The Something Alien Anthology is Don’t Fold Press’s debut comic project, introduced on their Instagram on April 28th, 2025 and fully funded by July 28th. Its Kickstarter states the anthology was born out of asking each artist to “show me something alien”. Alongside Kickstarter funds, the press received funding from Creative Scotland.
PJ Fairweather is responsible for a cohesive “DIY” design philosophy (cut-out letters, torn paper edges) throughout the press’s social media and inside book cover. It certainly captivated me enough to back the project. (Oddly enough, the physical rewards tier does give you something to fold: one of the cat-like “kidnapster” aliens.)
The anthology starts with a secret agent quipping and waltzing into a building to read alien case files. Each story gets introduced at the end of each agent encounter. The title is mostly non-diegetic, the agent rarely commenting on the story’s contents. As a framing device, it’s pretty perfect. These gag-filled breaks help separate stories into an approximate back and forth structure of lighter and darker stories. Connecting stories of such range is a difficult task. Comics of a speculative nature are followed by something slice-of-life. Space is necessary because of each comic’s short length. All included stories are either two page spreads or four pages. (The interstitials have a plot as well, so it technically gets more pages, but it mainly serves as a palette cleanser.)
World-building in four pages is difficult, and while more serious pieces suffer more than their gag counterparts, that isn’t to say they fail. ‘The Intergala Inn’ (above) is filled with fantastical lettering work from Ella Wright/Tuu. The sprinkling of onomatopoeia across busy pages across overlapping panels does a marvelous job of capturing zero-gravity. ‘Dot’s Log’ by Ellie Hodgson does wonders in paneling, layering an x-ray onto a scan onto a meteor shower. Both stories easily could become something more, but I’m choosing to view their shortness as a strength.
One-off media is very valuable these days. It’s bold to introduce something wild and grand and choose to leave it to just a few pages. I think that notion points to what the authors of Something Alien want to achieve. There is depth here. Within the short length, there are allusions to grandness, space, biology, love. Craft that is so detailed, you will reread and find something skillful in those small amounts of page.
Kidnapster by HesitantDoodle and PJ Fairweather
I think the story ‘One in a Million’ is a great example of this. Thomas Heitler captures sci-fi drama in a way that is usually reserved for a 10-book saga with a strong understanding of dramatic convention (heirs, hidden robes, heroism). The best of the genre portrayed in four pages. ‘Dry Land’ by Libby Dyer Douglas focuses on the most exciting part of an alien migration. Douglas’s limited palette puts focus in on the shapes of a sluggish alien body, blobs of ink suggesting alien patterns and biology. Brevity begets intensity.
Short comics realize more concepts than comics that are never started. Exploring in the short form is a type of growth for the medium of comics. Anthologies shape the landscape into something less arching, more approachable. You can shoot for the moon in four pages. The stars will fill up the rest of the sky.
Don’t Fold Press is a micro-publisher, meaning printed works are limited run. An itch.io storefront still allows anyone to pick up a digital version for $8.00.
Shay Commander, Libby Dyer Douglas, PJ Fairweather, Nile Ferguson, Ellie Hodgson, Thomas Heitler, Frank O’Neil, Mllie Strachan, Ella Wright/Tuu (W), HesitantDoodle, Shay Commander, Libby Dyer Douglas, PJ Fairweather, Nile Ferguson, Ellie Hodgson, Thomas Heitler, Frank O’Neil, Millie Strachan, Ella Wright/Tuu (A), PJ Fairweather (L), Carlos Amorim (C) • Don’t Fold Press
Review by Andrea Magbual
