Congratulations!

The five winning works of the main categories are awarded € 300 each and receive a GINCO trophy in the form of our avatar, Artie the "Bildkröte". Additionally, the jury has decided to name one honorable mention "close to their heart" ("Herzenscomic").

Initially, Artie had been 3D-printed from recycled materials. This year, Artie is again made from hand-poured artisanal concrete, to serve as a mini planter, a keeper of soaps or clutter collector. Original Artie design by Kami Wallner, trophy by Lisa Rau and 2025 illustrations by Ralf Singh. (Discover the collaborative nature of Artie here.)

ONE SHOT COMIC

Aglæca

by Michèle Fischels (Insta)

Published as Shortbox Comics Fair contribution 2024

Laudatio:

Aglæca by Michèle Fischels is not only our one-shot comic of the year, but also one of those works that transports you to a new world with a cheeky lightness. With its elegant, flowing drawing style that blurs the panel boundaries and the smoothly interwoven dialogues, you'll be done reading faster than you'd wish for. Is the ending a cliffhanger, or the perfect conclusion to a story full of secrets about monster hunters, enchanted children, and brave girls? “Where's the Netflix deal? When will there be a point-and-click adventure?” No matter what form it takes, we want to learn more about this world and its characters, and isn't that the tragic beauty of good one-shots? We only get a small glimpse, and when it's as good as Aglæca, we want more, but we know it will remain just this one forbidden glimpse.

 

SHORT COMIC

Oozyte

by David Füleki

Published in the magazine "Comics & Mehr" #108

Laudatio:

You frequently hear the saying, ‘Life writes the best stories.’ Very often, though, it also writes the hardest and saddest ones. We read comics to escape into the unknown, but we also desire the familiar, the accessible, the personal, and maybe a pinch of hope. David Fülekis Oozyte is a short comic without words. And yet, it speaks to all our mirror cells in the brain. In Oozyte, Füleki describes a journey that cannot really be put in words. A long-unfulfilled wish, constant ups and downs between hope, anxiety, and disappointment. The reader also experiences this roller coaster of emotions in the short comic. Thanks to the skillful storytelling, it is only in the last panel that it becomes clear what journey we have been a companion to, and this strikes a chord right in the heart. Oozyte is a beautifully drawn story about the great wonders of life and is thus rightly awarded the GINCO in this year’s short comic category

 

RECURRING SERIES

Miles & Sally

by Thilo Krapp

Self-published

Laudatio:

In Miles & Sally, author Thilo Krapp takes us on a journey where a handful of chosen individuals escape the destruction of Earth and are on their way to a new home in a spaceship. When an unexpected emergency causes the AI to wake pilot Miles Brekel from cryosleep, he is surprised to find that his co-pilot is not at all who he expected. And so, the reader accompanies Miles and his stowaway Sally as they cope with the adverse conditions of everyday life on the spaceship; they not only grow closer to each other step by step, but also discover new things about themselves. Miles & Sally is a moving, dense, and exciting intimate play that captivates readers from page 1. The remarkable storytelling strikes just the right pace and raises various important issues that the protagonists must learn to deal with. Thilo Krapp's exhilarating, atmospheric drawings echo sci-fi classics and infuse the oppressive emptiness of the vessel with space to unfold. And so, the reader is drawn further and further into the orbit of this exciting long comic, leaving them wanting for more at the end.

MANGA SPOTLIGHT

Sturm ist erst, Band 4

by Mandy Jensen

Published on Animexx

Laudatio:

Sturm ist erst is the story of students Jonas and Fritjof and their lovely circle of friends, told against the backdrop of a northern German sea town. It depicts a deep friendship that turns into an unreciprocated love. Volume 4 sees Jonas discovering his feelings, encouraging him to… (hush)! Mandy Jensen understands why we love manga and has unlocked the secret of drawing manga. We get to smile, we get to sigh, and most of all, it touches our hearts. Mandy knows exactly how to enchant us with her warm and harmonious style, underlined by the skillfully light shading. She allows us to immerse ourselves in the most intimate feelings of her characters, whom we want to keep in our hearts for as long as possible.

ZINE

Silence 1+2: SciFi + Horror

by Nikolai Solowjow, Isago Fukuda, Audrey Lefebvre, Frieda Kunert, Bruno Giannori, Wilbert van der Steen as well as Natalie Heinrich & Paul Winck (Cover)

Published with "Moom Comics" (Lukasz Majcher)

Laudatio:

In the Zine category, the GINCO jury decided to award Silence, published by Łukasz Majcher's Berlin-based MOOM Verlag. Six different sci-fi and horror comics impress with their sensitive stories and striking visual language, which requires no speech bubbles or text. 'Silence' is indeed the great strength of this anthology. It is a great example of how exciting, touching, and eerie stories do not need big words. However, the artistic achievement of the works is anything but silent or muted. Each of the comic artists who contributed to this volume succeeds in graphically depicting vulnerability, despair, love, lust, and hope in their own unique style in just a few pages, giving their voice to the queer characters. The stories by artists Nikolai Solowjow, Isago Fukuda, Audrey Lefebvrein, Frieda Kunert, Bruno Giannori, and Wilbert van der Steen, who hail from the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK, are framed by memorable cover designs by Natalie Heinrich (SciFi) and Paul Winck (Horror). All of the artists skillfully play with the characteristics of their respective genres: dystopian landscapes, futuristic technologies, space travel, disgust, body horror, enchanted castles, and grotesque monsters.The absence of text in Silence means overcoming language barriers and open up wonderful possibilities of an international readership. Silence impressively demonstrates the power of the comic medium by making visual language the lingua franca. This anthology thus more than lives up to the publisher's motto, “Queer Comics for Everyone!”

HONORABLE MENTION ("HERZENSCOMIC")

Meute

by Noëlle Kröger

Published with Reprodukt

Laudatio:

Noëlle Kröger constructs in Meute (the pack) an allegory on how society deals with diversity – forceful rejection, scientific research, solidarity, or complete acceptance and integration. Kröger shows us through the metaphor of werewolves that the acceptance of diverse gender identities cannot be achieved through repression and assimilation into binary norms, but that it is the society that needs to question its binary norms and to open itself to new ways of thinking. Through its multi-layered storytelling and by dealing with a topical issue, Kröger’s graphic novel already qualifies to be seen as an ‘important comic.’ Moreover, Meute impresses the reader with its eclectic graphic style. The combination of recurring colour themes and a linework that oscillates between wild, spirited, soft, and humorous, work together to effortlessly bring across the atmosphere. Meute, in its many layers, is an all-around coherent graphic novel and it deserves a special recognition as our ‘Herzenscomic.’