ARC FESTIVAL 2026! Back in 2020 Henry McCausland’s breakout work, Eight-Lane Runaways from Fantagraphics, caught our attention so much at BF that it earned the artist a nomination in the Breakout Talent category in that year’s Broken Frontier Awards. McCausland’s experimental style, innovative approach to page layouts, and quirky storytelling is well worth checking out at London’s ARC Festival this weekend. In preparation for that we caught up with Henry to chat about the tactile physicality of print comics, creating for yourself, and ongoing series River Rangers...
ANDY OLIVER: Can you introduce yourself to the Broken Frontier audience by telling us about your wider artistic background and your entry point into comics?
HENRY MCCAUSLAND: Hello, my name is Henry McCausland. I loved comics as a kid. I wasted many years at art school where comics was beaten out of me, but came back to it because I guess you can’t help what you love.
AO: Your breakout book Eight-Lane Runaways from Fantagraphics was described by Tom Murphy at Broken Frontier as “a riot of comics invention.” How would you sum up its underlying themes? And how did it find its way to Fantagraphics?
MCCAUSLAND: Eight-Lane Runaways is about a long-distance running race set in a post-apocalyptic utopia where people can do whatever they want. Eight runners find their ways to what they want from life. I sent it to the submissions department of Fantagraphics where, luckily, it was read by a man of impeccable taste. Like the man from Del Monte, he say “YES”.
AO: Your current long-running project is the self-published River Rangers. How would you describe the premise of that series and the themes you’re exploring in its pages?
MCCAUSLAND: There was a storm one night in 2008. A container ship lost its load and all this timber washed up on the beach. The next morning I remember seeing all these people interacting with the timber. Some were taking it home, some were building obstacle courses, some spelling out words or their names in massive letters… what ever people were doing with the timber was revealing something about themselves, what they wanted or needed. So there’s this one idea, but you can keep applying it to different people and it will reveal something different. The hammer thinks everything is a nail.
AO: What particularly draws me to your work is how it both embraces and exploits the language of comics, constantly leaning into those things that only comics can do. How important is that sense of constant experimentation to you and what are you hoping it achieves In terms of reader experience? And thinking about River Rangers that also has a highly tactile aesthetic – hand-stitching, occasional flip book issues, marbled covers and so on. What were you hoping that would add to the reading experience for your audience aesthetically?
MCCAUSLAND: I am not getting rich off making comics. I make them because I enjoy it. I think its a form of play. Experimentation comes from finding ways to making it a fun thing to do. Like if you’re in the cages and you only want to score a goal by hitting the ball off the bar, or you only want to score three-pointers. Or you hold your breath while driving through a tunnel. Challenges you set for yourself because its more satisfying that way. Probably a solipsistic way to go about things, but I can’t bring myself to think about the reader. I want to enjoy the process without the pressure of pleasing other people… But then I do put a lot of effort into the physical product. I want to make it as tactile as possible.
I think when I started River Rangers, NFTs were just starting to become a thing. People paying fortunes for a fucking jpeg. I think it was a was of a reaction to that. I wanted an affordable, very physical experience. The ink might rub off on your fingers, there will be imperfections, there will be a smell. All the good stuff. If you don’t like the story, join the queue. But I’ve definitely made you a real object.
AO: You have an interesting structure of self-contained stories each issue within a larger narrative environment in River Rangers. What is the reason for structuring the series that way?
MCCAUSLAND: I had a lot of little ideas I wanted to give a go. And I like short-story collections and I like TV anthologies. I also thought of it like an album, where you can listen to individual tracks but there’s an extra thing you get out of listening to the whole thing as one work.
AO: There’s a certain blend of the everyday and the bizarre to River Rangers – weird circumstances kind of impinging on otherwise banal lives. Is that a deliberate juxtaposition of tones?
MCCAUSLAND: I don’t know! I guess I am inspired by observations I make in my life… and my life is boring! You start with something you see and then let your imagination take it from there. Not a deliberate statement, more of a product of the process.
AO: Can you tell us about your creative process and the mediums you work in?
MCCAUSLAND: I like to have the whole story planned out before I start drawing. I find if you start uptight you can then get looser. It makes it easier to change direction when you already know exactly what direction your destination is.
And, again, I like to make things physical, so pens and paper and ink and brush. I’m still trying different ways to do things. Often it depends on circumstance; when I’m at home maybe big sheets of paper, also a lot of River Rangers was made during breaks on my day job as a delivery driver, so working quite small in a sketchbook and piecing it all together in Photoshop when I get home. Any way that gets it done!
AO: And finally what next for Henry McCausland? What can we expect to see from you both within and outside of comics in the near future?
MCCAUSLAND: Haha, I don’t know about the near future. Comics burn up so much time. I have two more comics I want to make. Hopefully have them done in the next 3 to 45 years.
Visit Henry McCausland’s online store here
Interview by Andy Oliver
Henry McCausland will be at ARC Festival comics fair on July 11th-12th. For the full details on everything ARC has to offer check out their website here.
Poster by Lando
