As comics festivals and fairs have continued to adapt and evolve online in response to the events of the last 18 months there’s been a growing move towards events that don’t simply try to replicate physical events but think more about how a digital environment can be used to its maximum potential. Zainab Akhtar’s second ShortBox Comics Fair combines careful curation with exclusive comics and runs through this October. More details and contributing artists in the press release below.
The future of comics, and comics events, is just a couple of months away from arriving. In its second year, the ShortBox Comics Fair — a virtual event running throughout the entire month of October — is expanding its scope, and bringing in a number of new and cutting edge creators to create all-new material to be released digitally and exclusively through ShortBox for one month only.
As founder Zainab Akhtar explains, “With so many of us still indoors, I wanted to have an online event/digital platform that actually provides readers with an opportunity to buy a whole range of new comics — an event that mirrors what I want from any comics festival, whether it’s online or in-person: to explore and discover new comics and artists.”
To this end, this year’s ShortBox Comics Fair will feature 48 artists, each of whom have created a brand new comic book for the fair. The new releases — all of which are creator-owned — will be entirely digital, running from 16 to 60 pages in length, and will only be available from the ShortBox Gumroad (https://shortbox.gumroad.com/
The artists participating in the event run the gamut of comics, from mainstream creators like David Lafuente (Harley Quinn, The Ludocrats), Warwick Johnson Cadwell (Our Encounters with Evil), and Victoria Ying (Diana, Princess of the Amazons), to indie stars like Sophia Foster-Dimino and Molly Mendoza, with no small amount of new talent in evidence, such as online creatures Abelle Hayford and Mochipanko.
The creators involved in ShortBox Comics Fair 2021 are, in alphabetical order:
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Bianca Bagnarelli
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Sarula Bao
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Nicolette Bocalan
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Steph Bulante
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Warwick Johnson Cadwell
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Allissa Chan
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Hana Chatani
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Cynthia Cheng
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Anabel Colazo
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Helena Covell
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Diigii Daguna
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Joe Decie
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Molly Fairhurst
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Sophia Foster-Dimino
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Abelle Hayford
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Joy Ho
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Kiku Hughes
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Jamie Kinroy
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Tom Kneeshaw
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David Lafuente
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Isaac Lenkiewicz
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Eve Liu
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Rowan MacColl
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Molly Mendoza
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Sas Milledge
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Mochipanko
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Aatmaja Pandaya
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Arantza Pena Popo
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Jana Ribkina
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Philippa Rice
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Riddle
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Mariel Rodriguez
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Sathya
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Ben Sears
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Niv Sekar
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Elle Shivers
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Joe Sparrow
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Hamish Steele
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Lizzy Stewart
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Sunmi
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Nuria Tamarit
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Becca Tobin
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CAP Ward
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Sarah Webb
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Jean Wei
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Jennifer Xiao
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Victoria Ying
In addition to the new works, the first weekend of the ShortBox Comics Fair (Oct. 2-3) will see special pricing for all of its books (https://www.shortbox.co.uk/
ShortBox Comics Fair Poster by Jean Wei.
