Comic Club Guayaquil Develops the Ninth Art in the City

Seven years ago, Mauricio Gil and Alfredo Garcia were two comic collectors that aspired for something more. When they participated in several university talks of comic galleries, Mauricio and Alfredo along with Ivan Guevara began a grand project of there own, the creation of the first Comic Club in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Their first appearance was in Universidad de Guayaquil, there they had a small display of comics, this was just the beginning pretty soon they began to hang out and talk about something big. Thus Comic Club Guayaquil was born and they began to present graphic novels art galleries, with equipment for slideshows and presentations. The vision of this trio of collectors attracted the attention of international comic writers and artists. For seven years Mauricio, Ivan and Alfredo have developed continually new projects and tools to improve the graphic novels in Guayaquil. Their recognition was not unperceived and several artists from Mexico, Argentina, Spain and other Hispanic countries know what they are doing and they support them.

To fulfill their objectives, the founders of Comic Club Guayaquil organized courses on how to draw, paint, write and screen a graphic novel. Universidad Catolica de Guayaquil and many high schools of the city have received their projects with enthusiasm. Mauricio, Alfredo and Ivan, focuses their attention on giving talks about different characters of the graphic novel genders. Alfredo Garcia added that with the new social networks trends many people are presenting their work, hence the Comic Club Guayaquil brought a small magazine called fanzine, which is a magazine in black and white that can allow artists to present their work and if it earns enough acceptance and support they could launch a comic, like the case of Edward Jaime who recently published their title “Sombra el gran torneo.” Alfredo stated that more comics of Guayaquil residents would be published in the upcoming events.

Artists like Argentinean Eduardo Rizzo who have lend his talent to comic titles like Batman and One Hundred Bullets have attended past congresses. Rizzo commented about the hospitality he received in Guayaquil and told other international artists that they should visit the city and offer their support. Mauricio has quickly developed several tourist packages in order to attract more audience and artists. These three entrepreneurs work endlessly to give the ninth art their righteous place in Guayaquil.