By: Yomna Walid
The Cairo International Book Fair has always held a special place in the hearts of Egyptians and visitors from around the world. Today, as the 57th edition opened under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, with Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly inaugurating the event, Culture Minister Ahmed Fouad Hanno and several Arab and foreign officials in attendance, the fair continues to celebrate knowledge, culture, and creativity. Running from January 21 to February 3 at the Egypt International Exhibitions Center, the fair features 1,457 publishers from 83 countries and 6,637 exhibitors, the largest edition in its history. Romania is this year&rsquo;s guest of honor, and the program includes 400 cultural and intellectual events, 100 book signings, and 120 artistic activities. For comic book fans, one name stands out: Khalid Essafty. Celebrated for his iconic series &ldquo;Flash Adventures,&rdquo; &ldquo;Smash,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Super Smash,&rdquo; Essafty has captivated generations with his unique blend of humor, cultural insight, and social commentary. Over his career, he has created more than 80 distinctive characters, inspiring a new generation of readers and artists alike. NileFM caught up with Essafty to talk about his journey, the magic of the Cairo Book Fair, and what makes Flash resonate across generations. Do you enjoy caricature, writing, and drawing&hellip;? Can you share with us your childhood memories of the Book Fair? What impressed you the most when you were a kid attending it? When I was a child, the Book Fair was held every year at the Exhibition Grounds in Zamalek, not in Nasr City. It was very close to the Nile, and the space wasn&rsquo;t very large. All the halls were inside a big building, so it was extremely crowded. This was during the 1970s. Back then, I used to look for &ldquo;Tenten&rsquo; before it became a magazine; it was a book that included some of the heroes I loved.
<a href="https://ibb.co/sJFXvXtt"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/0VfzjzQQ/1.png" alt="1" border="0" /></a> Since you do caricatures, can you tell us about your steps and stages in designing each character? What&rsquo;s the first thing you do, and how do you achieve the look and psychological depth of each character? I don&rsquo;t really have stages or steps. My hand works according to what&rsquo;s in my mind and what I&rsquo;m thinking. This makes the character more spontaneous, and the psychological depth and visual form that fit the character&rsquo;s traits come out naturally. Can you tell us how the &ldquo;Flash&rdquo; series looked in the beginning? What was its style, and how were the stories structured? In the beginning, the &ldquo;Flash&rdquo; series was like the social media of the &lsquo;90s, because there wasn&rsquo;t any other entertainment except TV and radio. Flash achieved huge success and attracted large crowds. The &ldquo;Flash&rdquo; series reached the top of the best-sellers list. In your opinion, what is the secret behind its success among a new generation of readers? Of course, the secret of its success is that it was relatable to young people. It was a way to educate while being close to the youth. Your works have been well-known for a long time, but now a new generation is reading your books and getting to know your characters. Do you feel there&rsquo;s a difference in how they interact with Flash or comics in general compared to previous generations? I hope the new generation gets closer to &ldquo;Flash,&rdquo; because it corrects all the mistakes that might be spread on social media and filters out wrong ideas they could be exposed to. Some people today are talking about artificial intelligence in drawing and writing&hellip; what&rsquo;s your opinion on this, as a writer and artist? Artificial intelligence is a frightening revolution that could reach a stage where we can&rsquo;t distinguish between real voices or images. This will create many problems. To me, it is more important than technology itself. Depending on how well people master it, they could make it believable.
<a href="https://ibb.co/LzHwvpks"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/8Dt3X8KQ/2.png" alt="2" border="0" /></a> With the Book Fair starting today, how do you feel about meeting your audience at an event of this scale? I wait for it every year. I love meeting the new generations and seeing mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and children who are fans of Flash magazine. This is very special to me. You mentioned that &ldquo;Flash heroes will greet the audience throughout the fair.&rdquo; This year, what&rsquo;s different about "Flash"? You promised many surprises&hellip; can you give us a small hint? This year, there&rsquo;s a unique surprise: pocket-sized Egyptian novels, which used to be alongside the famous school textbooks, will now have a separate pavilion. The exhibition hall will be bigger, and there will be youth and authors joining. Is there a chance we&rsquo;ll see a new caricature work from you during Ramadan? Unfortunately, not this year, but I&rsquo;ll try next year. If you were to choose a character from your works to turn into a cartoon series, which one would it be, and why? I won&rsquo;t choose, because I&rsquo;ve already adapted all the Flash heroes into a 60-episode series that was shown on a platform in the Gulf. I know the audience is excited to watch it. Is there a new character you haven&rsquo;t introduced yet that we might see soon? I don&rsquo;t think so, because I&rsquo;ve already portrayed all types of society, which evolve from generation to generation according to social events. I have many characters, around 80 in total.&nbsp;
<a href="https://ibb.co/SXdGPWKv"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/KjLSXR9y/3.png" alt="3" border="0" /></a>&nbsp;
Photo Credit: Khalid Essafty's official page

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