Launched at 2025’s Thought Bubble Comic Festival, Sanctuary by Jenny Mure, an illustrator and comics creator based in Nottingham, is a self-published comic about motherhood, loss and longing. Set in the looming tower belonging to the Witch of the Crossways, the narrative explores the duality of being incredibly physically powerful, yet still helpless to protect the things you love most.
Totalling fifty-six A5 black and white pages (with full colour covers), too much plot analysis of Sanctuary risks tipping into spoiler territory. So instead, here’s a small taster of what awaits inside. The opening panels introduce a looming, medieval castle, drawbridge open, quietly, almost innocently welcoming a distraught mother into its halls. She’s desperate, begging the Witch of the Crossways to take her child, convinced she can’t provide for him. The witch, notably, is no villain, despite what her title might suggest. In a gentle subversion of the fairy tale archetype, she agrees to help, taking in the boy with the caveat that life with her won’t be normal, and that she can’t promise protection from the King’s army, who harbour a deep hatred of magic.
What’s particularly eye-catching about Mure’s style is how she renders the fantastical. The ink-black linework is intricate and detailed, yet it moves across the page with a sense of lightness and whimsy that suits the foreboding tower setting perfectly. Panel layouts shift from page to page, reflecting the rhythm of the story; boxes slotting together almost Tetris-like, never rigid or repetitive, but always controlled. When emotions heighten, the pages themselves darken; backgrounds flood with black, drawing your focus tightly onto the panels and amplifying the intensity of what’s unfolding.
The lettering follows suit; clean and unobtrusive until emotion breaks through. In those moments, the text expands, stretching across the page and visually echoing the characters’ feelings. It’s especially effective in scenes centred on both the witch and the boy, allowing their perspectives to feel distinct while still intertwined.
Ultimately, Sanctuary feels like a quietly powerful piece of storytelling, one that leans into familiar fairy tale language but reshapes it into something softer, sadder, and more human. Mure gives us a story that feels both deeply personal and mythic in scope. It’s the kind of comic that sits with you after you’ve closed it, inviting you to think a little longer about love, sacrifice, and what it really means to keep someone safe.
Jenny Mure (W/A) • Self-published, £14.00
Review by Lydia Turner
