The eighth annual Comic Book Exhibition opened yesterday in Taipei, attracting thousands of comic lovers.
"There were already people lining up outside the exhibition hall last [Wednesday] night," said Candy Chou (
"More than 72,000 people visited the exhibition [yesterday.] We're expecting more than 400,000 visitors during the six-day exhibition," she said.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
As the doors opened at 10am, comic book lovers rushed into the exhibition hall, forming lines in front of their favorite publishers.
Pang Kuang-yi (
"I love comics," he said after buying eight comic books to add to his collection.
As well as comic books sales, book signings by popular cartoonists from Japan and the first-day launch of several new titles were also big draws on the first day of the exhibition.
"We've sold 200 copies [of a first-day-sale title] in just 10 minutes this morning," said Yang Chung-wei (楊仲偉), a publicist with Sharp Point Press. "Buyers of the 200 copies could also have their books signed by the cartoonist."
A hundred souvenir packages of another first-day-sale title, "were sold out in seven minutes," another salesperson said as she was busy guiding customers into another company's exhibition area.
The nation's eight major comic book publishers were all present at the exhibition yesterday.
Officials vowed to help to develop the local comic book industry during a news conference to launch the exhibition.
"Most of the comic books marketed in Taiwan are from South Korea and Japan; works by local cartoonists only have about a 9 percent market share," said Chen Chun-hua (陳俊華), a Government Information Office (GIO) official.
"Developing the local comic book industry is a task that has been identified by the GIO," he said.
Taipei City Cultural Affairs commissioner Lee Yong-ping (
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS