COMICS YOUTH COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

What COMICS YOUTH COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY does

Comics Youth Community Interest Company (Comics Youth CIC) is a privately held, not-for-profit social enterprise founded in 2015. It serves primarily marginalised young people aged 8–25 in Merseyside and, through a separate Scottish charitable entity, Dundee, using youth-led, trauma-informed comics, zine-making, storytelling, and publishing. Its core offer includes age-banded Saturday workshops, Here For The Nerds, Comics Declassified masterclasses, the paid Zine Collective, Marginal Publishing House, and the Marginal Associates employment programme. RISO printing and a Youth Development Board support the organisation's creative-production and participatory-governance model.

Comics Youth reaches participants through weekly physical sessions, community events, partner referrals, and online masterclasses, with recorded YouTube content that includes captions and BSL interpretation. Most youth programmes and masterclasses are free. The organisation's primary revenue support is grant funding and charitable contributions, supplemented by commissioned creative workshops for schools, museums, and councils and sales of youth-created comics, zines, and anthologies through Marginal Publishing. It also operates national-facing projects such as Rising Voices and the paid Young Comics Laureate role, which broaden its institutional and advocacy reach.

Name

COMICS YOUTH COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

Legal name

Comics Youth CIC

Website

https://comicsyouth.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Comics Youth CIC is a youth-led nonprofit using trauma-informed comics, zine-making, and storytelling to support marginalized young people aged 8–25 through creative programs, training, publishing, and paid development opportunities across Merseyside and Dundee.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Arts and Youth Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Educational Support Services (611710)

akta.pro primary industry

Children’s & All-Ages Comics Publishing (MPAJAGAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Children’s Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga Publishing (MPAJAFAH), Youth-to-Adult Transition & Life Skills (Independent Living, Soft Skills) (EDAAAFAN)

Keywords

• Youth creative programs
• Community arts education
• Zine publishing
• Creative health services
• Comics workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Birkenhead, England

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Charitable Support: As a Community Interest Company (CIC) and registered charity, Comics Youth operates primarily through grant funding from foundations, trusts, and government programs. Supported by Chimo, Prudence, Tudor Trust, and PHF (Portfolio Health Foundation). Additional support from National Lottery Community Fund and Environment Agency for specific projects.
2. Youth Publishing Revenue: Marginal Publishing House sells publications created by young people including zines, comics, and anthologies. Sales through online store and events.
3. Workshop and Program Delivery: Free programs for young people; some commissioned work for external organizations (schools, museums, councils) to deliver creative workshops

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Comics Youth is a youth-led creative health organization that delivers trauma-informed comics, zine-making and storytelling programs for marginalized young people aged 8-25. Core services include weekly in-person workshops (Saturday Comics Workshop, Here For The Nerds), the Comics Declassified masterclass series for early-career creators, paid Zine Collective cohorts, and the Marginal Associates paid employment programme. It also operates Marginal Publishing House, a youth-led publishing brand selling publications created by participants.

Product overview

Comics Youth CIC is a youth-led, trauma-informed creative health organisation that uses comics, storytelling and publishing to support mental wellbeing, belonging and recovery for marginalised young people aged 8-25. The organisation offers a portfolio of programmes including Saturday Comics Workshop (ages 8-13), Here For The Nerds (ages 14-25), Comics Declassified masterclasses, and the Zine Collective. It operates a youth-led publishing hub called Marginal Publishing House for distributing young people's work. The organisation also runs employment initiatives including the Marginal Associates Programme (paid positions for ages 16-25) and the Youth Development Board for governance input. In 2025, it launched the inaugural Young Comics Laureate role in partnership with LICAF. Comics Youth SCIO operates a separate Scottish branch in Dundee.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Marginal Publishing House: Youth-led publishing hub for young people to publish their comics and zines
• Saturday Comics Workshop
• Here For The Nerds
• Comics Declassified
• Zine Collective
• Rising Voices
• Marginal Associates Programme
• Turn The Page

Products and services

• Saturday Comics Workshop Free weekly workshop for young people aged 8-13 held every Saturday 11:30am-1pm at Make Hamilton, Birkenhead, where professionally-led sessions support participants to create their own comics, zines, and illustrations using their own ideas.
• Here For The Nerds Free weekly Saturday session (1:30pm-3pm) for young people aged 14-25 featuring gaming on Nintendo Switch, board games, crafts, badge making, and creative activities with free drinks and snacks provided at Make Hamilton, Birkenhead.
• Comics Declassified Free 10-month upskilling programme for marginalised comics creators aged 16-30, combining monthly online masterclasses via Microsoft Teams (Tuesdays 5-6:30pm UK time) with industry experts and in-person sessions in Merseyside covering lettering, editing, colouring, webcomics, and conventions.
• Zine Collective Paid collaborative zine-making cohort programme for young people aged 13-17 and 18-25, with participants paid to create and publish anthologies such as 'The State of Our World' and 'Nostalgia Zine' as part of the Beyond the Margins project.
• Marginal Publishing House Youth-led publishing brand that sells anthologies, zines, and comics created by young people through an online store at marginalpublishing.co.uk, including collaborations such as the Rising Voices flood stories anthology produced with the Environment Agency.
• Marginal Associates Programme Paid living-wage employment programme for young people aged 16-25 offering roles such as Outreach, Website, Social Media, Comic Artist in Residence, and Youth Participation, with each role co-designed with input from the Youth Development Board.
• Turn The Page Core creative engagement and youth development project delivered through comics and storytelling, providing an open call-out programme for young people to participate in creative activities.
• Rising Voices Creative course partnering with the Environment Agency that combines art, science and activism to explore climate change response, with participants working alongside flood defence engineers to create a comics anthology of flood stories.
• Young Comics Laureate Inaugural paid national advocacy role launched in 2025-26 in partnership with Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) and funded by the Charlie Adlard Foundation, designed to champion comics for young people. Mollie Ray (Ray) was appointed as the first Young Comics Laureate.

Quantifiable outcome

• Young people displaying artwork in professional venues (Everyman Theatre)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 September 2025Partnership to create and host the inaugural Young Comics Laureate role (2025-26). Comics Youth co-designed the selection process with Youth Development Board and national public vote. LICAF hosts the annual role and provides platform for young comics advocacy. Role is paid, with Comics Youth stating 'young voices are not ornamental, they are essential.'
• Environment AgencycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partnership on Rising Voices project - a creative course combining art, science and activism exploring climate change response. Young people worked with flood defence engineers to create comics anthology of flood stories. Showcase at Flood and Coast 2026.
• The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & MuseumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partnership for Building Stories: A Summer of Comics - free two-week comics summer school. Gallery tours, creative workshops, and youth-created zines displayed in Creative Learning Studio.
• Liverpool Science-Fiction Fanzine ArchiveminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Academic partnership for Zine Collective project. Young people investigating the archive as part of zine-making process.
• British LibraryminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partnership to help 13 care-experienced young people create a comics anthology about their experiences.
• Make CICcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost organisation for Comics Youth HQ at Make Hamilton 2.0. Community creative hub providing space, community cafe, roof garden, and maker activities. Supported by Wirral's £25m Town Deal funding. Dedicated to seeing marginalised creatives thrive.
• Everyman TheatreminorOthersVenue displaying young people's artwork. Three young artists (Soph, Kaitlyn, Rhys) created pieces responding to 'The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher' play.
• Safe Spaces: Reclaiming Community Spaces ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProgramme enabling young people to create LGBTQIA+ events including Queer 4 You. Young people learned skills in budgeting, activism, and accessibility over 11 weeks.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• National Youth Theatre: Long-established UK youth arts charity offering creative training, masterclasses and performance pathways to young people nationwide. Comparable youth-creative-sector talent development model but at much larger scale across theatre rather than comics.
• The Reader: National UK charity using shared reading to improve wellbeing, mental health and social connection. Overlaps in creative-literacy-to-health positioning but operates at significantly greater scale and broader demographic scope.

Direct peers

• Heart n Soul: UK disability arts and wellbeing charity working with learning-disabled and autistic artists. Comparable creative-health positioning, focus on marginalised participants, and use of arts as a vehicle for mental wellbeing and belonging.
• Contact (Manchester): Manchester arts venue and charity dedicated to supporting young creatives aged 16-30 to make and share ambitious art. Closely comparable creative-arts-for-young-people model with strong focus on marginalised participants.
• Spread the Word: London-based literary development agency supporting underrepresented writers through development programmes and publishing platforms. Comparable mission of elevating marginalised creative voices through structured programmes and published outputs.
• Apples and Snakes: England's longest-running performance poetry organisation, running creative writing and performance programmes for young people including marginalised groups. Comparable youth-focused creative arts charity model with a national footprint.
• Ministry of Stories: UK charity running creative writing workshops and1:1 support for young people aged 11-18 in Hoxton, with a publishing output. Highly comparable mission, demographic focus on marginalised youth, and community-led creative publishing model.
• First Story: UK charity that places professional writers in secondary schools serving low-income communities to run creative writing programmes and publish student anthologies. Comparable creative-literacy-for-marginalised-youth mission and youth publishing output.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@comics-declassified
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/comics-youth-community-interest-company

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

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