THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2026! It takes a particular skill in presenting a narrative in comics without the props of dialogue and exposition. Pure visual storytelling relies on an able and confident creative voice to communicate mood, theme and plot in a subtler, more nuanced manner. It’s a difficult trick to pull off but in Star Chamber Joe Killick more than proves up to the task in 36 pages of fantasy-style adventuring.
Star Chamber follows an unnamed explorer and her companion, a dodo, as they search through the mysterious ruins that house the chamber of the comic’s title. Along the way they will encounter the monsters, entities and creatures that these catacombs are home to, as they get ever nearer to the underground object of their quest…
There are a number of immediate takeaways from a first read through the pages of Star Chamber. To begin, Killick’s art is stunningly intricate throughout. So much so that it’s easy to forget the sequential nature of events and find yourself transfixed by an individual panel so crammed with detail that it feels like there are multiple stories to be found in just that single image. In that regard this really is a comic that rewards re-reading in order to spot things you may have missed on the first time round.
Secondly, and very much embedded in that first point, is the sensation of world-building going on here. Killick’s Instagram talks of his comics talking part in one shared world and there’s a real sense of us exploring and discovering its realities alongside its protagonist in Star Chamber. Hints and teases in the architecture and environment she explores that speak to us of either revelations awaiting or visual references for us to use our imaginations to build our own tales around.
This is remarkably strong work for an early self-published venture. Everything works in perfect synchronicity from pacing to visual characterisation, expertly choreographed action sequences through to constantly shifting panel layouts to emphasise mood, atmosphere or moments of discovery. There’s something thematically gratifying about the comic’s final sequences as well but that’s for the reader to appreciate and discover for themselves. This is breakout work that absolutely needs to be at the very top of your buying list if you’re at Harrogate for Thought Bubble this November.
Joe Killick (W/A) • Self-published, £10.00
Review by Andy Oliver
Joe Killick is at Table B20 in the Redshirt 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
