Call for submissions for:
CBA vol 73: BUGS
Main editor: Aiden Kvarnström
Deadline: February 15, 2026
One day, Gregor Samsa woke up and found himself transformed into an insect. Do you think that bugged him?
Puns aside, insects are fascinating. Many people find them disgusting and associate them with filth and decay, but without them we wouldn’t have anything to eat, considering they’re also the main pollinators of our plants. How could we survive in a world with no bugs? Then again, fleas were quite significant in spreading the plague.
Insects are hailed as the protein of the future and shunned as vectors of disease. They’re pests, pets and objects of fear and fascination. But they aren’t the only kind of bug out there. If you’re sick, you’ve caught a bug. If your computer program doesn’t run as intended, it’s due to a bug. If you experience a glitch in the matrix, there might be a bug in the very fabric of our reality. If something is bugging you, you can’t stop thinking about it. And remember: shrimp are also bugs.
Give us your best stories rooted in entomology, annoyance, glitches or any other kind of bug out there! Exoskeletons, hive minds, metamorphosis, silk, webs and rot; we’re sure you all have something to say about bugs.
—SUBMISSION GUIDELINES—
Please read and follow these guidelines:
Number of pages: We prefer comics that are about 5-30 pages, but any number is welcome.
Format: 20 x 26 cm
Color: Color / Black and white
Language: English
File format: .TIF
Resolution: 1200 dpi line art or 300 dpi CMYK (profile: PSO coated V3, or you can send it in RGB and we’ll convert it)
Length (texts): A good size for a text is ca 7500 characters (including spaces), but it can also be longer or shorter.
Bleed: 5mm. Think you know how to handle bleed? Read this to make sure you know what we mean.
Within this space, there are no limits.
Delivery: We prefer download links that do NOT require us to login anywhere (or download links from your domain, etc).
Request: Please don’t use Comic Sans. We don’t like it and will ask you to change to another font.
And again; Please check our guidelines for bleed.
Please send us high-resolution files from the start. This saves time and we usually don’t have a lot of that.
Include a short bio*, with one URL (if you have a website or similar).
Please ask us if you’re unsure about formats, resolution, bleed, etc. We prefer stupid questions to bad files. And there are no stupid questions!
Normally, we also organize a release exhibition showcasing sample pages from the new issue. Please let us know if you’re NOT ok with us using your works for that purpose.
Policy on generative AI: We do not accept submissions that are created using generative AI.
*Your bio should be approximately 500-700 characters in length and written in 3rd person. It should read more as an entertaining and informative bio and less as a CV. What you want to say about yourself is up to you, but it’s generally more interesting for our readers to know about your interests, who you are and what else you’ve published that they might find, rather than where you’ve studied. We may edit it if needed to fit our format.
Send comics, questions, etc to: submissions(a)cbkcomics(.)com
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Unfortunately we cannot guarantee you any payment for participating (although these last few years we’ve had more financing so we have been able to pay at least something, i.e. when all the expenses have been paid we will share the surplus of the financial support we receive for CBA amongst the participants). If we publish your submission you will receive 10 free copies of the issue. That’s all we can promise at this date. Hopefully you will find being in CBA an enjoyable experience. Naturally, copyright for your material will stay in your hands.
Also note that we are constantly overworked and there’s a great risk that we won’t get in touch in case your submission doesn’t make it into the current volume (we WILL, however, let you know if we do publish your submission, and if you don’t get into this one we might keep your comic for a future issue). We are sorry for this and will try to catch up as soon as things clear up (optimistically in 2029)…
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Feel free to share this call for submissions and/or the Facebook event to any comics creator you think would be interested!
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