Lucca Comics: Part II

[Dr. Archontis Pantsios]

Fellow Quackeroos:

...The "Lucca Comics Travelogue" continues and concludes...

That Friday night of October 27 I had dreamed of coming up to a place with
tons of great comics I had never seen before; I must admit that I've had
this dream a few times before and when I'd wake up all would go up in smoke;
this time, however, waking up to such a dream wasn't far from reality: later
in the same day I'd find myself in Lucca!

DAY 3: LUCCA DAY, Saturday, October 28th. We woke up ~6:30 a.m. and by 7:30
we'd be on our way to Genova. We made a stop there to pick up 2 more Lucca
pilgrims, Armando's colleagues, Gianluca and Stefano. It was another
beautiful, sunny day, as if picked from the middle of May. The scenery
changed from mountainous (we crossed tens of tunnels) to hilly and plain as
we crossed into Tuscanny. Lucca Comics would open its doors at 10:00 a.m.
and last thru Wednesday, November 1. 

We reached Lucca ~11:00 a.m. and parked our car in the vast parking space in
the fair's area. It was already pretty crowded and when we reached the
ticket counters we met with a 100-meter long (and 30-meter wide!) line! We
figured it'd take us ~an hour to buy tickets and we were pretty close! While
waiting it was fun to watch many visitors dressed up in various comic-book
heroes costumes for the occasion; this masquerade also allowed the various
impostors to enter the fair for free! As hard as I looked, I wasn't able to
spot an Uncle Scrooge or a Beagle Boy---there were mostly super heroes...

Around noon we finally managed to reach the ticket counter and purchase
tickets (entry fee: 13,000 Lira or ~$6). Just before entering the fair's
gates, I met with the first of the 3 Italian dcml-members I'd meet that day:
Marco Barlotti, who had just arrived at the other end of the line having
driven from near-by Florence. Marco at first confused my name with another
Greek dcml-member (Apostolis!), but the misundestanding was quickly resolved! 

As we entered the fair's gates, we could see numerous small tops all around
housing the various exhibits. Right at the entrance we met with Leonardo
Gori, an aficionado of Italian comics and a writer of many treatises on our
beloved characters and their creators. Armando had also told me of a
"thriller" Leonardo Gori had published very recently set in the late '30s,
at the time of Hitler's visit in Florence. (This book has nothing to do with
the Ducks!) Armando was anxiously waiting from Leonardo copies of the
"Topolino Giornale" for indexing purposes, and while they went away to take
care of the "transfer", I had the first chance to look inside the first top.
It took me no more that 2 minutes to get overwhelmed by the piles of comics
everywhere in sight! My dream was coming true! By the time Armando came back
15 minutes later I managed to locate an interesting Mondadori publication on
Carpi: "Topolino & Paperino: 40 anni di grandi storie disegnate da G.B.
Carpi", which I bought instantly!

Armed with a "wish-list" we compiled earlier (actually it's a continuous
wish-list that gets continuously up-dated!), we started ramaging thru the
various Disney piles. I bought numerous "Classici" and "Grandi Classici" and
"Albi di Topolino" re-printing stories by the great Italian "Maestri", and
Armando's bag quickly started to fill up. My concern now was as to how many
books I could afford to buy (afford not in a financial sense, as comics in
Italy are dirt-cheap, but in terms of how many I could fit in my luggage for
the trip back to Greece!). 

Early in the afternoon Armando's cellular phone announced the arrival of
another dcml-member: Paolo Castagno! I have been corresponding with Paolo
for more that 3 years now and I had hoped that he'd be able to make it to
Lucca from Rome, a 5-hour drive! Until the previous night, we weren't sure
whether he'd be able to make it, so when we heard he's there, it was really
great news! We arranged a meeting at the fair's entrance and after 3 years
of virtual correspondence I was finally able to meet Paolo in person. Paolo
was accompanied by a his girl-friend (an attractive blond! :-)), who must
really be in love with Poalo, given the fact that she made the long trip to
Lucca even if she couldn't tell the difference between Donald Duck and
Asterix! :-)

We figured it was time for lunch and we quickly grabbed whatever was
available at the concession stands so as to quickly return to the comics
stands. Armando's bag was quickly filled up, and we were happy to unload its
contents to Michela and Gianluca who decided to visit the town of Lucca and
would head towards the car. 

That afternoon passed as we toured all the exhibits trying to unearth the
items on our "wish-lists". I was able to find most of the stories I had
written down and I quickly had to decide where to stop. Among the many
comics I found that day, I should mention a 1987, small-size (but
hard-cover) re-print of "Storia e Gloria della dinastia dei Paperi" (275
pages drawn by Scarpa and Carpi) that I bought for 20,000 Lira (~$9),
Mezzavilla's book on Cavazzano, "L'oro di Zio Paperone", a treatise on Uncle
Scrooge, and Mondadori's recent "Macchia Nera e tutti i cattivi" ("The
Phantom Blot and all the Villains"). I also passed up on many interesting
items that I'm already regretting doing so (like Cavazzano's non-Disney "Il
Capitan Rogers"). While not being present during the act, I should also
mention Marco Barlotti's haggling dexterity that would make Uncle Scrooge
very proud, as recounted to me by Armando as a series of offers and
counter-offers! :-)

The opening day at Lucca Comics closed its doors at 7:00 p.m. It was still
early, so the 5 of us (myself, Armando, Michela, Gianluca, and Stefano)
decided to visit Lucca for dinner. Lucca has a long history dating back to
Medieval times and its surrounding walls attest to that. Inside its walls
you find a daedalic system of narrow pathways. We took a walk while the
stores were still open before ending up at a restaurant where we enjoyed
pizzas! It was past 10:00 p.m. by the time we went back to the car and the
ride back was more sub-dued as 3 out of 5 fell asleep leaving me and Armando
(who was driving) to spend more than 2 hours discussing everything
imaginable about Italian comics and their artists. When we arrived at Stella
~1:00 a.m. we were glad to turn the clock back one hour earning one more
hour of sleep! Knowing that I'd have to wake up early the next day, I had to
find the strength to pack my piles of comics and books acquired in the past
2 days into the luggage I brought from Greece and...an extra smaller bag
borrowed from Armando!

DAY 4: Sunday, October 29. My wife's phone call woke us up at 6:00 a.m. The
weather had turned foggy and cloudy and just before Genova it started to
rain cats and dogs. Armando dropped me off at Genova's train station and we
bid good-byes. I reached Milano's Malpensa airport without any problems and
caught my 1:30 p.m. flight back to Thessaloniki. It was the END to a
fascinating 4 days. Very likely, I'll do it again, but not at Rome's
Expocartoon later this month as Armando suggested! :-)

I now have ~50 comics and books brought back from Italy and I have to find
the answer to 2 very important questions: (1) Where to store them?, and (2)
How to find the time to actually read them!

Cheers,

Archontis



---------------------------------------
Archontis L. Pantsios, Ph.D.
Assistant Academic Dean and Associate Professor
The American College of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki, Greece
Phone: +30 31 398228