Be Comics! 2023 Festival in Padua Focuses on East-West Fusion

The Be Comics! festival returns to Padua from March 18 to 19, 2023, at the city's fairgrounds. Organized by Fandango Club Creators, the event celebrates comics, video games, cartoons, and geek culture. This year's theme, "East of West, West of East," emphasizes a focus on Eastern influences, particularly Japanese manga. The official poster, created by Trieste-based artist Mario Alberti, features his character Lionesse, a time-traveling warrior in a battle suit with Padua's emblem, surrounded by manga volumes and a blue dragon symbolizing Japanese culture. Alberti described the image as joyful and suitable for all ages, appealing to fans of manga, anime, and Eastern culture. The festival includes a comics area with publishers and illustrators, an Artist Alley for original art and prints, a Gaming Area with consoles, board games, and role-playing games, as well as talks, author presentations on the Main Stage, and K-pop music challenges. Marco Moretti of Fandango Club Creators expressed enthusiasm for building on the success of the 2022 edition, aiming to bring pop culture to Padua and the northeast region by uniting various facets of geek culture. The festival is expected to continue growing.