(the always excellent John Porcellino’s birthday tribute to Repodukt)

On the occasion of this special anniversary, and coinciding with their Swiss competition/colleagues from Editions Moderne‘s thirtieth (the very fine EM who first introduced me to the remarkable work of Thomas Ott, later republished by Fantagraphics – Joe), Reprodukt has organising an exhibition in Berlin, with specially commissioned art by an international crowd including John Porcellino (who pointed me to this, thanks John), David B, Jason, Lewis Trondheim, Thomas Ott and James Sturm. The show opened on September 9th in the Neurotitan gallery (im Haus Schwarzenberg, Rosenthalerstraße 39, 10178 Berlin) and runs until right through to the end of this month. You can find more info on the Reprodukt site, and at Neurotitan’s site here. Should be very worth catching if you are in Berlin this month. The blog crew here wish both Reprodukt and Editions Moderne a happy anniversary and many more to come.

The material presented isn’t quite as left field as Strapazin can be and most of it appears to have at least the semblance of a narrative structure (I have to shamefully admit that there is often material in the mag that goes straight past me), and, for me at least, was my first exposure to Chinese comic material. I had, for reason of my lack of imagination, kinda expected that most of the artists would be working in a Manga style but far from it, there aren’t any real Manga stylings here at all. There are 14 Chinese creators involved and creators included are Liu Yan, Duoxi, Zhang Xun, Lan Lan, DN, 54boy, Storyof, WangXX, Yan Cong, Menz, Lao Mi Zhou, Wowo, Zuo Ma and Xiang Ya Ta. My favourite strips would be Lan Lan’s beautifully drawn ‘Night after Night’ and DN’s ‘Snow’ but all of the material is interesting and worth a look. If you read German and are interested in the more artistic end of comics this is a mag you should be getting.

(a page from Night After Night by and (c) Lan Lan, borrowed from the Strapazin site)

You also get a typical Strapazin editorial, discussing the moral issues of doing an issue about China – a land of much suppression – as an appropriate celebration of their 100th issue. In the end the justification seems to be that basically every country is corrupt – USA a police state waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Germany also in Afghanistan and enduring Merkel, France with it’s war against travellers, brutalising of the black population etc etc. You get the idea. This agit-prop political stance makes the magazine as distinct from other comics mags as does the fact it has run 25 years and produced a 100 issues. No mean feat. So congratulations to the world’s most successful and long running politicised comics magazine and review. May you continue for another 100 issues.

(a page from Snow by and (c) DN, from the Strapazin site)

Brussels celebrates its ninth Comics Festival on the weekend of September 11th and 12th, with an exhibition dedicated to the work of venerable comic writer Alain-Pierre Duchateau (Les Casseurs, Alain Chevalier, Chick Bill and countless others), the gala of the Prix Saint-Michel,  the oldest comics award in Europe, a publishers’ fair and many cartoonists who will provide the necessary dédicaces.

During the same weekend, Finland hosts the 25th Helsingin Sarjakuvafestivaalit (or Helsinki Comics Festival, in plain old English), the largest comic-related event in Finland and Northern Europe. This year’s special theme is European comic art, with a comic fair for publishers from all over Europe, a Small Press alternative fair, and a large variety of comic exhibitions.  Guests of honor include Previous guests of honour have included Warren Ellis, Neil Gaiman, Lewis Trondheim and Guy Delisle.

Bergen, Norway, in the mean time, will be host to the Raptus festival (September 10th – 12th).  This event focuses on Scandinavian comics, with colloquia, exhibitions and trade fairs.  Special attention will be paid to the Norwegian alternative comics scene.  Guest of honour will be the celebrated Donald Duck artist Don Rosa, along with Duck satirist Charlie Christensen (creator of Arne Anka, a sort of Donald Duck gone rogue), Astrid Hansen and Mike Collins.

BD-Fil, the Lausanne Comics Festival, will celebrate its sixth edition during the same weekend.  Guest of honour is Swiss cartoonist Zep (Titeuf, amongst others), who will have an exhibition all to himself.  Many exhibition, typically focusing on the more literary and alternative comics, presentations and interviews with cartoonists and, naturally, signing sessions make this a very interesting festival indeed.

On September 25th and 26th the Stripdagen will be held in Houten, Holland.  The theme of this year’s festival is a hundred years of Scouting in the Netherlands.  There will be a professional trade fair, organised by Het Stripschap, a collector’s fair, a comic auction and many, many creators will be present.  As yet, the website is quite vague on the specific program of the event, so we’ll have to check back, and check often.

At the same time, the Swiss city of Tramelan is host to Tramlabulle, with a hommage to Albert Weinberg, exhibitions, a theater adaptation of Lewis Trondheim’s comic Imbroglio, and a host of smaller and larger publishers present.

And then finally, near the end of the month, there’s the tenth edition or Romix in Rome, Italy (September 30th – October 3rd).  Central guest of this festival is the Japanese cartoonist Ryoko Ikeda (Lady Oscar).  Also present are Claudio Villa (Tex) and Chris Ware.

(TOTT’s Last Cartoon, art by and (c) Thomas Ott)