THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2026! It’s undoubtedly one of the feelgood graphic novels to have been released in the last twelve months or so but to frame Bill Tuckey and Francisco de la Mora’s The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club in simply those terms would be to do it the gravest disservice. Published by SelfMadeHero, its creative team both have experience of parenting SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) children, giving this story an added layer of authenticity.
The initial premise is a simple one. It centres on three kids: Arthur an 11-year-old with Autism Spectrum Disorder; Finn, also 11, who was born with cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user; and 8-year-old Uma who has periventricular leukomalacia which has affected her speech and cognitive development. When the two boys meet Uma in their local park a friendship between the three is struck up and their regular community-minded routine of clearing litter from the park as the titular club begins. Along the way they cross the path of Richard, a man living in the park whose past has been marred by tragedy, as the lives of both the former architect and the children eventually become all the more enriched for their association…
The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club is a graphic novel absolutely bursting at the seams with what we like to call around these parts the language of comics. Some of the visual tricks used include colourless characters to represent those with no direct experience or understanding of disability; Uma’s dialogue which is all images and symbols within speech balloons; an entire comic strip within a speech balloon; and one scene where’s the kids’ dreams are all connected within a thought bubble. It’s a clever use of the tools of the form which draws the reader into events all the more effectively.
What Tuckey and de la Mora communicate so ably here is how the different needs of the children affect their interactions with others and inform their reactions to their environments. There’s also a subplot about how their parents support them and the effect on them, with other themes like gentrification, loss and grief, and the importance of community coming very much to the fore at points. At the heart of the book, though, is how the kids’ own unique skills and worldviews are used to achieve their ambitions. Not so much a story about disability but a story with characters who just happen to be disabled.
Francisco de la Mora’s uncomplicated art style encapsulates the book’s often child’s eye view of the world with empathy and consideration. The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club serves a dual purpose of giving representation to marginalised voices while informing and educating at the same time. This is a story that centres ideas of community and found family and it’s quite, quite beautiful for that.
Bill Tuckey (W), Francisco de la Mora (A) • SelfMadeHero, £17.99
Review by Andy Oliver
Buy online from Gosh! Comics here
SelfMadeHero are at Table B33 in the 2000 AD Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2026 runs from November 9th-15th with the convention weekend taking place on the 14th-15th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2026 coverage so far in one place here.
Poster art by Núria Tamarit
