French
artist Achdé has been responsible for the Lucky
Luke adventures since the death of Morris in 2001. Joakim Pirinen, from
Sweden, is an artist well known among hardcore comic lovers, who became popular
in 1985 with Sugar-Conny, a graphic
novel about an anarchistic borderline personality. Some of the Finnish names at
Kuplii are Kari Korhonen, the only Finnish artist drawing Donald Duck, and
Kristian Huitula, who has created the only graphic novel in English based on
the Kalevala.
Publisher
Antti Grönlund is the man behind the idea for the festival, although he quickly
admits that it is due to effort and cooperation of more than 10 people. “Why
Tampere? I realised that there are many people involved in comics there, even
more than in Helsinki. There is a lot of enthusiasm and creative potential”.
However, Grönlund is realistic about the difficult situation comic artists have
in Finland: “the market is very small here. Only Juba can make a living with
comics. For everybody else, this is a side job”. Nevertheless, in Antti’s
opinion the level and quality of Finnish artists is very high.
There will
also be the first event of the Cosplay Finland Tour 2007 during Tampere Kuplii: dress up as your
favourite character and be there.
More
information and full programme at: www.tamperekuplii.fi