London has an unusually broad comics programme in October 2026, with the month moving well beyond the familiar signing-table model. There are opportunities to meet major creators, certainly, including a Judge Dredd-focused day, a Back to the Future screenplay signing and a Halloween afternoon with several comic guests. But the more interesting shape of the calendar is its range: museum exhibitions, scholarly talks, maker workshops, reading groups, creator meet-ups, children’s sessions, markets and large-scale convention programming all sit alongside one another.
That matters because “comics event” can mean several very different things. A signing is usually a short, structured chance to meet a creator and have a book signed; it may have item limits or ticket rules. A launch party is more social, built around a new title and conversation. Artist Alley, the convention area devoted to artists and independent creators, is generally better suited to discovering work and speaking directly with makers. And an original-art exhibition is a chance to see the physical drawings, pages and production work behind printed comics. October provides each of those experiences, often in the same week.
Readers planning around games as well as comics may also want to keep an eye on the site’s October 1 games release rundown. The overlap is especially apparent at MCM Comic Con, which spans comics, anime, gaming, TV and film rather than treating them as isolated audiences.
Early October: Dredd, drawing and comics as a serious subject
The month starts with events that treat the medium both as a craft and a vehicle for social discussion. On October 1, City St George’s, University of London hosts Panels & Perspectives: Disability and Neurodiversity in Comics, with Francisco de la Mora, Gemma Plum and Zara Slattery, chaired by Dr Ernesto Priego. The 6pm–8pm discussion at the College Building puts representation and perspective at the centre of the programme.
On October 2, the Quentin Blake Centre of Illustration in Clerkenwell hosts Making Your Mark: Creativity, Impact and Social Responsibility, featuring Greg Bunbury, Joey Yu and MURUGIAH. The panel launches The Big Draw Festival 2026 and runs from 6.15pm to 8pm, with doors at 6pm. The Comic and Manga Creators Group London also meets at Meltdown London in Islington that evening from 7.30pm to 9pm. That group recurs through the month, including October 9, 16, 23 and 30, offering a useful regular option for people who want a creator-focused social space rather than a one-off event.
October 3 is one of the month’s busiest days. Forbidden Planet London Megastore in Covent Garden hosts Day of Dredd from 2pm to 3.30pm, with Laura Bailey, Siliva Califano, Boo Cook, Dan Cornwell, Simon Davis, Chris Weston, Ben Willsher and Judge Dredd co-creator John Wagner. Attendees are limited to three personal items for signing. A separate Day of Dredd event takes place at Forbidden Planet Camden from 12.30pm to 1.30pm with Liam Sharp and Rob Williams, also with a three-item personal-signing limit.
Those limits are practical rather than trivial. Anyone attending for a signature should decide in advance which books matter most, especially when a shared window includes multiple creators. It is also worth distinguishing a personal item from a purchase made on site, because the stated cap specifically concerns personal belongings. Event policies can change, so checking venue guidance before travelling remains sensible.
Elsewhere on October 3, The Big Draw launch at the Quentin Blake Centre runs from 11am to 4pm. It combines free drop-in activities, bookable workshops and exhibition tours, including a collaborative garden artwork with Alex Bowie, colour activities with Marion Deuchars and Thames & Hudson, and collage work with Joey Yu. Deuchars is scheduled to sign books from noon to 12.30pm and again from 2pm to 2.30pm. A 45-minute curator tour of Quentin Blake: Performance begins at 11am.
Also that day, Maida Vale Library’s London Graphic Novel Club offers reading from graphic novels, comics and zines in under-15 and over-15 groups. It is suitable for ages seven and up, although children under eight cannot be left unattended. OverBoard London, a games, films, comics and geek-culture gathering, takes place at The Thirsty Bear in Southwark from 2pm to 8pm. The event returns on October 10, 17 and 24.
Graphic novels, exhibitions and independent-comics nights
October 5 brings Sarah Gavron and Sophie Herxheimer to Waterstones Trafalgar Square for an evening around their collaborative graphic novel Ode to Joy. The work follows Gavron’s father-in-law, Ib Katznelson, and his family’s experience of the Holocaust. Bidisha chairs the 7pm event, which is also due to include Katznelson. A second Ode to Joy event with Gavron and Herxheimer is scheduled for October 22 at Chener Books, from 7pm to 9pm.
On October 6, The Old Street Gallery hosts the launch of the comic book and short film New Ways of Creating Families, part of a four-year ESRC-funded research project on online sperm donation. The comic was produced by the research team and designed and illustrated by Monique Jackson; David Carless made the film, which uses participant stories voiced by actors. The 6pm–8pm event includes an exhibition, screening and opportunity to speak with contributors.
The same evening opens The Sad Ghost Club at the Cartoon Museum in Fitzrovia. Lize Meddings’ not-private view runs from 6pm to 8.30pm and includes original pages from Book 1, previously unseen work and book signings including Volume 5. The exhibition itself runs from October 6 through December 6. Original pages are a particular draw for readers interested in comics as objects: they let visitors inspect linework, corrections, layout choices and the scale of art that may look quite different once reproduced in a book.
On October 8, the Quentin Blake Centre presents a screening of No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics, followed by a discussion and audience Q&A with producer Justin Hall. The documentary considers the work of five pioneering LGBTQ cartoonists: Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, Rupert Kinnard and Mary Wings. The 6.30pm–8.30pm programme connects directly with the centre’s larger Queer as Comics exhibition, which continues until November 1.
That exhibition is described as the first major UK show devoted to queer comic-making. It spans work from the 1940s to the present and includes comics, strips, graphic novels and zines by more than 60 artists. Its focus on fantasy, identity and resistance makes the October 8 film screening a particularly useful companion event, rather than simply another item on a crowded list.
Gosh Comics has several launches and community evenings across the month. Beck Kubrick’s Dead Girls launch takes place October 9 from 7pm to 9pm. The shop’s after-hours Reads: Ice Cream Man discussion follows on October 14, also from 7pm to 9pm. On October 16, Ollie Silvester celebrates The Grand Bug Hotel; Kristyna Baczynski and Darryl Cunningham have a double launch on October 29 for Another Realm and John of the Night. Steve Webb signs Peng and Spanners: Doctor Biscuits on October 24 from 1pm to 2pm.
Collectors, readers and a major convention weekend
For readers whose interest includes older issues and artwork, London Comic Mart arrives at the Royal National Hotel near Russell Square on October 11, open from 11am to 4pm. It is a dealer fair for back issues, original art, British comics and American comics. Earlier entry is usually paid, with free entry later in the day. “Back issues” simply means previously published single issues, but the term covers everything from inexpensive reading copies to rarer collector books. Condition, completeness and edition details can be important when buying, so a slower inspection is preferable to treating every older comic as interchangeable.
The largest comics-and-pop-culture stop of the month is MCM Comic Con London at ExCeL London, Royal Docks, from October 23 to 25. Friday runs until 6pm, Saturday until 7pm and Sunday until 5pm, with different priority, weekend and general-admission opening times across the three days. Its comics guests include Armstrong Biggs, Cary Nord, Crystal Sully, Eren Angiolini, Hamish Steele, Lee Garbett, Lee Townsend, Marc Ellerby, Nigel Parkinson, Patrick Mulholland, Picolo, Rachael Smith, Steve Tanner and Warwick Fraser-Coombe, among others.
The event’s comics-specific programme includes Comics Publishing 101: 10 Years of Blue Fox Comics at 3pm on Friday, October 23, at the Artist Alley Stage. Saturday’s listed items include Faces with a Feeling at 10am on the Artist Alley Stage and ThE ToYMAKeR’s Key at 11am on the Creator Stage. On Sunday, Yen Press has an industry panel at noon on the Artist Alley Stage, followed by ThE ToYMAKeR’s Key Graphic Novel at 1pm.
For attendees primarily interested in books and art, Artist Alley and the Creator Pavilion are likely to be the most directly relevant spaces; for visitors wanting a wider event, the schedule also includes panels, cosplay, shopping and programming across gaming, TV, film and anime. The scale can be an advantage, but it also means building a short priority list before arrival: a panel, a creator to meet and a little time to browse make a more realistic plan than attempting to cover everything.
Making comics: children, families and emerging creators
October’s practical programme is strong, especially during the school-break period. Phil Corbett leads a Ghost and Toast-inspired comic-making and drawing workshop at Waterstones Greenwich on October 18, and another at Waterstones Kensington on October 30. Both are for ages seven and above.
On October 20, illustrator Skai Khari Joshua Campbell leads the free Black History Month workshop Make Your Own Comic at the Common Room in the Export Building. The noon–2pm drop-in is for students, staff and local residents. Its approach begins with drawing oneself as a non-human being, uses the nearby water gardens for ideas if conditions permit, and considers nature, race, class and reinvented folklore before participants create a short comic to take away.
Waterstones at Conway Hall hosts Neill Cameron’s How To Make Awesome Donut Comics on October 24 at noon. Cameron will cover ideas, character creation and drawing, lead a draw-along, and invite attendees to create their own characters. Paper or a sketchbook and drawing tools are recommended. The session welcomes children and adults, a useful reminder that introductory drawing workshops are not only for people who already consider themselves artists.
The Cartoon Museum has a concentrated run of sessions for ages eight to 14: Create a Comic Strip on October 27; Caricatures – Fun with Faces on October 28; Mythical Manga on October 29; and Make a Mini-Comic on October 30. These classes cover character design, facial exaggeration, manga-inspired creatures, one-page storytelling and simple self-made booklets. A mini-comic is a small-format comic, often made cheaply and reproduced in limited quantities; it has long been a direct route for creators to turn an idea into something shareable without needing a conventional publisher.
The museum also holds Relaxed Monday on October 26, with free booking-essential quieter sessions for families with autism spectrum conditions or sensory differences. The programme runs 11am–1.30pm and 3pm–4.30pm and includes drop-in drawing. At the Quentin Blake Centre, free Little Owls Storytelling sessions for under-fives and families take place on October 7, 14, 21 and 28 from 1.45pm to 2.45pm.
Halloween week: caricature, comics and a packed final day
The month builds toward a notably comics-heavy Halloween stretch. On October 23, Dr Gareth Brookes presents Embroidered Graphic Novels at Westminster Music Library. The 6.30pm–7.30pm talk covers Brookes’ The Dancing Plague, medieval mysticism, historical research and the question of whether the Bayeux Tapestry might be understood as a comic. It is an intriguing question because sequential images can tell a narrative even without using the familiar panel-and-speech-balloon grammar of modern comics.
The Cartoon Museum’s Halloween Party takes place from 6.30pm on October 29, remaining open until 9pm. It ties into Does My Head Look BIG in This? The Art of Portrait Caricature, adds drop-in mask-making and a bar, and promises further announcements. The exhibition itself remains on view until November 1, tracing portrait caricature from Renaissance Italy and its 18th-century English heyday to the present.
October 30 adds the Dark Emporium market at the Bank of England Museum, open from 10am to 7.30pm, with graphic novels among the books and handmade wares on offer. The following day, October 31, is the real finale. Gosh Comics and the Royal George host a Halloween Drink and Draw from 6.30pm with Mark Stafford, Zen K. and Shane Melisse; costumes are encouraged.
Forbidden Planet London in Covent Garden runs its Long Halloween signing programme from 12.30pm to 4.30pm. Abigail Jill Harding and Richard Starkings are scheduled for Parliament of Rooks; Alex Paknadel and Salvador Lavado for the SCREAM! Halloween Special; Kek-W and Dave Kendall for The Dark Judges: The Fall of Deadworld: Omnibus; and Lee Garbett for Daredevil #8. The store will also launch two exclusive Absolute Batman #25 covers during Garbett’s 3.30pm–4.30pm slot.
The Cartoon Museum hosts Comic Day from noon to 5.30pm on October 31, with a comic sale curated by Only Old School Goods, a 4pm seminar on buying and selling comics, and comic appraisals for people with books at home. An appraisal is an opinion on an item’s value, not a guarantee that it will sell for that amount. Anyone taking books along should protect them during transport and remember that value can depend on details such as edition, condition and demand. Kensal Library also offers a Halloween graphic-novel giveaway between 9.30am and 5pm, with costumes, comics and cupcakes part of the day.
Exhibitions worth planning around
Several shows make October a good month for repeat visits rather than a single packed day. At the Quentin Blake Centre, Quentin Blake: Performance continues until April 2027 and includes more than 100 original drawings examining theatrical influence, including Macbeth characters rendered as birds. The centre’s library display of Sophy Hollington linocuts continues until December 31, while Faerdom: Now, As Ever opens October 23 and runs into 2027. Created by Vince Ibay and Jessica Miller of Fromm Studio, it uses animated figures from myth and legend to consider how digital landscapes shape modern life.
Visitors early in the month can also catch MURUGIAH’s Ever Feel Like… through October 4, while the Cartoon Museum’s Well Actually: An Accurate Enough Collection by Madeline Horwath is also on display through October 4. Together with the continuing caricature exhibition, Meddings’ new show and the wide historical reach of Queer as Comics, these provide a meaningful alternative to the busiest signing queues and convention crowds.
October 2026 therefore offers more than a checklist of celebrity appearances. Whether the priority is learning to draw a page, discussing a graphic novel, examining original work, finding back issues, sharing a reading group or spending three days amid the organised pandemonium of a major convention, London’s comics calendar supplies a route in. The key is choosing the kind of comics experience you actually want—and leaving enough time to enjoy it.
