This photograph shows a sign of Angouleme International Comics Festival, during the 50th edition of the festival in Angouleme, western France, on January 27, 2023. The two candidates vying to host the Angoulême International Comics Festival (FIBD) must “consider a merger,” the association that owns the event announced on November 8, 2025, as the next edition faces a boycott from numerous comic book artists. (Photo by YOHAN BONNET / AFP) (Photo by YOHAN BONNET/AFP via Getty Images)
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After months of protests against the organizers by creators and publishers, the 2026 Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême has officially been cancelled. Lawyers representing 9e Art+, the company delegated to stage the event, sent a letter to public funders stating that ““the 2026 edition of the Festival will not be able to take place under appropriate conditions. This situation is in no way the result of a choice made by 9e Art+, whose sole objective is to organize the FIBD, but rather a unilateral decision taken without consultation by public funders.”
This marks a sad moment for one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most prestigious comic art events, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the French town of Angoulême in late January. The 2026 edition would have been the 52nd year for the festival.
In recent years, Angoulême has been the subject of controversy, with creators protesting the lack of recognition of female creators, and 9e Art+, under the direction of Franck Bondoux, accused of “toxic management,” financial opacity, self-dealing and a heavy-handed style that alienated important partners in the publishing and creative community.
In late 2022, organizers announced that the 2023 edition of the festival would include an exhibition devoted to Bastien Vivès. That provoked a strong backlash, because critics accused him of past works that they saw as normalizing incest and sexual violence. Responding to the pressure, the festival canceled the planned Bastien Vivès exhibition, sparking a broader debate about sexism, representation, and the culture of the comics industry.
In January, 2025, the newspaper L’Humanité published a story exposing deep grievances against 9e Art+, including accusations of toxic management, overuse of subcontractors, nepotism (notably that relatives of the director held key positions), burnout, and, most significantly, allegations that the organization mishandled the complaint of a sexual assault against a worker at the 2024 festival. The victim was dismissed from her job shortly after reporting the rape to her supervisors.
General delegate of the Angouleme International Comic Festival Franck Bondoux poses during a photo session at the launch of the comic strip “50 nuances de Grecs” by Jul and Charles Pepin in Paris, on November 15, 2019. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)
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The story catalyzed widespread protests, as many companies and creators doing business with 9e Arts+ harbored their own discontents with Bondoux and his style of running the festival. In the wake of growing discontent, a large group of comic-book professionals, including hundreds of authors and collectives such as #MeTooBD, publicly demanded that 9e Art+’s association with the festival end. They called for a boycott of the 2026 edition if 9e Art+ remained in charge.
The contract to run the festival was up for renewal and the governing organization agreed to an open tender process to select an event management company for 2027-2029. 9e Art+ was invited to submit an application, raising suspicions about the genuine openness of the selection process.
On October 8, the organizers announced 9e Art+ was the “favorite” to be re-appointed as organizer. In response, 22 former winners of the festival’s top prize and many other creators issued a joint call for boycott of the 2026 edition. Tensions continued to mount as one large publisher after another withdrew from participating in the 2026 festival, while Bondoux, who enjoyed the support of Association FIBD president Delphine Groux (who oversaw the bidding process), refused to back down.
Through November, as opposition continued unabated, municipal and regional authorities signaled they might refuse to provide public venues and funding if the festival went on under 9e Art+. The organization was given a deadline of December 1 to provide a “prompt and comprehensive response” to concerns raised about the festival.
The letter released on behalf of 9e Arts+ cancelling the 2026 festival just two months before it was set to begin satisfied that demand. The tone of the letter suggested that a long-term resolution satisfying the concerns of the protesters was still far from assured.