The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has announced the creators forming its latest British Comics Now delegation, who will be heading to Brussels in October for a special weekend of Ninth Art events.
LICAF has also revealed the creators who will feature in its first British Comics Now catalogue, a selection of exciting new work by UK-based creators.
Earlier this year, the Festival, as part of its year-round activities beyond its annual gathering in Bowness-on-Windermere, announced its initiative to promote British comics on the world stage, British Comics Now. The initiative offers two opportunities for creators to get their work seen overseas as part of a wider promotion of British Comics.
British Comics Now – LICAF@The Comic Art Museum
LICAF has been invited by the Comic Art Museum in Brussels to run a British Comics Now weekend, running 17th October – 19th October 2025. The format of the weekend will be structured around events focussing on and highlighting comics from one showcased country, a model used previously by the museum with enormous success. The 2025 event will focus on all things British-comics related.
The weekend coincides with the ‘Museum Night Fever’ initiative, where Brussels Museums open their doors to the public until midnight. The weekend will feature a range of events by British Comics Now creators, as well as invited Belgian creators; there will be opportunities for ‘speed-dating’ with Belgian and Francophone publishers, and for networking with each other as well as with a wider group of creators, the Museum team and other partners.
Five comic creators – Neill Cameron (Mega Robo Bros, Donut Squad), Peony Gent (Sixth Illustrator in Residence for the House of Illustration), Shane Melisse (The Last Kaiju, They’re Coming Down the Stairs) and Jenny Robins (Biscuits), will represent the UK, alongside artist, writer and Festival patron Lucy Sullivan (Barking).
The creators, selected by a group that included Broken Frontier’s Andy Oliver, creator and UK Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph and Festival Director Julie Tait, will have the opportunity to experience one of the world’s most important and famous comic art museums, promote their work as part of a co-ordinated and well-publicised/attended weekend, and receive feedback from publishers and others and meet Belgian counterparts.
Between them, they will also be running workshops, drawing live, taking part in discussions, running masterclasses and giving presentations on comics.
British Comics Now – Catalogue of New British Comics by Independent Creators
The Festival is also publishing a British Comics Now catalogue, to be promoted between October 2025 and September 2026 – a selection of exciting new work by British creators. The catalogue, promoted to industry professionals, not the general public, will be designed and printed to a high standard and targeted at overseas publishers, festival directors and other key players in the comics industry.
Aiming to showcase the range and diversity of comics and comics creators living across the UK, this first catalogue will feature the following 32 creators, presented here in alphabetical order: James Albon (The Delicacy), Yomi Ayeni (Clockwork Watch), Hannah Berry (Livestock), John Biggs & Thomas Armstrong (San), Tim Bird (Adrift on a Painted Sea), Corey Brotherson (Magic of Myths), Tal Brosh (Trigger Shot), Neill Cameron (Mega Robo Bros), Alba Ceide (Earth Blues), James Corcoran (Stramash), Wolfgang Crowe (Fractures), Matthew Dooley (Aristotle’s Cuttlefish), Dominique Duong (The Dog & The Cat), Mereida Fajardo (Zayani Zam), Ed Firth (Horny & High), Chris Geary (International Aces), Leo Healy (Zarjaz), Lord Hurk(Affordable Amazement), Ilya (Romo the Wolf Boy), Norm Konyu (Downlands), Beck Kubrick (Dead Girls), Chie Hosaka, Shazleen Khan (Saving Sunshine), Kamila Krol (Rusalka: Whispers of the Forest), Shane Melisse (The Last Kaiju), Chris Shepherd (Anfield Road), Zara Slattery (Sweeney’s Progress), Rachael Smith (NAP Comix), Mark Stafford (Lip Hook), Gustaffo Vargas (Nullhunter), Asa Wheatley (Shield Stories) and Lyndon White (Candles).
• Find out more about the British Comics Now project on Comics Can Change the World: https://comicscanchangetheworld.com/our-projects/british-comics-now/
• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere Friday 26th – Sunday 28th September 2025
• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival is online at: www.comicartfestival.com | BlueSky| Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Little LICAF on Facebook | Little LICAF on Instagram
• For more on the Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s Comic Development Work please visit Comics Can Change the World at comicscanchangetheworld.com | Follow Comics4Change on BlueSky
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British Comics Now and the International Rights Market are supported by Arts Council England and the Adlard Family Foundation
