2013 in comics


Notable events of 2013 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, conventions and first issues by title. For an overview of the year in Japanese comics, see 2013 in manga.

Events

January

  • January 15: Dutch cartoonist Pieter Geenen wins the Inktspotprijs for Best Political Cartoon.

    March

  • March 3: After 30 years of continuous publication, Philippe Geluck's Le Chat comes to an end.
  • March 8: The first new Tom Poes story after creator Marten Toonder's death in 2005, Tom Poes en de Pas-Kaart, drawn by Dick Matena, starts serialisation in the magazine VertrekNL.
  • March 9–10: During the Stripdagen in Haarlem, Paul Teng receives the Stripschapprijs. The P. Hans Frankfurtherprijs is awarded to Comic House. The Bulletje en Boonestaakschaal goes to Richard's Studio.
  • March 26: Dupuis buys Marsu Productions.

    April

  • April 26: Dutch comic artist Jan van Haasteren is knighted in the Order of Orange Nassau.

    May

  • May 16 - July 10: Jan Hoet and politician Dany Vandenbossche organize the exhibition De Wereld van de Strips in Originelen on display in the Loketten of the Flemish Parliament in Brussels. Original pages by various Belgian comics artists are exhibited. However, the exhibition causes controversy when politician Jan Peumans objects to a French-language speech balloon on the promotional poster and asks for its removal. The speech is then blanked, which results in protest from various people, including cartoonist Kamagurka who asks for the removal of his cartoons from the expo.

    July

  • July 12: Albert Uderzo is named Officer in the Légion d'Honneur.

    August

  • August 6: Iranian cartoonist Ali Dorani, better known under his pseudonym Eaten Fish, is imprisoned in a detention camp at Christmas Island. In January 2014 he is incarcerated to another camp, Manus Island, where he stays until late 2017. During his five-year imprisonment he starts making cartoons and comics and have them smuggled outside the prison, which brings international attention to his case.
  • August 12: Dutch comic writer and artist Thom Roep is knighted in the Order of Orange Nassau.

    September

  • September 4: Sonic the Hedgehog #252, marking the revised continuity where the Second-Genesis Wave is retconned. This was due to a legal settlement was made after writer Ken Penders was discharged from Archie Comics after facing lawsuits against Sega. Because of this, the characters that were created by Penders were not allowed in the subsequent comics, nor any of the stories written by him were to be reprinted.
  • September 13: Patrick J. Marrin launches a long-running celebrity comic about Pope Francis, titled Francis. It will run until 2025.

    December

  • Specific date unknown: In Brussels, during renovation works in the SLFP building, drawings by André Franquin, Peyo, Jean Roba, Victor Hubinon, Mitacq,... are discovered on a wall, hidden behind wall paper layers.

    Specific date unknown

  • Rao Pingru's Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China is published. He is 90–91 years old, which makes him the oldest comics artist to ever make his debut.
  • Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan is tortured to death in a government detention center.

    Deaths

January