Our writers reflect on what makes their hearts beat. Critical, witty, honest.
Whit Taylor’s minicomics series Fizzle, published by Radiator Comics, has been something of a slow burn read to date, and that has very much been a huge part of its…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
When I say that I have always found Sajan Rai to be a curious creative voice I mean that in a distinctly positive way. His work feels notably different from…
In a recent Avery Hill Publishing press release I was quoted as saying of the work of Charlot Kristensen that “Kristensen’s vibrant visual characterisation, immersive employment of colour and playful…
A young woman. A promise she made. And the journey she undertakes to honour it. That’s the simple premise of Chloe Starling’s The Promise, another of the self-published comics I…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
In our recent Broken Frontier Awards not only was digest series š! nominated for Best Ongoing Series but we also inducted kuš! comics publishing team David Schilter and Sanita Muižniece…
Acting as both chronological and thematic sequel to her earlier book Wired Up Wrong, but still entirely accessible as a standalone work, Rachael Smith’s Stand in Your Power explores the…
Cathy Brett’s tale of two 1920s penfriends reunited in reflection in the latter days of their lives may sound like touching if standard slice-of-life comics fare at a first glance…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
A week or two back at Broken Frontier we began a game of catch-up by looking at some of the recent issues of publisher Youth in Decline’s acclaimed and award-recognised…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
To call Lizzy Stewart’s Walking Distance “a book about walking” seems both an elegantly succinct if obvious encapsulation of its contents and yet also a woefully inadequate summation of its…
Returning to covering more grassroots self-publishing is one of my main aims for ‘Small Pressganged’ this year at Broken Frontier and, after my recent look at Beatrice Mossman’s The Lure…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
Over the last few years Youth in Decline’s Frontier series has provided an acclaimed space for creators to spotlight their personal approaches to graphic narrative. Sometimes these self-contained one-shots showcase…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
Arguments about what exactly constitutes comics as a form always seem something of an unnecessary distraction. The elasticity of that definition is surely one of the medium’s greatest strengths, allowing…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
The most exciting time of the year here on the site is our announcement of the names of the artists selected for the year’s Broken Frontier ‘Six Small Press Creators…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
John Tucker’s The King is perhaps more illustrated story than pure comics but this eccentrically amiable tale has an idiosyncratic charm that makes it well worth picking up if you’re…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
Beatrice Mossman’s The Lure of the Flesh brings together dark fantasy, allegorical storytelling and autobiographical elements in an enticingly unusual physical format. Freya is a young girl who has struggled…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
Shazleen Khan describes her 2019 Broken Frontier Award-winning webcomic Buuza!! as bring about “found family, diaspora and religion, set in an urban fantasy 90s Middle East and central Asia.” Last…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
We supplemented our annual Broken Frontier tradition of rounding up just ten UK small press comics representing the diversity of approach in self-published comics practice this year with an additional…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
In last year’s Broken Frontier Awards Debbie Fong’s short comic Greenhouse won the ‘Best One-Shot’ category for a story that I described as a subtle yet uncompromising account of mental…
“It’s Fascinating How Many People React with Total Disbelief that Disability Hate Crime is an Actual Thing” – Al Davison on ‘The Spiral Cage’ and ‘Muscle Memory’October 27, 2025
“Basically, I’m Hoping to Please Both Nostalgia Fans and Those Who Enjoy Pop Culture Critique!” – Paul Cornell on the Bronze Age Avengers, His First ‘Commando’ Comic, and New Publishing Venture Cosmic LighthouseOctober 23, 2025
“We Hope to Explain Our Passion for the Medium to Gallery Visitors Who May Not Have Any Idea about Comics” – Katriona Chapman on the Avery Hill Exhibition ‘Vision & Labour: Making Comics’ at the Mercer Gallery for Thought BubbleOctober 22, 2025
“There Are Hard Parts and There Are Wonderful Parts. I’m Just a Mum Trying Her Best” – Rachael Smith Gives Us the Lowdown on the Collected ‘Nap Comix’October 21, 2025
“Comics Bring Art at Its Highest Level to the People” – Alison Sampson Talks Comics and Architecture, Crossing Genres, and the Communicative Power of the FormOctober 20, 2025
