THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2025! Claire O’Brien’s The Owl Lady fits into that traditional idea of the minicomic before that word became horribly overused and lost all meaning. Short in page count, and portable in size and physicality, it lasts for just eight pages. And yet it contains a rewarding and succinct story that combines dark humour with some deeper thematic concerns.
I picked this comic up from O’Brien in the marketplace area at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival this year as both title and cover immediately caught my attention. The story starts with its protagonist beginning a lifelong obsession with acquiring owl-based merchandise after buying an owl keyring on a school trip.
As the decades pass she becomes the Owl Lady of the comic’s title, acquiring a collection of owl figurines, stuffed toys, clothing, calendars and other assorted strigiform (I imagine that is the only time I will ever use that adjective at Broken Frontier) collectibles. She also becomes notorious for her owl hoarding but will come to realise far too late that it may not have been the most healthy of hobbies.
There’s a lot that O’Brien crams into these pages in thematic terms. On a surface level it’s painfully comedic (one late twist is simultaneously horribly funny and yet incredibly bleak) but on another there’s a lot in this concise tale about compulsion, loneliness and the tragedy of a life consumed by obsession. All culminating in a final page that will stay with the reader for a long time.
O’Brien’s cartooning style is an accessible blend of caricature and realism, centring stripped-back characters on detailed backgrounds to strong effect, and there’s a considered use of colour that feels meticulous and lively. Exactly the kind of well-constructed short that will leave the reader eager to discover more of O’Brien’s work.
Claire O’Brien (W/A) • Self-published, £4.00
Review by Andy Oliver
Claire O’Brien will be at Table B16 in the Redshirts 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
