Comics Cultural Impact Collective Releases State Of UK Comics Report

The Comics Cultural Impact Collective might have been recently formed, but they’re certainly not standing still in getting the things done that they said they were. They’ve just published the 43-page report from their first online meeting and discussion. It’s vital reading for anyone involved in the comics industry or interested in the comics medium.

The CCIC was founded last year with the aim of raising the awareness of comics in the UK, improving the cultural acknowledgment of the medium, and helping those in the medium access funds, resources, grants etc to allow them to make comics.

Or, as they put it on their website…

Welcome to The Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC, pronounced ‘seasick’). We believe comics have an important place in our culture, one worthy of celebration and support, and we’re here to prove it.

CCIC is currently led by a small group of professionals in the medium and the comics community – Hannah Berry, Karrie Fransman, Rhiannon Griffiths MBE, Sara Kenney, Zara Slattery and Myfanwy Tristram.

This first report is pretty much a ‘state of the nation’ position paper on the UK comics medium/industry/community, summarising the meeting that included contributors from comics stakeholders at all levels of the medium in the UK. It’s well worth reading the entire report, but we’ve reprinted the executive summary below.

The full report can be read on CCIC’s website here. The next community meeting will be about moving forwards given the report’s findings. For more on the next meeting and the CCIC in general, subscribe for updates at the CCIC site.

It’s a positive report, full of input from many different people in many different areas of the medium. There’s a finding that the UK comics community is strong but very much at a grassroots and self-organised level with a lack of resources. Sadly, there’s also the finding that, although many thousands of creatives are out making comics in the UK, there isn’t necessarily the necessary framework of support and money to allow them to make a career in the comics medium. There are also issues in finding and applying for funding.

The report goes on to look at the opportunities for adding strength to the UK comics industry, including educating both creators and potential clients on the benefits of utilising comics in areas outside the bookstore – including corporate uses to medical or academic settings. Schools and mainstream media were seen as areas to promote comics and through which new audiences might be fostered.

There was also the call for the comics community to look to itself, increasing diversity at all levels of the industry and readership.

“Conditions are difficult for everyone in comics, but the outlook is far from hopeless. The report is an invaluable blueprint for action, both confirming what all of us in the comics community had suspected — that the enthusiasm and outputs of comics creators far exceed the opportunities available to them — and setting out a clear plan for how to address these issues.” – CCIC co-director Myfanwy Tristram

“We only need to look across the Channel to Belgium or France understand what a thriving comics industry could look like. We’re hearing of the difficulties experienced from all sides of the comics community and we’re committed to channelling these frustrations into forging a better landscape here in the UK.” – Co-director Karrie Fransman

The Executive Summary from the CCIC Community Stakeholder Roundtable Report – March 2024

“Comics are a powerful tool, taking on almost infinite utility, in any industry, organisation or sphere where communication is valued. This potential— and the associated return on investment — needs to be signalled to both makers and potential markets in order to create a landscape where comic artists can thrive.

Good support networks and resources exist for UK comic makers, but are not necessarily easy for the uninitiated to find. One simple but highly impactful action would be to increase their visibility.

Pay and conditions for artists do not reflect the time and skill required to create comics. Funding opportunities are opaque and challenging to apply for. The rise of AI for illustration is already robbing artists of opportunities that would previously have provided them with income.

The comics industry is a web of interdependent parts, including publishers, booksellers, festivals, museums, commentators and academics as well as creators. Each of them would benefit from collaborating and knowledge- sharing within the comics community and an overall uplift in the cultural impact of comics; each is suffering from the lack of investment in the field.

To normalise the reading of comics and create wider audiences, we need to break into mainstream cultural channels.

Efforts need to be made for all aspects of the comics community to be more inclusive of minoritised groups. We need to encourage best practice, better accessibility and proactively promote diversity, inclusion, and equality of opportunity.

Resources could be provided to empower more people to self-organise, thus encouraging the creation of more change-making and activist groups, comics fairs, anthologies and localised support groups.

Introducing more comics into our education curricula would help grow the next generation of comics readers and creators, as well as improving the overall acceptance of the comics art form. There is already strong evidence on the power of using comics in the classroom.”