The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Mad Mental Crazy!’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
It’s Sunday, therefore it’s time to take a quick spin around a little of the comics news you might have missed this week. Oh yes, it’s The Sunday Spotlight …
Okay, so I missed last week with the Sunday Spotlight … apologies. I have taken myself out the back and given myself a good talking to. So, with that in mind, here’s this week’s Sunday Spotlight for you…
The Most Sociable and Friendly Of All Comic Cons — The Small Press Delights Of Caption, Happening Again In 2026 …
After ending its run as the longest-running UK comics festival in 2017, Caption made a more than welcome return in 2025 with Caption Rebirth. Now it’s doing it all over again in 2026 with Pirate Caption.
Yes, Caption was/is a very different sort of comics show. Originally running from 1992 to 2017, it was run deliberately low key, fans and creators would mix, socialise, and the focus would be very much on the self-published, micro-published, small press works. Last year, it was back for Caption Rebirth, and now it’s time to look forward to Pirate Caption this year.
So, mark your calendar – Caption – the Oxford Comics Festival – 8th-9th August 2026, Seacourt Hall, Oxford.
More in here – https://captionfestival.co.uk/
Duncan Jones’ Rogue Trooper Movie to get its premiere at the Annecy Film Festival in June …
The Duncan Jones Rogue Trooper movie, an animated thing, is a perfect fit for Annecy, which bills itself as the biggest animation festival in the world, taking place on 21st-27th June.
The Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons creation has long been an iconic character at 2000 AD, but the new movie may well bring the last of the Gentic Infantarymen to a whole new audience. Jones is a fan who’s long wanted to make this one, and it looks pretty damn good. I mean, obviously, you need to ignore the sniping and the griping of the ‘fans’ who’ve been busy online picking it apart already. Seriously, yes, in the comics, Rogue’s got white eyes, and, no, they’re not white here. Can you just get over yourselves and stop with the bloody gatekeeping?
RIP Barrie Tomlinson, one of Britain’s finest editors …
Late with this as I missed last week’s Sunday Spotlight, but still wanted to mark the passing of the great Barrie Tomlinson, one of Britain’s finest comic editors and a man who was responsible for a huge chunk of Brit comics through the years. He passed away on 21st April, at the age of 88.
Pretty much the most successful editor of his time, Barrie was one of those people whose love for comics always shone through everything he did. Undoubtedly, his career high would have been the way he shepherded Roy of the Rovers into a best-selling comic in Britain through the 60s, 70s and 80s, turning a minor strip that debuted in 1954 into the iconic name that it is today – the whole ‘real Roy of the Rovers stuff.’
He also oversaw titles such as Battle Picture Weekly and 2000 AD as group editor, relaunched The Eagle in 1982, and Scream! in 1984, Wildcat in 1988, along with so many more titles that make up the history of Brit comics. Barrie was a superb, light-touch editor, someone who allowed creativity to reign, someone who listened to the readers, and someone who lived and breathed comics. He was a true great of Brit comics, and we send out condolences to Barrie’s family and friends.
Matt Kindt’s ‘100% Human-Made’ — open source certification for comics — say it now — screw AI …
Anyone who tells you that AI for the creative arts is a good thing is, frankly, talking out their ass.
AI might work for the grunt jobs, technology working for us, doing the job technology has always done. But when it comes to creative fields, particularly comics, it’s a technology that actively steals from creatives, scraping/stealing their work. Not to mention the environmental damage AI causes. Essentially, AI is a terrible, terrible scourge on the creative arts, and we should all be fighting against it.
Now, Matt Kindt’s unveiled an open-source certification for comics creators (and other creative arts) that will give people a clear indication that the work is created by human imagination, completely free of AI.
The ‘100% CERTIFIED HUMAN MADE’ logo debuts on Kindt’s Mind: MGMT: New & Improved #1 from Oni Press. Anyone who wants to can download and use the open-source image from Oni Press here.
