From March 27th to 30th, Madrid will host its first comic fair at Matadero Madrid, a contemporary creation center in the Area of Culture, Tourism, and Sports. Four days of gathering around the ninth art with a diverse program that will bring together national and international figures from the world of comics, combining presentations, author meetings, specialized talks, and activities for families.
Organized by the Madrid City Council and the Association of Bookstores in Madrid, in collaboration with the Germán Sánchez Ruipérez Foundation, the Madrid Comic Fair highlights the extraordinary editorial production of the ninth art in Spain and recognizes the fundamental role of specialized Madrid bookstores in harmony with publishers from across the country. The fair aims to become a reference event for industry professionals, readers, and authors.
A total of 36 booths, managed by Madrid bookstores, many of them specialized, will be scattered around Plaza Matadero, also showcasing various editorial labels. In order for attendees to enjoy a unique showcase to discover the diversity of the sector and delve into the richness of comics in all its forms, the booths will be open from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Thursday, March 27, and from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm continuously from Friday the 28th to Sunday the 30th.
Among the comic authors who will participate in the planned activities, we find Paco Roca, Teresa Varelo, Albert Monteys, Laura Pérez Vernetti, and Juanjo Guarnido.
Home, City, and Multiverses: A Program with Its Own Identity
The curatorship of the Madrid Comic Fair is in charge of Elisa McCausland, a comic critic and popular culture researcher. Her main task has been to design the program. Aligned with the graphic proposal of Javier Olivares, a Madrid illustrator and comic artist, National Comic Award 2015, who has been responsible for creating the poster for this first edition, she declares that «this first edition of the Madrid Comic Fair aims to make comics the medium through which to inhabit the city, share collectively, and participate in our constantly transforming urban, social, and cultural environment.»
Therefore, for this first edition, she has chosen «home as a narrative unit, the city as a space for artistic experimentation, and multiverses as opportunities for encounter» as the main themes. Thus, the program of the Madrid Comic Fair revolves around these three major thematic axes, reflecting the multiple dimensions of the ninth art. In the curator’s opinion, «they are ideal metaphors to delve into the nature of comics.»
The section on home will host autobiographical stories, intimate narratives, and comics as a mirror of personal identity. From slice of life to graphic memoirs, this axis explores how comics allow us to tell our stories from a personal perspective.
A look at comics as a tool to understand the urban world, historical memory, and social movements will be included in the city theme, understood as a space where graphic chronicles, non-fiction comics, and their representation take center stage.
From superheroes to the new narratives of contemporary comics – science fiction, fantasy, and graphic and audiovisual experimentation – the multiverses axis will open the debate on the limits and possibilities of the medium.
Activities at Cineteca
The activities scheduled for the Madrid Comic Fair will take place in three venues: Casa del Lector, Plaza Matadero, and Cineteca Madrid. In the latter, as part of the ‘Women Authors in Film, Women Authors in Comics’ cycle, the audience will be able to enjoy film screenings and reflect on the relationships between film, comics, and their respective authors.
The opening conversation will be led by Richard McGuire, author of Here (2014), followed by the screening of Here (Robert Zemeckis, 2024), the adaptation of his graphic novel. Professional spaces for booksellers and publishers, including tables on specialized bookstores and comic criticism, as well as live broadcasts of programs like Territorio 9 from Radio 3 (RNE) and podcasts like Campamento Krypton, are other highlighted activities in the program, which also takes into account the children audience.
