Artist Alley is a vibrant celebration of creativity and the heartbeat of Comic Con Africa with Capitec. It’s a dedicated hall packed with over 200 local and international artists and crafters waiting to meet fans, sign memorabilia, and showcase their art. It is home to the Creators Corner stage which is packed with exiting talks on the creative industries. Artist Alley is also where fans get to meet spotlight guests who illustrate, write, and edit comics both locally and internationally for major publishing houses like Marvel and DC. Comic Con Africa with Capitec takes place over the Heritage Day long weekend, from 24 to 27 September, 9am to 6pm daily, at the Joburg Expo Centre, Nasrec.

Creators Corner Stage

The Creators Corner stage in Artist Alley hosts exciting talks and sessions with artists, educators, filmmakers, authors, and creative industry experts. Fans can participate in audience-driven Q&As with spotlight guests, or watch live draws where famous artists sketch their favourite characters from scratch, enlarged on the stage’s screens. Authors talk about how they broke into the industry to get published or make a career out of editing, while professionals from creative agencies discuss how to merge art and business without killing passion. Filmmakers share tips on thriving in indie filmmaking and making budgets go further, while content creators share tips on making shareable content. There are also practical how-to workshops on creating your own manga characters and book launches.>

Local and Indie Artists

Comic Con Africa’s Artist Alley is the ultimate place to meet local and international artists and comic writers, buy artworks, discover new talent, network, and get inspired by the plethora of incredible artworks on the show floor. From paintings in oil and acrylic to limited edition prints, illustrations, pencil sketches, graphic art, comics and manga, and delicate watercolours, every style imaginable can be found in Comic Con’s Artist Alley. Find out more about the individual artists on the con’s website: https://comicconafrica.co.za/exhibitors-and-sponsors/

Crafters

Comic Con Africa’s dedicated Crafter’s Pavilion plays host to 30+ hand crafters, making all sorts of beautiful handcrafts from dice to crochet to jewellery to cute squishy plushies you just can’t leave behind. This is art of the 3D variety. The selected crafters are all dedicated to creating 100% handmade items with their own unique style, and they dedicate untold hours of work to each piece.

Urban Artists and Tattoo Artists

Comic Con Africa with Capitec also plays host to urban artists who create the murals and graffiti that decorate our cities and make them look unique. With tattoo artists on site, fans can get that Spongebob or Morty tattoo they’ve been planning for years to commemorate their Comic Con Africa 2026 experience, and make it an unforgettable con in more ways than one!

Spotlight Guests in Artist Alley

In 2026, Comic Con Africa with Capitec has a ton of incredible Spotlight Guests at the con. Some are super famous globally and others are respected homegrown talents, Here’s the complete list of the 2026 Spotlight Artists at Comic Con Africa, and their bios.

International Spotlight Guests

Dave McCaig

Artist and Colourist

Dave McCaig is an Inkpot and Ringo! award-winning artist and colourist working in comics and animation. He has worked on comics such as Invincible, The Walking Dead Deluxe, The Sacrificers, Low, and Image comics’ new hit Terminal. In animation, he was the colour supervisor on the 2004 animated series The Batman, and has created promotional artwork for the Invincible animated series.

Jim Cheung

Comic Book Artist

Jim hails from the sunny land of Great Britain and landed his first professional pencilling job at Marvel UK in the mid-90s. For 15 years, Jim worked exclusively with Marvel Comics, during which time he created titles such as Young Avengers and Infinity, and characters including Kate Bishop, Wiccan, and Corvus Glaive. His credits include Batman/Wonder Woman and Justice League for DC Comics, as well as numerous Marvel titles including Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy, Avengers vs X-Men, New Avengers, Illuminati, and Original Sin. His clients include Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, Mattel, Amazon, Royal Mail, Blizzard, Dorling Kindersley Books, EPSN, New York Times, and The Folio Society.

Mike Rooth

Illustrator and Comic Book Artist

Mike Rooth is a Canadian Freelance Art Mercenary with an illustration career that spans two centuries! His artwork has appeared in hundreds of publications including board games, role playing games, children's books, educational graphic novels and textbooks and more since the mid 1990's. Rooth is best known for creating cover and interior art for comic companies such as DC Comics (Batman, The Swamp Thing), IDW (TMNT, TMNT: The Last Ronin), Dark Horse (Turtles of Grayskull, Usagi Yojimbo) Titan Comics/Heroic Signatures (Conan the Barbarian, Savage Sword of Conan), BOOM! Studios (The Last Witch, House of Slaughter), Image Comics (Rook Exodus, The Deviant, Department of Truth), Dynamite Entertainment (Vampirella, Red Sonja), Archie Comics, Aftershock Comics, Ablaze and many others. Mike tells us he can’t wait to meet everyone at Comic Con South Africa!

Mostafa Moussa

Comic Book Artist

Mostafa Moussa has been a professional comic book artist since the age of 18, and is a multiple Inkwell Award nominee. Over his career he has worked for Marvel, DC, Image, Top Cow, Dark Horse, Hasbro, IDW, Mad Cave, Dynamite, Boom, Action Lab, Coffin, Zenescope, and many other publishers. In recent years he’s had the opportunity to work on high profile titles with Marvel such as: SpiderMan, X-Men, Hulk, Venom, Moon Knight, Wolverine and Deadpool. With DC Comics Mostafa has worked on titles such as: Batman, Superman, Flash, Detective Comics, Poison Ivy, Blue Beetle, Green Lantern and the recent Batman/Wonder Woman: Truth. He resides in Houston, Texas.

Sam Humphries

Writer and TV Host

Sam Humphries is a writer and television host. He has written over 200 comic books, including work in the Harley Quinn, Avengers, X-Men, Power Rangers, and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises. His debut prose work, The Youngbloods trilogy with Gwenda Bond and Kami Garcia, was launched as an Audible Original. For Warner Bros. Digital, he co-hosted DC Daily, an entertainment news show which ran for 450 episodes. For Marvel Entertainment, he wrote the video game Marvel Contest of Champions, which has accumulated over 215 million global downloads. Other work includes the critically-acclaimed original comics Blackbird, Jonesy, and Skate Ali. He lives in Minneapolis with his cat, El Niño.

Local Spotlight Guests

Clyde Beech

Comic Book Artist and Multidisciplinary Creative

Clyde Beech is a multidisciplinary creative generalist and visual storyteller whose work has shaped South Africa's comic and animation landscape. He served as Art Director and Colourist for the iconic Supa Strikas, co-developed the groundbreaking KWEZI series, and coloured Triggerfish's award-winning Pearl of the Sea. His animation credits include Lionsgate's Boy Kills World animated titles, the AfroComicCon award-winning Public Criticism music video, and collaborations with BlackNative Studios and The Hidden Hand Studios. Clyde also co-created SuperScientists Dig In! and produced its animated pilot. His upcoming graphic novel Siklus continues his exploration of resilience, community, and visual storytelling. With over 15 years of experience across comics and animation, Clyde bridges local and international studios, inspiring new generations of African creatives.

Jason Masters

Comic Book Artist

Jason Masters transitioned from working in advertising into a successful career as a comic book artist for major publishers such as DC, Marvel, and Dynamite Comics. Notable works include collaborations with Warren Ellis on Dynamite's James Bond relaunch, earning widespread acclaim, while his Marvel accolades include work on Guardians of the Galaxy, Wolverines, and X-Men. Masters has also worked on various Batman titles, including Legends of the Dark Knight, Batman Incorporated, Batwoman, and Nightwing. Masters continues to contribute to popular series like Caster, a Webtoon comic featuring Common, and presently illustrates.

Sean Izaakse

Comic Book Artist

Sean Izaakse is a local comic book artist who entered the international comics scene with work for both DC and Marvel Comics. He has illustrated Fantastic Four, Avengers, Deadpool, Captain America, among others for Marvel. His DC work includes Green Arrow, Justice League Unlimited, Worlds Finest, Superman, and the recently released one-shot, DC KO : Superman vs Captain Atom #1,plus a range of awesome covers, including the upcoming Absolute Flash #14.

Local Urban Artists

ZAYL Arts

Muralist and Illustrator

The artist behind ZAYL Arts is Yolo Xulu. ZAYL combines “ZA” - South Africa - with “YL,” representing my names, Yolo Liso. As a South African muralist, Yolo creates bold, expressive and meaningful murals that transform spaces through colour, storytelling and identity. Yolo’s work brings people, brands and communities to life through art. Say Yolo, “I just love painting murals”.

Moe Lycaen

Writer and Animator

Based out of Johannesburg, Moe has worked in both the Comics and Animation space, contributing to projects such as Kwezi and Captain South Africa, as well as across Pre-Production and Production pipelines on productions with companies such as Triggerfish, Disney Plus Africa (Kizazi Moto) and The Hidden Hand Studios. Currently, he runs LycaenStudios and teaches as a Sessional Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Fok Alles

Muralist, Illustrator, and Graphic Designer

Fok Alles is an artist working across illustration, mural work and graphic design. His work is influenced by his passion for animation and comics. Fok Alles enjoys both creating his own original characters as well as creating his own versions of his favourite characters. His passion for drawing and animations came from watching cartoons on a Saturday morning as a kid.

Ali Bate

Toy Designer and Multidisciplinary Artist

Ali Bate is a toy designer and multidisciplinary artist from Johannesburg, South Africa. His work is heavily inspired by music, street and pop culture, and includes collaborations with Adidas, Shelflife, and Jordan. From action figures and statues to unique collectibles, his pieces are defined by an original style, with an emphasis on quality and craftsmanship.