The World Cup of Comics

Imagine if the World Cup were a competition between comic book artists, rather than football players. The competition format would be exactly the same as the actual 2014 World Cup, with the same 32 countries, eight preliminary groups, and an elimination bracket consisting of 16 teams. The only difference would be that the nations would compete by drawing comics rather than playing football. I don’t know how exactly this competition would work — maybe all the cartoonists would draw a comic on the same theme, and then their comics would be evaluated by a panel of critics and editors.

In the following post I begin by suggesting possible starting lineups for each of the 11 World Cup nations. I assume cartoonists could represent any country to which they have significant connections; therefore, I have Sergio Aragonés representing Mexico and Eddie Campbell representing Australia. These lists mostly consist exclusively of artists, but in a couple of cases I have chosen writers (Christos Gage, Marguerite Abouet) due to difficulty identifying qualified artists. Also, these lists are works in progress. For some of the nations (e.g. Honduras, Ghana, Ecuador) I haven’t been able to identify 11 notable cartoonists. Finally, this should be obvious, but cartoonists are only eligible if alive.

After that, I go on to suggest who, in my opinion, would win each of the group stage games, and who would go on to win each of the elimination rounds and the tournament as a whole.

If you disagree with my starting lineups or with my picks for who would win any of the games, then I would welcome your comments.

GROUP A

BRAZIL
Fábio Moon
Gabriel Ba
Ivan Reis
Laerte
Lourenço Mutarelli
Luiz Gê
Marcello Quintanilha
Mauricio de Sousa ©
Mike Deodato Jr
Rafael Albuquerque
Roger Cruz

MEXICO
Sergio Aragonés
Bachan
Edgar Clement
Óscar González Loyo
Leopoldo Jasso
Jis
José Ladrönn
Luis Fernando
Rius ©
Humberto Ramos
Trino

CAMEROON
Bibi Benzo
Brice Bingono ©
Chrisany
Biyong Djehuty
Edimo
Joëlle Esso
Erik Juszezak
B.G. Laubé
Simon-Pierre Mbumbo
Maya Mihindou
Achille Nzoda

CROATIA
Helena Klakocar
Igor Kordey
Darko Macan
Goran Parlov
Frano Petrusa
Jules Radilovic ©
Esad Ribic
Stjepan Sejic
Goran Sudzuka
Danijel Zezelj
Tonci Zonjic

GROUP B

NETHERLANDS
Daan Jippes
Erik Kriek
Jan Kruis
Henk Kuijpers
Peter Pontiac
Tobias Schalken
Eric Schreurs
Joost Swarte ©
Stefan van Dinther
Jean-Marc van Tol
Willem

CHILE
Carlos Badilla
Karla Diaz
Guillo
Hervi
Alejandro Jodorowsky ©
Diego Jourdan
Kobal
Pedro Peirano
Gabriel Rodriguez
Rodrigo Salinas
Marcela Trujillo

SPAIN
Jordi Bernet
Carlos Giménez ©
Juanjo Guarnido
Francisco Ibáñez
Javier Mariscal
Max
Ana Miralles
Miguelanxo Prado
Paco Roca
David Rubin
Daniel Torres

AUSTRALIA
Eddie Campbell ©
Gary Chaloner
Trudy Cooper
Pat Grant
Michael Leunig
Pete Mullins
Bruce Mutard
Nicola Scott
Shaun Tan
Ben Templesmith
Ashley Wood

GROUP C

COLOMBIA
Jorge Aguirre
Giovanni Castro
Ernesto Franco ©
Carlos Garzón
Jorge Peña
Quiló
Daniel Rabanal
Bernardo Rincón
José Sanabria
Fabián Tuñon Benzo
Viktor Velásquez

GREECE
Arkas
Apostolos Doxiadis ©
Christos Gage
Yannis Ginosatis
George Kambadais
Vasilis Lolos
Giannis Milonogiannis
Alecos Papadatos
Dimitris Papaioannou
Georges Pop
Alexios Tjoyas

IVORY COAST
Marguerite Abouet ©
Désiré Atsain
Gilbert G. Groud
Patrick Jusseaume
Benjamin Kouadio
Lacombe
Marc N’Guessan
Jess Sah Bi
Kan Souflée
Faustin Titi
Lassane Zohoré

JAPAN
Moyoco Anno
Kosuke Fujishima
Moto Hagio
Hajime Isayama
Masashi Kishimoto
Takeshi Obata
Eiichiro Oda
Akira Toriyama ©
Naoki Urasawa
Ai Yazawa
Fumi Yoshinaga

GROUP D

COSTA RICA
Arcadio Esquivel
Francisco Munguía ©
Andrés Ramirez
Iván Ramirez
Rodicab
Carlos Salazar
Oscar Sierra

URUGUAY
Enrique Ardito
Diego Barreto
Léo Beker
Enrique Breccia ©
Patricia Breccia
Ignacio Calero

ITALY
Andrea Bruno
Manuele Fior
Francesca Ghermandi
Vittorio Giardino
Gipi
Igort
Milo Manara
Lorenzo Mattotti ©
Stefano Ricci
Davide Toffolo
Vanna Vinci

ENGLAND
Nick Abadzis
Brian Bolland
Alan Davis
Hunt Emerson
Paul Grist
Jamie Hewlett
Kevin O’Neill
Warren Pleece
Frank Quitely
Posy Simmonds
Bryan Talbot ©

GROUP E

FRANCE
Baru
Blutch
Claire Bretécher
Florence Cestac
David B.
Daniel Goossens
Emmanuel Guibert
Régis Loisel
Joann Sfar
Jacques Tardi ©
Lewis Trondheim

SWITZERLAND
Alex Baladi
Daniel Ceppi
Cosey
Derib
Ibn Al Rabin
Thomas Ott
Frederik Peeters ©
Nadia Raviscioni
Tom Tirabosco
Pierre Wazem
Zep

ECUADOR
Alvaro Alemán
Ivan Valero ©

HONDURAS
Dario Banegas ©
Allan McDonald

GROUP F

ARGENTINA
Horacio Altuna
Juan Giménez
Jorge González
Pablo Holmberg
Liniers
Maitena
José Muñoz ©
Carlos Nine
Ariel Olivetti
Quino
Eduardo Risso

NIGERIA
Tayo Fatunla ©
Kola Fayemi
Siku

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Denis Fejzic
Adi Granov
Dragan Rokvic
Ervin Rustemagic ©
Miljenko Tunjic

IRAN
Parsua Bashi
Parviz Eghbali
Marjane Satrapi ©
Amir Soltani
Amin Tavakoli

GROUP G

GERMANY
Andreas
Arne Bellstorf
Martin tom Dieck
Anke Feuchtenberger
Jens Harder
Reinhold Kleist
Isabel Kreitz
Ralf König ©
Walter Moers
Matthias Schultheiss
Gerhard Seyfried

UNITED STATES
Lynda Barry
Alison Bechdel
Gilbert Hernandez
Jaime Hernandez
David Mazzucchelli
Ed Piskor
Nate Powell
Stan Sakai
Art Spiegelman
Chris Ware ©
Gene Luen Yang

PORTUGAL
Filipe Abranches ©
Cyril Pedrosa

GHANA
Akosua ©

GROUP H

BELGIUM
Dominique Goblet
Brecht Evens
Hermann
Willy Linthout
Olivier Schrauwen
François Schuiten ©
Jean-Philippe Stassen
David Vandermeulen
Judith Vanistendael
Marc Wasterlain
Yslaire

ALGERIA
Mahmoud Benameur
Farid Boudjellal
Kaci
Slim ©

RUSSIA
Vera Brosgol
Sergei Kapranov
Alexei Lukyanchikov
Nikolai Maslov ©
Vladimir Sakov
Pavel Sukhikh
Roman Surzhenko

SOUTH KOREA
Ancco
Byun Byung-Jun
Doha
Kim Dong-Hwa ©
Lee Hyun-Se
Lee Jong-Hui
Marley
Oh Se-Young
Park Kun-Woong
Yang Young-Soon
Yun Mi-Kyung

GROUP STAGE RESULTS

GROUP A
Brazil def Cameroon
Croatia def Mexico
Brazil ties Croatia
Mexico def Cameroon
Mexico def Brazil
Croatia def Cameroon

Croatia 2-1-1 = 7
Mexico 2-0-1 = 6
Brazil 1-1-1 = 4
Cameroon 0-0-3 = 0

GROUP B
Netherlands def Chile
Spain def Australia
Netherlands def Australia
Spain def Chile
Spain def Netherlands
Australia def Chile

Spain 3-0-0 = 9
Netherlands 2-0-1 = 6
Australia 1-0-2 = 3
Chile 0-0-3 = 0

GROUP C
Colombia ties Greece
Japan def Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire def Colombia
Japan def Greece
Côte d’Ivoire def Greece
Japan def Colombia

Japan 3-0-0 = 9
Côte d’Ivoire 2-0-1 = 6
Colombia 0-1-2 = 1
Greece 0-1-2 = 1

GROUP D
Uruguay def Costa Rica
Italy def England
Italy def Costa Rica
England def Uruguay
Italy def Uruguay
England def Costa Rica

Italy 3-0-0 = 9
England 2-1-0 = 6
Uruguay 1-0-2 = 3
Costa Rica 0-0-3 = 0

GROUP E
France def Switzerland
Ecuador def Honduras
France def Ecuador
Switzerland def Honduras
France def Honduras
Switzerland def Ecuador

France 3-0-0 = 9
Switzerland 2-1-0 = 6
Ecuador 1-0-2 = 3
Honduras 0-0-3 = 0

GROUP F
Argentina def Nigeria
Iran def Bosnia & Herzegovina
Argentina def Iran
Nigeria ties Bosnia & Herzegovina
Argentina def Bosnia & Herzegovina
Iran def Nigeria

Argentina 3-0-0 = 9
Iran 2-0-1 = 6
Bosnia & Herzegovina 0-1-02= 1
Nigeria 0-1-2 = 1

GROUP G
United States def Germany
Portugal def Ghana
United States def Ghana
Germany def Portugal
United States def Portugal
Germany def Ghana

United States 3-0-0 = 9
Germany 2-1-0 = 6
Portugal 1-0-0 = 3
Ghana 0-0-3 = 0

GROUP H
Belgium def Algeria
South Korea def Russia
Belgium def South Korea
Algeria ties Russia
Belgium def Russia
South Korea def Algeria

Belgium 3-0-0 = 9
South Korea 2-1-0 = 6
Russia 0-1-2 = 1
Algeria 0-1-2 = 1

ELIMINATION BRACKET
A1. Croatia
B2. Netherlands

C1. Japan
D2. England

E1. France
F2. Iran

G1. United States
H2. South Korea

B1. Spain
A2. Mexico

D1. Italy
C2. Côte d’Ivoire

F1. Argentina
E2. Switzerland

H1. Belgium
G2. Germany

ROUND OF 16
Netherlands def Croatia
Japan def England
France def Iran
United States def South Korea
Spain def Mexico
Italy def Côte d’Ivoire
Argentina def Switzerland
Belgium def Germany

ROUND OF 8
Japan def Netherlands
France def United States
Italy def Spain
Belgium def Argentina

SEMIFINALS
Japan def France
Belgium def Italy

FINALS: Japan def Belgium