“Nîmes Comic Festival 2023: A Celebration of Art, Culture, and Meet-and-Greets with 40+ Renowned Authors”

Nîmes hosts a pretty festival, that of comics, with around forty known, recognized and waiting to be discovered authors. Culture, conferences, meetings, readings, dedications, laughs, solemnity, the public should enjoy themselves!

Even if it is now organized as a biennial, the comic strip festival returns to the Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle to the delight of lovers of the ninth art.

A veritable surge of images, drawings and bubbles, the event supported by the City presents some forty authors and designers who represent all tastes and ages. Debates, exhibitions, workshops, challenges, performances and concerts will punctuate the signing sessions in the heart of a large, entirely dedicated tent village.

« The comic book festival is firmly rooted in the cultural calendar of Nîmes. It is a very popular biennial, which reaches young and old alike, and allows the City to open up culture in all its forms to as many people as possible. This year again, the most famous authors will be present to sign their works and share their passion. “, explains Sophie Roulle, Deputy Delegate for Culture.

Fenech signs the poster for the 2023 edition

Philippe Fenech was born in 1976 in Montpellier. He discovered comics thanks to Asterix, and never let go of the idea of ​​making it his profession. From 2001, he produced illustrations for Disney Presse. It can be found in the magazines “Le journal de Mickey”, “Mickey Parade” or even “Super Scrooge Giant”. From 2004, he devoted a good part of his time to comics and became, in 2012, the designer of the series Mes Cop’s (14 volumes to date), which will quickly meet its audience.

Given his surname, Philippe Fenech seems to have been predestined to draw animals. It is therefore not surprising to find him since 2021, drawing the series Idéfix et les Irréductibles (Éditions Albert René), the fourth volume of which is to be published soon.

Exhibitions and animations

“Les univers de Fenech” is an exhibition combining large format reproductions of the Dogmatix and the irreducible series, My Cop’s (Bamboo) as well as unpublished drawings will be offered to the public.

With the exhibition “Blues, rock and comics by Mezzo and JM Dupont”, the public will have the pleasure of seeing large formats and reproductions of boards from the two albums by Mezzo and Jean-Michel Dupont: Kiss the sky (Glénat) , a musical odyssey centered on Jimi Hendrix (Elvis d’or at the Angoulême Festival 2023 for best rock comics) and Love in Vain (Glénat), a tribute worthy of the phenomenal cult of which Robert Johnson is the object among lovers of blues and rock.

Colouring, workshops with authors, treasure hunts… All of this will be fully experienced on the Esplanade. The festival will be punctuated by coloring sessions on a large “wall” dedicated to this purpose, which should not be overlooked and read at the end of the weekend. Every day, comic book workshops will also be offered by authors present for children from 8 years old.

The Esplanade will also be the scene of a treasure hunt entitled “Les Héros du Journal Spirou”. And, through many panels scattered throughout the festival, a great treasure hunt will be offered to the public. At each panel, a clue to find, an enigma to solve or a mini-game to discover.

Performs

There will be a fresco drawn by four authors who will participate in the realization of this great work on the theme of Fantasy and fantastic worlds.

An impro-drawn battle will see two teams formed by a cartoonist present and an actor face each other in a ring before competing in a series of games played and improvised for glory, humor and the public!

You can also stop off at the reading area around the Médiabus-Bédébus, which will also offer the loan of books or, of course, meet the authors who will present their albums and their works during interviews on the BD Forum.

Concerts and meetings

Music, jazz and comics go hand in hand. Some of the best-known musical themes certainly evoke comic book, comic book and other cartoon characters… and vice versa.

The public will therefore be able to find The Pink Panther, Batman… in music! A concert with pianist Raphaël Lemonnier and multi-instrumentalist Marc Simon will be organized on May 14 at 4 p.m.

Signing meetings on bookseller stands will welcome bookstores Pop Up and Shut Down, the bubble, the BéDéphile et Peter Pan will welcome on their stands the time of the festival, of which they are essential partners, the forty authors present. Of course, the inevitable signing sessions will be an opportunity to discuss with the authors and discover their works.

The expected authors

Mario AlbertiMonte-Cristo (Comix Buro) – AréBite (Kennes) – AsynBolshoi Arena (Delcourt) – Bruno BessadiL’Ogre Lion (Drakoo) – Serena BlascoArcana (Drakoo) – Jean Paul BordierDwarves (Sun) – Gaetan BrizziDante’s Inferno (Daniel Maghen) – Camille K.Indelible erasures (Jungle) – Frederic Cartier-LangeModestine tells Stevenson in the Cévennes (Alcide jeunesse) – Jean-Luc Cornette, Christina. The Queen-boy (Futuropolis) – Brisse CossuFranck (Dupuis) ​​– Edward CourtRev (Glénat) – Vincenzo CuccaColonization (Glénat) – Emmanuel DespujolSide Show (Soleil) – Denis FalqueRectifying (Glénat) – Philippe FenechIdéfix and the irreducible (Editions Albert René) – Charline ForensThe Sentinel of the Little People (Dupuis) ​​– GoroglinMolang (Dupuis) ​​– Pierre-Denis GouxElves (Sun) – Daphne & Julie GuillotIf it was enough that we love each other (Steinkis) – Patrick HeatLe Betty Bar (Package) – André Houot & Jocelyne Charrance, Asylum! (Glénat) – JennyThe Legendary Resistance (Delcourt) – Sandrine KaoThe Thread (Nathan BD) – Richard MarazanaoThe Three Ghosts of Tesla (The Lombard) – Paul Marcel, Tutankhamun. The odyssey of Howard Carter (Les Arènes BD – 2023 Annie Peysson Prize for Antiquist comics) – Alessandra MarsiliLouise and Ballerina (Jungle) – MatteoVenus at her mirror (Futuropolis) – Christian Maucler, Simon. The novel of a life (Phileas) – Jordan Mechner, Replay. Memory of a family (Delcourt) – Mezzo & J.M. DupontKiss the Sky. Jimi Hendrix 1942-1970 (Glénat) – Emmanuel ManyFurious Jumper (Soleil) – Robert Paquet, Andre Maginot. A man above the rest (Editions du Signe) – Fabrizio Petrossi, Scrooge. The Glasgow Dragon (Glénat) – Alice PicardLes Mythics (Delcourt) – Pierre PlaceJim Bradger (Glénat/Fayard) – Didier PoliThe Lost Ages (Dargaud) – Jean Charles PoupardOrcs & Goblins (Sun) – Nicolas SignarbieuxPlastics (Glénat) – Emmanuel SuarezCorentin Tréguier’s incredible expedition to the Congo (Nathan BD).

Find here the program of the weekend. The public will also be able to find all the works on sale in their shops in the center of Nîmes: Pop Up et Cie: 16 Rue de la République and Manga Pop’ 60 rue de la République, 30000 Nîmes. La Bulle: 2 Rue Regale, 30000 Nîmes. Le BéDéphile: 1 Rue des Chapeliers, 30000 Nîmes. Peter Pan: 22 Rue de l’Horloge, 30000 Nîmes.

Anthony Maurin