Exciting news from the direction of SelfMadeHero that current UK Comics Laureate, and good friend of BF, Bobby Joseph will be teaming up with artist Abbigayle Bircham on YA graphic novel My Dad Fights Demons! later this year. You can read an extensive interview with Bobby here at Broken Frontier.
SELFMADEHERO TO PUBLISH NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL MY DAD FIGHTS DEMONS! BY UK COMICS LAUREATE BOBBY JOSEPH AND BREAKOUT ILLUSTRATOR ABBIGAYLE BIRCHAM
This September, SelfMadeHero is delighted to be publishing My Dad Fights Demons!, a diverse Young Adult graphic novel that brings together writer Bobby Joseph, the UK Comics Laureate, with breakout illustrator Abbigayle Bircham. This is her first full-length graphic novel.
Writer Bobby Joseph says: “Being a secondary school teacher has influenced my writing profoundly, especially with regards to absentee parents, and parents not generally understanding their kids. This became the seed of the book. I am very happy to join SelfMadeHero’s eclectic roster of top-notch creators, and the artist on the book, Abbie Bircham, is just simply awesome! Her art brings light to my dark satire.”
Publisher Emma Hayley says: “Bobby and Abbie’s YA graphic novel is hilarious, yet poignant. The YA graphic novel market is booming and while traditionally we publish GNs for adults, we are ever-increasingly responding to the market and releasing exciting new GNs for YA audiences.”
My Dad Fights Demons! presents the misadventures of Rye, a down-on-their-luck teenager and the dimension-hopping, demon-battling sorcerer, the Magical Mr Mantrikz, who just
happens to be their absentee father. Whilst this is a tale of urban fantasy, it also tackles the very real social issues of absentee dads and parental separation.
Bobby Joseph is a South London comic creator, whose early work includes the creation of cult comic classic Skank magazine, in which his best-known strip, “Scotland Yardie”, originated. He has written for The Guardian, Dazed and Confused, and Vice. A long- standing advocate for diversity and representation in comic books, his graphic novel, Scotland Yardie (Knockabout Comics, 2017), was the first diverse graphic novel to be studied as a module on an English Literature MA course. He was named the UK’s Comics Laureate in 2023.
The illustrator Abbigayle Bircham, graduate of the LICAF (Lakes International Comic Art Festival) Breakthrough Initiative programme, has published work with Soaring Penguin Press and the Rat Pack Collective. Based in Norwich, she has a penchant for the weird and wonderful, and this is her first full-length graphic novel.
My Dad Fights Demons! is published on 25th September in UK and 30th September in US. SelfMadeHero is represented for foreign rights by Andrew Nurnberg in Europe, South America, Middle East, Japan, and Bookman Agency in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan.
