2024-09-03 20:38:36
“At a time when it seems that individuality rules, we choose to build ourselves collectively.” The proposal comes from a large part of the Argentine comic book editors, who began to gather in a specific commission for the sector in the Argentine Book Chamber and starting this Wednesday, in line with the Comic Strip Daywill carry out a series of activities in Buenos Aires bookstores and a festival at the Alte Brown Institute of Cultures (Esteban Adrogué 1224, Adrogué, on Saturday and Sunday from 3:30 p.m.).
He ¡FAH! (Argentine Comic Strip Festival) #1 comes to occupy a place of celebration that was, if not vacant, then diminished in recent years. The joint initiative is part of an effort by the sector to make its work visible and reach readers outside the specialized circuit (which enjoys events such as Rosario’s Crack Bang Boom). Comic Strip Day –established in commemoration of the first publication of The Eternautthe classic by Hector German Oesterheld and Francisco Solano Lopez– It was born as an initiative of a group of ninth art enthusiasts and over the years it grew. Various actors in the field fought for a law that would establish it in the calendar. The law managed to put the anniversary on the table and urged the National State to take concrete actions in support of the discipline, which happened for some years (for example, with the notable Comicópolis festival, which was held in Tecnópolis). In recent years the push had declined (as well as the State’s compliance with that law) and now the group of editors seeks to promote the symbolic date again.
In this first edition of ¡FAH! the windows of the Hernández Bookstore (Av. Corrientes 1436), Naesqui Libros (Charlone 1400), Céspedes Bookstore (Álvarez Thomas 853) and the Fondo Bookstore (Costa Rica 4568) will be worked on. The work will be carried out by Miguel Rep, Gustavo Sala, Xina Ocho and Femimutanciawhich means there is a good age and gender representation in the proposal. The festival on Saturday in Adrogué, meanwhile, will offer not only a publishing fair with more than thirty publishers, but also talks and workshops given by professionals in the circuit such as César Da Col or Diego Greco. There will also be screenings and a publication will be offered free to attendees.
“At one time there were more urgent matters for everyone and that made us lose focus. We were also in the middle of the growth of each project and so it is easier to look at our navel. Today, time has given us the opportunity to be more mature and think more about the long term,” he reflects. Diego Reypart of the El Hotel de las Ideas label and member of the CAL comics commission.
Despite the general crisis, in the conversation with Page/12 The publishers in the field remain hopeful. Although the Buenos Aires Book Fair did not bring them much joy (in fact, sales dropped by around 30 or 35 percent), they were surprised by the good reception from their specialized public at the CBB convention in Rosario. Those who had a stand at the FED also left satisfied. “The key is to keep publishing books. If you don’t publish, you don’t move,” says Paula Varela, from Historieta Revolver. “We may have different projects, but if instead of putting all our effort into small things we come together, something big will come out and benefit us collectively,” he believes.
This first joint initiative seeks to help rebuild the Buenos Aires events circuit. Without Comicópolis, without Viñetas Sueltas, with Dibujadxs out of the equation, there have not yet emerged any events – neither state nor ultra-independent – that occupy that central place in the annual comic calendar. The hope of those grouped in CAL is that ¡FAH! fills that vacant spot and that from this work they can also improve their presence in other festivals in the rest of the country, since until now only CBB has a strong specific weight. And the return of a festival with national financing? For now it is a distant illusion, but Rey does not lose hope: “if we are armed, then it is about seeing the political possibilities of the moment and trying to find it.”
The crisis doesn’t discourage them either. “We’re not that old, but since we started, it’s been enough to have lived through several crises, and we’ve come out stronger from each one,” says Rey. “I’m not telling you like Ringo Bonavena, who when a plane was facing a storm, told the pilot ‘go forward,’ but with intelligence, thinking and being careful, you can do it.”
They have, they believe, one advantage: although in adverse economic contexts sales of second-hand books, such as manga, fall considerably, readers of national material in general are adults who support their hobby and maintain that expense. A similar phenomenon to that which occurred in Spain during the financial crash of 2008, where sales of manga labels in kiosks plummeted but editions of local authors were held up decently. “That is the most loyal public of comic book publishers. That public is there and does not decrease. And the offer now is quite large, it goes out a lot. It is the public that must be expanded,” the editor points out.
And although the anniversary is reminiscent of the classic local adventure comic, the editors insist on pointing out that the proposal is to also make all local production visible. “Classics like The Eternaut o Mafalda They are very good, yes, but there are a lot of live comics that are also very good, renewing from the field, from the proposal, the authors.” Even now, in such a context, the Argentine cartoons insist: they will continue.