"[5] The first Comica Festival was held in late June and early July 2003, taking place over a period of ten days.
The theme of the 2004 festival was "Confessions & Convictions," "highlighting the trend towards autobiography and political commentary prevalent in the comics medium.
There was no festival held in 2005, with the only Comica event being an October panel at the ICA on emerging international graphic novelists, with Jessica Abel, Matt Madden, Igort, Paul Wright, Killoffer, and Junko Mizuno participating.
It included contributions by comics creators like Pat Mills, Bryan Talbot, Dave McKean, Woodrow Phoenix, Peter Kuper, Dylan Horrocks, and Dan Goldman.
[12] That same, year Gravett established the Comica Social Club Meet-Up, "a monthly meetup for people interested in comics, manga and graphic novels.
"[4] These were centered around the exhibition (on view 2 May – 19 August) "Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK" at the British Library.
Cuurated by John Harris Dunning and Gravett, exhibition events included Bryan and Mary Talbot; Neil Gaiman with Tori Amos; Woodrow Phoenix; Dave McKean, Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis on superheroes; Melinda Gebbie; Alejandro Jodorowsky; Pat Mills, Dave Gibbons and Frazer Irving on 2000 AD; Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton plus those involved in the ‘Oz Trial’; Posy Simmonds and Steve Bell; and Bryan Lee O’Malley.
[18] In March 2023, the Comica brand was revived as a monthlong series of creator discussions at London's Century Club.
[8] (Early in his career, Gravett had run the Fast Fiction booth at the bimonthly Westminster Comics Mart in London.
)[citation needed] The first Comica Comiket: Small Press Fair was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on 4 Nov 2007.
Exhibitors included Jade Sarson, Gareth Brookes, Hannah Berry, Amber Hsu, Cristian Ortiz, Knockabout Comics, Soaring Penguin, and The Dessinators.
[40] The scheduled festival Comica Comiket for November 1, 2014 — to be held at Central Saint Martins — was postponed at a late date and rescheduled for Spring 2015.