International Festival of Comics and Games is held annually in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

at the Lodz Culture Centre. It is the largest Polish and assumed to be one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe comic con. In the beginning, the festival was called All-Polish Convention of Comic Creators. The first one was held on 2 February 1991 in

Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...

. All subsequent ones were held in Łódź. The name was changed to International Festival of Comics in 1999, during the tenth edition of the con. In 2008 the "and Games" was added to the name, as the con expanded also embraced the area of

computer games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...

. The Festival's special guests included

Grzegorz Rosiński Grzegorz Rosiński (born 3 August 1941) is a Polish comic book artist. He is best known for providing the artwork for the series ''Thorgal''. Early life Grzegorz Rosiński was born in Stalowa Wola in 1941.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Rosinski". In Be ...

Simon Bisley Simon Bisley is a British comic book artist best known for his 1990s work on ''ABC Warriors'', '' Lobo'' and '' Sláine''. Early life Simon Bisley began drawing when he was six years old. He is self-taught, with only a short one-year stay at a ...

Akira Yamaoka is a Japanese composer and music producer. He is best known for composing music for several video games in the ''Silent Hill'' series by Konami, among other games. Yamaoka also worked as a producer on the series, as well as composing for the '' ...

Brian Azzarello Brian Azzarello (born August 11, 1962 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series ''100 Bullets'', published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. ...

Eduardo Risso Eduardo Risso (born 23 November 1959) is an Argentine comics artist. In the United States he is best known for his work with writer Brian Azzarello on the Vertigo title '' 100 Bullets'', while in Argentina and Europe he is noted for his collabor ...

Stan Sakai is a Japanese-born American cartoonist and comic book creator. He is best known as the creator of the comic series ''Usagi Yojimbo''. Career He began his career by lettering comic books (notably ''Groo the Wanderer'' by Sergio Aragonés and Mar ...

Marvano Mark van Oppen (Zolder, Belgium, 29 April 1953) better known as Marvano, is a Belgian comic artist. He is most famous for the '' Forever War'', in collaboration with Joe Haldeman. Biography Born in 1953 in Belgium, he studied interior architectu ...

Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather o ...

Clint Langley Clint Langley (born July 30, 1970) is a British comic book artist best known for his work on series with Pat Mills at '' 2000 AD'' and as the cover artist for Marvel Comics' ''Guardians of the Galaxy''. He is an artist who combines painting, p ...

Milo Manara Maurilio Manara (; born 12 September 1945), known professionally as Milo Manara, is an Italian comic book writer and artist. Career After architecture and painting studies, he made his comics debut in 1969 drawing for ''Genius'', a Fumetti neri s ...

Jean Giraud Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Bandes dessinées, Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim under the pseu ...

Tanino Liberatore Gaetano Liberatore (born 12 April 1953), better known as Tanino Liberatore, is an Italian comics author and illustrator. His best known fictional character is RanXerox. Life and work Born in Quadri (province of Chieti), Liberatore went to high s ...

Zbigniew Kasprzak Zbigniew () is a Polish masculine given name, originally Zbygniew . This West Slavic name is derived from the Polish elements ''Zby-'' (from ''zbyć, zbyć się, or pozbyć się'', meaning "to dispel", "to get rid of") and ''gniew'', meaning "an ...

Karel Saudek Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * ...

, Henryk Chmielewski,

Tadeusz Baranowski Tadeusz Baranowski may refer to: *Tadeusz Baranowski (artist) Tadeusz Baranowski (born 1945 in Zamość) is a Polish comic book artist. He published his first comic in 1975 in ''Świat Młodych''. Invited by Grzegorz Rosiński he worked a few yea ...

Janusz Christa Janusz Christa (19 July 1934, Wilno – 15 November 2008, Sopot) was a Polish author of comic books, creator of the comic book series '' Kajtek i Koko'' and, perhaps his most well-known, the ''Kajko i Kokosz'' series. He debuted in 1957 and many of ...

Bogusław Polch Bogusław Polch act. Połch (5 October 1941 – 2 January 2020) was a Polish comic book artist. His most notable works include the series '' The Gods from Outer Space'' (based on Erich von Däniken books, written by Arnold Mostowicz and Alfred G� ...

Szarlota Pawel Szarlota Pawel; actual name, Eugenia Joanna Pawel-Kroll (4 November 1947 – 7 September 2018) was a Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular mascu ...

Bohdan Butenko Bohdan Butenko (8 February 1931 – 14 October 2019) was a Polish cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer and artist, as well as puppet designer.

and

Norm Breyfogle Norman Keith Breyfogle (; February 27, 1960 – September 24, 2018) was an American artist, best known for his comic book art on DC Comics' Batman franchise from 1987 to 1995. During this time, he co-created the villains Ventriloquist and Ratca ...

among many other international and local comic creators. During the Festival, numerous panels and workshops are held, as well as meetings with the creators, publishers and other important figures from the comic field, including the cross with movies and literature fields. It is also accompanied by the largest comic market throughout the year, where fans, collectors and both professional and small-press publishers sell their products and collectibles.

The contest

Each year a comic contest is held, where a special jury, composed of comic professionals and publishers chooses the best short comic submitted for the contest. The comic professionals and fandom prizes are also nominated and awarded during the Festival.

External links

Festival's WebpageVideos from the Festival
{{Authority control Comics conventions