The theme for Lucca Comics & Games 2024 has been revealed alongside incredible artwork from Yoshitaka Amano, who is probably best known for his work creating the gorgeous logos for most games in the Final Fantasy series.
For the Lucca Comics & Games 2024 festival, the theme is “The Butterfly Effect.” Amano’s piece, which you can see at the top of this article, is called OUVERTURE and is one of three created for the event. The second will arrive later this year, with the final one set to be revealed during the festival on October 30, 2024. However, the event will feature much more than art, with Netflix revealing a Squid Game 2 preview and several anniversary celebrations for household names in games and TTRPGs.
Lucca Comics & Games 2024 promises something for everyone
Lucca Comics & Games 2024 runs from October 30, 2024, until November 3, 2024, in the city of Lucca, Italy, and has a packed lineup for fans of art, video games, comics, and Netflix shows. One of the most highly anticipated parts of the event is a teaser for Squid Game 2 from creator, writer, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk. The series is still popular on Netflix, and the second chapter is something fans won’t want to miss.
This year is the 25th anniversary of One Piece, so director Tatsuya Nagamine and animator Kenji Yokoyama will be on hand to close out the festival with a celebration of the series, but also a few surprises for what’s in store for it in the coming months at the One Piece stall.
A wider celebration of Yoshitaka Amano’s work will be held at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan as an exhibition that highlights how you can combine video games, anime, and contemporary art into a single inimitable artistic vision. This exhibition is a quick 4-hour drive from the festival, but you can catch it another time because it doesn’t kick off until November 13, 2024, to March 1, 2025. Leaves you plenty of time to book another trip.
2024 will also mark the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, so Lucca Comics & Games is putting together two tributes to this incredible fantasy world framework we all know and love. First is a collection of original artworks curated by one of the TTRPG’s most important art historians, Jon Peterson. The exhibition is being held in the Church of the Servi where tables will be displayed alongside the art to highlight the players and the game they love.
The second tribute will see the basement of San Paolino Bastion renamed for Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the original creators of D&D. Lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford will be on hand to present the tributes and discuss the game’s present and future.
Fans of the Star Wars: Unlimited TCG can enjoy an early pre-release of Set 3, The Twilight of the Republic on October 30, 2024. There will be a chance to engage with this new set and get into a few games before anyone else in the world attendees.
Finally, this year is somehow the 40th anniversary of Tetris. The game we were all playing long before modern iterations like Tetris Effect: Connected. Alexey L. Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris, and Henk B. Rogers, co-founder of The Tetris Company, will hold a talk at the festival on the game’s history and impact on video games.
Tickets for Lucca Comics & Games 2024 can be purchased from the official website. At the time of writing, the tickets aren’t yet on sale, but they will become available with early bird pricing on July 16, 2024. When I checked the site, there wasn’t a US/UK version, but you can still muddle through because most buttons have English instructions.
