What if your favourite soap operas were real? That was the premise of Paul B. Rainey’s Thunder Brother: Soap Division series which originally ran for six issues until 2014. Rainey is a stalwart figure on the UK small press scene, having been self-publishing since the 1990s.
Escape Books collected his epic series There’s No Time Like the Present in 2014 and he has continued to prolifically create satirical humour strips like those seen in his recent Tales to Diminish one-shot. He was also a contributor to our first Broken Frontier Small Press Yearbook last year.
Rainey returns to the Thunder Brother universe at this Saturday’s Leamington Comic Con with a new Thunder Brother Special. We have a preview of the issue below along with details of its contents. If you’re looking to get into the Thunder Brother saga from the very beginning check out Paul’s online store here and catch up on a book of which I said here “retains its own identity and remains an absorbing read because of three main factors: an appealing and sympathetic protagonist, Rainey’s gradual reality-building as the mysteries of his universe are slowly revealed, and those constant soap opera in-joke nods to the audience.”
“It’s just as you’ve always suspected; all of your favourite soap operas are real! Soap Division is the organisation that secretly records the lives of your favourite TV characters for your viewing entertainment. Along with his teenage apprentice, Sally Timmins, Thunder Brother is the security officer responsible for ensuring that the soap worlds are free from the unofficial influences from us. The Thunder Brother Special premiering this weekend at Leamington Comic Con contains 36 pages of strips including two full-colour Thunder Brother: Soap Division stories, ‘This Is Your Life’ and ‘Wife Swap’, plus a one-off called ‘Connected’, drawn by Robert Wells.”
For more on Paul B. Rainey’s work check out his blog here and follow him on Twitter here. He will be at Leamington Comic Con this Saturday. Details here.
For regular updates on all things small press follow Andy Oliver on Twitter here.
