In Pictures: The Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2026

In all of Comicon.com Senior Editor Olly MacNamee‘s years of living in both Leeds and Manchester — a combination of 13 years in total — he never once went to the Lake District. It is a beautiful part of the United Kingdom, set against some of the most spectacular views you’ll ever see: rolling hills, wonderful lakes, solidly built houses, and great country pubs. Lots of country pubs! It is also the home of The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF), which Comicon’s own Richard Bruton always promotes here on the site. And having finally gone there, Olly can see why. Unlike Thought Bubble, this is a lot calmer and more relaxed, with three major venues used across Kendall to showcase comics and the creators behind them. This year, those creators included Bill Sienkiewicz, Frank Quietly, Charlie Adlard, Sean Phillips, Marcos Martin, Muntsa Vicente, and Coleen Doran, amongst others. Below, Olly presents some photo from the festival with some additional observations:

A wonderful weekend with the added bonus of none other than Grant Morrison popping by to catch up with his mates, which I wasn’t expecting.

And while we landed rather late on Saturday night, it would seem Kendall is small enough to bump into quite a few people I have got to know over the years, with the same happening on Saturday and Sunday being another fun day, albeit somewhat wetter than the gloriously sunny Autumnal day of Saturday.

LICAF has always been a festival I have heard such great things about, and after going once, I will definitely be going again next year. So, hats off to Julie Tait and all her team for organising such a great event. And thanks for letting me cover the show. See you next year!