Conceived in order to popularize and increase the importance of work done by comic authors, it was the first exhibition of its kind to display original artwork.
It is one of the few comics festivals to have been founded and always directed by professional authors of the field — Carlo Chendi, Luciano Bottaro, and Giorgio Rebuffi.
Other collaborators include the restaurateur Fausto Oneto, the artistic director Giovanni Nahmias and the association president Daniele Busnelli[2] Since 1993, the festival has awarded U Giancu's Prize, given to a selection of accomplished comics creators.
The aim of the festival was to show how a comic page is born, illuminating the processes by which pictures are drawn by hand before being photographed and downsized, ready for print.
Finally, six shows were dedicated to different authors: Luciano Bottaro, Ivo Milazzo, Silver, Ro Marcenaro, and Carl Barks.
[citation needed] The focus was on the fictional criminologist Julia Kendall, created by Giancarlo Berardi, creator of the famous Ken Parker.
Created by writer Tiziano Sclavi and inspired by actor Rupert Everett, Dylan Dog's stories are set in London, where he lives at 7 Craven Road.
[citation needed] In his career, Bonelli inherited Tex from his father, started Dylan Dog, and created two characters: Zagor and Mister No.
Zagor is similar to Tarzan, featuring elements such as the West, mysterious forests, Indians, and wilderness; while Mister No shares Bonelli's traits as an avid traveler and dreamer, a Yankee who said no to war and progress, siding with the weak.
[6] Despite a weather alert during that period, the opening day took place at the Teatro Auditorium delle Clarisse, with a special presentation by Rudy Zerbi and Luigi Maio, and the screening of a documentary by Giancarlo Sordi in memory of Sergio Bonelli, who had passed away a year earlier.
During the exhibition, an important announcement was made: the city decided to honor Chendi's memory by naming a street or square after Walt Disney.
In local secondary schools, students were paired with some of Italy's most popular artists to explain how a comics story is created, from its initial idea to publication.
For the first time, the exhibition included manga, since Japanese cartoons prominently feature sports themes, exemplified by titles such as Holly and Benji and Mila and Shiro.
[7] The 2017 edition, held September 30 to October 8, featured such guests as Alessandro Bilotta, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mirka Andolfo, Corrado Mastantuono, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Enrico Marini, and Riccardo Burchielli.
Cartoonists, authors, comedians, editors, actors, and fans gather for a big dinner at U Giancu, which resembles a cartoon museum.
During their gathering, Bertieri proposed the idea of celebrating their mutual friend, the cartoonist Antonio Canale, who had died a few months earlier.
Special U Giancu's Prizes awarded in 2005 (to Umberto Virri), 2006 (to Paul Karasik), 2007 (to Maurizio Mantero and Valentina De Poli), 2008 (to Stefano Goria), 2009 (to Roberto Genovesi), and 2012 (to Alfredo Castelli).