The eighth annual LAComicsFestival will return to Larissa from Friday, September 4, to Sunday, September 6, 2026, bringing together more than 140 artists and creators at the Mill of Pappas complex.
The three-day event in the central Greek city features five art exhibitions, three outdoor murals, and more than 30 scheduled activities, with free admission offered for all scheduled events.
Portuguese illustrator and street artist Francisco Fonseca serves as the main international guest for this year's festival, having designed the official poster for the event.
Fonseca will present a solo exhibition at the venue and host a workshop titled Building a Miniature City with Paper, where participants will create small paper structures to construct a collective model city.
He is also set to paint a new large-scale mural in Larissa that will remain in the city after the festival concludes. Greek muralists Taxis, also known as Dimitris Trimintzios, and HooDSpirit are also participating in the mural program, alongside Dutch illustrator Eva Halfers as an international guest.
Exhibitions and Visual Storytelling
The festival will host five exhibitions presenting works across various illustration and visual narrative fields at the Mill of Pappas, a restored historic flour mill complex that operates as a cultural site in Larissa.
The exhibition lineup includes Fonseca's solo show, the Apartment Blocks series by Mi Delta and Dimitris Chris Agara, and Pavlos Sidiropoulos: In Conclusion, a tribute exhibition dedicated to the late Greek rock musician.
Greek cartoonist Soloup will showcase VAVEL: Digging, sometimes you find, alongside an exhibit based on the 11 Comedies of Aristophanes in Comics by Tasos Apostolidis, which adapts works by the ancient Greek playwright. Soloup will also participate in a presentation tracing his artistic journey from his graphic novel The Collector to Vavel, as well as lead a workshop on the communicative power and language of comics.
Video Games and Workshops
More than 30 activities are scheduled across the weekend, including book and graphic novel presentations, illustration and comics workshops, origami, graffiti, live portraiture, doodle sessions, creative storytelling, and gaming. A dedicated children's program will run on all three days, featuring workshops and animation screenings organized in partnership with the Thessaloniki Animation Festival.
Video game development features prominently in this year's program, highlighting creators based in Larissa. Aris Dragonis, founder of Dragonis Games, will deliver a presentation detailing his progression from 3D digital art to creating video games such as The Shore, Eresys, and Necrophosis.
Organisers stated that Dragonis became the first Greek developer to release a video game globally in both digital and physical formats for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S with his game Necrophosis: Full Consciousness. Larissa-based studio Behind the Hump will also present Forgotten Eras, an upcoming side-scrolling action-adventure title built in Unreal Engine 5 that draws inspiration from Slavic folklore.
Live Performances and Artist Alley
The festival's evening schedule opens on Friday, September 4, with comedians Ilias Fountoulis and Angelos Spiliopoulos performing their stand-up show Toso Oso at Cine Mylos. Saturday features a DJ set by Antonis Batzias followed by a live Rock Wave concert with Screaming Dead Balloons and Fagus, before concluding on Sunday with a closing party titled You'll Know When You're There.
Throughout the event, the festival's Artist Alley will host over 140 comic artists, illustrators, designers, self-publishers, and independent creators presenting comics, prints, zines, books, original artwork, and personal projects.
According to the official schedule, free entry covers all talks, workshops, screenings, live performances, and other festival activities. LAComicsFestival Vol.8 is co-organised by the Municipality of Larissa, the ETouKou Comics and Arts Association, and Project IppoKampos.
