New Books for the Comics Library

"Bone" by Jeff Smith for the Animation Library

We're getting ready for the launch of our new BA/MArt in Comics and Narrative Storytelling by acquiring new books for the comics section of our library at Escape Studios, including two copies of the "Bone" series of comics by Jeff Smith. 

Bone is an American fantasy comic book series written and illustrated by cartoonist Jeff Smith, originally serialized in 55 issues released from 1991 to 2004.

Escape Studios at Comicon 22-24 May 2026

MCM Comic Con 22nd - 24th May

Come and join Escape Studios at MCM Comic Con from 22nd - 24th May at ExCel London.

You can find our team at Career Fair stand CRSO1, and also catch talks by our tutors on manga, games and character design at the Career Fair Stage

On Friday 22 May at 11.30am Escape Studios' Character Creation Tutor Aidan Lonergan will introduce "From Concept to Console: A Character's Journey" in the Career Fair Stage. 

On Saturday 23 May at 1.30pm Manga Artist Elena Vitagliano and Comic Artist Oliver Harud will introduce "Panel by Panel: Creating Comics and Manga" on the Career Fair Stage. 

Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards

Young Cartoonists Awards at the Cartoon Museum

Thursday March 26th was awards night for the Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards, the annual competition hosted by the Cartoon Museum and the British Cartoonists' Association. 

This year the YCOTY Awards were presented by cartoonist and BCA Chair Nicola Jennings.  The awards were sponsored by Léonie Wykes-Mahood in memory of her late husband, the cartoonist Ken Mahood. 

Comics Industry Panel at Escape Studios

At last night's Comics Panel at Escape Studios, part of 2026 "EscapeVerse Live", Comic Book UK's Mark Fuller hosted a panel on "Comic Industry Careers". 

Mark Fuller was joined by comic artist Lyndon White, comics publisher Andrew Mark Sewell, head of B7 Media Ltd, and manga artist Elena Vitagliano.  The panel explored the challenges and opportunities around working in the comics industry, focusing on how to earn a living in a highly competitive landscape.

Judging The "Young Cartoonists of The Year"

The Cartoon Museum hosts Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards

Last night was the judging for The Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards, the annual competition hosted by the Cartoon Museum and the British Cartoonists' Association. 

This year the deadline for submissions was 31 January 2026; the winners will be announced at the Cartoon Museum on Thursday 26th March.

Comics and Visual Storytelling Launches Sept 2027

Comics & Visual Storytelling - Sept 2027

Escape Studios is excited to announce the launch of our new undergraduate degree on comics and visual storytelling. 

To deliver this, we have teamed up with Comic Book UK to launch this groundbreaking new undergraduate degree, starting September 2027. 

This industry-led course is designed to help aspiring Comic Creators, Illustrators, and Storytellers break into the world of publishing, animation, and games. 

From Manga to Marvel, students will explore global comic traditions and collaborate on cross-media projects. 

To find out more, visit the official site here: https://lnkd.in/eSQqjHan

"British Newspaper Strips" by Adam Twycross

Students at Escape Studios may know Adam Twycross as our External Examiner for Visual Effects; they may be less familiar with his published work.  Adam Twycross has just published a new book titled "British Newspaper Strips - A Contextual History", a scholarly deep dive into the history of newspaper cartoon strips over the last century. 

Newspapers cartoons are fascinating from a historical perspective because they show clearly and simply how much the world has changed since their publication, documenting the rapid changes in attitudes and values that have taken place in modern Britain.  

For most of us though, it's just a huge pleasure to read old comics from previous decades.   

Young Cartoonist of the Year Competition Open

Deadline 5 January 2022

The Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition is back; the deadline for submissions is 5 January 2022.

Hosted by the Cartoon Museum, re-opened after its long Covid-19-slumber, the annual competition seeks to reward rising cartoon talent. 

Judges include Martin Rowson (The Guardian), Christian Adams (Evening Standard), Banx (FT), Peter Brookes (The Times), Nick Newman (Private Eye), and Matt from the Daily Telegraph. 

For a Few Guineas More

This year I published my 10th "Queen's Counsel" book - For a Few Guineas More, a collection of the best cartoons published over the last six years in law pages of The Times.

I started drawing Queen's Counsel back in 1993, when newspapers were still pretty much the only way that people got their news. And every self-respecting lawyer read the law pages of The Times on Tuesdays.

At a pupillage interview candidates would always be asked "what newspaper do you read?". It was a question with just one correct answer; only The Times covered the law in serious detail.

This is my first book in full colour throughout - Queen's Counsel finally hurtled into the 20th Century in 2011,  when the cartoon switched into colour.

You can buy the book from amazon here.

Queen's Counsel wins CAT Award

Last week Queen's Counsel, the cartoon strip I've drawn in the Times since 1993, was awarded "The Cartoon Art Trust Award for Strip Cartooning" at the annual CAT Awards. The Cartoon Art Trust supports the Cartoon Museum in Bloomsbury, hosting the CAT Awards Dinner to raise funds for the museum and keep its doors open. At the dinner were some of the finest cartoonists in the UK - Matt Pritchett, Mac of the Mail, Nick Newman (who co-writes Private Eye), and plenty of politicians and lawyers to dig deep into their pockets to support the good cause.

Amazing Fantastic Incredible - A Marvelous Memoir - the Autobiography of Stan Lee

Amazing! Fantastic! Incredible! - The autobiography of Stan Lee is out! Titled "A Marvelous Memoir" (Geddit?), this new book chronicles the extraordinary career of comics legend Stan Lee.

In fact, Lee was on Radio 4 this morning, talking about his career, and, despite being 92 years old, still telling great stories (clearly much told, but with no loss of enthusiasm) about turning points in his life like the birth of Spiderman.

Spidey and the other Marvel characters have since gone on to found what is apparently the most successful film franchise in history, bigger even than Harry Potter or James Bond.

So what about the royalties? Mr Lee must be rolling in gold, right? After all, he created the characters. Well, apparently not. Stan Lee was, as he put it: "a writer for hire". It was the company he worked for that got rich on the royalties, not him. And this is an important lesson for all our students:

Don't sign away the rights to your creations, unless you absolutely have to.