THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2024! What makes an event like Thought Bubble such a draw for anyone who enjoys the full breadth and depth of the medium is the sheer diversity of presentational approaches on offer. Big-name, slick releases sit side by side with DIY culture, minicomics and zines; not in competition but rather communally as alternative examples of the potential of the form.
One such minicomic-style offering to catch my attention from the Thought Bubble debuts this year is from San Francisco-based creator Sarah Maloney’s Queer Ecology series. Queer Ecology: Pigeons follows up on previous editions featuring earthworms and kobudai fish. It’s a fun yet informative look into the lives of a bird that has successfully adapted itself to live within human environments but also work that serves to underline the abundant queerness of the natural world.
Concise but full of focussed and easily digestible facts on the species, Queer Ecology: Pigeons traces the recent human-influenced history of the bird, explains its biological processes in regards to breeding and feeding, and looks at what we could loosely call its social behaviour. Pivotal, unsurprisingly, to the theme of the comic is the fact that pigeons bond for life, and that can include two male pigeons too.
Maloney’s art has an irreverent accessibility, communicating what could otherwise be dry biological explanation by injecting elements of humour and amusing visual characterisation into each page. A witty but fascinating way of conveying the subject matter. Check out all three entries in the series at Harrogate this month.
Sarah Maloney (W/A) • Self-published
Review by Andy Oliver
Sarah Maloney will be at Table C39a in the DSTLRY 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
