The Lake Como Comic Art Festival is coming back to Villa Erba next April, and if you’ve ever dreamed of visiting a comic convention that feels more like an artist’s retreat than a pop-culture stampede, this is the one to circle in red ink. The organisers have unveiled their 2026 plans, and the result is a guest list so stacked it borders on surreal. Plus, there’s a new VIP package built around an exclusive Conan the Barbarian portfolio from Liam Sharp, drawn in the best ink pens.
For Sharp, this isn’t just another commission. Conan has been a totemic figure throughout his life, and the artist speaks about the character with rare tenderness. “He made me feel stronger at a time when I needed it,” he recalls. The new portfolio gathers a suite of classic-inspired Conan scenes, each VIP edition graced with an original hand-drawn remarque and Sharp’s signature.
Sharp has drawn for DC horror imprint as well as illustrating Superman: Where is Thy Sting? written by J.M. DeMatteis. He tells us, "Conan struck my young impressionable psyche like a lightning bolt when I first saw him glaring out at me from a book cover - painted, I would later learn, by the astonishing Frank Frazetta - on the shelves of a local newsagent's when I was around 8 or nine. I would go back and stare at it every day, until one day it was just gone. I felt bereft!"
Adding: "Later I rediscovered him as rendered by John Buscema and my favourite inker, Alfredo Alcala, in the pages of 'The Savage Sword of Conan.' It blew my mind again. Later still, I discovered Barry Windsor Smith's astonishing version via my copy of 'The Studio', prompting me to track down as much of his work as I could find!
"And now I was reading the novels. And finally, the Arnold movie became the icing on the cake."
(Read our guide to the best comic art resources and digital art software to get started yourself. And our Conan the Barbarian modelling tutorial for advice.)
But the portfolio is only one reason Lake Como has become such a pilgrimage for comic-art lovers. The festival is intimate by design, stripping away the noise of cosplay parades, blockbuster trailers and food-court crushes. Instead, it offers uninterrupted time with the world’s best artists, surrounded by lake-light, gardens and 19th-century architecture.
This Comic-Con is like taking a well-earned break, relaxing at the foot of the Alps amidst Italian coffee shops, which just happen to have some of the world's best comic and fantasy artists loitering around.
This year’s guest list? It’s a collector’s fantasy rolled into a single weekend. Names like Alan Davis, Brian Bolland, Esad Ribic, Gabriele Dell’Otto, J. Scott Campbell, Sara Pichelli, Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau, Juanjo Guarnido, Mahmud Asrar, Frank Cho and Riccardo Federici – alongside more than two dozen equally heavyweight talents – will fill the halls of Villa Erba. For many visitors, it’s the one place on Earth where you can move from a Dustin Nguyen watercolour to a Marini noir page to a Cho pin-up without breaking pace.
The festival opens on Friday 24 April with its now-traditional lakeside reception, a gentle welcome that feels more like joining a secret society of art obsessives. The following two days (25–26 April) are slower, richer, filled with conversations that can only happen when an event trusts its audience and its artists.
Four ticket tiers are available now, including the new VIP package that’s bound to sell out quickly thanks to Sharp’s ultra-limited portfolio. You can also book a two-day pass and a single-day pass.
If you love the craft of comics, the linework, the storytelling, the wild mix of tradition and imagination, or just love relaxing in beautiful places, Lake Como Comic-Con is shaping up to be one of the next year’s best art events.
Visit the Lake Como Comic-Con website for more info, tickets, dates and prices.
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