Funded by the 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 only International Rights Market for comics in the country, taking place at the LICAF annual weekend Festival, only the second of its kind in the world.
British Comics Now also takes 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.
Traditionally, British comics are often thought of in terms of genre fiction and all-ages work. But dive into the independent UK comics scene and you will find an expansive ocean of sequential art, remarkable in its dazzling diversity of styles and approaches. From abstract and experimental comics to socially relevant comics; autobiographical work to graphic journalism and biography; through to alternative and underground-style self-publishing… our comics output in the UK has never been as vibrant and wide-ranging in scope as it is today.
British Comics Now looks to celebrate these exceptional levels of creativity by spotlighting some of our finest creators and their comics.
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 LICAF Director Julie Tait.
“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.”
Selected British Comics Now-related work
The 2025 British Comics Now Catalogue
LICAF has also released its very first British Comics Now catalogue, a selection of exciting new work by UK-based creators. The catalogue, promoted to industry professionals, not the general public, has been 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 features 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).
• Download the 2025 catalogue here (PDF)
Lakes International Comic Art Festival International Rights Market
Supported by the Arts Council and The Adlard Family Foundation, the Lakes International Comic Art Festival hosts an International Comics Rights Market as part of its annual Festival weekend, bringing European and British comic publishers together to negotiate publishing rights to their comics with international counterparts across Europe.
This Rights Market also, unusually, features opportunities for creators to meet directly with buyers from Europe, getting feedback on their work and, potentially, selling rights too.
Making Its Mark: British Comics and Graphic Novels take to the World Stage
Jason Chuang, Isabel Greenberg, Clio Isadora, B. Mure, Bex Ollerton and Martin Simpson headed to the Toronto Comic Art Festival in 2024, 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.
comicscanchangetheworld.com 