KENDAL has issued a call for superheroes to come forward and volunteer for a new festival taking place in autumn.

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival happens on October 18-20 but needs enthusiasts to lend several pairs of hands.

It is seeking a team of around 50 volunteers who will be fully briefed at a special session next month.

They’ll get the chance to meet festival patron, Bryan Talbot, who with his wife Mary, won leading literary prize, the Costa Biography Award 2012.

It was for their Dotter of Her Father's Eyes with illustrations by Bryan, concerning the tragic story of James Joyce's daughter Lucia.

“It is a very ambitious festival with a fantastic line up of guests in its first year,” said Julie Tait, Festival Director.

“It will be hard work but hugely rewarding for all those who choose to participate in the inaugural year and make it the success we are sure it will be.”

Jobs the volunteers could do include chaperoning international artists or writers, providing information for the public, and helping out at the festival’s various venues within the town – such as the Brewery Arts Centre or at the special kids and families’ zone.

People, aged 18 or older, interested in becoming a volunteer should email jan@comicartfestival.com Festival organisers need people to get in touch within the next couple of weeks.

A briefing session for volunteers is held in May.

The festival now has a guest list running to more than 50 writers and artists from the United States, Europe, South America and the UK, who work in a wide range of genres.

The guests who have been announced so far include American writer Ed Brubaker; Charlie Adlard the artist on The Walking Dead; Simon Thorp and Graham Dury who created Viz; American comics journalist Joe Sacco, cartoonist Posy Simmonds, as well as John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra who created Judge Dredd.

More details at www.comicartfestival.com or by following @comicartfest on Twitter.