The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Whadd’ya Say? – DESTROY!’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
Well, it’s Sunday, probably a good time to bring forth the Sunday Spotlight, sharing a few of those news stories I noticed this week …
As for the title this week, it’s from Scott McCloud‘s Destroy!!, from back in 1986, an oversized 32-page comic full of all-out superhero rampage action … well worth tracking down …
Submissions wanted — The Alison Brown Young Comics Maestro Award 2026 …
The Alison Brown Young Comics Maestro Award is an award given by The Cartoon Museum in the UK, celebrating the life, sadly cut short at the age of 39, of Alison Brown, Cartoon Museum staff member.
They’re looking for the next young talent, and the entry to the 2026 awards is open right now. Just send in your comic strip, three pages maximum, to be judged by a panel taken from the Beano, the Phoenix and the Cartoon Museum. The winner receives £200, and the two runners-up will receive £50. Winners announced in September 2026.
Obviously, entrants must be aged 18 or under. Deadline is 23 August 2026. Full details here.
Go see the Wonders of Moominvalley — 23 May-6 September — Ferens Gallery, Hull …
A free exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, UK, celebrating Tove Jansson‘s wonderful creation in The Wonders of Moominvalley.
Caption Comics Festival announces more guests…
The social comics festival based in Oxford, Caption, which ran from 1992-2017 and then returned in 2025, is busy planning its 2026 show, Pirate Caption.
It’s always been a diffent sort of comics festival, designed to break down the barriers between creators and fans, a relaxed, sociable event, and one that’s well worth checking out if you happen to be in Oxford over the weekend of 8-9 August.
They’re busy announcing more guests and various panels and events, including “a Trans Narratives panel featuring exclusively trans creators, writer and artist speed-dating (matching artists and writers for potential collaboration) and a panel where creators discuss the impact of generative AI.” The new guests include — Richard Starzecki, Course leader for the Oxford Brookes BA Illustration at Swindon and short course teacher in short courses on Animation and Storyboarding; Pete Trainor, author and public speaker on change, design, data and technology; ILYA (Ed Hillyer), writer, artist and editor, including Skidmarks, End of the Century Club, and Romo the WolfBoy; Adam Karenina Sherif, academic historian, comics critic, editor and sensitivity reader; Alex Taylor, transmasculine genderqueer queer artist; Ky Lawrence, a cartoonist, monkey fan and animator; The Mollusc Dimension, British-Chinese, trans, queer, neurodivergent multidisciplinary artist; Kitsune Art, queer comic artist and illustrator; Aru Ruddle / Aruudlay, queer artist making fantasy/sci-fi comics and games; Karrie Fransman, graphic novelist behind The House That Groaned and Death of the Artist; Debasmita Dasgupta, South-Asian illustrator and graphic novelist.
More details – captionfestival.co.uk/
New Zarzaj 2000 AD fanzine out now …
Zarjaz is a great thing, a long-running 2000 AD-related fanzine, publishing new tales of familiar characters from 2000 AD for 25 years now. It’s all published independently, with 2000 AD giving permission for the use of their characters. Which, in these protect your brand at all costs days, is a damn fine thing to do.
And over the years, it’s proved fertile ground for comic creators getting their first published works, such as Adrian Bamforth and Si Spurrier, along with more established names, including Alan Grant, PJ Holden, Al Ewing, Arthur Wyatt, and Nick Dyer.
It’s a lot of fun, and definitely worth supporting. Issue 7 of Volume 3 is available now, and you can get hold of copies here.
Harvey Awards nominees announced …
Well, the Harvey Awards, one of the big comics awards of the year, announced their 2026 nominees this week. Far too many to mention here, go to the website for the full list.
However, I will take a moment to praise a couple of creators up for a Harvey in the Digital Book of the Year Nominees. That’s Rachael Smith for her Nap Comix, and Mereida Fajardo for her The Keluarga Cable Ship Company, both of which I’ve heaped praise upon last year. Plus, frequent 2000 AD alumni and favourite of mine, PJ Holden, gets a nod for his Terran Omega: The Ghosts of War comic. Congrats to all the nominees, but especially to those three!
