Madrid Comic Fair expands participation in its second edition and strengthens its international scope
- Plaza Matadero will host 60 stands and 85 exhibitors, including specialized and general bookstores as well as publishers, expanding the space dedicated to sales and engagement with readers.
- Meetings with authors, panel discussions, live podcasts, radio broadcasts, and film screenings at Cineteca Madrid make up a cultural program open to professionals, readers, and families.
- The fair introduces new formats such as the exhibition Belgian Comics, featuring reproductions of historical and contemporary comic pages, and a cosplay competition.
The Delegate for Culture, Tourism and Sport, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, today presented the second edition of the Madrid Comic Fair, which will be held from March 26 to 29 at Matadero Madrid, with a significant increase in professional participation and a cultural program that reinforces its international dimension. Organized by the Madrid City Council and the Madrid Booksellers Association, in collaboration with the Germán Sánchez Ruipérez Foundation / Casa del Lector, the fair will bring together authors, publishers, and bookstores, inviting the reading community to explore European comics, the central theme of this year’s edition.
Rivera de la Cruz noted that the Madrid Comic Fair “consolidates itself in its second edition as a major meeting point for authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers.” In her words, comics are experiencing “a moment of extraordinary vitality,” and Madrid aims to support that momentum by “backing the sector and bringing it closer to ever wider audiences.” During those days, she added, Matadero Madrid will become “the great plaza of European comics.”
In Plaza Matadero, 60 stands will be set up—24 more than in the first edition—hosting 85 exhibitors: 13 specialized bookstores, 34 general bookstores, and 37 publishing houses. Since its inception, the Madrid Comic Fair has placed bookstores at the heart of the event, recognizing their role in promoting the ninth art and building reading communities. The expansion of the sales area reflects the sector’s growing interest in comics and results in a stronger presence of general bookstores, whose participation has more than doubled this year.
Tradition and new challenges
The cultural program for this edition, curated by writer and journalist Laura Barrachina, offers a journey through some of the main traditions of European comics. Through conversations, talks, and professional activities, the fair will bring together national and international authors—mainly from Germany, Belgium, and France—to reflect on the languages, influences, and transformations shaping contemporary comics.
Participants include Teresa Valero, Juan Díaz Canales, Javier Olivares, Ilu Ros, and Mauro Entrialgo, alongside international authors such as Émilie Tronche, Mathieu Burniat, and Mia Oberländer, among others.
The program will take place across different spaces at Casa del Lector and will include author talks, panel discussions, professional sessions, and workshops for both children and adults. It will also feature live podcasts such as Campamento Krypton and radio broadcasts including Territorio 9 and Menudo Castillo, as well as film screenings at Cineteca Madrid.
Highlights include the opening talk with French director, writer, and presenter Émilie Tronche, along with several conversations focused on the creative process, the dialogue between European comics and manga, and topics such as comic translation and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence in the sector. The program also includes comic creation workshops and activities for children and families, reinforcing the fair’s aim of introducing comics to new generations of readers.
New formats at the fair
This edition introduces new formats into the program. Among them is the exhibition Belgian Comics, organized in collaboration with the Wallonia-Brussels Delegation in Spain and produced by the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels, on view at Casa del Lector until April 9.
The exhibition brings together around twenty reproductions of comic pages by Belgian artists and traces the evolution of comics in Belgium from the 1950s to the present. Historic figures such as Jijé, Mitacq, Philippe Geluck, and Jean-Claude Servais are shown alongside contemporary authors like Olivier Grenson and Mathilde Van Gheluwe.
The program also includes another new feature: a cosplay competition open to the public, inviting participants to attend in costume, take photos at Matadero Madrid, and share them on social media.
Press contact:
prensa@feriacomicmadrid.com
María José de Acuña (606 146 810)
Sara Bellido (676 631 353)