Come along to South London Comic and Zine Fair on the 19th July! You can find us there, plus AHP creators @katrionachapman.bsky.social, @donyatodd.bsky.social and Hannah Chapman (of Comic Book Slumber Party!) #comics
Karrie Fransman
@karriefransman.bsky.social
Created comics for UN, Penguin Random House, Guardian, Times. Creative Director @posnegorg. Gender Swapped Fairy Tales/Greek Myths (Faber & Faber). Member of The Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC). https://linktr.ee/karriefransman
London's Gosh! comic shop have been working on some very exciting plans for August to celebrate their 40th anniversary and recently announced their Summer Festival event for kids – featuring some of the best talent and most popular artists working in kids comics
Gosh! Summer Kids Festival features signings with Jamie Smart and more
Four special summer signings in just one day!
downthetubes.net
Just updated: the Downthetubes 2026 and 2027 UK and Irish Comic Events Pages: downthetubes.net/british-and-... | downthetubes.net/british-and-...
Our Micro-Bursary submissions are open! The Micro-Bursaries are open to early career, UK based: Comic Creators of Colour, Disabled Comic Creators, and/or Trans/Non-Binary Comic Creators. Find out more, and put your name forward here: thoughtbubblefestival.com/microbursaries
Our third and final roundtable is the big one! 🔥This Mess Won’t Fix Itself: COMICS INDUSTRY ⏰Thursday 9th July, 7pm. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/this-mess-...
Delighted to share my collab with @loladickinson.bsky.social on sex work and AIDs activism in the 80s. Working with oral histories from sex worker activists like Ruth Morgan Thomas of Scot-PEP was so inspiring- so many brilliant stories to choose from. Please read and share!
Lola Dickinson@loladickinson.bsky.social · 2mo agoReally pleased to share the comic by the fantastic @karriefransman.bsky.social on Sex Work and AIDS Activism in Edinburgh. Research by me and based on an oral history interview with Ruth Morgan Thomas of Scot-PEP.
Thank you to @claireplmartin.bsky.social and @drannehanley.bsky.social for creating the project. With fellow artists: @karriefransman.bsky.social @streakofpith.bsky.social @daniellocke.bsky.social @ilyagr.bsky.social @jordancollver.bsky.social @inkseer.bsky.social @zaraslattery.bsky.social 2/3
This goes double if the best friend is from a minority group: if they don't have a life outside your protagonist, they're just a token (gay, trans, Black) character.
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 170: If your main character's best friend has no life outside of the main character; no other friends; no hobbies; no ambitions, then you didn't write a person at all. You wrote a plot device.
Let's talk about YOU, shall we? As in the collective "YOU": the people who make comics, who filled in the UK Comics Creators Survey - ukcomicscreators.org.uk I hope you’re hungry for charts, because lunch is served! WHO ARE YOU? 🧵
Home - UK Comics Creators Survey
UK Comics Creators Research Report 2026 The most comprehensive overview of comics creators in the UK Drawing on the responses from nearly 700 creators to the UK Comics Creator Survey in autumn 2025, t...
ukcomicscreators.org.uk
Thanks @dannija-yes.bsky.social @claireplmartin.bsky.social @drannehanley.bsky.social for the collaboration and support. Hey, fellow artists: @jordancollver.bsky.social @streakofpith.bsky.social @zaraslattery.bsky.social @mereida.bsky.social @daniellocke.bsky.social @karriefransman.bsky.social
Who’s joining us to chat comics solutions? 👀
Hannah Berry@streakofpith.bsky.social · 3mo agoGird your loins, it’s ROUNDTABLIN’ TIME! 🗣️ Following publication of the UK Comics Creators Research Report, we’ll be holding a series of 3 online roundtable discussions to chew over the findings and plot out next steps. They’re entitled “This Mess Won’t Fix Itself” because I was in a feisty mood.
Photos from last nights #britishbookawards: Nominees @rickardsisters.com for This Slavery with Emma Hayley of @selfmadehero.bsky.social, plus @paulcornell.bsky.social & @rachaelsmith.bsky.social for Who Killed Nessie; and judges me, @karriefransman.bsky.social @shanazir.bsky.social
For anyone who doesn’t have a subscription to the Bookseller, the article is based on this report which launched today: ukcomicscreators.org.uk/wp-content/u...
ukcomicscreators.org.uk
The Bookseller@thebookseller.com · 3mo agoAlmost 90% of comics creators who earn income from traditional publishing do not earn the national living wage from their work, with 13% relying on state benefits 👇 #BookSky
Happy launch-day to the magnificent @myfanwytristram.bsky.social - I can’t wait to read all the protest stories in the Noisy Valley! See you at @goshcomics.bsky.social
SelfMadeHero@selfmadehero.bsky.social · 3mo agoIncredible things happen when ordinary people come together. #NoisyValley: The Art of Protest by @myfanwytristram.bsky.social is out in the UK in 1 WEEK! Join us tonight for the launch at @goshcomics.bsky.social! 🔗 buff.ly/7bAXqHQ #selfmadehero #indiecomics #graphicnovel #protest
This extremely stylish visualisation was done by Julie Brunet @datacitron.bsky.social, by the way. (Sorry, I would’ve tagged but I missed that she was on here!)
Hannah Berry@streakofpith.bsky.social · 3mo agoSo we know the graphic novel market is booming right now, but is this being reflected in the incomes of creators who earn from traditional publishing, i wonder?
🔥The results of the UK Comics Creators Survey 2025 are in 🔥 STATS! Come get yer STATS! Fresh juicy STATS! ukcomicscreators.org.uk/wp-content/u...
The one change that worked: I swapped doomscrolling for reading comic books
The one change that worked: I swapped doomscrolling for reading comic books
After Donald Trump’s second election, I realised the insidious hold my phone had over my life. So I turned to something I’d loved in childhood to better occupy my attention
theguardian.com
Walking around Oxford with my son for Phoenix Fest, & it really is astounding what the comics has achieved. Every street has multiple kids on it wearing Phoenix t-shirts (I know because my son wants to speak them all). I genuinely don’t know another kid’s publisher that’s created that community.
👀 Are you interested in historical sequential art and free all day in London on 2nd May? Got a couple of free tickets left for an event so DM me if so. 👀
So... #SmallPressDay is sponsored by @brokenfrontier.bsky.social this year. Or to put it more bluntly the entire running costs (hosting, app subs, payment to an artist for this year's poster, etc.) come from my pocket. On top of BF's running losses. So if you enjoy SPD please chip in if you can!
Small Press Day@smallpressday.bsky.social · 4mo ago#SmallPressDay is run by a tiny team of volunteers happy to give up their time for free for the community. But there are still costs we have to take on (hosting, artist for this year's poster, apps, etc.). Want to help? Donations to the Broken Frontier Ko-fi welcome! ko-fi.com/andyoliver70...
From the #LondonBookFair, the #Manga is Mainstream panel, with @karriefransman.bsky.social, @mikemotoghosh.bsky.social and Nigel Twumasi from @mayamada.com :)
From back in 2018 at BF but still relevant... How to Make a Living as a Comics Artist – Tips from Graphic Novelist Karrie Fransman @karriefransman.bsky.social on Pitching to Publishers and Potential Avenues for Your Work. www.brokenfrontier.com/karrie-frans...
How to Make a Living as a Comics Artist - Tips from Graphic Novelist Karrie Fransman on Pitching to Publishers and Potential Avenues for Your Work – Broken Frontier
How to Make a Living as a Comics Artist - Tips from Graphic Novelist Karrie Fransman on Pitching to Publishers and Potential Avenues for Work.
brokenfrontier.com
I’m really pleased to be sharing a stage with @rickardsisters.com at @hayfestival.bsky.social on May 27th, where we’ll be chatting about the power of graphic novels & #comics to make change. Details: www.hayfestival.com/m-232-hay-fe... @selfmadehero.bsky.social
To celebrate #worldbookday we have some fun facts to share via The Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC). Join us to help raise the value of comics in the UK. thecomicsculturalimpactcollective.org/Join-Us
Thanks @deadlyknitshade.bsky.social for capturing the moment I entered The Tale Spinner (a 3D ‘un-AI-able’ performed comic that @karriefransman.bsky.social manually spins around your head) yesterday night @ the @rsliterature.bsky.social ✨
If there are any progressive organisations/charities/events/activist groups out there using comics as a way to spread socially relevant messages we'd love to feature you at BF. In the same way we did with PositiveNegatives a few years back. www.brokenfrontier.com/positivenega...
Broken Frontier Meets PositiveNegatives - Real Stories, Drawn From Life – Broken Frontier
Broken Frontier chats with PositiveNegatives about their work using comics and visual narrative to support humanitarian causes.
brokenfrontier.com
I've had a good read of this now, and although it’s clearly not aimed at us I do have some thoughts on it. Buckle up, lads!
John Freeman@johnfreeman.bsky.social · 8mo agoWith the publication of Comic Book UK’s “Vision for growth” white paper today – essentially the blueprint for everything the newly-formed trade association plan to do going forward – Mark Fuller, its Chief Executive outlines their strategy: downthetubes.net/game-on-why-...
