Davide Gianfelice

Artist: Davide Gianfelice
Subject: Northlanders
Date: November 01, 2010
Location: Lucca Comics & Games, Lucca, Italy

Superman by Scott Chantler

 Tusi #104

Artist: Scott Chantler
Subject: Superman
Date: November 22, 2010
Location: Toronto ComiCon, Metro Toronto Convention Centre North, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Note(s): Them there Londoners seem to love Supes

John Blacksad by Jamal Igle

Artist: Jamal Igle
Subject: John Blacksad
Date: November 22, 2010
Location: Toronto ComiCon, MTCC North Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Note(s):  For me, at least, the most impressive part was watching Jamal draw this sketch of John Blacksad without any type of physical reference material.

Batman & Tiger by Scott Morse

Artist:  Scott Morse
Date:  October 31, 2010
Location:  Lucca Comics and Games, Lucca, Italy

It is amazing what a simple red blob can be turned into.

The final version of The Flash.

Recovering today.  As are the 135,000 other festival-goers.  And sadly, as it turns out, a nation.

Attendance figures for the 4 day Festival were announced as 23,000 (Friday),  45,000 (Saturday), 43,000 (Sunday) and 24,000 (Monday).  Monday’s total was about 50% less than what I  was told to expect as it was a national holiday,  All Saints Day.  The 2009 Lucca Comics and Games Festival had almost 140,000 attendees.

Sunday: Wading through the masses

The Sunday figures are amazing.  The Festival is held outdoors and  many venues (tents) are not  within short walking distances of each other. It rained that entire day yet the streets were always jam-packed.  Not to mention the tents bursting to capacity, especially whenever a large downpour occurred and people rushed inside to stay dry(ish).  The fire marshalls must have shut down access to the tents 6-7 times throughout the day due to overcrowding.  Looking back on it, what could have been a bad situation wasn’t primarily because it was handled properly and efficiently.

Sunday: Crowd being temporarily kept out of the tent by fire marshalls

Unfortunately, as I found out near the Festival’s end, the rains of Sunday triggered mudslides and floods in Northern and Central Italy which killed at least 3 people.  Trains and roadways were blocked off and/or closed.  The trains that bring many of the people in had been delayed or cancelled. 

I believe that this news did not reach many of the exhibitors and guests on Monday until the late morning/early afternoon.   Many of whom had been wondering openly at the sparseness of the crowd in the morning were now somber.  Soon some were making plans to pack up early and drive back through the mountains before the situation became worse. 

I will be writing a recap of the Festival and providing numerous photo dumps of my experiences here (as well as my trip to Amsterdam and Belgium) over the next couple  of weeks so please check back regularly.

I had only just discovered Max’s work on Wednesday during my visit to the exhibit that the show was throwing for the guests of honour.  I have totally fallen head over heels in love with art.  So of course I had to line up.  And wait about 75 minutes for my turn.  And what a wild and crazy 75 minutes it was.

To call what Max does as ‘sketching’ is a great injustice.  He is an artiste who used any and every means possible to create unique pieces of art in the  sketchbooks or comic albums of his fans.

He rarely used a pencil or marker to draw in any books.  He took out a jar of black paint and a container of red from his work bag.  Dipping his finger in away he went, just finger painting and palm painting and fingernail painting…whatever he felt he needed to do to give each person a truly unqiue piece. 

He must have received 5-6 calls while I was there and would always work while chatting on his phone.  Did a TV interview too.

This sketch was my absolute favourite.  Not for the sketch itself but for how it was done.  Max opened the softcover book, pulled one side of the cover taut and gently yanked the book from the binding glue.  Turning to the other side, he repeated the procedure and the grabbed the guts of the book.  I was in shock when he first sepearated the book.  I was horrified when I saw the book torn apart.  But my Italian friend, Gregory (I met him last year in Lucca while waiting in line for Eduardo Risso), just smiled and laughed.  And shortly afterwards, so did I.  Though I was still al little worried about what would happen to my book  

I tweeted the completed sketch earlier in the day:  Max’s Interior Cover Sketch 

He also used some weird sort gold crayon/charcoal type instrument which you can barely see in these pics that I took of him working on my sketchbook.  (I think I had the first sketch of the day that wasn’t fully done in paint.)

When the crayon/charcoal concoction was covered by the paint on his hands, he rubbed it in and the resultant use created new colours and textures.

The con starts tomorrow or about 7 hours  as I write this.  The apartment is full now that C.B. has arrived.

I spent the last 2 days moving around the beautiful city of Lucca, playing tourist.  I was able to revisit the art exhibition and will post pics in the next two weeks or so.

Tonight after dinner, we headed of to Simone Biannchi`s book signing/Q&A at Edison Books.  What a great bokstoore!

The bookstore is in what was originally a bank.  Huge cathedral ceilings with bright lighting.  Tons of books.  A nice spacious area to sit and relax.  And a bar area where you get food and drinks.  The bartender made for us the best screwdrivers I’ve ever tasted.

Freshly squeezed OJ makes a Screwdriver a SCREWDRIVER!

Simone’s book signing was a combo presentation/discussion/book signing/portfolio review.  It lasted about 2 1/2 hours, ending at midnight, and packed the bookstore. We ended up celebrating at a bar nearby that is owned by Andrea Silvestri’s , Simone’s assistant, brother.  Something called a  Maxi Hot Dog was ordered by all.  Basically it is a cheesy hot dog panini.  In retrospect, this was not the best way to end the night!

So I will have to rectify that massive oversight this year. 

Day 1 was fairly uneventful.  Everyone arrived from different parts of North America at the Pisa airport.  A short taxi ride  later and we were inside the walls of Lucca.  A quick wash of the face and brush of the teeth and we were off to grab some lunch.  Before long we were back in the apartment.

2 glasses of wine and snack crackers. Airline life!

Delicious Tortelli Lucchese

Walked over with Tiziano a little later in the afternoon to visit with Gary Frank, DC artist extraordinnaire.  Gary has an exhibit of his artwork in a local museum.  Among the other exhibits were a tribute to the early underground comix (R.Crumb etc.), Max Frezzato and Gianni De Como.  Being exposed to some of the European artists, most of whom I had never seen before, was like a visual orgasm.   EDIT:  Pictures were taken with my iPhone camera.  I’ll revisit the exhibits and get better pics.

Old School Master and Old Skool Master

Max Frezzato painting used for the 2010 Lucca Comics Festival poster and program

Max Frezzato door - Side 1

Max Freezzato - Door Side 2

Tiziano, Gary and Fletcher

Day one ends with me falling asleep at the table in a nice little Italian restaurant for about 20 seconds.  So nearly 40 hours since Imy last bit of good sleep, I’m signing off.  Day 2 will probably be non-comic book-y stuff so there may not be an update.  I’ll to keep daily blog updates during the festival’s dates.

Death Holding A White Rose by Marc Hempel

The Death and Delirium Collection

Artist:   Marc Hempel
Subject: Death  
Date: June 3, 2010
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Note(s): A chance to get on Marc’s commission list in the early spring leads to this amazing piece.