Five Takeaways From Lucca Comics and Games, Europe’s Largest Comic-Con: ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Percy Jackson’ Fandoms Are Alive and Well, As Are Cosplayers

Over the last few days, Lucca Comics and Games, Europe’s largest Comic-Con, has been celebrating its 60th anniversary.

The medieval city located in Italy’s Tuscany region hosted creative leaders, artists and players of games, authors of comic books, manga, showrunners and animators of TV series and anime, actors and directors of films. Around 80,000 ticket-paying fans per day flooded the city and visited the various pavilions, exhibitions and pop-up experiences dotted throughout the city.

Here are five takeaways from this year’s event.

Queues for HBO’s Harry Potter pavilion began in the early morning before crocodiling and winding around the pavilion. Visitors were treated to a peek at props from the show, were given temporary tattoos for the House of their choice and got to see a specially filmed message from John Lithgow and Nick Frost, who play Albus Dumbledore and Hagrid respectively. Given the obvious anticipation of the show, it was a pity that no one from the show was physically present nor were there any previews of footage granted. Many of the fans were cautious in their enthusiasm. A fan of the films, Stefano – who was confusingly dressed as a Jedi – told Variety, “It will be fun to see the books addressed in a way that is deeper.” Alessia, from Lake Como and dressed as Maleficent, worried that “they’ve made too many changes.” Perhaps, the showmakers were worried about such doubts being expressed prior to the show’s release on Christmas Day.

“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” fandom is alive and well, and turned up with a large presence including key cast members Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri as well as showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz. Having attended a panel earlier in the day, the cast appeared on a terrace overlooking Piazza della Magione to greet over 8000 fans who had gathered dressed in the colors of Camp Halfblood from the show.

The live-action adaptation of the “Blue Lock” anime and manga series received a European premiere. The film follows an authoritarian regime who have set up a kind of survival game to choose the most selfish (and therefore best) soccer striker from 300 candidates, with the ultimate aim of winning Japan the World Cup. The film is a faithful rendering of its anime predecessor and plays like a demented mix of “Battle Royale” and the Michael Caine soccer pic “Victory.”

The return of Frank Miller (“The Dark Knight Returns,” “Sin City”) meant that comic book royalty continues to show up to greet the fans and announce new works. This time a further collaboration with Peach Momoko, which will explore and be inspired by Japanese horror stories. Also, groundbreaking Japanese manga artist Go Nagai was also feted with a special exhibition entitled “Sun, Heart, and Steel,” featuring his groundbreaking “Mazinger Z,” which inaugurated the Mecha genre, as well as his Devilman, which fittingly enough was inspired by the illustration of Dante’s “Divine Comedy.”

One of the major attractions of Lucca is that provided by the public itself. The dedication and imagination and sheer extravagance of the cosplayers provides the city with a constant rolling panorama of personalities. From the inhabitants of Middle Earth and Hogwarts, to the Mario Bros. and Squid Game, Lucca for a few days becomes a Cosplay Utopia. Spotted among the crowds was “Leon: the Professional” from the 1994 Luc Besson film, complete with silenced pistol and houseplant, a Walter White, a bunch of friends who had come dressed as the cast of the original “Jurassic Park” complete with Jeep. The regular “Star Wars” parade was led by a Mandalorian, who revealed himself to be popular Italian author and television personality Alberto Angela who had spent the day moving through the crowd incognito.

Lucca Comics and Games ran from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.