Thought Bubble’s Comic Art Festival weekend in Harrogate is getting a substantial head start before the convention floor opens. Friday’s programme spreads across the town with an early wristband pickup and welcome gathering, a publisher launch featuring comics and science-fiction guests, a 35th-anniversary screening of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and a 20-year celebration for Phonogram.
That is a lot of competing plans for one evening, but it is also a concise illustration of what a comics festival can be beyond signing queues and exhibitor tables. The schedule joins comics, print art, film, music and social events, then continues on Saturday with the 2000 AD and Thought Bubble Mid-Con Party at MOJO Harrogate.
Start early: welcome event and wristband collection
The Mercer Art Gallery hosts the Welcome Event and Advance Wristband Collection from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Visitors can pick up convention wristbands before the usual weekend collection, receive a free drink, and stay for the gallery bar. The venue will also have a 20th-edition celebration video by Kate Broughton, alongside the gallery’s existing works.
For attendees planning a packed Saturday, advance wristband collection is the practical move. A convention wristband is the credential used for entry and, in this case, also provides access to Saturday’s Mid-Con Party. Collecting it on Friday may mean less time spent in collection lines once the convention begins. It also makes the opening event a low-pressure entry point for people arriving in Harrogate before the evening’s ticketed or age-limited activities.
Cosmic Lighthouse brings comics and science fiction to Everyman
From 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Cosmic Lighthouse co-founders Paul Cornell and Lee Harris will host a launch event at the Everyman Harrogate Cinema main bar, above Destination Venus. Adrian Tchaikovsky and artist Gary Erskine are among the guests announced for the evening.
The event’s main draw is not only the guest list. Cosmic Lighthouse plans to unveil its third graphic novel, make exclusive Thought Bubble editions of its books available for pre-order, and reveal further announcements. Guests will sign two Thought Bubble-exclusive art prints while supplies last, as well as earlier works offered for sale at the venue.
In comics terms, an exclusive edition usually means a version created for a particular event or retailer, rather than the broadly distributed edition. The programme confirms that pre-orders will be available but does not set out print runs, pricing or the precise changes in those editions. Likewise, the two free art prints are specifically limited by stock, so attendees hoping to have them signed should treat arrival time as important rather than assume they will remain available through the full event.
The Everyman venue is fully accessible, with a lift serving all floors. Children may attend only with an adult.
Cosmic Lighthouse’s event also reflects a broader overlap that suits a festival such as Thought Bubble: comics creators and prose science-fiction writers often share audiences, while a graphic-novel launch can be part discussion, part announcement session and part signing. For fans building an evening around creators rather than a single medium, the 6:30 p.m. start makes this the natural first stop after the Mercer gathering.
A 35-year return for Terminator 2
At 8:30 p.m., Cellar Door Gallery, Thought Bubble and Everyman present a special screening of James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The film’s screening marks its 35th anniversary and continues Cellar Door Gallery’s Friday-night, pre-convention film tradition at the festival.
The screening runs from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. It includes prize giveaways, a free exclusive poster with each ticket, and early access to Luke Preece’s forthcoming Terminator 2 screenprint.
A screenprint is a print made through a stencil-based process in which ink is pushed through a mesh screen. In an art-event context, early access means attendees can get an initial chance to obtain the print before its wider availability; it does not, by itself, establish an edition size or guarantee that every attendee can buy one. The free poster is tied to a ticket, while the screenprint is described separately as early access.
This is the clearest option for anyone who wants a defined start and finish to their Friday night, but it directly overlaps with the start of the Phonogram celebration. Cosmic Lighthouse also ends at 8:30 p.m., so a visitor can attend the launch and then head immediately into the screening, though there is no buffer in the published times. Anyone looking to attend both should factor travel between the cinema’s spaces into their own plan.
Phonogram turns 20 with a late-night dance floor
Also beginning at 8:30 p.m., Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s Phonogram receives a 20th-anniversary party upstairs at Cold Bath Brewing Co. The event is listed from 8:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m., with the DJ portion scheduled for 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. It is restricted to guests aged 18 and over.
Phonogram is a particularly fitting title for an event centered on DJs and dancing: the celebration is built around music rather than a formal retrospective panel or signing session. Gillen has indicated that neither he nor McKelvie will be DJing at the Mid-Con Party, framing Friday’s event as the chance to share a dance floor with them. He also jokingly suggested he might play “Pullshapes” repeatedly until removed from the stage.
For attendees choosing between the Friday film and the party, the choice is less about one event being a substitute for the other than about format. The Terminator 2 screening is a seated, time-specific programme with a poster included per ticket and access to a print. The Phonogram event is a social, music-driven anniversary gathering that runs later. Both begin at the same time, so the published schedule makes a full attendance at each impossible.
Saturday’s Mid-Con Party is free for accredited attendees
The festival’s next major social event is the 2000 AD and Thought Bubble Mid-Con Party 2026, taking place Saturday at MOJO Harrogate from 7 p.m. to midnight. Entry is free for convention ticket holders, exhibitors and guests who show a wristband or lanyard at the door. It is also an 18-and-over event.
MOJO is described as a three-storey bar, and attendees are encouraged to arrive early because a busy turnout is expected. After midnight, the bar will open to the public and remain open late, meaning the ticket-holder access period is specifically the 7 p.m.-to-midnight window.
That distinction matters for anyone arranging their night: a convention ticket or exhibitor/guest credential is the route to free entry during the official Mid-Con Party. It is not simply a general invitation to the venue after midnight. Friday’s advance wristband collection at Mercer Art Gallery may therefore be especially useful for people intending to go directly to MOJO on Saturday.
How to approach the Friday schedule
- For the broadest festival sampler: Begin at Mercer Art Gallery, then go to Cosmic Lighthouse. From there, choose either the film or the Phonogram party.
- For announcements and signed print items: Prioritize Cosmic Lighthouse, where both the third graphic novel reveal and the free signed-print opportunity are planned while stock lasts.
- For film and poster collectors: The Terminator 2 screening is the relevant event, with a poster included with every ticket and early access to the Luke Preece screenprint.
- For the music-focused option: Choose the 18+ Phonogram party, which continues until 11:30 p.m.
- For Saturday-night logistics: Get a wristband in advance if possible, then bring that wristband or a lanyard to MOJO for the free Mid-Con Party entry window.
The programme gives Thought Bubble visitors several distinctly different ways to start the weekend, with one unavoidable caveat: the best options are deliberately concurrent. The smart plan is not trying to tick every box, but deciding whether the priority is a launch announcement, a film screening, a dance floor, or getting convention administration handled early. For more entertainment-event context, see our look at how adaptations can stay familiar without becoming repeats.
