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Looking Back at Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2025

By downthetubes Guests on October 23, 2025 • ( 0 )

The small lakeside village of Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, once again played host to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival last month, an event celebrating all things comic related, with an emphasis on creating a real Festival atmosphere, at odds with many of the usual convention spaces that generally make up the vast majority of comic events.

Lakes International Comic Art Festival 20-25 | Tim Farron | Photo: Power — *VIZ fan Tim Farron MP introduces the Festival*

Starting in 2013 in the nearby town of Kendal, where it ran for eight years until 2021, this was fourth time the festival had taken place instead in Bowness. Whilst some may prefer the former location, the lakeside nature of Bowness, alongside its heavy tourism from overseas, has given the festival a shake up in atmosphere ever since it moved towards Windermere in 2022.

And this year was no exception, perhaps providing, as one would hope, the smoothest year of operation since it first made its transition, with a litany of big-name guests, events and gatherings taking place throughout town.

Lakes International Comic Art Festival 20-25 | XXX | Photo: Power — *Grant Morrison*

These guests spanned the range of the comics industry, from regular guests like The Walking Dead‘s Charlie Adlard, Criminals Sean Phillips and Grandville creator Bryan Talbot to comedian Daggson. Of particular note for fans of mainstream comics, this year saw the first appearance at this Festival of famed writer Grant Morrison, known most for his runs on popular DC staples like Batman and Green Lantern, who has recently entered the world of novels with Luba.

Events too ran the gamut over the traditional three-day Festival time span, from its opening night, to numerous talks and exposés of comic culture from around the world.

Lakes International Comic Art Festival 20-25 | Opening Night Live Draw | Photo: Power — *Opening Night Live Draw*

Prefaced by an introduction to the Festival from local MP and VIZ fan Tim Farron, the opening event included a Live Draw, involved Charlie Adlard, Sean Phillips, The Simpsons own Bill Morrison, Morocco’s Mehdi Annasi, and Icelandic comedian, Daggson. Conducted in association with America’s National Cartoonists Society, this 90-minute event in the town’s Old Laundry Theatre involved a mixture of trivia, questions and challenges, such as having one artist draw one half of a character before another artist, with the formerly drawn half occluded, drew another.

Such features appeared to be a much-favoured part of the event, garnering high amounts of audible laughter and audience engagement.

This first part of the event, known as “You Couldn’t Make it Up!”, was followed by Martin Rowson‘s “Trumped” segment, led by the British political cartoonist known for his work in The Guardian and Daily Mirror.

Part parody, part schizophrenic rant, this 40-minute segment featured a litany of satirical artwork, many of them paintings, questioning the current American political situation spearheaded by Donald Trump, JD Vance and Elon Musk, mocking the current nature of US affairs through the lens of British sensibilities, a long-standing tradition. (In this, he was aided on stage by VIZ cartoonist Davey Jones, a non-speaking role).

On Saturday, “From Palestine” was a particular highlight, focusing on the ways in which Palestinian artists have navigated their work in the context of Israeli occupation and the aftermath of the events of October 7th. Several Palestinian artists featured in this 45-minute event, ending with the return of the controversial political cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh, detailing both his past and upcoming work in a way that seemed to inspire interest from the audience, with numerous taking part in asking thoughtful questions of the artists at play. Sabaaneh in particular talked of his own personal experiences with oppression, including his brother’s own experience in an Israeli prison.

Of course, as mentioned, there were many other events at the Festival over its three day tenure, with 33 taking place from Friday to Sunday, culminating in the aptly titled “Live Draw Finale”, featuring Bill Morrison, Sean Phillips, Phillip Bond and Mehdi Annassi.

Lakes International Comic Art Festival 20-25 | Closing Live Draw | Photo: Power — *Closing Live Draw*

In addition to such festivities the festival once again saw the return of its Lakeside Comics Marketplace, where attendees could chat and enjoy signings with a litany of creators and merchants, as well as buy a wide range of comics and related material and memorabilia. Of particular note was La Belle Adventure, a comic trader from Edinburgh with a store located in Leith.

This year seemed to strike a good balance between a differing range of interests with considerable attendance, both from those who came down specifically for the Festival and passers by. That the weekend included The Phoenix Festival at the Jetty Musuem, organised by the team behind the eponymous comic, lent to the atmosphere. The somewhat remote location of Bowness worked well to both create a small town, cozy atmosphere and a sense of connectedness, with its proximity to both Kendal and Windermere, as well as the amount of tourists it receives from as far afield as Asia, giving it a defined link to the outside world.

Overall, this year was perhaps the best year for LICAF following its transition from Kendal, with everything from events to the marketplace running smoothly with considerable attendance from several quarters. With LICAF returning to its original location of Kendal in 2026, it will be interesting to see what adjustments will be made in the process and exactly what balance it can strike between reestablishing and rediscovering past successes and reinvigorating itself with fresh ideas in a familiar location.

Finn Miles

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns in Friday 2nd – Sunday 4th October 2026 across Kendal

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