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, find space for this form of art is extremely hard in Sarajevo.

'Currently, we are solely a web publisher' say Emir, 'and I don't think we will actually register as a publishing company. We are going along the lines of approaching existing book publishers with projects and trying to make them see the light'. He blames the regional publishers because they 'move in one direction only: expensive, hard cover editions of Italian comic books, some American and some French-Belgian, with little or none space for home authors.'

Right now Stripopeka has four artists working for the website and the on line comics strip, but they welcome any artist who is from Bosnia and wish to promote himself or herself with them. Preview of the new wave from Sarajevo and Bosnia is available in the galerija. If you wish to see a slideshow of the Komikazen festival go here.

As we were talking about comics, let me close with the last famous words 'That's all Folks!'.


(Published: 09.11.2007.)

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