Comictalks at Leipzig Bookfair 2024 – Deutscher Comicverein e.V.

Host A. Halling, David Füleki, Gin Zarbo, Joa Kaps

The topic of manga is certainly not new in Leipzig: The Manga Convention celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and the halls were well filled with fans and cosplayers. The booth of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media, State Minister Claudia Roth, and the German Comic Association also invited people to two events on the book fair’s sunday in Hall 2, Stand B 401. In a first round at 1 p.m., club chairman Axel Halling spoke with Joachim Kaps, head of the Hamburg manga publisher altraverse, with Swiss artist Gin Zarbo, who is published there, and manga artist David Füleki about the development of the German-speaking manga scene. Topics included the economic success of manga in Germany in recent years, the increase in production by German-speaking artists, but also the high workload for many mangaka.

Host A. Halling, Josephine Mark, Matthias Lehmann, Eva Gruebeldinger.

The second panel at 3 p.m. introduced three comic representatives from Leipzig: Josephine Mark is currently successful in Germany and internationally with her autobiographically inspired road comic “Trip mit Tropf”, Matthias Lehmann likes to draw cityscapes of Leipzig and got popular with “Parallel “, his graphic novel on a sexual double life in Leipzig, and the artist Eva Gruebeldinger – deeply into cartoons, illustrations and self-published comics – as a member of SQUASH Comics e.V., which organizes the Snaileye comic festival on Kolonnadenstrasse (June 14-16, 2024). The three local actors not only reported on the great diversity of the scene there, but also on the various opportunities and challenges of working and publishing as comics creators in Leipzig.

The events were a cooperation between the German Comic Association and the stand of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media, Minister of State Claudia Roth.