Making Its Mark: British Comics and Graphic Novels take to the World Stage

Six British/UK based comic creators will be flying the flag for British Comics Now at this year’s Toronto Comic Art Festival (TCAF), thanks to an initiative from the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF), funded by Arts Council England, The Adlard Family Charitable Foundation and The British Council.

British Comics Now aims to be a nationally-significant project for Britain’s comics and graphic novels sector, delivering a step change in the global exposure, distribution and recognition of the sector. Looking to make a huge impact nationally and internationally on the work of comic artists and graphic novelists in the UK, the project includes the first International Rights Market for comics in the country, taking place at the LICAF annual weekend Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere September, only the second of its kind in the world.

British Comics Now will also take creators out to key international festivals, which are also industry events, providing them with a dedicated pavilion to tell the story of the sector, attract interest and attention and find new partners, publishers and advocates.

On their way to TCAF (11th – 12th May) are Jason Chuang, Isabel Greenberg, Clio Isadora, B. Mure, Bex Ollerton and Martin Simpson, representing a wide range of modern comics, creators who have both self-published their work and been published, too, and keenly familiar with current forms of distribution and promotion.

“LICAF is highly-regarded on the international comic art stage by cultural institutes, publishers, other professionals and creators,” Festival Director Julie Tait explains. “We have 35 active partnerships across the world, working on a variety of projects and in 2023, no less than 27 countries were represented at the Festival. We use our position to the benefit of British creators including organising residences, exchanges and professional development training and creating commissions as part of international projects.

“We’re delighted to have Andy Oliver, publisher of the independent comics-focused Broken Frontier project, advising us on this initiative,” Julie acknowledges. “His input has been invaluable in deciding on creators involved so far.”

“British Comics Now parallels everything we look to do at Broken Frontier in terms of community initiatives,” says Andy Oliver. “This is a fantastic opportunity for artists that will showcase the incredible vibrancy, diversity and creativity of the UK comics scene to new international audiences.”

The British Comics Now project builds on the work of the Festival since its inception back in 2013, promoting comics and graphic novels, a form on the ascendancy in the UK.

“As visual storytelling in everyday life grows in significance comics and associated artforms (anime, animation, gaming) are a chosen form of cultural participation and learning across age, gender, ethnicity and class boundaries,” says Julie.

“In France and Belgium (and wider Europe) comics and graphic novels are referred to as the Ninth Art, not a genre of literature nor visual arts. Sales of comics and graphic novels are on the increase around the world including here in the UK, and there are more than 3000 independent creators in here, and yet, they don’t have the same kind of profile as their counterparts in countries like the United States, Japan or France. We think raising awareness – and sales, further, depends on strong rights and rights representation… and that’s what we plan to deliver.”

“Interest in these projects has been widely supportive from British creators and publishers, and we’re confident it will ‘grow in the telling’ over its first two years. We hope it will truly help boost what is already a huge, but often ‘invisible’ medium in the UK, for all the growing sales of manga and more in high street bookshops like Waterstones and others.”

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere Friday 27th – Sunday 29th September 2024

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Creators heading to Toronto

Jason Chuang is an illustrator and storyteller based in Taiwan and the UK. His practice focuses on the exploration of human emotions through the creation of symbolic imageries, coating them with elements of the absurd and poetries.

Isabel Greenberg is the author and illustrator of four acclaimed graphic novels; The Encyclopedia of Early Earth, The One Hundred Nights of Hero, Glass Town, and her latest release, Young Hag. She has been a New York Times graphic books bestseller and has been nominated for two Eisner awards. She is also the illustrator of a number of children’s books, including and a picture book for younger readers called The Midnight Babies.

She is a graduate of the University of Brighton and The Royal College of arts, and currently teaches on the illustration BA and MA courses at Camberwell College of Arts. She lives in London.

Clio Isadora is a London based cartoonist and illustrator, originally from Manchester she grew up in North Tyneside. She is of Burmese and British heritage.

Her work is goofy, cynical, and often themed around labour, identity and rotting.

Clio’s first graphic novel, Sour Pickles, came out in October 2021 with Avery Hill Publishing. She is currently working on her second graphic novel due out in 2025 with Avery Hill Publishing.

B. Mure is an illustrator, cartoonist and educator based in Nottingham. Currently he is working on Disciples of the Earth, the fifth book in the Ismyre series with Avery Hill Publishing, due out in July 2024. He likes punks, dogs and rolling around in the dirt.

Bex Ollerton is an Eisner-nominated comic artist known for her work surrounding mental health, autism, and ADHD. She is the organiser and editor of award-winning anthology, SENSORY: Life on the Spectrum, and her solo debut, Lavender Clouds, releases this year.

Ollerton strives to use the medium of comics to communicate things that can be hard to talk about, in a way that’s both impactful and fun. She’s currently working on a much darker graphic novel about domestic violence.

Martin Simpson is a freelance illustrator and comics creator based in Yorkshire, who has illustrated for the likes of Apple, Image Comics, Scholastic, Templar Publishing, The Chicken House Publishing and Puffin Books.

His comics work has included a one-man anthology, called Misc (self-published), The Needleman (published by Soaring Penguin Press), as well as covers and pin-ups for a variety of comics projects and publishers.

In 2020, Martin began to collaborate with a team of six UK based comics artists to help create and contribute towards the much-lauded SKRAWL Comix Magazine.

2023 saw the release of NORD, Martin’s first full length graphic novel for Soaring Penguin Press, which received a fantastic critical response, earning him a recent ‘Broken Frontier Awards’ nomination for ‘Best Artist’.

Project Background

The new LICAF International Rights Market will be a dedicated space that encompasses all the aspects of Business to Business (a lounge, a space for panel events, exchanges) and the opportunity for rights sales representatives to have bespoke stands growing in number over time. LICAF, with support from an experienced rights specialist, will create a new pop-up space at the festival and, in years one and two, cherry-pick ten to twelve of the most important publishers and agents from territories poised to expand their portfolios with the kind of new comics and graphic novels featured in our existing public curated marketplace of 100+ creators. Once established over a two-year period, the Festival will seek income from all attending publishers and representatives to ensure the space pays for itself and representatives cover their own costs.

A national comic art pavilion at two key global festivals 2024 and beyond

There are two major international festivals where a high level, co-ordinated presence would significantly boost the status of British comics and graphic novel sector. Currently the UK lacks representation and visibility and, therefore, appears marginalised internationally. LICAF is organising a strong presence at the following two events in 2024 and 2025 and to explore a sustainable model for long-term representation: Toronto Comic Art Festival in May 2024, one of the best-attended events by publishers of independent comics with a large, diverse and sophisticated comics-reading audience of around 25,000 each year with specific focus on independent creators; and the Angouleme Festival in France in January 2025, one of the biggest and most famous comics event in the world with 200,000 visitors, 7000 professionals and 800 journalists. It’s the “must attend and be seen at event” and although it is in France, comics in English still feature and, most importantly, can be picked up by foreign publishers and agents.

A delegation of six creators, chosen to represent the depth and breadth of our comics and graphic novels sector, will showcase their work at each event, totalling 12 creators per year. A branded space with portable assets and bespoke materials including print, video and other digital assets will tell the wider story of the comics and graphic novel scene, focussing on its USPs.

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere Friday 27th – Sunday 29th September 2024

• Sign up for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival Newsletter

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