Lakes International Comics Festival – Happening Next Week! Exhibitions And Late Line-Up Changes
by Richard Bruton
The Lakes International Comics Festival, one of Britain’s finest comics shows, happening 29 September to 1 October, has confirmed its exhibition line-up and announced a few changes and additions…
Yes, the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF from here on in) is a fine, fine show. I attended for several years when it was based in Kendal and it was superb. It’s a true festival, taking over whichever town it’s in – Bowness-on-Windermere for the last few years – and really embracing the European festival idea of having events, exhibitions, a marketplace, signings, and a diverse variety of comic artists from around the world appearing all weekend.
If you have a chance to attend, take the time and enjoy the comic festivities of the weekend. The only downside to the weekend with a big, whole-town, fair bit of walking type festivals is the weather. Looking at the weather apps, it’s probably worth taking some umbrellas and waterproofs… but don’t let that put you off!
Anyway, they’ve just released the details of the three exhibitions planned for this year’s Festival.
We’re delighted to be hosting such a range of comic art, putting internationally-created comic art, past and present, in the spotlight. These three exhibitions complement our aim of capturing a flavour of international talent, through our guest line-up, amazing exhibitors, and live events.
Julie Tait, LICAF
Amazing Fantasy #15 – The Comic That Changed Everything
On display at the Old Fire Station in Bowness (see, they really do use the whole place!).
Genuinely a comic that changed everything in US comics, Marvel Comics published Amazing Fantasy #15 by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee in August 1962.
Ditko’s original ink art is safely stored safely in the Library of Congress, Washington DC. It consists of 24 boards, and as well as the actual ink, the boards are peppered with pencil comments from Stan the Man himself.
For the exhibition, LICAF is exhibiting facsimiles of those pages – come on, you didn’t think they’d be the originals, did you? But even with just facsimiles, this is still the first time they’ve been exhibited in the UK.
Living Together
This one is an exhibition of art from young comic artists across Europe, set up by Comic Art Europe. They invited applications from young comic artists from across Europe, with the successful artists spending time in Kendal, Barcelona, Lyon, and Brussels to create new comics on the theme of “Living Together”.
The resulting comics on display this year at LICAF highlight the diversity of thinking in young people today.
Štepánka Jislova presents a work describing the challenges for female creatives living and working with autism. Eva Pavlic journeys into the heart of an apartment block and the lives of its residents. James Albon explores how to grow a relationship without a common language. Bernard Hage gives us a study of achieving philosophical calm in the modern world. Silvia Ballart looks at discrimination across the generations.
Living Together is a Comic Art Europe pilot project, co-financed by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. (Thankfully, although the UK made the disastrous Brexit decision to leave the European Union, they still let us take part in things like this.)
Collectives For Change: Comics From The Arab World
Comics From The Arab World introduces a variety of comics genres breaking the boundaries of social and political taboos from across the Arab world.
It’s an exhibition highlighting the new voice of youth across the Arab world, with 30+ artists and five collectives showcasing 120 pieces to break boundaries of social and political taboos, with a leading role for women.
Throughout the 20th century, comics from the Arab world exclusively targeted children and were used by the ruling totalitarian authorities (military or religious) to control social morals and impose political and ideological agendas.
The Arab Revolutions of the past decade paved the way for the rise of independent collectives of artists from various Arab countries, seeking freedom of expression and creating a network of sharing experiences that has been and continues to shape the comics scene today.
This exhibition is sponsored by The Rada and Mutaz Sawaf Center for Arab comics studies at the American University of Beirut, curated by Lina Ghaibeh & George Khoury, and organised by the Rada And Mutaz Sawaf Center in partnership with The Lakes International Comic Art Festival.
Festival Line-Up Additions and Changes
As you’d expect, with any big convention or festival, there are inevitable changes to the line-up. It can’t be helped, it’s just how it goes. For LICAF, there’s a couple of names joining the festival – award-winning Canadian comic creators Francis Desharnais and Philippe Girard, and a couple unfortunately not able to attend in Steve Parkhouse and Annie Parkhouse, due to health reasons – our best wishes to both of them.
Meanwhile, the Saturday Night Pub Quiz event has a new host, with Lucy Porter having to miss the night and Jenny Ryan, star of ITV’s The Chase, taking her place.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere 29th September to 1st October 2023
