This year, the biggest pop-culture festival in Europe, Lucca Comics & Games will run from 28th October to 1st November. The theme for the 2022 edition is HOPE and the event poster was created by Canadian artist Ted Nasmith, master of “Imaginative Realism”. He has given substance to the imagination of Tolkien fans worldwide and earned the esteem and encouragement of Tolkien himself. He is known for his illustrations of J.R.R Tolkien’s works of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the cover for the first edition of The Silmarillion, a posthumous work edited by Christopher Tolkien.

The highly anticipated community event of the year, Lucca Comics & Games 2022, held in the medieval walled city of Lucca, is the largest convention of its kind in Europe and second largest in the world after Comiket (Tokyo). The event brings together thousands of fans of comic, gaming, video games, fantasy fiction, manga, anime, animated films, TV series and cosplay from all over the world.

In Nasmith’s artistic vision for the festival, HOPE is the Lady of the Dawn. The Goddess HOPE is inspired by Yavanna, who represents the ‘healer of nature’ in J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe. Her power drew the two last fruits out of the dead twin Holy Trees of Valinor; Laurelin and Telperion. It stands on an ancient olive tree and the colors of the Lady of the Dawn recall the Italian flag; the ribbons symbolize freedom, creativity, differences. With its splendid walls and the famous Church of San Martino, Lucca becomes Valinor, with its sacred tree, an enchanted kingdom and earthly paradise.

Emanuele Vietina, Festival Director, says: “Fantasy is on the side of those who dream, of those who want to build alternatives, parallel worlds, better scenarios, new roads. For us, HOPE is a certainty not a doubt. HOPE is the future of a generation, as Greta Thunberg would say, something that comes from actions, not words. Above all, HOPE, is the only thing that remains in Pandora’s box when it is opened. So HOPE is the theme that permeates the festival’s program which celebrates creative industries in Italy and abroad and includes The 20th Anniversary event of iconic game company CD PROJEKT RED, TOEI Animation Europe and Anime Factory celebration of ‘One Piece’, exhibitions dedicated to masters like Alex Randolph and international guests such as Chris Ware, John Romita JR., Tracy Hickman, Chris Riddell OBE and John Blanche.”