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…
The prolific Rachael Smith is not an artist to rest on her laurels. After last year’s massively lauded Wired Up Wrong – her collection of autobiographical strips on living with…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
Back in 2016, when I reviewed the original edition of Wired Up Wrong – Rachael Smith’s account of living with anxiety and depression told via witty vignettes, visual metaphor and…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
Rachael Smith has become one of this column’s core group of regularly featured creators since I first reviewed her short comic I Am Fire nearly four years ago here. Since…
Last week saw the annual return of the #hourlycomicday hashtag to Twitter as comics artists spent the day capturing the events of their respective February 1sts in comic strips portraying each hour…
Debuting at Thought Bubble! I can point to any number of reasons to enjoy Rachael Smith’s work – her nuanced characterisation, her expressive cartooning or her authentic use of dialogue, for…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
As Rachael Smith’s graphic novel and comics portfolio begins to build up into a significant body of work, a sense of growing narrative cohesion has also become apparent. One of…
Blue Bottle Mystery is not just a solid exercise in taking an already successful work and re-imagining it for a new readership but also an object lesson in how to…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
It’s been something of a Rachael Smith celebration over the last two weeks here at Broken Frontier as her second graphic novel The Rabbit from Avery Hill Publishing launched to great…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
With her debut graphic novel House Party released to great critical acclaim last year, and British Comic Awards recognition via a nomination in the Emerging Talent category, 2014 was a…
Columns · Eyecatcher · Small Pressganged
In 2014 Rachael Smith‘s debut graphic novel House Party propelled her unforgettably into the collective consciousness of the larger UK comics community. The rave reviews for her tale of a trio…
For Michelle, Siobhan and Neil – three aimless recently graduated housemates – life has not lived up to expectations since they left university. Would-be writer Michelle is trapped in a…
Rachael Smith’s I Am Fire is a witty little sitcom of a comic combining disaffected, angsty teenagers, health and safety politics, and bitter rivalries in that ever cut-throat and competitive…
“Human Identity is a Very Complex Thing” – Yudori on ‘Lovers of the Empire’, Period Piece Comics, and the Importance of EscapismAugust 31, 2026
“There’s Nothing More Tedious than a Predictable Protagonist” – Roberta Gregory On Revisiting the Life of Her Classic Character in ‘Bitchy! The Exasperating Existence of Midge McCracken’August 31, 2026
“Shedding Light on the Absence of Queer Narrative is Like Laying Flowers for the Ghosts of Queer Souls” – Marina Lisa Komiya on the Themes of ‘On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides’August 31, 2026
“I Like to Try to Write from a Place of Power” – Katie Skelly on Her New Graphic Novel ‘Heaven’, the Camaraderie Between Working Women, and Taking Readers on a Narrative RideAugust 27, 2026
“Comics, Similar to Zines, Exist as a Proletariat Art Form Within Popular Consciousness” – Raquelle Jac on Her Powerful Debut Graphic Memoir ‘Bimbo Agitprop’ from FantagraphicsAugust 13, 2026
