It’s been a busy and **very** warm month here at CY! 🌞

We’ve conquered the heat with plenty of fun! From attending Flood and Coast 2026 to Comics Declassified masterclasses, read on to find out what CY has been up to this month!

**Merseyside Zine Fair!**

Amazing news! Comics Youth are hosting a zine fair on 15th August at Make Hamilton in Birkenhead!

We’re going to need some amazing zine makers, so if you’d be interested in having a FREE half table to sell your zines, head to our Linktree to fill in an application form!

We’re currently prioritising Merseyside based artists who are 25 and under who identify as marginalised, to further our mission to platform marginalised young artists.

Follow us on social media to be the first to see the official poster for the event 👀🌟

If you have any questions, please email seb@comicsyouth.co.uk.

**Comics Declassified: Online**

This month we were joined by comic editor **Shelly Bond**, who taught us all about **editing comics**! Shelly is known for working with DC comics for two decades, and was an executive director for DC Vertigo between 2013 and 2016. If you missed this brilliant masterclass, keep an eye out for the recording of it on our YouTube channel soon!

Our Comics Artist Marginal Associate Matt created this illustration to summarise what we learned in Shazleen Khan’s online masterclass about making webcomics!

Our next online masterclass will be about colouring comics with Eren Angiolini on the 14th July! To see about future masterclasses, and watch previous masterclasses: click this link.

**Comics Declassified: In-Person**

This month our cohort learned about **RISO printing**!

We learned what RISO printing is and why it’s so great! Our cohort learned how Comics Youth’s own RISO machine functions, about different tones that are possible to produce, and how to make a master copy! All skills and terminology which can be implemented into printing our own comics!

To find out about our upcoming in-person masterclasses, along with further information about the Comics Declassified programme: click this link

**Rising Voices**

Comics Youth in partnership with The Environment Agency attended Flood and Coast 2026 to introduce the projects we’ve co-produced through the Rising Voices programme! We showcased a sneak peek of the Rising Voices anthology, which will be launching later this year, as well as concept designs for The Flood Cafe made by our young people!

**A BAFTA Young Game Designer Award finalist!**

One of our amazing young people, Alexei, was nominated for the BAFTA Young Game Designer ‘Game Concept’ Award 2026, in the 10-14 category, and made it to the finals! We’re beyond proud!! 🥳

**Saturday Comics Workshop**

This month we made encyclo-Zines, researching our favourite facts about animals, plants, and minerals. We also created our own dream spaces and imagined up what was happening inside a fantasy castle!

At Saturday Comics Workshop, we support young people to be creative, in professionally led sessions which support the group to make their own comics and illustrations - using the young people’s very own ideas!

To learn more about Saturday Comics Workshop: click this link

**Here For The Nerds**

At Here For The Nerds this month, we created pride crafts to celebrate Pride Month, created DnD one-shot zines, and played card games such as Flip 7!

At Here For The Nerds there is always an optional creative activity, along with the choice to play games, read a book from our comics library, or just have a chat! Sessions run every Saturday 1:30pm-3pm for 14-25 year olds.

To learn more about Here For The Nerds: click this link

**Macc-POW!**

We attended Macc-POW! Comic Art Festival again! We showcased our Marginal publications and zines made by our own Zine Collective cohorts! (Illustration by Seb at CY)

If you missed us, you can browse our online store using this link!

**Project Teens!**

Comics Youth attended The Brain Charity’s Project Teens event, an exciting two-day event which was all about creating space for neurodivergent young people to explore, connect, and try something new. We ran workshops on character creation and comic making and had such a great day!

To learn more about the event and The Brain Charity: click this link

**Marginal Associate Updates**

Our associates have been up to great stuff!

Cady (me!) has been working on creating a digital zine library, whilst Jake has been working on collating a number of book recommendations from our staff for a book of the week for our social media!

Matt W. has been still creating beautiful illustrations for Comics Youth’s platforms (such as the one above!) and collaborating with Matt H. who is hard at work supporting our young people on our group sessions.

Aslan has been continuing to attend events, alongside growing and strengthening our networks!

Monthly Wrap-Up: June at Comics Youth! 🌈