Lucca Comics: comics, international guests and lots of fun

For the 2022 edition, the daily attendance cap has been set at 75,000. Online sales have already begun in the summer, with the selling of tickets called "early bird." After this first mode of sale, tickets can now be purchased through classic channels.

On the official website of Lucca Comics & Games, the attendance count is kept, and currently the days having reached almost the maximum allowed are the second and third ones, while the first and the last still have a low percentage of sales.

By Oct. 14, it is also possible to purchase a type of ticket arriving straight to your door after ordered online and giving you direct access to the fair with no picking up your wristband at the welcome desk. For those who want to skip the line, this is definitely a mode to consider.

A classic event at this time of year in Lucca are the exhibitions related to the comic book event. They are set up inside the Ducal Palace and can be visited totally free of charge from October 15 to 27, while on the days of the fair they can be accessed with the festival ticket. Here are some details about the five main shows.

Let's start with the one titled "POPSalani, 160 years of books, culture and fantasy," celebrating the important milestone reached by publisher Salani, famous for publishing the Harry Potter saga in Italy.

We continue with an exhibit dedicated to Mirka Andolfo, a young Neapolitan artist who achieved success with the webcomic Sacro e Profano, and then established herself as one of the most promising cartoonists on the international scene.

Third display is the result of a collaboration between Lucca Comics and the publishing house Il Castoro, and features illustrator Chris Riddell, who will also be a guest at the fair. This is followed by Alex Randolph, 100 years after the birth of this incredible creative. To close, a celebratory exhibition for John Blanche, master of dystopian fantasy.

Announcements about guests are always the most anticipated by fans, who try to make sure they are present on the days when their idols grant signatures and dedications. This is clearly one of the fundamental aspects of a comic book fair, where creators and users finally meet and maybe, if you are lucky, you get to shake hands with your hero.

This year's bombshell announcement was about Tim Burton: the crepuscular director will in fact appear in Lucca to present the release of his Wednesday series. Other interesting news concern the presence of several mangaka at the fair, an announcement that delighted many fans. To begin, Edizioni Star Comics will bring to Lucca Norihiro Yagi, author of Ariadne In The Blue Sky and Claymore, which many have hailed as a female Berserk. For JPOP, Nagabe, author of such distinctive and successful works as Girl From The Other Side, will attend. As Japan's representative for Panini Comics we will instead have Atsushi Ohkubo, author of Soul Eater and Fire Force.

Those listed are just some of the names present at the fair, as many successful Italian authors beloved by the audience will also be guests, from Leo Ortolani to Giacomo "Keison" Bevilacqua, passing through Paolo Barbieri and Sara Colaone, without forgetting Lorenza Di Sepio and Tito Faraci.

To counter the exorbitant increase in prices for housing in the city, some people have made their homes available for the days of the fair. The idea is to take in an artist and give him or her hospitality during the days of the event in exchange for an original drawing, company and tasty anecdotes about the world of comics. A testimony to the human side of Lucca, in the hope that in the years to come everything can be optimized and improved. Long live Lucca Comics!