First as part of our now retired ‘Small Pressganged’ feature, and now as an annual standalone feature, we have been running our ‘Ten UK Small Press Comics You Need to Own!’ round-up at Broken Frontier since 2012. Keeping up that tradition, here’s this year’s look back at some of the standout British self-published comics we covered over the last twelve months.
A quick reminder (and something we say every year) that this is not a “Best of” list, per se. Rather it’s an opportunity for us all to immerse ourselves in the creativity, imagination and invention of those working in the small press world, and to give an extra push to their practice, while celebrating the diversity of the self-published work on offer in the process. The focus this year is on solo creators or partnerships rather than anthologies, comics published by micropublishers or ongoing anthology-style series.
There may also be some crossover with the Broken Frontier Awards for 2024. Just to underline the loose definition of “2024”, this is about work covered in that year here at BF rather than about what was published then. There’s plenty of strong material from ’24 waiting still to get it’s moment in the spotlight here after all. And, finally, small press = small print runs so in some cases you may need to wait/hope for reprintings, wait for comics fairs creators are tabling at, or scour through the small press sections of your LCS.
Make sure to check out some of the work below by picking up the books concerned and supporting these amazingly talented creators. That’s what this (and BF in all honesty) is really all about, after all!
(Read our previous annual round-ups here at Broken Frontier)
My Mum is a Wolf
Shuning Ji
Shuning Ji’s exploration of a toxic mother-daughter relationship fuses autobiography and powerful visual symbolism. Ji embellishes the turmoil at the heart of the story through intense colour choices, constant changes in panel layout styles and page compositions to mirror the urgency of her on-page version’s feelings and reactions, and the application of vulpine visual metaphor that sees her mother’s growing dark moods manifesting themselves as lycanthropic physical changes. An often difficult but intensely realised read.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: My Mum is a Wolf is soaked in the kind of emotional immediacy that only autobio work can provide.
Run Ragged
Axe Marnie
The second comic in this list to use the lycanthropic as visual metaphor, Axe Marnie’s Run Ragged is an unforgettable commentary on ableism and the pandemic. It also shows a growing storytelling confidence from the artist who ably guides the reader’s expectations as two parallel narratives resonantly converge and intertwine.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: The points [Run Ragged] makes about how society continues to discard and devalue the disabled, despite what so many continue to go through thanks to the pandemic, are vitally important ones to keep reiterating.
Blinded #1
Joe S. Farrar and Rob Jones
Writer Joe S. Farrar and letterer Rob Jones bring us something very different in Blinded, a new small press comics series that follows Sam, a young woman blinded in an accident. The art in this story is restricted only to lettering and sound effects to draw us deeply into the protagonist’s new perspective on the world. An absolute tour-de-force triumph of the letterer’s art.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: A key small press release for 2024 and one that essentially acts as an astonishing 20-something page portfolio piece for Rob Jones.
Autobiography Has Become a Stone in My Shoe
Peony Gent
Both a reflection on the layers of her own autobiographical comics practice and an exploration of how we document our lives for an audience via the all-pervading presence of social media, Autobiography Has Become a Stone in My Shoe is some of the most relevant work yet from the singular comics vision of 2017 Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ creator Peony Gent.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: Gent communicates her thoughts on this with her usual combination of eloquent text and scratchy impressionistic imagery, the latter as always conveying the message all the more empathetically for its detachment from the boundaries of more overt realism.
Rainlight Cope Aesthetic: Temporal Eructation
Gareth A Hopkins
Unique is a horribly overused word in comics commentary but when it comes to the practice of Gareth A Hopkins it’s an entirely valid one. The story of Steve Copeland, a man from whom “the world is slipping out from under”, Rainlight Cope Aesthetic: Temporal Eructation is a dryly witty, meta reflection on character purpose and relationship to author infused with moments of Hopkins’s oblique sequentials.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: The more I read from Gareth A Hopkins the more convinced I am that his importance in moving the form ever forward has had a fraction of the celebration it is due.
A Fall from Grace
Norm Konyu
2021 Broken Frontier Six to Watch creator Norm Konyu took a decidedly different narrative tack with his latest graphic novella A Fall from Grace giving us a fantasy tale of displaced deities finding their way in a world without followers. Konyu’s use of symbols in speech balloons instead of language adds an extra level of humour to events.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: [A Fall from Grace] is very different in tone to his other books but what it does have in common with them is Konyu’s deft use of the storytelling tools available to him in his comics narrative toolbox.
Hometown
Harl Jones
Harl Jones’s comic short examines that odd sense of displacement that can occur when revisiting a familiar place that we are invested in and one that is steeped in memories. In this case it’s the home town of the title; inarguably the most resonant location for anyone reflecting on their past. Something Jones does in these pages with a haunting, lyrical quality.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: Brooding and contemplative Hometown gets the highest of recommendations for those looking for shorter, complete work that really embraces the language of comics.
Everything’s Fine
Cara Brown
Considered autobio comics from a creator looking back on their life with a sense of wistfulness around the time of her 20th birthday. Flashing back through her teens and school days Brown paints a picture of a young woman who, despite her creative accomplishments, has constantly felt detached from her surroundings and those who occupy them; perceiving herself to be almost drifting through her life rather than grabbing the opportunities it affords. Mature and confident work from an emerging voice.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: What really impresses here are the key beats where Brown shows a profound understanding of the storytelling tools available to her to intensify these profound emotional moments.
Jacques and the Great Art Theft
Chris Baldie and Adrian Bloch
Burglar Jacques takes to the streets of Paris and infiltrates the environs of an art gallery which houses the most precious of treasures. Chris Baldie with colourist Adrian Bloch provides 55 pages of slapstick misadventure as Jacques advances, infiltrates and explores, avoiding rooftop falls, security systems and roving guards on his way to his final destination. A near wordless story with fluid visuals and a poignant twist or two along the way. Outstanding.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: Jacques and the Great Art Theft is borderline genius comics storytelling; funny, touching and, at its heart, an eloquent advocate for the possibilities of the form.
There’s a Party in My Body (And You’re All Invited)
Mereida Fajardo
Mereida Fajardo’s incredible fold-out journey through a celebratory rave in the human body once more underlined her commitment to constantly experiment with both form and physicality in her practice. She’s one of the sbsolute stars of the current UK indie scene and someone who you should all be following.
Broken Frontier review here
Broken Frontier soundbite: She remains one of the most exciting UK talents not to have an announced publishing deal. Publishers should be queueing up.
Article by Andy Oliver
