THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2026! Comics with an experimental edge are an integral part of our coverage here at Broken Frontier. We are the site that probably oversaturates our coverage with the phrase “the language of comics” after all. We’re also like to showcase emerging creative voices. And the third staple of our coverage is promoting socially relevant work. In the case of Noah Frear’s first indie comic To Catch a Landed Gull we get to tick all three of those BF ethos boxes which pretty much made it a certainty to get Thought Bubble Month coverage.
The first important thing to note about To Catch a Landed Gull is that this falls more into the arena of poetry comics than it does narrative. There are several short stories within these 60-plus pages with obvious thematic overlaps. But the nature of the work herein – all extended visual metaphor and dreamy symbolism – means that the reader is not so much interpreting events as being absorbed by them.
On his website Frear talks about the anthology as containing “surreal stories of grief and growth in dreamscapes and folk imaginings. Imagining a world of nostalgia and love through visualisations of disability and queerness.” And while there’s a certain deliberate obliqueness to the page it’s that idea of the implicit within the allegorical that makes this makes To Catch a Landed Gull such a fascinating experience. We observe, for example, discussions on grief with avian avatars, batrachian coming-of-age motifs, and representations of a chrysalis as indicative of personal growth. Everything here rooted in the natural world in symbolism.
The art is gorgeous in a haunting and sometimes almost eerie way. Frear’s use of muted but expressive watercolour palettes ensures that the aforementioned dreamlike quality of the work still has a kind of hazy reality to it while page layouts feature sequences within sequences and experimental panel structures that allow for reinterpretation or new discovery on every re-reading.
There are raw and sometimes scrappy elements to To Catch a Landed Gull. But instead of compromising the work they do the exact opposite, providing an air of authenticity and a stronger sense of intimacy between reader and author. Lettering is a good example of this with Frear’s handwritten text having a sometimes scrawly appearance but one that nonetheless connects us to what is being portrayed on the page with a far more profound rapport. This is fascinating work and a reminder of just how diverse the approaches to the page are at Thought Bubble every year.
Noah Frear (W/A) • Self-published, £16.00
Visit Noah Frear’s site and store here
Review by Andy Oliver
Noah Frear is at Table C18a in the Travelling Man Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2026 runs from November 9th-15th with the convention weekend taking place on the 14th-15th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2026 coverage so far in one place here.
Poster art by Núria Tamarit
