The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in London has announced a number of events coming up for the closing week of their Queer as Comics exhibition curated by Paul Gravett, which ends its run on 1st November.
As well as a number of talks and screenings, they’re also hosting a free after-hours comic fair late on Halloween. There will be some fantastic exhibitors present, many of whom are in the exhibition, live drawing, drinks and snacks from Deeney’s Cafe and comic making activities. Costumes are very welcome!
“We’d love to ensure a great turnout for all the brilliant exhibitors involved,” they say. “It should be a great evening and celebration before the exhibition closes.”
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is the UK’s only permanent place for illustration, located in Clerkenwell, London.
Its three galleries in a former waterworks showcase the breadth and dynamism of illustration through regularly changing exhibitions.
Visitors can explore the free spaces, including public gardens, displays and an illustration library. A cafe serving fresh food in historic surroundings is also on offer as well as a shop stocked with unique illustration gifts.
Here’s a quick guide to what’s being planned…
Intersecting Identities
28th October 2026 | Book now | Full Details
Explore how the intersection of Asian diasporic identity and queerness is explored in sequential storytelling.
This panel conversation will share insight into the nuances and commonalities of diasporic Asian experience and queer identity as explored through the medium of comics and graphic novels.
Host Shazleen Khan (Author-Illustrator of award winning comic BUUZA!!) will be sharing the stage with Adeline Kon (Just Between Us) and Dominique Duong (upcoming The Threads that Bind Us), to discuss their journeys as illustrators and comic creators working across both the small press scene and traditional publishing, representation in comics and bringing characters with these intersecting identities to the forefront.
This is an unmissable conversation for illustrators, comic creators, students and those engaging with perspectives on identity in sequential storytelling.
The conversation will be followed by a Q&A and book signing and the launch of Heaven Lies Beneath (BUUZA!! Vol. 2), the second book in a trilogy by Shazleen Khan, due for release by Abrams on 29th October, with books and small press works available for purchase and signing on the night.
Halloween Late: Comic Fair
31st October 2026 | Book now | Full Details
An after-hours exhibition entry and celebrate queer comic creators at a free comic fair.
From 5:30pm on Saturday 31 October, Quentin Blake Centre will be filled with comics, graphic novels and small press works from LGBTQIA+ creators from across the UK.
Uncover the history of queer comic storytelling in our exhibition, meet and support contemporary creators and discover your new favourite comics, all in one night.
Deeney’s Café will be open serving drinks and snacks throughout the evening. See creators make live projected comics with live drawing happening in our Café, and get creative making comics of your own. It’s also the last chance to visit Queer as Comics before it closes.
Whether you are coming along to start your spooky night or looking for something different this Halloween, everyone is welcome. Costumes encouraged!
Discover a selection of work from the brilliant creators exhibiting their work below and full details in the drop-down.
No Straight Lines: Screening and Q&A
1st November 2026 | Book now | Full Details
Join an afternoon screening of No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics, an award-winning documentary released in 2023, telling the story of five pioneering LGBTQ cartoonists, followed by a talk and Q&A with the film’s producer, Justin Hall.
Hear the story of five scrappy and pioneering LGBTQ cartoonists: Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, Rupert Kinnard, and Mary Wings. They depicted everything from the AIDS crisis, coming out, same-sex marriage, to themes of race, gender, and disability.
The film explores how these trailblazing LGBTQ artists resisted censorship and displayed tremendous courage and conviction in providing an uncensored window into queer lives from the 1970s onward, beginning at a time in which there was no other genuine queer storytelling in popular culture.
Joining the event after the screening will be comic creator, educator, and scholar Justin Hall, who produced the film. Justin will joins in online from San Francisco to share insights into the making of the film and for an audience Q&A.
• The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration 1 Myddelton Passage, London EC1R 1AG | Open Wednesday – Sunday, 10.00am – 5.00pm | Web: qbcentre.org.uk
Queer as Comics Exhibition
• Queer as Comics runs until 1st November 2026 | Curated by Paul Gravett | Tickets: Adults from £15. Tickets include entry to all exhibitions | Book Here | Members go free
Discover stories of fantasy, identity and resistance, as told by queer comic-makers in this first exhibition of its kind.
Queer as Comics traces comics, strip cartoons, graphic novels and zines that have represented LGBTQIA+ perspectives since the 1940s. From the UK’s first published gay comic strip and the first gay Black superhero, to today’s self-publishing scenes and webcomics, this is an exhibition of trailblazers.
For decades, queer artists have used comics to share impactful stories, often in defiance of censorship. With most artworks shown for the first time, the exhibition chronicles how comics have provided a voice for queer communities.
Highlights include drawings from Tove Jansson’s 1954 Moomin cartoon strip for the London Evening News and works by influential creators such as Kate Charlesworth, Rupert Kinnard and David Shenton.
In the decades following the UK’s partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 1960s, a vibrant queer press developed, with comic creators satirising queer scenes and making urgent political statements.
Artwork on show addresses state power, discrimination and bold visions for the future, including Tom Robinson’s Living with the Big A (1987), made to advocate for gay rights during the AIDS epidemic. Pioneering graphic novelists include Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse and Ariel Schrag.
Today, queer creators continue to expand the medium through ambitious graphic novels, self-publishing and more. Recent works include Anna Trench‘s tale of women’s football and love in the early 20th century, Florrie, Jason Chuang’s poetic wordless comics and Lee Lai‘s award-winning story of love lost, Stone Fruit (2021).
Content warning: themes
The work in this exhibition represents a range of perspectives, experiences and imaginations.
Some works include references to violence, oppression, discrimination, dysphoria and mental illness. Some respond to homophobia and transphobia.
Some works include swear words and discriminatory language. In some cases, creators have reproduced this language to report on their lives, or they have reclaimed derogatory words for themselves.
Some works reference or depict sex.
• The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration 1 Myddelton Passage, London EC1R 1AG | Open Wednesday – Sunday, 10.00am – 5.00pm | Web: qbcentre.org.uk
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comic Art, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
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