More publishing news from SelfMadeHero today at Broken Frontier with the announcement of their Autumn plans. The line-up includes new work from the Rickard Sisters and First Graphic Novel Competition winner Alex Taylor.
SELFMADEHERO ANNOUNCE NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL TITLES FOR AUTUMN 2025
SelfMadeHero is delighted to announce a quartet of new graphic novels for Autumn 2025 from British creators, including works from both established creators and new talent. The UK’s Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph collaborates with illustrator Abbigayle Bircham, and Frida Kahlo artist Francisco de la Mora teams up with Kiss FM DJ Bill Tucky. The Rickard Sisters unveil their third project and the First Graphic Novel Award winner Alex Taylor makes his debut. All four titles are sure to appear to older readers and young adults alike.
SEPTEMBER TITLES
THIS SLAVERY
Authors: Scarlett and Sophie Rickard
Original Author: Ethel Carnie Holdsworth
Paperback/ colour/ 368 pages, ISBN: 978-1-914224-35-5
PRICE: UK £18.99 / US $23.99 / CAN $29.99
UK PUB DATE: 11 September 2025 US PUB DATE: 9 September 2025
When the Lancashire cotton-mill that employs them burns to the ground, sisters Rachel and Hester Martin are each forced to find their own way to survive in the harsh realities of pre-war industrial Britain. The contrasting paths they take in their quest for domestic autonomy form a subtly strident allegory of the all but insurmountable barriers of class and gender that then enslaved half the population. Part compelling narrative epic, part fiery Marxist-feminist polemic, this faithful, sumptuous, and revelatory adaptation of the radical feminist poet and author Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s novel by the award-winning Rickard Sisters reclaims a lost classic by holding it up as a mirror to our own hard times, and as a gloriously flaming beacon to future communities to offer strength, hope, and dignity. Scarlett (the artist) and Sophie (the writer) produced graphic novels of Robert Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (2020) and Constance Maud’s No Surrender (2022). They enjoy a close and cheerful collaborative relationship from 200 miles apart. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was Eisner nominated for Best Adaptation.
MY DAD FIGHTS DEMONS!
Author: Bobby Joseph Artist: Abbigayle Bircham
Paperback/ colour/ 112pp ISBN: 978-1-914224-34-8
Price: UK £14.99 / US $19.99 / CAN $24.99
UK PUB DATE: 25 September 2025 US PUB DATE: 30 September 2025
Welcome to Rye’s world: their stepdad hates them, their mother ignores them, and they’re stuck in a dead-end relationship. To make matters worse, their world is turned upside down one day with the return of their father, the Magical Mr Mantrikz, self-styled “greatest sorcerer in the world”, and Rye now has to spend their weekends with this rude, pushy, and frankly ridiculous wizard. And that was never going to work – especially when magic is involved…
Written by UK Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph, this is his first graphic novel since Scotland Yardie (Knockabout, 2017). Illustrated by Abbigayle Bircham, a graduate of the LICAF (Lakes International Comic Art Festival) Breakthrough Initiative programme, who 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.
OCTOBER TITLES
BONE BROTH
Author: Alex Taylor
Paperback, colour, 208 pages ISBN: 978-1-914224-32-4
PRICE: UK £17.99 / US $22.99 / CAN $32.99
UK PUB DATE: 23 October 2025 US PUB DATE: 28 October 2025
First Graphic Novel Award winner, Alex Taylor, writes a Gen Z Hannibal tale. In this coming-of-age queer thriller, the young transmasculine Ash begins his transition into adult life by landing his first job at a ramen-noodle shop in London, prepping the bone broth. But as the financial landscape shifts under Ash’s feet, and after months of bonding with a series of challenging co-workers, everything suddenly stops dead. Literally. At a drunken staff party, Ash’s bullying boss turns up dead, and everyone’s been taking selfies with the corpse. Good thing Ash has already spent a year on the job. Alex Taylor is a queer visual artist based in London. He was the winner of the First Graphic Novel Award in 2023. Bone Broth is his debut graphic novel.
NOVEMBER TITLES
THE MOST AMAZING SATURDAY MORNING RUBBISH CLUB
Writer: Bill Tuckey Artist: Francisco de la Mora
Paperback, 192 pages/ colour ISBN: 978-1-914224-36-2
PRICE: UK £17.99 / US $22.99 / CAN $32.99
UK PUB DATE: 20 November 2025 US PUB DATE: 25 November 2025
The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club is a creative collaboration between a writer and illustrator, both of whom have first-hand experience of parenting children with Special Needs, and therefore puts the lived experience of SEND children at centre-stage. Three very different kids, each with their different needs and subject to the same low expectations, come to share their own unique skills to achieve their goals. These spirited characters meet in the park and unite to establish a litter-picking scheme. Touching, funny, and beautiful, this unique collaboration between writer Bill Tuckey is best known as reggae DJ and journalist with The Voice, Time Out, and the Independent. whilst Francisco de la Mora is the acclaimed illustrator of graphic biographies of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, both published by SelfMadeHero.
