The artists responsible for The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Judge Dredd and for cartoons lampooning the Trump administration will be in Galway next month for the ninth Galway Cartoon Festival.

It’s running from Friday to Wednesday, October 3-8, featuring legendary comic book artists, leading contemporary cartoonists, talks and workshops.

Guests include Gilbert Shelton, creator of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers; 2000AD and Judge Dredd artist Brendan McCarthy, leading American political cartoonist Jeff Danzinger; and pioneering Northern Irish political cartoonist Ian Knox. They will be exhibiting and speaking. Meanwhile Palestinian artist Malak Mattar will take up an artist residency at Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr.

French cartoonists will be prominent, with a welcome return for illustrator and graphic novelist Lucie Arnoux, who will host drawing workshops throughout the week. Leading French cartoonists Camille Besse and Thibaut Soulcié will give masterclasses on Press Cartoons at PorterShed a Dó on Market Street, and Coralina Picos from Ca Presse Lyon will be among the speakers.

And Gilbert Shelton, who along with Robert Crumb, was a pioneering figure of the Underground Comix movement of the 1960s, will be in conversation with fellow underground artist Hunt Emerson in PorterShed a Dó at 2pm on Saturday, October 4.

Brendan McCarthy will tell his story at 4pm in the same venue the following day. He has drawn many graphic novels, written for Hollywood, including the Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road, and worked as a production designer in animation and on pop videos.

This year’s Featured Irish Cartoonist is Belfast’s Ian Knox. Currently the editorial cartoonist for The Irish News, he began his career drawing political cartoons for left-wing periodicals. In the late 1990s, he contributed the ‘As I See It’ feature for BBC2 Northern Ireland’s political/current affairs show, Hearts and Minds. His work will be exhibited in the Town Hall Theatre.

The work of US Army veteran and political cartoonist Jeff Danziger is widely syndicated, appearing The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Times and The American Prospect. Since 2023, he has focused strongly on the situation in Gaza, strongly critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. He will give a talk in PorterShed a Dó at 3pm on October 5.

Discussions this year will include Are We Still Charlie?, examining the responsibilities of cartooning and satire in an era where the far-right have weaponised the idea of freedom of speech, and asking if the example of French magazine Charlie Hebdo is still one to be followed or is best left in the past. That will be chaired by Frank McNally of The Irish Times.

The major exhibitions will be in the Eyre Square Shopping Centre, including a group show Danse Macabre, which depicts the world with horrifying humour, while there will be a solo show from Berlin comic artist Andy Leuenberger. The Town Hall Theatre will host General Mayhem, where artists from around the world have their favourite work to the festival.

On Inis Oírr, an Irish-language cartoon exhibition, Tarraing É i nGaeilge, will be on display at Áras Éanna Arts Centre, alongside work by Lucie Arnoux. There will also be cartoon workshops as Gaeilge for schools and pub drawing sessions.

* For details of all events, see galwaycartoonfestival.ie.

Pictured: Leading American political cartoonist Jeff Danzinger will be exhibiting and speaking about his work.