Etnacomics 2023 starts with a long bus full of people queuing two hours before the official opening. There is a lot of waiting for an event that doesn’t want to disappoint expectations. The traditional ribbon cutting, scheduled for 10 a.m., will be attended by Etna Comics Director Antonio Mannino and Deputy Director Gianluca Impegnoso, Ars President Gaetano Galvagno and Extraordinary Commissioner of the Municipality and Metropolitan City, Piero Mattei, the Prefect, Maria Carmela Librizzi, and the Archbishop, Mgr. Luigi Renna. And then off to the 4-day International Festival for Comics, Games and Pop Culture,
Two appointments with as many giants of American comics: at 4 p.m. “The Marvel art of Romita Jr.” and at 6 p.m. “Gothic Black: the visionary art of Kelley Jones”.
The master of erotic comics
Double appointment with the master of world erotic comics, Milo Manara, who at 5 p.m. will meet the famous actress Ornella Muti in the Taboocom area, for an exciting comparison of the seventh and ninth arts. While at 7 p.m. he is participating in a conference on the comic raids of the well-known Rai journalist Vincenzo Mollica in video connection together with Giorgio Cavazzano, author of the drawings of many stories in which the “paperized” Mollica plays the protagonist: Vincenzo Paperica. The panels with the stories “Donald Duck, Paperoga and Paperica” and “The Hunt for a Thousand VIPs” are displayed in the exhibition area, where the public of Etna Comics can admire for the first time in Italy outside the walls of “Etna Comics”. Cinema Brush Museum”, also the comic by Mollica entitled “Le forbici di Paolino” – illustrated by Mario Cicarè – which evokes the cinema of Sophia Loren or Marisa Allasio.
the rapper
Among the super guests of the first day is also the well-known rapper Caparezza, who together with the cartoonist Simone Bianchi, author of the variant cover of the pop-up vinyl version of “Exuvia”, will hold a panel at 3 p.m. on contamination between music and comics.
The previews
At 17.00 national preview of the new edition of Hugo Pratt’s Odyssey edited by Cong, in the presence of Marco Steiner and Fabrizio Paladini, historical collaborators of the famous author. All the original panels that Hugo Pratt created for this work will be on display for the first time in the exhibition area. A unique opportunity to appreciate the style of the master who exploded a few years later with the first story of Corto Maltese.
On stage at 6.50 p.m., the Telericordi!? will bring Wall of Sound, a show that highlights soundtracks that recreate the scenes that made the history of cinema.
At 8 p.m. the big return to Etna Comics by John Lui will leave the scene, at 9 p.m. there will be the national premiere of the film “Shark Teeth”, in the presence of the director Davide Gentile and the actors Tiziano Menichelli and Edoardo Pesce.
The first day of the festival will also inaugurate the new unpublished space named after Massimiliano Cuccia, a fan of the world of games who died prematurely last January.