So this is an intriguing little curiosity. Pamphlet 01 (subtitled The Interuniversal Newsletter for Humanoids) comes to us via creator Bryan Lim Junyan and new Singaporean micropublisher PPIPPIPRESS. It needs to be noted that I reviewed this via a digital review copy but the object itself is a very tactile one (see below) which will give extra layers of audience interaction to the reading experience of those picking it up in Harrogate at Thought Bubble.
Pamphlet is described as a “series revolving around questions being never too stupid”. In this first (presumably) standalone issue we meet a journalist who is obsessed with discovering what the moon tastes of. On this quest he comes face-to-face with such bizarre characters as Mr. Space Wizard, the Tribe of Living Tongues, and various amphibians who help or hinder him in his mission, depending on your viewpoint.
Junyan’s story has a certain oblique quality to it – you can read your own interpretations of pursuing your dreams or seeing your ambitions through to their end into it if you want. Or, alternatively, you can just take it as a somewhat off-centre, madcap collection of happenings that takes us along for a ride of fun, skewed, stream-of-consciousness ramblings. The latter was how I found myself connecting to it, and Junyan’s constantly shifting presentational approach – comics strips, illustrated commentary, card games, profiles, diagrams, online reviews and so on – seems designed to evoke that sense of the unsettling and the slightly random.
Junyan’s art has an appealingly loose yet energetic style that matches a comic that never takes itself very seriously. Pamphlet 01 is a little unformed and scattershot in its delivery but that seems to be very much the point for a narrative that is more about the ride than it is about the destination.
Bryan Lim Junyan (W/A) • PPIPPIPRESS
Review by Andy Oliver
PPIPPIPRESS will be at Table C45 in the Redshirt 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
