Comic adventures for kids of all ages So who's introducing these kids to comics creators? The Phoenix Comic has been running for only a few years, but the team has already been sending its creators up and down the country to festivals and schools, building excitement. Besides subscribing to the weekly print or digital comic, kids can read books by its creators in the DFC Library collection, including Fish-Head Steve by Jamie Smart, Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner and Baggage by the Etherington Brothers. Walker Books recently published The Terrible Tales of the Teenytinysaurs by Phoenix creator Gary Northfield (a cosy, hilarious dinosaur romp) and The Sleepwalkers by Viviane Schwarz, a strange, wonderful book about animals who combat bad dreams. Flying Eye Books puts out awe-inspiring Hilda books by Luke Pearson, who beautifully combines a sort of Moomin-like Scandinavian arts-and-crafts look with influences of Japanese anime, such as the films of Hayao Miyazaki. Schwarz, also with Flying Eye, combines comics and instructions for fun family robot-building in Welcome to Your Awesome Robot. The comic is a medium, not a genre, so it can be about anything. Did you know there are cookery comics? I love introducing teenagers to Lucy Knisley's Relish, her stories about growing up with a chef mother, combined with illustrated recipes for favourite dishes. While many comic conventions in Britain have not been aimed specifically at children, there's a growing movement to create activity hubs for children and bring them together with creators. Tens of thousands of kids flock to London's bi-annual MCM Expo, many in flamboyant costumes they've spent months designing. November's Thought Bubble festival in Leeds hosts the British Comic Awards, which includes a Young People's Comic Award, as voted by children. The Phoenix Comic crew will be active there. Don't miss drawing battles featuring awesome dinosaurs and crazy historical corpses. The Telegraph Bath Children's Literature Festival has invited authors who create both comics and books in other mediums, such as Dave McKean, an illustrator of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, and picture books such as The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, which has comic-book elements. Astrosaurs author Steve Cole has branched into using some comics format in his new Magic Ink. David O'Connell will teach comics in his event for his Monster and Chips books, which are not comics, but with illustrations that draw heavily on his comics self-publishing background. Comics are addictive; it doesn't take much to get us happily joining the kids in scribbling out panels and speech bubbles. Learn from Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre about the makings of Oliver and the Seawigs and create your own Sea Monkey character to star in future comics. Sunday, Oct 6, 5.30pm, Guildhall, Bath. Entry £5 (age seven and over). You can book online by visiting bathfestivals.org.uk/childrens-literature, or by telephone by calling 01225 463 362 (Monday to Saturday, 9.30am-5.30pm) Download free activity sheets from Sarah McIntyre's website: jabberworks.co.uk