THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2026! Zen K.’s manga-style narratives have had very positive feedback here at Broken Frontier over the last couple of years including her sci-fi story Runaway Mayhem and supernatural tale The House on 52 Carlton Street. There’s been a little bit of a gap since the 2025 Broken Frontier Six to Watch creator’s last release so it’s pleasing to know there’s a new comic from that direction at Thought Bubble this year in the shape of That Night at the Mortuary.
The premise of this one is intriguing enough to catch potential readers’ attentions from the outset: “A funeral cosmetologist finds that a corpse at the mortuary is actually a vampire. This is news to both of them.” The cosmetologist in question is Kai who is charged with making Mika, whose death was caused by massive blood loss, look restful before he is laid to rest. But things take a bizarre turn when Mika wakes up on the mortuary table and the two find themselves having to make sense of their interlinked situation…
Part horror and part comedy-drama, That Night at the Mortuary is a witty character study which manages to blend genres with ease. It throws two characters together in a near 30-pager that then defies expectations by going in directions the reader may not have been expecting. Dialogue is excellent throughout, feeling real and unforced whether it’s Kai’s internal monologue or the back and forth conversations between the two.
As ever, Zen K.’s layouts are exemplary in pacing and structure. One full-page moment of dramatic pause, and the ensuing between-the-panels reading and portrayal of the passage of time moving on, particularly stands out. Lettering, too, is used to great effect to embody emotional range or little asides. And visual characterisation gives us an added level of insight into the duo’s minds. A neatly constructed short and the perfect intro to Zen K.’s comics.
Zen K. (W/A) • Self-published
Review by Andy Oliver
nodplus50pts/Zen K is at Table B40a 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
