The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Black Holes?’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
Time for your weekly run-through of all things comics news from the last few days, with the Sunday Spotlight…
LAKES INTERNATIONAL COMIC ART FESTIVAL HEADS TO BARROW FOR BARROW DOES COMICS – 18 APRIL…
Okay, so the Lakes International Comic Festival (LICAF) is headed back to Kendall later in the year after a few years at Bowness, but they’re busy, busy, busy doing great things for comics in the rest of the year as well.
Which is why they’re working with Barrow BID and BarrowFull to bring the new Barrow Does Comics festival. A smaller scale thing than LICAF, but transforming Barrow in the UK into a one-day celebration of comics and the arts happening on Saturday 18 April 2026, with a series of events particularly designed for young comic fans and creators in the 16 to 25 range.
More details on the Instagram – @barrowdoescomics.
PHOENIX FEST 2026 ANNOUNCED – 25-26 APRIL…
Happening in Oxford on 25th 26th of April, two days featuring the great comics makers working in the Phoenix Comic, a truly essential comic for your kids (and for you).
Every year, this one sells out almost immediately, so get ready for a stressful time trying to secure tickets on 10 February at 10am for Saturday and Digital tickets, and 19 February at 12pm for Sunday tickets. The website is right here.
LAWLESS 2026 ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST TRANCHE OF GUESTS…
Lawless is a 2000 AD comics convention that takes place annually in Bristol, one that’s got a reputation for being a welcoming place, a social convention, a fun place, an example of how comic conventions should be run – all about the comics, all about the fans, and packed with a who’s who of 2000 AD-related guests.
Well, the 2026 iteration of Lawless happens on 9th-10th of May 2026 at Bristol’s Doubletree, and they’ve just announced their first guests:
And also, in a touching tribute to the much-missed Dave Taylor, who we lost in 2025, they’ve announced their charity partner as Prostrate Cancer UK.
BROKEN FRONTIER AWARDS 2025 ANNOUNCED…
Over at the always excellent Broken Frontier site, they’ve announced this week the winners of the 22nd annual Broken Frontier awards.
As you’d expect from Andy Oliver and the team at BF, it’s a diverse, fascinating, wide-ranging list of winners, packed full of great, great comics.
This years BF Hall of Fame recipients are Conundrum Press and London’s Cartoon Museum. All the winners and nominees can be found here, but winners include Mariko Tamaki for best writer, Keezy Young for best artist, Bex Glendining is this years’ breakout talent, the Phoenix Comic wins best periodical series, Assorted Crisis Events wins best new periodical series. And a heck of a load more besides. Go take a look. I guarantee you won’t go wrong with any of their picks — nor, for that matter, with any of their nominees either.
THOUGHT BUBBLE TURNS 20 IN 2026 – EXPECT GREAT COMIC THINGS COMING TO HARROGATE UK FROM 9-15 NOVEMBER…
Very early days of course, but Thought Bubble, one of the finest of UK comics festivals, has just announced its dates for 2026 – with weeklong events from 9-15 November and the two-day convention on 14th and 15th of November at the Harrogate Convention Centre.
Tickets are on sale now. Expect lots and lots of guest announcements, event announcements, and plenty more in the coming months.
This year’s festival art comes courtesy of Núria Tamarit.
