Posted in: Comics | Tagged: arc, Peckham
ARC: The International Opportunities And Pitfalls Of Print Publishing
Published Fri, 10 Jul 2026 06:47:09 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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I’m currently at the ARC Contemporary Comics Festival Talks today at The Hub in Peckham, London, ahead of this week’s ARC small press festival. And that means the panel, International Publishers: Opportunities and Pitfalls of Print Based Publishing in the 21st Centurywith AndrewAlexander from US publisher and printer Cram Books, JordanTaylor from printing services PageMasters, Olle Forsslöf from Swedish publisher Peow2, and EmmaHayley from SelfMadeHero chaired by Dr Andrea Aramburú. Find more coverage using the ARC tag…
Andrea talked about the international divide in comics, how everyone needs a local scene, but no one seems to know about the others, internationally, either geography, language and finance, and how piracy is impirtant in Latin America, if only for an education, for both film and comics
AndrewAlexander of Cram Books talked about feeling an imposter as he still folds his comics by hand, and so distribution difficulties by only needing to send thirty copies to another country. He talked about how print has a much longer half life than digital, they survive and go places that you never thought they would, shared across the world. And how the Cram Anthology has different comic creators every time, that he was in the first one and never will be again. The pitfall was making art books to get into art book fairs, and has big piles of paper he had to throw away.
Olle Forsslöfof Peow2 talked about how they were all just Swedish until they realised people from America were buying their comics. They found people on Tumblr but only looked to find people they liked, rather than people that sell. Their anthology Ex Machina finds established and new talent, but they do use recurring creators. And they also will leave copies of their work wherever they travel to. The pitfall today was all his books that should be there for the show tomorrow and haven’t turned up yet. Everyone on the panel seemed to recognise that one.
JordanTaylorof PageMasters worked with someone to create ten zines, but also bigger names with print runs up to a thousand. But add QR codes so that people can get more content as part of the price. He talked about how DIY culture is actually reliant on so many people, and how there is a strong network of people who help distribute work. He talked about how a comic about a ghost from one creator didn’t find an audience, but expanding it to become a dictionary of ghosts really worked for them. They want to work with niche nerds who really know their material. He also talked about putting their work in interesting places, such as the coffee places next to Tate Modern in the morning as their staff go to work. They also talked about advertising getting them too much attention and causing them a headache. And now looking at books that were banned during the Section 28 legislation, to republish with new covers, with new context and history, creating an archive. Pitfalls were placing your energy in the wrong place,,, as well as having to unbind books already bound as well finding you suddenly have missing page files.
Emma Haley of SelfMadeHero is celebrating the 20th anniversary of SelfMadeHero that began publishing Manga Shakespeare titles, moved into translation, on a German graphic novel on Johnny Cash, and have continued that working with international creators. She remembered the big jump from lockdown to the first returning festival, really appreciating the joy of comics, creators and readers, anew. She talked about the love of creating physical comics, with the likes of Oscar Zarate, who painted a 400 page graphic novel on A3 watercolour boards over seven years, but at the end didn’t just have a book they published, but a huge art gallery show. They work with the First Graphic Novel awards to find new work, as well as going to festivals and shows, and their submission portal does all get read. And they just picked up a project from a creator in Spain who just had an amazing idea. And they will be announcing it very, very soon…. She talked about staging comic book events, common in France, less to in the UK. Live events with creators drawing their work get audiences and attention, or even doing comics readings. Libraries workshops get people excited about the craft of creating graphic novels, as well as getting on reading lists such as that from Bobby Joseph. And festivals outside of comic cons can also find very excited audiences. The pitfall might be work that not printed as the creator wanted, but printers will fix their mistakes if they can be proved.
The ARC Comics Taks are on all day today, with a Drink And Draw to follow in Soho, and the ARC Snall Press Comics festival all weekend long – and a party on the Saturday night!
Friday, 10th of July
- Art, Poetry, Music: Visualising Time and Performance, 10:30-11:30am. Arc Festival Talks at The Hub at the UAL, Bonar Road, Peckham, with Anaïs Sière. Anu Ambasna. Josephine M. K. Edwards. Miranda Smart. chaired by Dr Maggie Gray
- International Publishers: Opportunities and Pitfalls of Print Based Publishing in the 21st Century, 11:45am-12:45pm Arc Festival Talks at The Hub at the UAL, Bonar Road, Peckham with Cram Books, PageMasters, Peow2, SelfMadeHero chaired by Dr Andrea Aramburú
- UK Small Press: History and Heritage, 1:30-2:45pm Arc Festival Talks at The Hub at the UAL, Bonar Road, Peckham with Blanca Garcia Paja. Ed Pinsent. Dr Ian Horton. Paul Gravett. Sarah Marhurter. Woodrow Phoenix chaired by Douglas Noble
- Contemporary Fantasy, 3-4pm Arc Festival Talks at The Hub at the UAL, Bonar Road, Peckham With Hollow Press, Lando, Leomi Sadler, Linnea Sterte chaired by Matt Seneca
- White Walls: Exhibiting Comics, 4:15-5:15pm Arc Festival Talks at The Hub at the UAL, Bonar Road, Peckham with Joe Kessler (Mote). Kat Chapman (Avery Hill). Olivia Ahmad and Paul Gravett (Queer as Comics, The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration) Chaired by Dr Gareth Brookes
- The Comic Book Musicals of A.T. PRATT.5:15-6:30pm Arc Festival Talks at The Hub at the UAL, Bonar Road, Peckham
- MOTE Public View for Arc Festival, AMP Gallery, 1 Acorn Parade, Peckham 6am-6pm
With Alex Treskman, Andres Magan, Anna Haifisch, Brie Moreno, Cameron Arthur, Emil Friis-Ernst, Erlend Peder Kvam, Fidelia Schlegl, Hugh Frost, Joe Kessler, John Molesworth, Kayla Lui, Leomi Sadler, Molly Colleen O’Connell, Richard Short, Wai Wai Pang, Zeel
- Gosh x ARC x Broken Frontier Present Drink and Draw With Niall Breen, Matt Seneca and Mark Stafford, Gosh Comics/Royal George, Soho, from 7pm. We welcome artists Niall Breen and Matt Seneca, along with our cartoonist in residence Mark Stafford to join us on the Friday before the weekend fair. The three will be tabling at ARC over the weekend along with an incredible line-up of fantastic artists.
Saturday, 11th of July
- ARC Contemporary Comics Festivalat Unit 8, Copeland Park, Peckham. 11am-6pm
A festival of contemporary comics in South East London, taking place over four days in July, showcasing some of the best independent comics, graphic novels, sequential art and form-altering visual narrative. The festival will launch with an exhibition and talks, before culminating in a comics fair over 2 days, featuring a curated line-up of over 100 UK-based and international artists and publishers - MOTE Public View, AMP Gallery. 1 Acorn Parade, Peckham 6am-6pm
- Arc Festival Saturday night party with ARC X GOB Nation, 6.30 pm until late at The Greyhound on Peckham High St.
Sunday 12th July
- ARC Contemporary Comics Festival at Unit 8, Copeland Park,Peckham. 11am-6pm
A festival of contemporary comics in South East London, taking place over four days in July, showcasing some of the best independent comics, graphic novels, sequential art and form-altering visual narrative. The festival will launch with an exhibition and talks, before culminating in a comics fair over 2 days, featuring a curated line-up of over 100 UK-based and international artists and publishers - MOTE Public View, AMP Gallery. AMP Gallery, 1 Acorn Parade, Peckham 6am-6pm
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