THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2025! We first covered Paul Cornell and Rachael Smith’s Who Killed Nessie? last year with an interview for its initially self-published crowdfunding campaign. This cryptid murder mystery story was later picked up by Avery Hill Publishing who, let’s be fair, know a little about the best prospects on the indie comics scene. It’s once more a testament to the AHP curation ethos – an outfit whose publishing philosophy has always seemed to be summed up in the sentence “Is this good comics?” – that something that is in many ways so unlike anything they’ve published before should be added to their ever eclectic output.
The premise is an instantly attention-catching one. At a conference for the world’s cryptozoological entities and figures from myth and legend the Loch Ness Monster is discovered to have been murdered. The only human in the hotel, the innocent Lindsay Grockle, who is herself just coming out of a toxic relationship, is duty-bound by circumstances to solve the mystery behind this killing. But as more deaths and attempted killings muddy the waters Lindsay finds herself ever more entangled in the multiple threads of the affair. With the aid of the Beast of Bodmin Moor can she finally untie them all and solve the crime?
To a degree the central mystery of Who Killed Nessie? isn’t even the real draw of the story – that’s reserved for the character set pieces as Lindsay interviews the various cryptids and mythological creatures. Cornell and Smith have a sparkling creative chemistry here, complementing and elevating each other with a rare alchemy as witty dialogue and knowing visual characterisation work in perfect storytelling synthesis. Smith’s character design is inspired and imaginative and, while this is a complete-in-one narrative, it leaves the reader hoping the duo will one day return to this world where the Kraken, a centaur, Slender Man and the Japanese Tsukumogami all live and interact together in one strange fantasy arena.
When the inevitable answers come they are delivered with an expert pulling together of seemingly disparate plot elements that is both intricate and complex and yet accessible and revelatory at the same time. While it would be irresponsible to say too much about that denouement there’s something quite compelling about the way in which Lindsay’s own situation and story parallels the wider themes of the book. Finding yourself and your place in the world is a universal subject we can all relate to. Cornell and Smith tackle it with a delightful gusto in Who Killed Nessie?.
Paul Cornell (W), Rachael Smith (A) • Avery Hill Publishing, £14.99
Review by Andy Oliver
Read our recent interview with Paul Cornell here
Read our recent interview with Rachael Smith here
Paul Cornell will be at Table D4 and Rachael Smith at D5 in the ComiXology 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
