Registration is now open for Comics Forum 2026: Welfare. The conference will take place at Leeds City Library on the 12th and 13th of November. Tickets cost £22/day and include refreshments and lunch. Click here to register at Eventbrite.

Ticket holders for Comics Forum 2025 will receive a 30% discount code for a ticket to the Thought Bubble Comic Convention. Codes will be sent ahead of the convention.

We have also launched our Comics Forum 2026 webpage. The programme will be listed at the page shortly.

We look forward to seeing you in Leeds!

12-13 November 2026, Leeds Central Library (UK)

Comics and related forms have engaged with themes of welfare since at least as early as 1751, when Hogarth’s prints Beer Street and Gin Lane presented satirical comments on alcohol legislation and public health. Since then, depictions of welfare-related concerns have proliferated in comics ranging from small scale graphic pathographies through to large scale public communication campaigns. The rise of Graphic Medicine as a field of scholarship has given visibility to titles exploring health, disability and wellbeing, but comics are equally entwined with issues of welfare concerning literacy, representation and community. Beyond the content of the comics, the ways they are made, by a community of workers, draws our attention to the welfare of creators and the sustainability of the art form and its connected industries and audiences.

Comics Forum 2026 will explore the theme of welfare, broadly conceived, in relation to any form of comics (i.e. including bande dessinée, manga etc.). Proposals are welcome from academics and comics creators. Topics may include:

• Accessibility (including physical, economic etc.)
• Community engagement and outreach
• Creators’ rights
• Disability
• Education and literacy
• Environmental stewardship, animal rights
• Health
• Safety, public information
• Social work, youth work
• Socially engaged / participatory design / codesign
• Wellbeing
• Welfare rights campaigns (healthcare, housing, labour, benefits/claimants, migrant, youth rights)

Submissions will be considered in any of the following three formats:

• Paper: 20-minute paper on a focused topic
• Panel: 1-hour structured discussion between three or more participants
• Workshop: 1-hour interactive, collaborative session

Proposals of up to 250 words in length are now being accepted at this link. The deadline for submissions is the 31st of August and you will be notified of acceptance by or before the 12th of September. Please include a short (100 word) biography of your speaker(s) with your proposal. We look forward to welcoming you to Leeds!

Registration is now open for Comics Forum 2025: Industry. The conference will take place at Leeds Art Gallery and Leeds Central Library on the 13th and 14th of November. Tickets cost £22/day and include refreshments and lunch. Click here to register at Eventbrite.

This year’s conference also has two partner events:

Comics Practice and Research Roundtable Discussion will take place at 4:00 PM on Wednesday 12th November in the Glass Studio, School of Design, University of Leeds with drinks reception at 5:15 PM. (Free, BOOK HERE).

MJ Hibbett presents: Data and Doctor Doom will take place at The Fox and Newt, 9 Burley Street, Leeds, on Friday 14th November 2025. Doors are 7.30pm. (£6, book via WeGotTickets, Jumbo Records or Crash Records)

We have also launched our Comics Forum 2025 webpage, where you can find more information about all events. The Comics Forum programme will be listed at the page shortly.

We look forward to seeing you in Leeds!

Earlier today we launched the Comics Forum 2025 Call for Contributions. Our initial post had the incorrect deadlines, which we have now corrected, in addition to adding the dates and venue as follows:

• Dates: 13-14 November 2025
• Location: Leeds Art Gallery and Central Library
• Deadline for submissions: 31 August 2025
• Notification of Acceptance: 12 September 2025

The original post has been updated with the corrected details.

13-14 November 2025, Leeds Art Gallery and Central Library (UK)

When David Kunzle asserted in his 1973 magnum opus The Early Comic Strip, that it was by definition ‘a mass medium,’ he pointed to comics’ industrial and mechanical foundations, arguing that: ‘The comic strip is, and can only be, the product of the printing press’ (3). Although experimental comics challenge the idea that mechanical reproduction is a defining characteristic of comics, and the notion of the comic book industry as a coherent entity has been questioned, it is undeniable that comics have been greatly influenced by the industrial contexts in which they are created and circulate. These contexts include the companies that are well known for creating comics, such as publishers and retailers, but also less publicly visible but vitally important industries: printers, distributers, marketers, translators and more. Technology platforms and other media industries that connect to comics through branding, cross-promotion and trans- or multimedia forms also play important roles.

Comics Forum 2025 will explore the theme of industry, broadly conceived, in relation to any form of comics (i.e. including bande dessinée, manga etc.). Proposals are welcome from academics, and from industry participants (in any role). Topics may include:

• Historical and/or geographical comics industries
• The economics of comics and related industries
• Models for studying comics as industrial forms
• Anti- or non-industrial comics production
• Digitisation as an industrial shift 
• Representations of industries in comics narratives
• Agency, authorship and alienation within industrial contexts
• Industrial relations, labour movements, precarity, collectivisation 
• Disruption in comics’ industrial contexts
• The ethics of comics’ industrial practices
• Comics as part of a broader media ecosystem
• Future(s) for comics as industrially produced mass media
• Challenges facing comics industries in the 2020s and 30s

We recognise that artificial intelligence (AI) is a key point of concern across a range of fields, and proposals on this topic are welcome, but we encourage applicants to think broadly about technology and manufacturing.

Submissions will be considered in any of the following three formats:

• Paper: 20-minute paper on a focused topic
• Panel: 1-hour structured discussion between three or more participants
• Workshop: 1-hour interactive, collaborative session

Proposals of up to 250 words in length are now being accepted at this link: SUBMIT NOW. The deadline for submissions is the 31st of August and you will be notified of acceptance by or before the 12th of September. Please include a short (100 word) biography of your speaker(s) with your proposal. We look forward to welcoming you to Leeds!

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