Crwecon 2023 and what's coming to the world of comics

We’ve just wrapped up the 16th annual Crwecon, a festival dedicated to comics organized by Crew publishing, the biggest comic book publisher in the country. The festival regularly takes place in the legendary, albeit now quite shabby, Cross club in Prague. I told myself we couldn't miss it. I lured our tame librarian with a banana, and we set off to find out what new comics and manga our local publishers have in store for us.

There was no shortage of news from publishers like Crew, Argo, Comics Centrum, Albatros/Egmont, Gate (Dobrovský), Mighty Boys, and Zanir. I’d sum the whole thing up in one sentence: "Everyone wants to publish manga." It has quickly entered the mainstream, and you can tell everyone wants a piece of the market. And why not! I had my doubts at first, but after a few books, I realized that manga really has a lot to offer. So, let’s take a look at a selection of interesting new releases.

What is Crew planning?

The popular duo Petr Litoš and Jiří Pavlovský logically took the biggest part of the program at the start and showed us a lot. The video game world is currently buzzing with the release of the fourth installment of the cult classic Diablo. Following the success of the Warcraft series, we will also see a Czech release of original comics from this world. Fans of Cyberpunk can look forward to more pieces as well.

A tear of nostalgia soaked my shirt when I heard about the new release of cult classics featuring Judge Dredd and a slightly different Batman. These comics were at the very beginning of Western comic publishing in our country, and they are backed by legends like Alan Grant, Glenn Fabry, and Simon Bisley. It’s going to be a blast that definitely doesn't take itself too seriously.

In a similar lighthearted spirit, but with a completely different approach, Spider-Man will be jumping through the city in the children's special Animals Assemble! Peter and his squirrel companion set out to save household pets. :)

What happens when you mix a nun, a space warship, and wrap it all in an epic sci-fi? You get the beautiful-looking U. C. C. Dolores – a very nice surprise.

Finally, it was time for manga. From the list, we were caught by the current romantic hit Blue Box or the series Kaiju No. 8. In Japan, some battle with monsters the size of a house is a daily occurrence. But who is supposed to clean up the mess afterwards? That is exactly the task of the main character, who is in charge of cleaning up the guts… We didn't forget the master of horror Junji Ito. We will see his unconventional special Cat Diary, which has strong autobiographical elements. So, one day Ito and his wife got a cat and things started happening that no one expected. That cat is just… weird.

But what caught our attention the most was the story of two climbers in Confession, who unfortunately get into a very bad situation. It’s certain they will freeze to death soon, so they start to reflect and reminisce. One of them reveals his biggest dark secret at the last moment. But as luck would have it, they are saved at the last second and end up in an abandoned cabin. And so begins a chamber psychological drama full of suspicion and fear. We are really looking forward to this one. Fans of classic manga will definitely be pleased by the announcement of the cult series Samurai Executioner.

What about Egmont?

The Egmont publishing house, under the wings of Albatros, presented mainly new releases for the youngest readers. Thanks to the Disney license, we can look forward to classics like Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse. Fans of Star Wars and the ongoing comic series from that world certainly won't be left out either. Here, too, you can see a great effort to jump on the manga train, as we will see a new Star Wars manga series.

From the more adult releases, we were interested in the series Erased, based on time travel and influencing fundamental life events.

Argo just filling the numbers

Argo Publishing kept their presentation quite brief. Besides the effort to continue publishing interesting European comics, paradoxically, we were most pleased by the upcoming release of the short story collection Illuminations, which won't be a comic at all, but is backed by comic book god Alan Moore!

New manga player: Gate

The Gate brand, belonging to Dobrovský, is also taking manga deadly seriously. Fortunately, this pond is big enough to easily feed more fish. From Gate's production, we were mainly interested in the series Gannibal by Masaaki Ninomiya. It’s going to be a pretty brutal ride. The comic adaptation of the Chernobyl disaster also looked very interesting. But we will have to wait a little longer for more detailed information.

Comics made with love from Comics Centrum

The Comics Centrum publishing house approaches comic book publishing with unprecedented care and love, and you have to love them – especially when you meet them in person. In addition to continuing established series, we will see several nice new releases. Among the most anticipated is the oppressive horror Something is Killing the Children. The title of the series speaks for itself. We will also see two very unconventional pieces from the legend Dave McKean, who became famous mainly for his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on Sandman.

The author Tony Sandoval last caught our attention with a very unconventional, erotically-tinged story Pink and Black, or the visually breathtaking Water Snake. His next new release will be an even weirder story, Corpse on the Couch, in which a couple of heroes go to watch a boy's corpse. Yes, it sounds weird, but we are looking forward to it.

Finally, the likable Mighty Boys

The Mighty Boys publishing house has managed to do a lot in a short time, and we must admit that we are really rooting for their efforts. They try to do things a little differently, which the likable boss Filip Štěpánek convinced us of again. Among the upcoming things, we were interested in the comic Think Tank, a scientific sci-fi about a young genius who has been inventing weapons practically since childhood. The genius himself is the best-guarded national treasure. But what happens when he has had enough of this life and wants to stop?

Another extremely interesting piece will be the comic Eight Billion Genies. There are eight billion people in the world. What would happen if a genie appeared to every person and granted everyone one wish? It’s clear that things are going to happen… Curse Words also looks equally interesting, an epic story about a wizard who gets into our world and tries to take it over.

Crwecon is behind us, and it is clear that comic book fans can rejoice because even in a market as small as the Czech Republic, a number of really interesting titles are being and will be published.

author Karel Krajča