Fernando Sanz | valid reach 12,000 visitors.
An increasingly international hall that hosts the Valladolid Trade Fair until tomorrow and in which, apart from comics and souvenirs, it has space for exhibitions, sports such as classic fencing, and activities capable of reaching children and the most mature public .
The organizer and president of ASOFED, Carlos Martínez, has highlighted that despite its humble origins in a hotel room, “the Salon has grown to become a national event” and that it has an increasingly international presence with the inclusion of artists from countries like France, Colombia and the United States.
The only imperial soldier
Among them, the actress Samantha Alleyne, the only ‘stormtrooper’ – imperial soldier from Star Wars – worldwide and who has stopped in Valladolid before leaving for the George Lucas saga convention to be held soon in London .
A show that has an annual growth in visitors of “between 10 and 15% every year”, but which needs a small institutional boost, with more visibility and perhaps 50,000 euros to turn this show into a reference of the ninth art, with greater presence of artists from the United States and Japan.
“They have to help us a little more to have top-level international actors, but for that we need that economic push” has acknowledged Martínez, who seeks with this injection of funds that “Valladolid would feel like the city of comics.”
However, what this 17th edition does stand out for is the presence of national authors such as Jesús Redondo, one of the most classic authors of Editorial Bruguera and who surrendered his pencil at the service of Captain Thunder; the cartoonist Ilu Ros, author of the Lorca trilogy or the writer Magela Ronda, who presents a book on the singer and guitarist Antonio Vega.
The Spanish voices of Leonardo Di Caprio, Scarlett Johanson or the actor David Santana, another imperial soldier in the Star Wars movies, will share space with Esther Gili, author of ‘The language of waves’ or cosplay contests, from KPOP and tribute bands, returning after pandemic restrictions.
A remarkable growth
“The evidence is irrefutable, this Hall has a very remarkable growth,” said Martínez, who also stressed that it is a “very cross-sectional room, in which you can find people from 50 years old to children of 6 or 7 ”.
Many of them dressed up as their favorite characters, in a kind of carnival in which imagination and freedom are the dominant tonic, with mixtures that go far beyond the stories of videogames or comics, and that does not hide their bias. familiar.
“You have to take into account that those who came when they were young in the first edition are now moms and dads and that’s why we put a children’s ticket so that everyone can enjoy all this color and fun”, has recognized the president of the Association of Organization of Record Fairs and Contests (ASOFED). EFE
