THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2024! 10 YEARS OF THE BF SIX TO WATCH! Help! My Cat is Summoning a Portal to Hell certainly has the most memorable title of any Thought Bubble offering to be submitted for review at Broken Frontier this year. It has been a little while since we last reviewed comics work from 2017 BF ‘Six to Watch’ artist Kate-Mia White and this new offering feels like some of her most accomplished storytelling to date.
This first 17-page issue acts largely as scene-setter so, as with all serialised comics, it remains to be seen where White takes this but as an opener it’s a fun premise. A young woman finds an abandoned cat and takes it home but as time goes on she begins to have her suspicions as to what her newfound feline friend is up to while she is out. The title, of course, gives away what those activities may be but there’s a neat twist halfway through this issue that allows us to consider events from an entirely different perspective.
If you are a long-term BF reader then you may remember White’s best-known project to date, the gothic horror series A Dark Forest. Help! My Cat is Summoning a Portal to Hell may retain the same dark and shadowy black and white presentation but aside from that her style here is very different. Where that story used a kind of scratchy, faux naïve visualisation to create atmosphere and reflect theme here her art is more refined and fluid, mirroring the dark fantasy aspects of this comic and the disarming contrast of the cute and the mystical.
A recommended first chapter from a missed voice in comics. The even better news is that the second issue of Help! My Cat is Summoning a Portal to Hell should also be available in Harrogate this year.
Kate-Mia White (W/A) • Self-published, £5.00
Review by Andy Oliver
Kate-Mia White will be at Table B34b in the Redshirt Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2024 runs from November 11th-17th with the convention weekend taking place on the 16th-17th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2024 coverage so far in one place here.
Art by Rocío Arreola Mendoza
2024 marks the tenth year of Broken Frontier’s ‘Six to Watch‘ initiative. Look for articles throughout the year celebrating the work of those artists who have been a part of the programme.
