Kids Comics Pitchfest 2026 Showcase
Comics creators from around the world submit their unpublished projects to be previewed online by editors and agents. A panel of judges (click here to see the juror list) select the top pitches. Projects are archived here so that industry pros may view them and discover new talent.
The Chef: A Fairy-Tale of Culinary Proportions
Eric Chou is born to cook, it’s his passion, his destiny. But his family carries an ancestral curse that has claimed every male descendant who has stepped into a kitchen. Terrified of losing her only child as she lost her own father, his mother Agnes does everything she can to keep Eric away from the life he yearns for.
Eric grows up stealing moments to cook, risking mishaps, bodily harm and burns. He matures into a young adult and defies Agnes by pursuing his culinary dream. The growing rift between mother and son becomes a chasm neither can bridge.
When a global culinary competition offers him a chance to prove himself, Eric must decide whether to live in fear of fate or fight for his destiny.
Age Range:
Young Adult (approx ages 13+)Genre:
Cooking & Food, Fiction, Mythology/Folklore, Realistic Fiction/Slice of LifePage Count Estimate:
126 pages (all pages done)
My Why:
The Chef began as a challenge from a producer friend to write outside my comfort zone. When I revisited the script during the 2020 lockdown, I discovered a theme I had under-utilized that I now wanted to explore: how a parent’s fear can coexist with love and even disguise itself as protection.
In Southeast Asia, superstition and inherited beliefs still shape real decisions, sometimes helping, sometimes harming. I wanted to explore how those beliefs can turn someone acting out of love into the greatest obstacle in another person’s life. The story became about a mother who loves her son but curtails his dreams due to fear, and her son whose desire to be the best chef in the world is inspired by his mother thanks to a fairy-tale.
Comp Titles:
Measuring Up — written by Lily LaMotte, illustrated by Ann Xu / Stargazing — written and illustrated by Jen Wang / The Magic Fish — written and illustrated by Trung Le NguyenDennis Chong
Dennis Chong is a Singapore-based writer with a lifelong love of comics and a background in television. He originally created The Chef as a screenplay before adapting it into a graphic novel.
He has spent his career creating character-driven narratives shaped by myth, culture, and family. His experience in television directing also informed the layouts, visual language, rhythm, and emotional beats of the story, developed in collaboration with illustrator Evan Yang.
Evan Yang
Evan Yang is a Singapore-based illustrator with over a decade of freelance experience. His work spans editorial, commercial, and narrative illustration, with a focus on expressive character work and visual storytelling.
On The Chef, he is responsible for translating the script into its visual world, helping to shape the tone, pacing, and emotional language of the book.