THE Lakes International Comic Art Festival will be holding a competition aimed at arts students across the globe.

The competition will be judged by comics artist Sean Phillips, one of the founding Patrons of the Festival, and popular crime writer Ian Rankin.

Students are being challenged to imagine a vigilante hero or heroine for the Lake District, inspired by Will Eisner's creation of crime-fighting adventurer 'The Spirit'.

"This may be a comic strip, a single illustration or a series of illustrations reflecting Eisner’s comic style in The Spirit," explained festival director Julie Tait. "Your interpretation could illustrate crime drama, adventure, mystery, horror, comedy or be a creative reinterpretation of an original artwork from The Spirit with a Lake District comic art twist."

Will Eisner was an American comic creator known as the 'Father of the Graphic Novel'. This year marks his centennial, with the festival set to include a tribute exhibition to him.

"Last year’s Beatrix Potter-inspired competition in a similar vein inspired students to create some stunning new visuals and we’re confident this Eisner-inspired challenge will do the same," Julie said.

The deadline for entries is September 1, 2017 and full details of the competition can be found at www.comicartfestival.com/competition-2017