The Deep Needs Train
Winner of the 2011 Manga Jiwan competition, Elena Vitagliano’s The Deep Needs Train is a succinct yet highly expressive piece of fantasy storytelling. It centres on a mysterious steam train…
Section: Columns
Our writers reflect on what makes their hearts beat. Critical, witty, honest.
Columns · Crossing Borders · Eyecatcher
My Muse is Lounging on the Sofa
Contemporary absurdism ahoy in Wide Vercnocke’s ode to his sofa. My Muse is Lounging on the Sofa by Wide Vercnocke This is the titanic tale of a man…
The Orphans Who Had Parents
Lisa Grant’s The Orphans Who Had Parents examines a social issue that you may well be unfamiliar with: the exploitation of children in Cambodia by institutions that purport to be…
Reads #3
Avery Hill Publishing’s Reads is an anthology that is steadfastly unashamed of its old school, grassroots small press approach. As diverse a collection – in terms of both genres and…
Columns · Crossing Borders · Eyecatcher
Odalisques & Cylinders
We explore the titanic combination of Bastien Vivés and Ruppert and Mulot and look at Joris Van de Moortel’s use of comics to present his art books. Cylinder 1-2…
Small Press Spotlight on… Jade Sarson
Jade Sarson’s online Cafe Suada series is the epitome of feelgood comics. To great comic effect it depicts the ongoing feud between Geraldine, manager of the Piyo Piyo teahouse and…
Tiny Pencil #1: Into the Woods We Go
Founded and co-edited by Amber Hsu and Katriona Chapman, Tiny Pencil is the latest anthology publication to burst onto the British small press scene. As its name suggests, the raison…
Desert Island Comics
This time around a special edition of Crossing Borders. The United Kingdom’s most popular comics blog, the Forbidden Planet blog has a feature where comics industry people name their favourite…
The Green Bean Volume 4, Issue 1
Katie Green’s The Green Bean is something of a phenomenon. Perhaps the best way to describe it would be to call it an “illustrated journal zine” but that feels a…
The Storytellers and California
Rob Jackson is a small press comics creator who could never be accused of falling into a genre-specific rut. The Storytellers and California for example – the two projects I’m…
Small Press Spotlight on… Owen D. Pomery
Owen D. Pomery’s Between the Billboards is a remarkable debut comic with a stark and misanthropic central premise. It tells the tale of James Ebner, a recluse who has voluntarily…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
Small Press Spotlight on… Alys Jones and Beyond the Wire
“Writer/artist Alys Jones’s graphic novelette is a multi-layered foray into the horror of the trenches of the First World War that constantly plays and tinkers with the readership’s perception of…
Spirou’s 75th Anniversary and the Tragedy of Siblings
Celebrating 75 years of Spirou and a review of the heartbreaking story of Lea by Zidrou and Springers. 75 Years Of Spirou The first character created explicitly to promote a…
Madame Pipi And The Excess Of Human Nature
A new creator rises from Belgium’s pool of talent with a misanthropic view on life plus free webcomics from Bastien Vivés. Delitoon Set up as the premiere web portal for…
Michael Borremans’ Magnetics and Brussels in Shorts
Exploring Brussels in 10 graphic short stories and fine art painter Michaël Borremans doing… mini-comics? Magnetics by Michaël Borremans Reproduction of original artwork is one of the many concerns of…
White Cube: Art vs Comics in the Facebook Age
Art versus comics in the Facebook age! Only in the quirky mind of new promising talent Brecht Vandenbroucke. Art versus comics, the big debate rages on but not within the…
Grey Area #1: While the City Sleeps – Tim Bird Uses Architecture and Environment to Reflect Nocturnal Mood and Emotion
Published by Avery Hill, whose anthology Reads! I reviewed here on ‘Small Pressganged’ last year, Tim Bird’s Grey Area #1 is a sequential art tour of London’s streets, thoroughfares and hidden corners at night. Three…
Celebrating 2012: Ten UK Small Press Comics You Need to Own!
Small Pressganged is Broken Frontier’s weekly column designed to shine a spotlight on the often overlooked world of small press, self-published and altcomics. Every week we provide a mix of…
Broken Frontier Anthology
312 pages • 27 stories • 50 star creators
Limited copies available!Recommended Reads!
“I Wanted to Change the Narrative as I Believe Comic Art Deserves the Same Respect!” – Dominica Claribelle on Experimentation, Representing Southeast Asian Culture in Her Work, and Her Debut Graphic Novel ‘Finding Home’December 3, 2025
“You Laugh to Keep from Crying” — A Conversation with Pascal Girard and Cathon on Their New Comic Strip Collections ‘Pastimes’ and ‘Fruit Salad’November 19, 2025
“I Think it’s Really Important to Follow Your Dreams!” – Sarah Graley Talks Working on ‘Pizza Witch’ with Stef Purenins and the Pleasures of Rewarding Audience InteractionsNovember 13, 2025
“I Hugely Admire Comics with Dynamic Page Structure!” – Beatrijs Brouwer/Beastly Worlds on the Lure of Fantasy Storytelling and Her Creative ProcessNovember 13, 2025
“People Are Having Good Ideas All the Time and Putting Them into Practice” – Alison Sampson, Charlie Adlard, Lucy Sullivan and More on the Importance of the Thought Bubble Portfolio Reviews and Comics CommunityNovember 13, 2025