This is not your father's art form

Comics are not just for the Sunday paper - they're an art form suspended between literature and film, according to Václav Šlajch, one of the more than 30 artists who will be presenting at this year's Komiksfest!.

For the fifth consecutive year, the festival will bring exhibitions, theater, lectures, workshops and activities to galleries and venues throughout the city, mostly free of charge from Oct. 29 to Nov. 6.

"We are focused on comics and graphic novels for adults because we want to promote comics as new media," organizer Janka Fantová said. "In the Czech Republic, a lot of people think comics are something just for children, and we would like to change this opinion."

Many of the artists at the festival are European, mostly Czech, as well as Ukrainian, French, German and Spanish, and the comics are a cross between a European style and Japanese manga, Fantová said.

"The trend is to publish more political comics... It's not just superheroes and the fantasy things that people have connected with comics," Fantová said. Many of the comics address social issues, like HIV and gay and lesbian rights, as well as political issues, she said, and artists work to communicate difficult topics to readers through their drawings.

"In comics, something can be made ironic, or kind of exaggerated, so it's not so hard," she added.

The work that goes into the comics is not trivial, either, Fantová said. Most of the Czech comics artists are graduates of fine arts institutions and academies.

Šlajch, who will be part of an exhibit with nine other artists called "The PhantastyX," at the Řehoř Samsa Bookshop and Café starting Nov. 5 - which focuses on independent erotic comic art - is no exception. He is a graduate of the Institute of Art and Design in Plzeň, and his focus is not usually erotic art but storytelling, he said. 

"I consider this form to be some kind of miracle," Šlajch said. "It also gives the creator a good opportunity to interact with the reader by actively joining his mind in the process of reading. I love it."

Exhibitions aren't limited to just paper and ink: Short animated films, staged comics readings and theater pieces based on comics are also part of the festival.

"We have a lot of comics theater performances this year," Fantová said. "I wouldn't say this happens abroad like it does here."  

While it's difficult to imagine what a comic-strip theater piece might look like, Fantová said the pieces usually use puppets, are based on comic-strip plots and create a comics aesthetic by using panels and borders to frame the characters.

Although comic books seem to have a sort of niche factor to them, those who don't know much about the medium shouldn't avoid the festival, Fantová said, as part of the goal is to educate. Free lectures will also be held throughout the week, including talks by artists about their work, about types of comics and how comics are made.

Workshops will also be a part of the festival but require registration and are focused on students with some experience in drawing, Fantová said.

The only part of the festival that will have an entry fee is the main program Nov. 6 from 3 p.m. to midnight, where several artists will lecture, followed by the 2010 Muriel Comics Prize ceremony, and a "film surprise for comics addicts."

The opening party for the festival is Oct. 30 at the Meet Factory starting at 7 p.m. and will feature an exhibition, a comic book release, a live DJ concert, film screening, comics fashion show, sand-art exhibition and a charity auction of limited edition Converse shoes, each with completely original art from 10 different artists.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com