THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2025! The 2000 A.D. Talent Search takes place at Thought Bubble every year, with one talented writer and artist winning a competition for a chance to contribute to the weekly 2000 AD prog.
What about all the talented artists and writers that don’t make the final cut though? Jason Measures finished in the top five in 2024 in the art category and afterwards joined up with fellow shortlist candidate Yaya To, and several other writing and art competitors to pool their talents into publishing a science fiction anthology to bring back to Thought Bubble 2025.
Cover by Jason Measures
Beyond the Black Void is the 76-page colour and black and white book the collective produced. To quote Measures, “The idea being that we would return to Thought Bubble this year and basically hand them out to various industry types and attendees in an attempt to strike up some conversations.“ We definitely applaud this sort of guerrilla marketing strategy! Measures also announced ‘The Waifs and Strays’ panel, moderated by Sarah L. Miles on Sunday morning of Thought Bubble 2025, which will feature BTBV contributors: Leo Healy, James McGrath, Jason Measures, James Patricks, Dan Pollard, and Ryan Twyford.
The crew of Beyond the Black Void go all in on their 2000 AD-inspired science fiction anthology. All nine stories follow in the Future Shocks tradition of short stories with a twist ending (and a good helping of humour and irony). Jason Measures (Pugs in Space) seems to be the driving force behind the book with two solo stories, illustrating a Ryan Twyford (The Knight Shift) tale (‘Vote Glorg!’ above), and doing the wraparound cover. Like everyone else in the anthology Measures‘ style is hard to pigeonhole; it’s a bit like representational art blasted onto a Jackson Pollock painting with a shotgun.
Coming in hard with the second story in the book is writer James Patricks (What We Leave Behind) with a smooth AI detective story with the good fortune to be paired with the cartoony art of Theo Pickering (Azeventures: Lost and Found). The art moves the story along without lingering on any of the violence, while using a very simple line and grey tones to fit a lot of story into a short space.
Following later, writer James McGrath and Carla Norfolk work together seamlessly to portray an unfolding horror in the background as their story ‘Where’s Caramel?’ progresses (above). Special shout-out to the colourist on this story, talk about setting a mood.
Anchoring the middle is writer Leo Healy (Zarjaz, Boxes) with a new take on a ghost story in ‘The Royal Oak’ (below), with some wonderfully atmospheric art by RHStewart (Zarjaz). We don’t know whether to laugh or cry with this ending! Help on this one from letterer Bram Meehan and special thanks to Jenny Rydzkowski.
Dan Pollard (Shrieek!) spins a tale thin on plot but high in tension, once again with a good pairing with artist Kenneth B. Beardsley (Shrieek!). We don’t know what’s going on with the character’s hair, facial expressions, or body language! It all adds up to Beardsley going the extra mile to sell the final punchline.
We love the classic “evil scientist enslaves peaceful aliens” turn of Barrie D. Hardwick’s (The Childless) story in ‘Plant.Based.’, with it being the longest story in the anthology there is even a bit of character development among the more involved plot. The colour art by Cameron S. Gaskins (The Childless) is solid throughout, clearly depicting varied environments and characters. Special note must be made of lettering by Rob Jones, good to see a more established creator supporting new blood (or, should that be new “growth”?).
Finally, the penultimate story features some tightly rendered Manga-esque art from Yaya To (Dead Men Tell Tales), illustrating Joshua Spiller’s (Aces Weekly) strident parable about identity in a post-apocalyptic world.
In a showcase of new talent like Beyond the Black Void it’s easy to fall into the trap of a few stories carrying the load for a bunch of creators that aren’t quite ready yet. Jason Measures, Yaya To, and company are each and every one firing on all cylinders ready to go! We think you’ll be seeing much more of these folks at future Thought Bubble conventions.
Kenneth B. Beardsley (A/L); Cameron S. Gaskins (A/C); Barrie D. Hardwick (W); Leo Healy (W); Rob Jones (L); James McGrath (W); Jason Measures (W/A/L/C); Bram Meehan (L); Carla Norfolk (A/L/C); James Patricks (W); Theo Pickering (A/L); Dan Pollard (W); Joshua Spiller (W); RHStewart (A/L); Yaya To (A/L); Ryan Twyford (W) • Jackrabbit Comics Limited
Digital edition available online; Physical edition debuts at Thought Bubble
Review by Gary Usher
Jason Measures will be at Table A10 in the Redshirt Hall, Leo Healy will be at Table C30b in the Redshirt Hall, Rob Jones will be at Table A17-18a in the 2000 AD Hall, and James Patricks will be at Table C47 in the 2000 A.D. Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2025 runs from November 1oth-16th with the convention weekend taking place on the 15th-16th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2025 coverage so far in one place here.
Poster by Ng Yin Shian
