Italian publisher Morellini Editore has just released a new edition of Ten Years to Save the World, a superb anthology of comics dedicated to the subject of climate change.
The announcement has prompted the revival of The Anthropocene Collective, a climate change creative project spearheaded by Italy’s Fumettomania Factory Association reflecting on climate change, which ran between 2021 to 2023.
The comics anthology, titled Dieci anni per cambiare il mondo, featuring the work of leading comic creators from Italy, the Philippines and the UK, was first published in 2021, a groundbreaking project launched in response to the climate crisis.
The new Italian edition of the anthology (also available from AmazonUK, affiliate link) features work by Clarice Tudor, Sayra Begumand Jack Teagle from the UK; Budjette Tan & Kajo Baldisimo, Manix Abrera, Kevin Eric Raymundo, Ren Galeno and Emiliana Kampilan from the Philippines; and GUD and Matteo Fortuna, from Italy.
Ten Years to Save the World demonstrates the power of comics to stimulate climate change action. Aimed at 18 to 24 year olds, but with a powerful message for us all, the project was a collaboration between the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Komiket in the Philippines, and climate change communications specialists Creative Concern.
The project was one of the British Council’s Creative Commissions, exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology. The commissions aim to stimulate global conversations about climate change and to inspire transformational change.
The new edition launches “Sfumature di verde” (“Shades of Green”), Morellini Editore’s new series of comics dedicated to the environment and sustainability, created to explore, through the visual power of comics, the crucial themes that will shape our future.
In his preface to the new edition of Ten Years to Save the World, editor Mauro Morellini reflects on the long journey that led humanity to become aware of its impact on the planet. While humanity began questioning the state of the environment as early as the Industrial Revolution, it was only since the mid-twentieth century that the issue has become urgent and global. Many of the decisive turning points were born of catastrophes: from the Great Smog in London in 1952, which led to the abandonment of domestic coal; to the Chernobyl disaster, which prompted a referendum in Italy to close its nuclear power plants.
In recent decades, however, awareness has grown: global warming , the proliferation of plastic, desertification are no longer local emergencies, but planetary issues .
“The environment is now an issue that transcends political positions,” says Mauro Morellini, “and no party can afford not to have it on its agenda.”
Despite resistance from those who still deny the evidence, the scientific community is unanimous in recognizing the extent of the crisis. This is why Morellini Editore has chosen to create a series entirely dedicated to these issues. Its “Sfumature di verde” (“Shades of Green”) series of comics that will recount, through the power of stories and images, the environmental emergencies that affect our daily lives, from endangered species to the Amazon, from instant fashion to desertification.
“We chose to inaugurate the series with a volume that tells so many stories,” the publisher explains of the choice to start the series with Dieci anni per cambiare il mondo (“Ten Years to Change the World”), “bringing together authors from opposite ends of the planet: three Englishmen, six Filipinos, and two Italians. This illustrates the fact that environmental protection is an emergency that concerns everyone on Earth. No one is excluded. And without involving governments, everyone can do their part.
Dieci anni per cambiare il mondo (“Ten Years to Change the World” is an international project born from the collaboration between CDM Lab, KOMIKET (Philippines), Lakes International Comic Art Festival and Creative Concern (UK) , with the support of the British Council, as part of the creative commissions in response to climate change and COP26.
The anthology’s eight stories address issues such as deforestation, plastic pollution, climate colonialism, geopolitical conflicts over marine resources, and environmental migration. Each author employs a different visual language, from poetic minimalism to expressionist noir, from satirical cartoons to pictorial art, to craft a powerful, unified narrative about the planet’s crisis and the urgency of change.
“Sfumature di verde” (“Shades of Green”): The Publishing Project
“Sfumature di verde” (“Shades of Green”) will employ the comics medium to address the major issues of environmental protection, climate justice, and the consequences of the anthropization of the planet, the process of human activity changing natural environments by converting natural spaces, landscapes, and ecosystems to meet human needs.
Each volume will be accompanied by a scientific appendix curated by experts, offering data and insights to fully understand the impact of the phenomena discussed.
The art direction has been entrusted to Stefano “S3Keno” Piccoli , Director of ARF! Festival and current president of RIFF – Rete Italiana Festival di Fumetto, while CDM Lab is a partner of the series, with the aim of combining creativity and concrete action for the environment.
Among the upcoming titles already planned: volumes dedicated to instant fashion, endangered species , desertification and migration, and a story dedicated to Chico Mendes, and the defence of the Amazon rainforest.
Fumettomania Factory Association relaunches “The Anthropocene Collective”
The announcement of the release of the new collection has prompted the revival of The Anthropocene Collective, a project spearheaded by Italy’s Fumettomania Factory Association reflecting on climate change, which ran between 2021 to 2023.
A multidisciplinary, artistic, educational, and cultural project, The Anthropocene Collective was made available to all participating schools across Italy and internationally, with particular attention to the Barcellona and Messina areas.
The project consists of an initial video introduction, followed by a creative-expressive activity encouraging comic creation, that takes the form of a work drawn on paper or digitally, or a text (a short essay, a story, an article) relating to the issues of climate change, environmental pollution, global warming, the protection of flora and fauna, the illegal trade in wild animals, the seas threatened by plastic and pollution, and the like.
As part of the project, a series of exhibitions was organised featuring material produced by all those who participate in the various scheduled events.
• The new edition of Dieci anni per salvare il mondo “Ten Years to Save the World”) is available here from Morellini Editore and here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)| ISBN: 9791255273165| 128 Pages
• Check out the Ten Years to Save the World web site here | Connect with the project on X and Instagram #10YearsToSaveTheWorld #TheClimateConnection #COP26 | (COP26 and the British Council also used the hashtag #TogetherForOurPlanet)
• Find out more about The Anthropocene Collective
• Komiket is online at www.komiket.org | Facebook
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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