In preparation for the XXV edition, enhanced by the poster designed by Jamie Hewlett, creator of Tank Girl and, with Damon Albarn, of the Gorillaz band, COMICON Napoli is organising four unforgettable festival days (1 – 4 May, Mostra d’Oltremare). Following the announcement of the participations of Tanino Liberatore – Magister 2025, American writer and illustrator Jon J. Muth, artist and animator Arthur De Pins, the co-creator of the comic series The Boys Darick Robertson, the mangaka for Dr. Stone Boichi, the illustrator of the first Harry Potter book cover Thomas Taylor, the webtoon author Paskim, the co-creator of the award-winning comic book The Nice House on the Lake Álvaro Martínez Bueno and of the comic art and satire legend Altan, who will receive the COMICON 2025 Special Award for Lifetime Achievement, a new wave of highly anticipated international artists will also be arriving.
Coming to Italy for the first time, Yuji Horii, one of the most innovative and beloved game designers of all time, known for having created the legendary Portopia and Dragon Quest, the series of videogames that since the 1980s, with the collaboration of the unforgettable character designer Akira Toriyama, has been so successful as to become a cultural phenomenon. Considered the most influential RPG in the history of videogames, in 1984 Dragon Quest was the first title to bring the experience of role playing sgames into the world of gaming, and contributed to its development by engaging both the most inveterate video-gamers as well as millions of casual gamers. With his pioneering noir The Portopia Serial Murder Case, the first Japanese adventure game and first visual novel ever, in 1983 Horii inspired an entire generation of professionals, including the master Hideo Kojima or Eiji Aonuma, the producer of Zelda. In the 1990s, Horii created one of the most memorable titles in the history of videogames with Chrono Trigger, created in 1995 by what has been defined as the “Dream Team”, consisting of Horii with Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy, and with Akira Toriyama, the now-established author of Dragon Ball. In the course of his career Horii has won many acknowledgments, including the award from the Minister of the Economy, Trade and Industry at the Japan Game Awards 2010, the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 22nd Game Developers Choice Awards in 2022 and the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs award in 2024. In the 2000s, Horii also created the successful series Itadaki Street and, now four years after it was first announced, he is close to releasing the new chapter in his most beloved saga, Dragon Quest XII.
Also from Japan and also in Italy for the first time, Sensei Shin’ichi Sakamoto isone of the most award-winning masters of the contemporary manga in Japan, who has drawn comic art gems such as The Climber, Innocent and the most recent #DRCL midnight children, a majestic revisitation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
He is the co-creator of Rumble with writer Joham Arcudi. He has brought his hybrid style inspired by manga action and typically western comic art into Dark Horse series such as B.P.R.D. and Conan, he has drawn many covers for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, but most of all, he has written and drawn Ultramega: coming to COMICON for the first time, James Harren!
Born in Britain, but renowned around the world, COMICON Napoli is pleased to welcome the brilliant and powerful talent of Dave McKean, comic artist, illustrator, director and photographer. Known for a long series of iconic works such as Violent Cases and Black Orchid, created together with writer Neil Gaiman, or the graphic novel Batman: Arkham Asylum written by Grant Morrison (which inspired the eponymous videogame), McKean was long the innovative artist who used mixed media techniques for the covers of the Hellblazer and Sandman series, and designed for musicians such as Counting Crows, Alice Cooper, Tori Amos, Dream Theater, Joh Cale and many others. The director of three feature-length films, he is also the author of many illustrated and photography books and graphic novels such as Cages, a comic art masterpiece about art and creativity. In Naples, McKean will present a preview of his most recent work Raptor – A Sokol Graphic Novel.
The gaming world will also find one of its most stimulating European events in Naples, thanks to a unique guest. Coming to Italy for the first time is Mike Mason, Creative Director of Call of Cthulhu, who will be at COMICON to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Chaosium, one of the most influential publishers in the world of role-playing games, which has issued milestones such as RuneQuest, Pendragon, HeroQuest/QuestWorlds, Basic Role-Playing (BRP) and specifically Call of Cthulhu. Thanks to his work, Call of Cthulhu has become more than just a simple game: an experience of investigative terror that has influenced entire generations of players, with legendary campaigns.
Traditionally, COMICON Napoli also means Cosplay Challenge PRO. appointment Saturday May 3rd is therefore the day for the popular challenge, which will be held again this year in partnership with Cosplay World Masters (CWM) of Lisbon (which takes into account the performance on stage, the craftsmanship of the costume and the resemblance to the original) and Tournament of Champions (TOC), the international cosplay championship that holds its finals in Vienna, the European contest created by YuniCon, the purpose of which is to reward the costume most complete in five categories: needlework, armoury, propmaking, wig and make-up, and finally, craftsmanship.
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