The Sunday Spotlight: The ‘Consider Yourself Extinct’ Edition

Happy Sunday, you beautiful people. Welcome to the latest smorgasbord of comics news we call The Sunday Spotlight. Y’know, because it’s Sunday and I’m spotlighting things for you …

Sad news — San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum closes, hopefully temporarily …

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, established in 1984, announced earlier this month that it has made the difficult decision to close its doors at its Beech Street location, as they won’t be renewing the lease there. It’s due to close on Sunday, 2nd August, 2026. This is terrible news, although hopefully, as they say, this isn’t the end of the matter, and we all hope they’ll be able to reopen again.

Here’s the announcement:

‘We make this announcement with deep appreciation for the extraordinary support the community has given the museum. For nearly 42 years, our Board, staff, artists, members, donors and visitors have championed cartoon art and helped create a supportive environment for its creation and appreciation.

‘For now, we will be packing up, taking time to regroup and determining what the next chapter of the Cartoon Art Museum should be. Ten years ago, the cartoon community came together to begin a new chapter for the museum. Scores of funders supported our move to Beach Street in Fisherman’s Wharf. Since then, we have faced significant challenges, including the pandemic and the slow recovery that followed. But we have also enjoyed many successes and countless opportunities to celebrate cartoon art and the people who create it.’

Thought Bubble announces a BIG guest, as Alice Oseman joins the UK’s largest comics festival …

Well, it’s August already, so expect news of big things from the two biggest and best comics festivals in the UK over the coming months as both theLakes International Comic Art Festival (2nd-4th October, Kendal, UK) and Thought Bubble (14-15 November, Harrogate, UK) step up their publicity. LICAF announced Bill Sienkiewicz as their headline guest a while back. Thought Bubble just announced that the creator of Heartstoppers, Alice Oseman, will be appearing on Sunday 15 November… huge names in very different ways…

Speaking of Bill Sienkiewicz — That Polish Guy documentary gets a trailer …

That Polish Guy is a feature documentary on legendary comics artist Bill Sienkiewicz. Detailing the life and work of the artist, the film is directed by Remsy Atassi and produced by Sal Abbinanti. So far, we have a trailer, which looks very good. More details as we get them.

SPX 2026 unveils this year’s poster art by Sanika Phawde…

Sanika Phawde, recipient of the 2025 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Series, does the honours on this year’s SPX (Small Press Expo) poster. It’s quite the beautiful thing, packed with comics-related details.

Featuring Lisa Hanawalt, Derf, Carol Tyler, Kim Deitch, Julia Wertz, Peter Bagge, Paul B Rainey, Rachael Smith, and a hell of a lot more, SPX takes place this year on 12nd-13th September at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Centre in Rockville, Maryland.

Jamie Smart’s Moose Kid Comics is 11 years old — and it’s all available to download and read …

Jamie Smart posted recently about this being around the 10th anniversary of his Moose Kid Comics project … I think he’s got his dates wrong as I have Moose Kid Comics first coming out in 2015. But 10 years, 11 years, it matters not.

Anyway, back in 2015/6, the now million-selling creator of Bunny Vs Monkey and Looshkin had a idea to put together a collection of kids comics by the best and the brightest talents in comics at the time. Initially a digital anthology, later a physical print comic thanks to a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, it’s all still online and available for free, available here.

As Jamie says:

“Moose Kid was born out of a need to get more children’s comics off the ground (ten years ago was a real wasteland, not like now) and I had: Some Strong Ideas. So I enlisted the help of an absolute wishlist of incredible comic artists – from well-established pros to webcomic creators and everyone in between, and together we made Moose Kid Comics. Three issues and a Christmas special. All on big, newspaper print, lovely quality. Genuinely, some of the most wonderful children’s comics are in there, every artist gave their time for free… As for the printed editions, we ran a fundraiser (smashed it), and printed many, many hundreds of copies to send to children’s hospitals. We did a really good thing, and every artist involved was a vital part of that.”

So, go download the comics, send them to all your kids and their kids, spread the word. But maybe, just maybe, think about donating a little something in the spirit of Moose Kid Comics to a local hospital charity for kids? If you’re in the USA, maybe St Judes? Or in the UK, maybe Great Ormond Street Hospital?