The Sunday Spotlight: The ‘But Don’t Interfere With My Food-Life’ Edition

Time to take a little meander around a few bits of news that I saw this week — why, it’s The Sunday Spotlight …

Advance warning — Rachael Smith’s got a new webcomic coming in August — Mugshot Comics …

Okay, so August is a long way off, but it’s new comics from the wonderful Rachael Smith, she of Nap Comix, Quarantine Comix, Wired Up Wrong, Stand In Your Power, Glass Half Empty, Who Killed Nessie?, and so much wonderful work besides. If you want an idea of just why a new webcomic from Rachael is a great thing, take a look at the coverage of her work here at Comicon.

The new webcomic is called Mugshot. That, and the pic below, is all we know. But I’m looking forward to it already. And don’t forget, her current webcomic, Nap Comix, is still publishing on Rachael’s socials and Webtooons here.

McSweeney’s ‘They Would Never Use the Death Star on Us’ piece — you know, given the state of the world and politics and all that …

Pointed to this through Kieron Gillen‘s newsletter (sign up here), but with the world going to hell, and with every new day bringing us another poor schmuck coming out with some variation on ‘but I didn’t expect them to do that when I voted for them,’ it seemed pertinent. Obviously written as a reaction to all those Trump voters expressing a certain disappointment with their voting choices, but it’s also relevant here in the UK, where the local elections this week brought us a deluge of Reform UK councillors, elected by people who are reacting to the dog whistle politics and are bloody surprised when they realise some of Reform’s other policy ideas.

So, anyway, it’s a piece by Jack Loftus, and it’s bloody good: ‘“They Would Never Use the Death Star on Us”: Alderaan Residents Reflect on Their Support for the Empire as a Large Imperial Installation Enters the System.’

Here’s just a little from it, go read the lot:

‘I voted for strength. The Emperor projects strength. That’s important. But I didn’t think strength meant a planet-killing battle station this close to my planet. I assumed deployments like this were for Outer Rim situations. You know, for lesser things, like Jawas.’

Comics Cultural Impact Collective publishes the UK Comic Creators Research Report — Industry doing great, creators … not so much …

The Comics Cultural Impact Collective, along with the Association of Illustrators and the Society of Authors (funded by Arts Council England and Arts University Bournemouth) ran a survey of nearly 700 UK-based comic creators in 2025, looking to find out the state of UK comics.

Well, the report based on those surveys is now out. 99 pages of insights and details. It’s definitely worth reading the whole report — whilst it’s very specific to the UK, I can’t imagine the situation elsewhere is anything different.

Here’s the key findings …

• Comics creators are significantly more diverse than the UK population and creative industries in several areas: 13% are non-binary; 42% are LGBTQ+; 25% are disabled; 44% are neurodivergent… Except for ethnicity, where 89% are white (compared to 82% nationally);
• Only 1/5 of respondents who want comics to be their career earn the majority of their income from comics;
• 89% of creators earning from traditional publishing make less than the National Living Wage;
• 72% rely on employment outside of comics (freelance, temporary, fixed-term or permanent);
• 13% are relying on UK state benefits (up from 9% in 2020);
• 63% of respondents cited ‘lack of financial income’ as a key challenge;
• 57% cited ‘lack of time to create’ as a key challenge;
• Only 4% of creators use GenAI in their comics production, but 36% believe or know they have lost work or income due to GenAI;
• Only 6% of respondents received public funding from arts councils: 4% from Arts Council England, 2% from Creative Scotland, and none at all from Arts Council Wales or Arts Council Northern Ireland.

So, yes, dispiriting reading indeed. Whilst the medium and the industry flourishes year on year, the position for creators is pretty grim. Sure, no one gets into making comics as a shortcut to riches, but it would be good to imagine more could actually make a living from it.

You can read the whole report here – opens as a PDF.

Small Press Day returns on July 25th 2026 …

Founded by David Ziggy Greene, the 11th Small Press Day is going to happen across the UK and Ireland this year on Saturday, 25th July.

It’s a great event that highlights, celebrates and promotes self-publishing in comics. Every year, the event brings signings, panels, and small press and self-publishing comics creators making appearances around the country.

The organising team of Lydia Turner and Broken Frontier‘s Andy Oliver are already hard at work getting things together, and they’re looking to hear from creators and shops who want to get involved. More info at the SPD site, including the Get Involved page and the Event Submission page.

This year’s poster, designed by Kamila Krol (aka Pigeon), is below …