While comics fans were celebrating comics and other delights at New York Comic Con, publishers and fans in Europe were congregating in Frankfurt, Germany, for the annual Frankfurter Buchmesse.  Held almost annually since Gutenberg invented movable type, this publishing trade show attracts some 286,000 visitors (both professional and public attendees), showcasing 7,000 exhibitors from 100 countries.

As you can see by the map below, six different buildings are used to host this show!

Of course, this being Germany, comics were represented (Hall 3.0), and last Saturday, the 2010 Sondermann Comic Awards were presented.  The awards are voted on by comics fans.

Comics: “Asterix 34 “by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (Egmont Ehapa)  (Available in English.)

Manga: “Legend of Zelda 1” by Akira Himekawa (Tokyopop) (Available in English.)

Cartoon: “The Black Book” by Uli Stein (Lappan) (Available to order, not translated.)

Web: “Beetlebum” by Johannes Kretzschmar (Not yet translated.)

(Webcomic nominees can be found here.)

A special six-member jury also selected Felix Mertikat and Benjamin Schreuder as Best Newcomer for their poetic comic fable “Jacob” (Cross Cult).

The jury also awarded the  “Bernard Parish Sondermann of Comic Art” award to Ari Pilkat.

Three individuals were inducted into the Hall of Fame, all who have won three or more times:

Eiichiro Oda, who won in the manga category in 2005, 2008, and 2009, for One Piece.

"The Time-Machine-Con? That was yesterday."

Joscha Sauer, for “Nicht Lustig” (“Not Funny”), which won the newcomer award in 2004, and the cartoon award in 2004 and 2009.

Ralph Ruthe, who won the cartoon award an unprecedented four times, from 2005-2008, for “Shit Happens”.

The Sondermann awards are sponsored by the  Frankfurter Buchmesse, www.comicforum.de, Spiegel Online and the Frankfurter Rundschau.  Established in 2004, they honor the late Frankfurt cartoonist and comic artist Bernd Pfarr. The award is named after one of his most beloved characters, office employee Sondermann.

1 COMMENT

  1. Hall 3 is also invaded by thousands of German teen girls on the weekends, who gets into the fair for free if they cosplay.

    Comics & manga were also well represented in the other halls including Smurfs in Hall 5, Kodansha & Kadokawa in Hall6, Boom, Dark Horse, DC, NBM & Diamond in Hall 8.

  2. To be correct: there are TWO jurys with three members each, one for the Newcomer-Award, one for the, hum, Bernd Pfarr Sondermann for comical art. (Bernard Parrish? What?)

    For the Non-Jury-Awards, roughly 20.000 votes were given this year.

  3. Sorry… Google translated “Bernd Pfarr” as “Bernard Parrish”.

    Thanks for the clarification on the juries. The press release did not specify specifics.

    –Goalmost Anziegeluft