Lucca Comics & Games 2026 celebrates 60 years with tribute to Go Nagai and spokon

The 60th edition of Lucca Comics & Games now has dates and a program. The Italian festival will run from October 28 to November 1, 2026 in the historic center of Lucca, with "Legacy" as its theme and a lineup that looks especially toward Japan.

Among the highlights is "Go Nagai: sun, heart and steel," an exhibition dedicated to the mangaka who changed the history of mecha and anime. The show will be open from October 28 to November 1 at the Fondazione Banca del Monte.

The tour focuses on the robots that defined Nagai's career. Mazinger Z and Goldrake sit at the heart of the exhibition: the first as a milestone of the mecha genre in Japan, and the second as a social phenomenon in Italy since 1978. There is also room for Jeeg, Great Mazinger, and Getter Robot.

The second part of the show dives into Devilman, the work with which Nagai gave a provocative twist to the idea of inner evil. The exhibition closes with the manga version of the Divine Comedy that the author himself drew, inspired in part by the illustrations of Gustave Doré.

Stranger Things pavilion at the 2025 edition of the festival.finestresullarte.info

Spokon arrives at Japan Town

The festival's Japanese pavilion will also host "Spokon: sport, tears and victory," an exhibition dedicated to sports manga. The term spokon comes from the mix of "sport" and "spirit," and the show traces its evolution from the classics that laid the genre's foundations.

The tour includes titles such as Rocky Joe, Mimì e la nazionale di pallavolo (Attack No. 1), Jenny la tennista, and Tommy la stella dei Giants. It then jumps to the big hits of the 80s and 90s, like Holly e Benji (Captain Tsubasa) and Slam Dunk, and ends with recent phenomena such as Haikyu!! and Blue Lock.

The exhibition brings together original pages, anime cels, Japanese merchandise, and Italian promotional material. The idea is to show how sports competition became a story of sacrifice, determination, and redemption. The curation is by Giorgia Vecchini, with support from Alessandro Apreda.

A record-breaking edition

The organization announced that 2026 will be the edition with the most booths and pavilions in the festival's history. There will be ten themed pavilions spread across the squares and the bastions of the walls, and the comics area will bring together more than 80 Italian and international publishers.

The guest list exceeds 400 names and comes from Europe, America, and Asia. It includes 15 Japanese creators, 5 Taiwanese, 2 Chinese, and 3 Korean. Frank Miller, Jonathan Hickman, Brian Michael Bendis, Paco Roca, and Tillie Walden will also be there, among others.

The official poster is by Claudio Castellini, an Italian artist with a career in American comics. The illustration brings together characters from previous posters and shows a superheroine holding a girl who is trying to lift a pencil, in a direct nod to the generational handover proposed by this year's motto.

Official poster of Lucca Comics & Games 2026, designed by Claudio Castellini.finestresullarte.info

The central exhibition for the 60 years

The main anniversary project is "Lucca Legacy: a comics and games story," which opens on October 3 on the second floor of Palazzo Guinigi. The exhibition is divided into nine sections that review six decades of the festival's history.

There are rooms dedicated to historic posters, award-winning authors, and winning games. There is also a "Dreamers Room" with a sensory experience and a "Hall of Games" where visitors can try titles at the table. The tour ends in "The Vault," a vault where visitors can deposit objects related to their own experience at the festival.

Rai Cultura is also preparing the documentary 60 volte Lucca: la storia avventurosa di Lucca Comics & Games, which will air on October 27 on Rai 5 and later be available on RaiPlay.

The festival kicks off with an opening ceremony on October 28 at the Teatro del Giglio, where the official poster and the variant created by Louise Stéphant, winner of the Petit Fauve award in Angoulême, will be presented.

Would you cross the ocean to experience Lucca on its 60th anniversary? Tell us in the comments which exhibition catches your eye the most.