A New Kind of Comics Marketplace at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2024 - and it’s free!
At the annual Lakes International Comic Art Festival, the main aim of its Comics Marketplace has always been to create an environment which encourages networking and opportunities to discover more about the global comics scene alongside selling to our audiences and guests. Ultimately, the Festival has always wanted to find ways to get British comics seen more widely, and to provide a platform for the developments of creators’ careers.
In the pursuit of the goal to promote British Comics on the international stage the Festival has secured the funding from the Arts Council and The Adlard Foundation to present the UK’s first International Rights Market for Comics, at LICAF 2024.
What does it mean and how will it work?
The only other International Comics Rights Market dedicated to comics is at the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême. It brings together international buyers of comics, the acquisition editors from foreign publishers, with publishers wishing to sell rights to comics, who discuss and negotiate possibilities and terms and then, hopefully, the buyer translates, publishes and distributes these comics in their own language/country or countries. The LICAF International Rights Market for Comics will be a bit different, in that it will also be open to individual creators to meet with buyers.
In its first year the Rights Market will feature several buyers, drawn from across Europe who the Festival has identified, with expert help, as ripe for buying British comics.
The Festival will be providing an online session in advance for all those accessing the Rights Market to discuss how you should prepare and what to expect.
The buyers attending our first International Comics Rights Market are:
• Argo
Prague-based Argo entered publishing in 2007, with a comic adaptation of The Hobbit, and continued with the publication of the Donjon comic series
• Avant Verlag
A Berlin-based publishing house specialised in comics and graphic novels.
• Becco Giallo
Federico Zaghis and Guido Ostanel founded BeccoGiallo Publishing House in 2005, with the goal of publishing nonfiction comic books addressing social issues and civil commitment.
• Carlsen Verlag
Carlsen Comics is one of the biggest comic publishing houses in Germany
• Dupuis
This French publisher has been developing comics that fascinate the general public since 1938
• Helvetiq
Helvetiq, based in Switzerland, is an international publisher, acclaimed for its unique selection of graphic novels and highly illustrated children's books
• Nathan
Education has been this French puylisher's core business for more than 130 years
• Scratch
Scratch is a Dutch publisher of comic books and graphic novels, focusing on publishing high-quality and well-crafted books
• Steinkis
Steinkis Groupe is a French independant publishing group with four imprints
• Timof
A Polish publishing house whose comics are aimed at various audiences, from children, through teenagers, to adults, covering a wide range of topics
• VigeVageKnjige
An independent Slovenian publishing house specialised in comic books for children and graphic novels for young adults and adults
• WSOY
WSOY publishes a wide range of Finnish and translated literature, fiction and non-fiction, for all age groups
The Comics Marketplace will still be public facing, but those exhibiting will also have the opportunity to take a number of appointments with buyers. The Festival team will have help on hand for those exhibiting who need to temporarily leave their tables for those appointments. There will also be additional free professional development events at this year’s Festival.
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS CATALOGUE IS ONLINE
VIP Brands has gathered all the British publishers and titles they will be presenting at the first International Comic Rights Market into an online resource, available for anyone to access. You can visit it here: licaf-rights-market.com
The portal, supported by funding from Arts Council England, features a list of publishers here, and the titles they are presenting; and a full catalogue of titles from all publishers here.
We hope this resource is also of interest to British as well as international publishers, since the catalogue also highlights work by leading comic creators from across the country that is available for licensing.
British publishers attending this first Rights Market include mainstream publishers Curtis Brown, David Fickling Books and the Phoenix Comic, Koguchi Press, Knockabout Comics, Korero Press, Penguin Random House, Rebellion (publishers of 2000AD), Scholastic, SelfMadeHero, Tim Bomb Comics, Titan Comics, VIP Brands Ltd and Watson, Little; and a wide range of independents, including The 77 Publishing Ltd, Avery Hill Publishing, B7 Comics, Blue Fox Comics, Clicky Sprout Wife, Engine Comics, First Graphic Novel, Full Bleed Rights, Pigeon, Sloth Comics, ThirdBear Press, Time Bomb Comics, and Tripwire Comics Presents.
Individual creators will also be presenting projects and include Yomi Ayeni, Corey Brotherson, Bambos Georgiou, Ed Firth, David Gaffney & Dan Berry, Stuart Lloyd Gould, ILYA, Becco Giallo, Sam Hart, Joe Latham, Tinglin Liu, John McCrea, Monty Nero, Emma Reynolds, Smith vs Smith, Kev F. Sutherland, Connor Tierney, Myfanwy Tristram, Lyndon White, Stevie White and Andrew Wildman.
The new International Rights Market and the opportunity to exhibit at no cost has been made possible by Arts Council England and The Adlard Foundation.
