The Thought Bubble convention is a smorgasbord of amazing comic works. So much so that I have only just got around to finishing all the books and zines I bought in 2025. Out of the many creators I was introduced to last year, Lily Vie excited me the most with their newest book, Ornithomancy which is the name for an ancient practice of reading omens in bird behaviours. This foreshadows the themes of nature and destruction within this mysterious tome.
Vie’s story follows Wren, a plumber for a block of flats which is home to a mix of characters we only see vibrant glimpses of. He likes his job. We meet him in a relative status quo. He is unclogging a toilet filled with ripped images of horses. This comically surreal image is unlike the start of any comic I’ve read and really drew me in along with the mysterious dark visuals of the cover.
Soon enough though, Vie introduces a disrupting factor in the character of Winifred, a monotone robot who looks almost exactly like Wren. Winifred was previously owned by Wren’s parents who have both just died. As such, Winifred now belongs to Wren, and the rest of the book follows their strained relationship to one another. This book is really a study of one relationship thrust upon them by circumstance. Vie recognises the fact that reckoning with another person forces a reflection on why you differ from them.
So much of the setting seems situated in our present day at first, however the capitalistic science fiction elements loom forebodingly over the story as a whole and nod to an uncannily complicated history which is left to the reader to interpret. Dread can be felt through the repeated use of murky bird imagery with unblinking eyes. Perhaps like that of a robot. While asking the question of what makes us human is a massive cliché in science fiction, it is still vitally importance especially as technology is advancing at a frightening rate. Ornithomancy does not make any huge statements but focuses on compassion and understanding over functional worth.
A blend of pencils and markers in constantly shifting radioactive colours make the characters and familiar domestic environments absolutely glow. Some pages are filled to the brim with panels bursting from the seams or overlapping creating the dense space of a home while others feature just one action in a void or a full-page illustration of cascading movement. This diversity of comic forms is not only beautiful but keeps the reader on their toes and implies a great understanding of what makes comics so interesting on Vie’s part.
While this was originally produced for the 2025 ShortBox Comic Fair online, it still displays a deliberate choice with physical print in mind by using consistent colour schemes on each two-page interval, meaning that even with all the surreal colour changes throughout, visual harmony is still continued. In three different instances, the physical turn of the page can really surprise the reader with its content as well. Considering the physical nature of a comic isn’t always easy and this book shows a real craft in that regard.
I’m easily invested in whatever Vie makes next. Regardless of what that is, I trust that they will deliver something thoughtful, detailed and intriguing.
Lily Vie • Self-published, £15.00
Review by Ray McGrother
