It’s important, I think, to firstly put my visit to last weekend’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival into some kind of personal context because when you haven’t been to a weekend comics event in nearly five years it no doubt has some bearing on how you interact with your environment and your perceptions of it. Breaking my pandemic-begotten exile from the big events on the UK comics calendar was certainly accountable for the strange brew of the euphoric and the anxious I sometimes experienced across those three days. But it also robbed me of context in comparing the weekend to recent events. So what follows is simply some thoughts on some of the highlights of LICAF 2024 for me, a prodigal comics commentator finally returning to the fold.
The Comic Marketplace – Photo by John Freeman
The last time I attended LICAF it was still in Kendal so the novelty of the new (to me) surroundings of Bowness-on-Windermere was more pronounced. Where Kendal felt compact in presentation, Bowness presented an opportunity to create a more widespread festival vibe with locations scattered more leisurely across the town but without losing accessibility. The initial big take for me was that the concept of festival was markedly at the fore now with the programming very much the focus over the comics marketplace that had dominated as the centrepiece at Kendal in the Comics Clocktower.
Juanjo Guarnido receives the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art – Photo by Dean Simons
The new Comics Rights Market at LICAF this year, of course, accounted for some of that shift in focus. Initiatives like this to shake up how we perceive the ethos and function of comics events are vital and, from a BF perspective, anything that also gives indie creators an opportunity to raise their profile and push their work forward is always to be appreciated. The feedback I have personally heard from creators so far about the Comics Rights Market has been very positive and any success stories from that direction will be guaranteed some coverage here in due course.
Broken Frontier Six to Watch 2021 artist Mollie Ray, Broken Frontier Award-winning artist Isabel Greenberg and Broken Frontier performance artist Andy Oliver at LICAF
Returning to that programming, though, and it has to be noted that its remit was incredibly broad and varied. On the Friday night I attended the Avengers: The Uncivil War event hosted by Emma Vieceli where a number of creators attempted to persuade a bustling crowd of attendees to vote for their favourite Avenger as the greatest of all time. It was fitting testament to the glorious chaos of the evening that Icelandic artist Dagsson won the audience around with winner Speedball, a character who has never actually been an Avenger in the first place!
Live drawing from Aimée de Jongh
Whether it be conversations with some of the brightest of the latest generation of UK or UK-based comics creators like Mollie Ray, Isabel Greenberg and Luke Healy or chats with British comics national treasures like Kate Charlesworth there was representation from across eras. Aimée de Jongh speaking to Harriet Earle about her Faber adaptation of Lord of the Flies was especially memorable, as was the collaborative LICAF/Thought Bubble ‘Enter the Mulberry Tree and Fly Free’ exhibition of Palestinian artists’ work. And the Doctor Who: A Comic Universe exhibition also gave me a chance to see the Little LICAF overspill of buzzing younger comics fans truly immersing themselves in the fun.
The Daleks invade LICAF – Photo by John Freeman
If you want to check out what you missed you can do so on the LICAF site here. One old man with limited time can only point at some of the parts of the programme that he managed to attend. But just a cursory glance will give you an idea of the reach of the panels, conversations, exhibitions, shows and social events. In the latter case the Saturday night provided numerous chances for folk to get together in a more relaxed atmosphere. Multiple artists gave not always very serious comics readings of their work at the Show ‘N Tell, organised by Dan Berry and David Gaffney, which proved immensely entertaining. And stand-up comedy from Luke Healy and Dagsson later in the evening brought us neatly to the end of that final night for those not wanting to take the karaoke route.
The Rights Market – Photo by John Freeman
As I said at the top of this piece relative appraisal is exceptionally difficult for someone whose forays into the community in-person have been extremely rare in recent years, and LICAF for me was often an overwhelming sensory overload of rich comics magic and exceptionally good company. It’s hard enough to process that after five years away but last weekend was, for me at least, the absolute embodiment of what a full-on comics festival (as opposed to a convention, or a hybrid convention-festival… can we call them confests from now on?) should be. Socially relevant work, activities for younger readers, new talent, established talent, interactive events, nods to the past and eyes on the future… all were in evidence here. But what was most abundant here was a spirit of comics bonhomie and a shared passion for the form, and I think that might just have been the most important qualities of all.
Article by Andy Oliver
(Photos by Andy Oliver unless credited otherwise)
