Second Edition
PG Comix 2024
Second edition … but really?
Yet we have always believed in it; the tradition is confirmed. The boys and girls of La Brigata insist, they want to include everyone … no one excluded. And off we go to organize and set up events open to all, where anyone can come serene to enjoy welcome, company and cheerfulness.
So this time we start from the first edition … what can we improve? How can we involve more fragile and “normal” people and families? Lots of ideas: first of all plan the timing and mode of communication; already in September we sketch out the social chrono program. Idea … do we try to involve a local but prestigious radio station? OK, we try. Our communications experts sift through the options and we make a definite choice … Radio Onda Libera would be the perfect solution, a major coverage with an organized and efficient structure. And Radio Onda Libera it is … after a series of phone and email contacts describing our association and the characteristics of the events we organize we finally have the radio partner of PG COMIX 2024 precisely: RADIO ONDA LIBERA of Umbria … what a satisfaction, we feel like a real team of professional “event organizers” ☺.
Lots of contacts from our Mirko to get everything we needed to implement our ideas, including the most challenging “extending the expo area.” Too many booths at the first edition were left out due to lack of space. The goal is to increase from 20 to 30 booths … will we make it? Then toilets, if we have a lot of people the ones in the facility will not be enough and so on … so many ideas to accommodate even more people. The promo video this year will be a strong point; the studios will be at the Disco Sonora Club, with its dark setting is perfect. In short, many ideas and many challenges that we hand over to Mirko, who will coordinate the organization (but doesn’t he repair hospital machines ??? 😆).
We define the 2 teams that will be in charge of the artistic part (Francesco Biagini, Yassin El Anba and Manuel Ricci) who will customize the location with their wonderful graphic subjects and the cosplay contest (Erjola Gioia, Jessica Dionigi, Alessandro Colangelo, Jasmine Mattiocco and Morgana Anzevino) … with this team you can only overachieve! All passionate professionals who understand at the root the social meaning of PG COMIX and everything the Brigade guys do.
By now the picture is clear … the road is marked; everything is being accomplished in sequence between ups and downs and a lot of anticipation for what is surely our flagship event and most anticipated by us.
The promo video is a blast and on social media it “rocks”; we are also beginning to feel the anticipation of those who follow us, social messages are multiplying, they are asking, they are inquiring, they are impatient … how satisfying to hear all this. We believe in it, it will be a success in attendance; the booth slots fill up quickly, the choice for assignments reflects the event and our association … in fact we give as much space as possible to emerging activities, by and for young people, most often local and with declared social and inclusive spirit.
Of course, there is also room for the cultural, recreational and community associations that engage for free out of pure passion to involve everyone in their activities … a wonderful world! Avanti Tutta, the usual great friend of La Brigata Indipendente, is also always ready to stand by our side.
Then the performers who will enliven the festival both from the stage and among the visitors … wonderful and irreplaceable resources who are participating from the very beginning with enthusiasm in this very anomalous context ☺.
And finally the usual and unfailing Proloco of Colombella, they want us again this time, they show their enthusiasm by providing the location and all their heart, taking care of the kitchen and bar. THANK YOU PROLOCO OF COLOMBELLA ❤.
At last the long-awaited April 21 arrives, everything is almost ready; yesterday the boys and girls of La Brigata Indipendente worked “hard” without sparing themselves to set up the expo, 50 booth benches to be placed, all the interior and exterior customizations to be assembled and placed, fitting the dressing room partitions for the cosplayers and many other details to be taken care of … but then everyone went to dinner like a real working team. In fact tonight pays for the association for the whole team.
Needless to hide it we are excited, waiting to see what will happen tomorrow … if everything will work out and especially how many people will want to come to our event.
This is it … at 8 a.m. we open at the booths and suddenly everyone arrives. The e-mails, phone calls, and messages of the last few months turn into real, concrete people, laboriously setting up booths and asking to finally meet us in person. Shaking our hands … for new booths we are indeed a “strange animal” … no stress, no pretensions, money for once is not the center of the world (it is important but not at the center), because that instead is the place of people. Together with us do what you can to build something that is very important and tastes good: “the inclusion of those who normally remain excluded.”
At 12:30 the performance schedule begins and on stage comes Prof. Claudio Ferracci of Perugia’s Biblioteca delle Nuvole for the talk on vampires in comics … how cool, so many things to know even in comics. Half an hour flies by without us noticing, very interesting … thank you Claudio.
Then at 1:30 p.m. the Talk in Gaming topic given by professionals, the 2 Youtubers Mattysmash and Emadx … another half hour of very interesting culture about the games of the moment (and not only). How cool are these 2! They hold the stage with the confidence of those who know the subject well, are very well prepared in detail and pose us considerations that we would not have imagined on our own. Well done guys.
Then comes a real earthquake … DANCE FUSION from Gualdo Tadino in dance steps! Naike leading the crew dragging everyone along; the stage literally shakes with every step such is the grit they bring. They involve us and leave us breathless, a beautiful close-knit group open to everyone and committed to including just about everyone. That is why we sought them out and wanted them with us … it is wonderful to have them here. Thank you DANCE FUSION!
Then the Perugia Ben Essere team takes the stage … tatami quickly lining the stage in a “military” organization. Tania is a true “metronome” … everything takes shape quickly and the performance begins above and below the stage. A huge, diverse group of all ages, proving that limits are mental. Athletic bodies flying all over the place, “strength and aggression totally controlled by good warriors” … we are all wide-eyed watching such grit explode with every movement. A breathtaking performance worthy of the best movie sets … thank you for this wonderful experience … pure emotion.
The most “special” moment is definitely the one Mirko wrote on the program with the name “Memorial” … we know what it means but we do not know what will happen. Mirko and the Valentines, along with a few staff, have avoided letting the details of this moment so difficult to imagine on this day be known. Suddenly the atmosphere changes a bit … Mirko takes the stage but you can feel that he is indecisive, it’s not like him; then he told us that he dreaded having to express to the audience the enormous pain that weighs on other people who have crossed the path of PG COMIX and La Brigata Indipendente. One of those encounters that you never imagined and you know right away that they had to happen … then he tells us about Boris Diaz … a young man, a guy like us, who we saw at the first edition. Some people knew him, he was with us all day … he was happy, cheerful, jovial, he loved life, this environment and its people. PG COMIX was finally an event close to home; he often had to travel far to follow this passion. Unfortunately, he is not here today and will not be here again, at least not in the way we are, but Mirko tells us to look around and the pictures hanging on the walls reveal their secret. Until then anonymous in the midst of so much color suddenly become full of value … that’s him, is Boris … many now remember him.
The voice at the microphone wavers, shakes, stops and then resumes, until the video starts. Luca our cameraman and video producer as usual did an incredible job, he took photos and made them into the wonderful memory of a sunny, sweet, kind and selfless boy. Boris’s family is there with us, the suffering is visible and we feel like hugging them tightly. We accompany them outside to release all those balloons we’ve been seeing for a while now, we watch them rise to the sky, everything takes on a profound value … us down here, him up there, the balloons rising from our hands into the blue until they disappear. Hello Boris, continue to be here with us, together we have more fun.
Now we come back in and the fantastic Cartoonici Band starts. They make us smile, dance, sing with cartoon theme songs! Boris liked the Cartoonici so much and they are here just because of him, really special people ❤.
Then STAR WARS CLUB PERUGIA takes us into deep space to fight the eternal battle between good and evil. How cool these … every year more and more and better and better. It’s great to have them with us.
FINALLY THE CONTEST, here we go, Erjola in charge declares green light, we can start with the Cosplay competition. Jessica and Alessandro also take their seats at the jury box while Jasmine and Morgana take control of the stage, they came from Rome to be with us … how wonderful. Everything is flowing, the Cosplays are beautiful and fun; a challenge of performance and costumes; lucky the jury who knows how to cast their votes, for us they are all great. Amidst excitement, laughter and applause the contest proceeds and concludes. As the jurors draw their conclusions and refine their judgments the Cartoonici band entertain us again.
The day is flying by and PG COMIX is coming to an end, we are happy, tired and also sorry; a really strange mix of emotions but we already know it, it happens at every one of our events. We are tired from all we have done, we are happy that it worked but we are sorry that it is over. Slowly PG COMIX empties out, the booths begin to disassemble and we get back to work. We take everything apart, put it back together and clean up.
Speaking of numbers we had more than 1300 attendance during the day and about 270 Cosplay with 29 booths.
THANK YOU ALL!!!
See you at the third edition … STAY TUNED