The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) is lining up a huge range of international talent for this year’s annual festival, returning to Kendal Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th October 2026, including Colleen Doran, Frank Quitely, Marcos Martin and Bill Sienkiewicz. Tickets are on sale now
Mixing returning regular guests such as Charlie Adlard and Sean Phillips, both major supporters of LICAF’s work since its inception, this year sees a first appearance by multi-Eisner Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated artist Bill Sienkiewicz, who created this year’s eye-catching Festival poster, most noted for Marvel’s Elektra: Assassin, Moon Knight, and New Mutants and his acclaimed graphic novel, Stray Toasters; and New York Times bestselling, also award-winning, cartoonist Colleen Doran, noted for her work on American Gods, Norse Mythology and the adaptation of Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, which, at that time, was the most successful comics crowdfund in Kickstarter history at over $3.1 million.
From the UK, ten years since his first appearance, LICAF is delighted to see the return of Frank Quitely, best known for All Star Superman, New-X-Men, We3, and Jupiter’s Legacy.
Another newcomer to this year’s Festival, which will include a Comics Marketplace, workshops, exhibitions, international rights market, and more, right across the Cumbrian town of Kendal, is Marcos Martin, a Catalan comic book artist whose work at Marvel and DC includes such titles as Batgirl: Year One, Breach, Dr.Strange: The Oath, Amazing Spider-man, and Daredevil.
The full guest line-up so far features on the LICAF website, and tickets can be bought here. The Festival will kick off with a return rematch event pitting European giants Asterix and Tintin against each other, as a range of creators argue their support for the creations of Hergé or René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.
Recent guest announcements include five of Belgium’s most exciting and diverse contemporary comic creators. Festival-goers will have the chance to see, meet, and learn from: Leonie Bischoff, the award-winning creator of Anaïs Nin: Sea of Lies; Nina Six, celebrated for her evocative graphic novels such as Mousse, Pissenlit and La Sorcière de Londres; Nicolas Pitz, acclaimed for Jusqu’Ici tout va bien, Les Vous, La Dent); Joanna Lorho, renowned for her striking, poetic visual storytelling in A Travers La Nuit; and Mobidic, known for lush, atmospheric fantasy and nature-driven narratives such as Roi Ours.
“Not only are we excited by our return to Kendal, but our amazing guest line-up, too,” enthuses Julie Tait, Director of LICAF. “We have been hoping to bring some of our creators to the Lakes for some time now, and the whole tam is thrilled plans have come together to bring the likes of much-in-demand artists such as Bill Sienkiewicz here. It’s going to be a brilliant weekend!”
• The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival (LICAF) will take place in Kendal from Friday 2nd – Sunday 4th October 2026. Tickets are on sale now
Further details on specific panel times, exhibition hours, and festival ticketing will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information, visit licaf.co.uk
Bill Sienkiewicz
The multi-Eisner Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated artist Bill Sienkiewicz is most noted for Marvel’s Elektra: Assassin, Moon Knight, and New Mutants – inspiring FX’s Legion and Disney’s New Mutants – and his acclaimed graphic novel, Stray Toasters. He also earned two Emmy nominations for his work on the animated series Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
Sienkiewicz has also contributed on-set and promotional artwork for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Batman, Dune: Part One, Dune: Part Two, the Disney Moon Knight series, 2018 Halloween remake, Logan, The Grinch, The Green Mile, and Unforgiven. In 2025, his work spent a month aboard the International Space Station.
Colleen Doran
Colleen Doran is a New York Times bestselling cartoonist. She was an early contributor to The Sandman, and she also adapted the short stories Troll Bridge, Snow Glass Apples, and Chivalry, winning two Eisners, The Bram Stoker, Locus, and Ringo Awards, and nominations for Best Penciler/Inker Eisners, Reubens, the Excelsior, Rondo, and Tripwire Awards. She is currently a nominee for the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.
Other works include American Gods, Norse Mythology and the adaptation of Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, at that time, the most successful comics crowdfund in Kickstarter history at over $3.1 million.
She taught Syrian refugees for the US Embassy and the Athens, Greece National Library, and contributed to Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds to benefit Ukrainian refugees. The project is an Eisner winner.
Colleen also created the space opera graphic novel series A Distant Soil at age twelve and she is working on the final instalment.
Frank Quitely
Frank Quitely was first published in the underground comic scene in Glasgow in the early 90s. This led to work with the Judge Dredd Megazine, Vertigo, DC, Marvel, and Image. Best known for All Star Superman, New-X-Men, We3, and Jupiter’s Legacy.
He’s currently working with Grant Morrison on a new creator-owned project.
Marcos Martín
Marcos Martín is a Catalan comic book artist whose work at Marvel and DC includes such titles as Batgirl: Year One, Breach, Dr.Strange: The Oath, Amazing Spider-man, and Daredevil.
In 2013 he founded the online platform Panel Syndicate together with writer Brian K. Vaughan and illustrator/colorist Muntsa Vicente in order to distribute their creator-owned comic, The Private Eye. The series went on to win an Eisner Award for Best Digital/Webcomic and the Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work.
The Private Eye and Panel Syndicate have received critical acclaim and media attention for their role as one of the first DRM-free, pay-what-you-want comics and has continued to publish other works by the same team (Barrier, The Walking Dead: The Alien) as well as opening up to other renowned creators like Jay Faerber, Ken Niimura, Alex de Campi, David López or Albert Monteys.
He’s last teamed up with writer Ed Brubaker on their post YA comic book series Friday, also with Muntsa on colours, which has earned them two more Eisner Awards and another Harvey Award.
Guests at LICAF 2026 in alphabetical order included in alphabetical order, Charlie Adlard, Leonie Bischoff, Serge Bloch, Kate Charlesworth, Gemma Correll, Dagsson, Mike Derderian, Colleen Doran, Louise Evans aka Feltmistress, Khaled Jarada, Emad Hajjaj, Luke Healy, Keli Lark, Michael Lark, David Leach, Joanna Lorho, David Lumsden, Marcos Martin, Joe McGarry, Luke McGarry, Steve McGarry, Metaphrog, Mobidic, Francisco de la Mora, Bill Morrison, Jacob Phillips, Sean Phillips, Nicolas Pitz, Gemma Plum, Pieter de Poortere, Quindrie Press, Frank Quitely, Bill Sienkiewicz, Nina Six, Zara Slattery, Faye Stacey, Muntsa Vicente, the team from VIZ comic, and Chrissy Williams. More to come!
Full profiles on the Festval’s Guests page
The Festival also hosts a Comics Marketplace – its Exhibitors lineup including many independent creators and publishers
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns in Friday 2nd – Sunday 4th October 2026 across Kendal
• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival is online at: comicartfestival.com | BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
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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, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions
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