THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2025! It’s an old comics storytelling trick but it’s an effective one. By casting either themself in the form of an on-page animal avatar cartoonists can often ironically emphasise their humanity all the more intimately, despite also on one level shedding it. Junooo’s Shetland Travel Comics casts its two artist flatmate characters Juno and Zoe as a rabbit and a penguin respectively, as we follow them on a getaway trip to the Shetland Islands.
Work like this, of course, appeals for the vicarious experience of feeling part of the spirit of adventure through the eyes of another. Junooo depicts everything from the minutiae of preparation to the bigger picture immersion in nature as they explore their destination. Shetland Travel Comics is constructed in sections for each day of their holiday. While the strips are given a monochromatic feel Junooo intersperses them with original sketches that break up the proceedings with splashes of colour. It’s a more realistic representation of events that acts as a complementary counterpoint to the cute, stripped back cartooning that makes up the rest of the comic.
What stands out here is the way Junooo uses the language of comics so deftly but with a subtle, non-ostentatious eye. A map of the island wrapping around panels, speech balloons with imagery, silent sequences that invite us just to absorb the environs they are travelling through, and so on. Juno and Zoe come to life through relatable visual characterisation as we visit the island’s tourist attractions and wildlife with them.
Travel comics only really work when they are acutely observed and also give us an outsider’s view of an unfamiliar locale. Shetland Travel Comics definitely succeeds on both counts.
Junooo (W/A) • Self-published
Review by Andy Oliver
Joe Latham will be at Table D41b 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
