THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2025! That we learn more about the characters and their world from the short blurb on the back of Ria Grix’s short comic Bicycle Vampire Hunters is a fitting signifier of the irreverent tone and mood of one of the latest outings from this ever unpredictable purveyor of some of the more deliciously witty comics on the UK small press scene.
Grix’s unlikely hunters of supernatural horror may not look the part given their humble push-bike modus operandi but Cleo Finkelstein (a seventh generation vampire slayer) and Bryn Davies (who wields the ominous sounding Sword of Zaragoza) are determined to root out and destroy that most nefarious vampiric threat to the natural order – the day-walkers.
Most offensive to the hunters is that their undead prey are not simply using a supermarket in daylight hours but that their car – a 2019 Opel ‘Combo Life’ – has a sun roof, really rubbing the mortals’ noses in it. What follows in this comics short is not heavy in plot or complex in narrative construction but that’s kind of the point for an exercise that is simply revelling in the fun of a delightfully silly premise and its subsequent execution. It’s simply a violently slapstick extended battle scene, full of wonderfully choreographed silly violence and brutal gore, with plenty of inventive sight gags and one-liners thrown in.
Grix is always good value when it comes to this kind of parodic weirdness and their use of varied page layouts from open and perspective-setting full-page panels, to careful comedic build-up and brilliantly executed punchlines, are a joy to behold. Most importantly though, Bicycle Vampire Hunters is sheer unadulterated fun, from an absolute master of the darkly humorous.
Ria Grix (W/A) • Self-published
Review by Andy Oliver
Visit Ria Grix’s website and online store here
You can buy Ria Grix’s comics from WIP Comics at Table F11 in the Comixology 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
