10 YEARS OF THE BF SIX TO WATCH! What I continue to find so inspiring about ThirdBear Press’s Boxes is the way in which it blends the finest qualities of so many of those much missed British small press comics anthologies of yesteryear. There’s the platforming of newer talent that was so central to Dirty Rotten Comics. The mix of strips and articles that made David O’Connell’s ink + PAPER such a fine magazine-style read. And the willingness to embrace the experimental that was at the forefront of Tiny Pencil. At a time when anthologies are a relatively scarce thing on the UK indie scene it is refreshing indeed to see such a polished collection of comics proving to be so popular.
Behind a hauntingly atmospheric cover by Broken Frontier 2020 ‘Six to Watch’ artist Kamila Krol (aka Pigeon) this second issue of Boxes will no doubt both introduce readers to names unfamiliar to them and provide new material from already established favourites. On that latter note, of course, what would a UK comics anthology be without the inclusion of some BF Six to Watch creators? Boxes #2 includes Manon Wright’s ‘The Gatherer’, a story about an enigmatic mer-creature collecting the artefacts of shipwrecked and drowned seafarers from the sea floor. Wright turns expectations on their heads here but it’s her use of colour and texture to create the eeriest of undersea environments that makes this such an outstanding piece of visual storytelling.
Kamila Krol’s ‘Pygmalion’ is almost impossible to describe without immediately compromising the reading experience but this understated gothic horror explores the divide between being the observer and the observed with a chilling intensity. It’s yet more evidence of Krol’s ability to provide quietly sophisticated comics commentary on complex themes like individualism, art, objectification and the subjective capturing of reality. All brought to life in claustrophobic greys.
As ever when I discuss anthologies at BF I am not going to go the shopping list route of writing extensively about every single contribution herein. But some of the strips which especially caught my attention include the following. Shri Gunasekara’s ‘When I Say I Love You’ is a beautiful piece of graphic poetry; a sumptuous journey into individual moments of love and appreciation, gorgeously illustrated to bring us into discrete moments in time with warmth and empathy. Julie Campbell’s ‘Out at the Birds’ introduces us to her love of ornithology in a slice-of-life piece that captures some simple joys in life delicately and empathetically. Campbell’s art has a quality of realism to it but is pleasingly never a slave to it.
Peppered throughout are Mark Brady’s ‘The Southside Cash Money Concept Club’ strips which provide witty relief from some of the darker strips with outlandish business ideas like an Elf on the Shelf Disposal Service or Collectible Adult Problem Themed Monster Figurines. Kai Dylan’s ‘Drifting’ is an impressive piece of self-reflective, form-pushing, extended metaphor. While editor and publisher Steven Ingram wraps things up with ‘The Beautiful Sad’, a three-page horror story set in a used record shop that is an excellent example of how to adapt the specific tools of the form in order to provoke an emotional response in the reader.
It cannot be stressed enough just how important the place that Boxes has positioned itself in is right now. Its very existence gives newer and/or underappreciated voices an opportunity to be discovered by entirely new audiences. We need far more print comics venues like this. So make sure to support the ones we do have – like Boxes from ThirdBear Press – to ensure their continued publication.
Shri Gunasekara, Mark Brady, Manon Wright, Michael Torrens, Kamila Krol, Julie Campbell, Cath Garvey, Gareth Brookes, Kai Dylan, Enrico Ariis, The RoaringRAAR, Steven Ingram • ThirdBear Press, £14.00
Review by Andy Oliver
Kamila Krol and Manon Wright will be guest artists at the ’10 Years of the Broken Frontier Six to Watch’ Party at Gosh! Comics this coming Saturday, August 31st. Full details here.
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.
