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Amy Chu joins Lakes International Comic Art Festival line-up in Bowness this autumn

By John Freeman on July 31, 2023

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has announced that DC Comics, Marvel and Netflix writer Amy Chu will be joining the line-up for their year’s weekend-long annual event in Bowness-on-Windermere (Friday 29th September – Sunday 1st October 2023).

Amy, a graduate of the Harvard Business School, with a degree in Architectural Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a degree in East Asian Studies at Wellesley College, self-published her first story at the age of 44, and has been full-time writing stories since.

She co-founded Alpha Girl Comics with Georgia Lee in 2010, publisher of Girls Night Out and other titles. In 2016, DC Comics hired her to to write Batman villain Poison Ivy’s first solo series, Cycle of Life and Death, and in 2019 she was hired by the streaming service, Netflix, to work on the series, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood.

Her many credits include Carmilla: The First Vampire, drawn by Soo Lee, a 19th century queer feminist murder mystery released as a collection by Dark Horse Comics’ Berger Books imprint earlier this year. The much acclaimed story is inspired by one of the earliest works of vampire fiction, Carmilla, an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu, that predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula by 26 years.

Amy has also written two series for the band KISS, DMC (Darryl Makes Comics), Red Sonja & Vampirella Meet Betty & Veronica, Red Sonja, and SUMMIT for Lion Forge, and two middle grade graphic novels, Ana and the Cosmic Race (published by Papercutz) and Sea Sirens with Janet K. Lee (Viking Press). Other works include Rick & Morty Hericktics of Rick, Avengers: Electric Rain (online adaptation), Aero (Marvel) and Sword Master.

Characters Amy has worked on include Ant-Man, Deadpool, Emma Frost, Green Hornet, Dejah Thoris and Wonder Woman.

Amy, a self-described “coffee guzzler, Lego hoarder, whisky drinker”, also writes and produces comics for nonprofits, including the New York Historical Society, Baltimore Museum of Art, Pop Culture Classroom and the Museum of Chinese in Americas. She is a frequent speaker, panel moderator and guest at conventions, including San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and now, the Lakes International Comic Art Festival!

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be coming to LICAF this year. It is such an honour and treat to be joining this incredible slate of international guests and in such a fabled environment. I hope to channel my inner Potter and Wordsworth over the course of that weekend!”

“We’re thrilled Amy is joining our massive line-up of comic creator talent in Bowness this year,” says Festival Director Julie Tait. “Her work on a huge range of characters, in some cases reinventing them from the ground up, as well as creating many new ones, has been groundbreaking for years.”

• Amy is online at iwritecomics.com | Alpha Girl Comics

• Follow Amy on Twitter @amychu, Instagram @amy_chu, Tiktok @theamychu and Facebook @IWriteComics

FESTIVAL DATES: The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere 29th September to 1st October 2023

• Buy your Festival Tickets here – comicartfestival.com/festival-tickets

• Sign up for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival Newsletter

• Check out the LICAF “Festival Fringe” Page

Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2023 art by Mohamed Salah

Announced guests for 2023 in alphabetical order are: Charlie Adlard, Mari Ahokoivu, James Albon, Mehdi Annassi, aka Machima, Lucie Arnoux, Nancy ArtMusic, Silvia L. Ballart, Sayra Begum, Frankie Boyle, Gigi Cavenago, Amy Chu, Darryl Cunningham, Gustavo Duarte, Wallis Eates, Hunt Emerson, Massimo Fenati, David Gaffney, Gerhard, Lina Ghaibeh, Bernard Hage (The Art of Boo), Peter Hogan, Stephen L. Holland, Marc Jackson, Jad (George Khoury), Štěpánka Jislová, Mai Koraiem, Michael Lark, Lucie Lomová, Josie Long, Dave McKean, Fouad Mezher, Bill Morrison, Seif Eddine Nechi, Annie and Steve Parkhouse, Eva Pavlič, Jacob Phillips, Sean Phillips, Pieter de Poortere, Lucy Porter, Kevin Eric Raymundo, Tom Richmond, Peter Rogiers, Marek Rubec, Mohamed Salah, David Shenton, Shennawy, Václav Šlajch, Dr. Nicola Streeten, Rachael Smith, “Awkward Yeti” creator Nick Sulek, Bryan and Mary Talbot, VIZ, and Eldo Yoshimizu, Nicolas Wild – with just a few more to come

The Festival has over 90 comic creators, publishers and illustrators in their Lakeside Comics Marketplace this year.

Octobriana 50th Anniversary Special - art by Chris Askham — *Art by Chris Askham*

Creators in the Lakeside Comics Marketplace include: Chris Askham, Yomi Ayeni, Bardic Illustration, Sayra Begum, Clark Bint, Tim Bird, Tori Cat, Jon Davis, Doctor Geof, Pete Doree, Jonathan Edwards & Felt Mistress, Emma Evans, Ed Firth, Simon Furman, Steven Fraser, Warwick Fraser-Coombe, Jessika Green, Lyndsey Green, Katie Handley, Isabel Hatherall, Jack Harvey, Luke Hyde, Jenika Ioffreda, Owen Michael Johnson, Roger Langridge, Joe Latham, Russell Mark Olson, Shaun Martland, Drew Marr, Chris Mole, Alex Moore, Beatrice Mossman, Nigel Parkinson, Markus Pattern, Mollie Ray, Reabault, Emma Reynolds, Schnumn, Paul Shinn, Martin Simpson, Matt Simmons, Zara Slattery, Cam Smith, Matt Smith, Rachael Smith, Mark Stafford, Lucy Sullivan, Kev F Sutherland, David Taylor, Tom Ward, Kevin Wells, Lyndon White, Kate-Mia White, Steve White, Dan Whitehead, Andrew Wildman, Manon Wright & Tal Brosh

Independent Publishers, and other Exhibitors in the Lakeside Comics Marketplace include: 1826, The77 Publications, After the Robot Apocalypse, Art-Bubble, B7 Comics, The Cartoon Museum, Catfood Comics, Centrala, CoCo Comics, Colossive Press, Comics Youth CIC, Conundrum Press, Fanfare UK, First Graphic Novel Competition, Foxhat, Galaxia Prince, I&M Illustration, Indie Novella, Iqbal A. Comics, Kannter Art, Knockabout Comics, LDComics, Meraki Comics, MoonSquid INK, Nevercity Creations , Nona Gallery, Parable Games, Peak Hare Collective, Playstation Studios, Power Comics Studios, RAWHEAD, Scratch Comics, Sector 13 Comics, SelfMadeHero and Sloth Comics

• Buy your Festival Tickets here – comicartfestival.com/festival-tickets

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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.