Women take the lead in Switzerland’s comics scene

Women are taking on prominent roles in Switzerland’s comics scene, with artist Anna Sommer receiving a major honour and two women running the country’s oldest independent comics publisher, SRF reports.

Sommer has opened her first major solo exhibition at the Tomi Ungerer Museum in Strasbourg, a prominent venue in the illustration world. The 58-year-old artist will also receive the Grand Prix Töpffer from the Canton and City of Geneva for promoting Swiss comics and her contribution to contemporary comics.

Sommer said she could hardly believe so many good things were happening at once. “I was jumping for joy,” she said.

Her exhibition, “À tire-d’aile. Anna Sommer en dialogue avec les collections,” runs until February 27, 2027. Sommer’s career began more than 30 years ago with “Damen Dramen,” a wordless collection of stories about women that helped establish her as a freelance artist. She is now regarded as a leading figure in Swiss comics and illustration.

Her books are published by Zurich-based Edition Moderne. Marie-France Lombardo and Julia Marti took over the publisher in 2019. It is the oldest independent comics publisher in the German-speaking world and is described by SRF as the only comics publisher in that region run by women.