Nigeria’s comics, animation and pop culture scene has not paused for breath since June, and it is not about to start now. On 27 June, Comic Con Ibadan held its fourth edition at Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, delivering a day built around awards, an Artist Alley and an animation screening, having already warmed the community up a few weeks earlier with the “Amala and Comic Experience”, a free pre-event hangout organised with Tales n Tells that paired comic culture with piping hot amala and abula.
Then, on 15 August, the anime and gaming community had its turn. AniWeCon 2026: Beyond Fury took over Paradise Event Arena in Lagos under the twin banners “Choose Your Path” and “Choose Your Fun,” bringing anime, gaming, cosplay, art and, for the first time, awards, under one roof. The event also carried real weight on the international front. AniWe now has a working relationship with the Japan-Africa Entertainment Business Council (JAEBC), a body built to create a proper, licensed pathway between Japanese IP holders and African markets, and AniWeCon’s anime programming this year leaned directly on that partnership, giving West African fans an early, official route to content many had spent over a decade sourcing informally. TheACE will be publishing a fuller account of what went down at AniWeCon on our platforms in the coming days.
With those two now behind us, the next event on the calendar is only days away, and it is a personal one.
ISEDA: Gen C, The Creative Evolution
On 30 August, at Jelosimi Gallery in Lagos, Ganiyu Ibrahim, known widely as Sirgai, presents ISEDA: Gen C, a landmark exhibition marking over 25 years of creative training, mentorship and talent development under his hand. Sirgai is a Nigerian illustrator, comic artist, graphic designer and creative mentor with more than three decades in the industry, and Gen C is built around a straightforward premise: creativity can be passed on, deliberately, from one generation to the next.
Rather than a straightforward showcase of new work, the exhibition is framed as a celebration of impact and continuity. Each of the exhibiting artists represents a chapter in that long mentorship story, having come up under Sirgai’s training and guidance at different points in their creative journeys. The line-up includes Jide Olusanya, Stanley Obende, Tolu Omogbehin, Raphael Kazeem, Alex Shenjobi, Nwankwo Newman, Shola Lambe and Damilola Olaleye, presenting work spanning illustration, comics, graphic design and visual storytelling. As Sirgai put it in the press release announcing the exhibition, the greatest evidence of a creative legacy lies not only in the work one leaves behind, but in the people inspired and equipped to keep creating.
Hosted at Jelosimi Gallery, an Afrocentric creative space owned by a longtime friend of Sirgai’s and one of Nigeria’s leading artists, Gen C will also mark the relaunch of Club Create, the creative training platform behind many of the exhibiting artists. Attendees interested in developing their own creative practice will be able to register for the next intake, closing what the organisers describe as a full cycle: mentorship, training, creation, opportunity, impact, and mentorship again.
September
September carries two of the bigger dates on the calendar. On 12 September, Lagos Comic Convention marks its 15th anniversary at the Landmark Event Centre, Oniru, under the theme “Where Are The Superheroes?” Running from 9am to 7pm, the day brings cosplay, gaming competitions, panels, masterclasses, exhibitions and networking together, with organisers also running an open call for cosplayers to compete for cash prizes and inviting comic publishers to bring their titles before readers, retailers and industry professionals. Founder Ayodele Elegba has framed the theme as a statement rather than a question, arguing that comics, animation, gaming and film are not dying industries but evolving movements, with the “superheroes” being the creators, gamers and fans already building the space, and has since thanked everyone who has bought a ticket or booked exhibition space so far, with sponsorship opportunities still open.
Later in the month, on 26 September, Nerdwork Comic-Con 6.0: Kreatorverse takes place at Lemaco Hall, Ada George, Port Harcourt, having been moved back three weeks from its original 5 September date. Organisers said the shift followed consultation with partners, sponsors and stakeholders, and was made in the interest of delivering a properly polished experience rather than a rushed one. The Kreatorverse theme remains unchanged; only the date has moved.
October
North Central Nigeria’s biggest comics, animation and gaming celebration, the Abuja Comic Art Convention, is confirmed to return this October, organised by Creative Art Studio Ltd. Organisers are promising their biggest edition yet, with live art battles, cosplay, gaming, comics, animation, networking, exclusive merchandise and competitions on the bill, alongside the debut of the Afrogram App. An exact date has not yet been announced, but weekly updates, including special guests and activities, are promised in the run-up.
November
Frame Fest Abuja, powered by Symphonii Studios, is teasing its return this November, though details remain deliberately scarce for now. The most recent edition, held on 22 November 2025, ran under the theme “Africa Has Stories to Tell, and It’s Time We Told Them Our Way”, bringing animators, illustrators, comic artists and storytellers together for panels, workshops and comic book launches. Symphonii Studios has also built a reputation beyond the main festival for fostering arts and storytelling contests among secondary school students, work that recently earned the outfit a nomination at Comic Con Ibadan’s awards. This year’s teaser arrived as a word-search puzzle themed around character roles and relationships, protagonist, antagonist, rival, family and mentor among the hidden words, a fitting way to tease a festival built entirely around how stories, and the people who tell them, connect. A full announcement is expected closer to November.
December
Beyond the conventions, the final stretch of the year could also bring the return of two awards nights that have quickly become fixtures of the industry’s calendar. The Bookause Comic Industry Impact Awards (BCII Awards), a joint initiative between Bookause and TheACE, closed out 2025 with Comic Republic named Publisher of the Year, Alexander Esene named Creator of the Year, and ComicPanel World named Media of the Year, among other category wins decided by public vote. With the BCII Awards designed to draw nominations from across the industry’s major event organisers, including many of the very conventions covered above, a 2026 edition would sit naturally at the close of this season. The NICE Awards, formerly known as the Comic Panel Awards, also went virtual for its most recent edition, honouring names such as Chima Kalu, Symphonii Studios and Murewa Ayodele. Nothing has been confirmed yet for either awards night this year, but TheACE will be watching closely, and so should you.
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