THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2024! We are all about the idea of comics community here at Broken Frontier and today’s review subject is certainly a fine example of that. Cryptids of Leeds is the first anthology from the Leeds Comic Collective whose activities you can learn more about in our recent interview here. Behind an exquisitely composed Anna Readman cover around twenty Leeds-based comics creatives have grabbed the anthology theme of cryptids by the horns (or the talons, or the tentacles or whatever…) to give us a collection of short stories that are in turn eerie, witty, creepy and/or tongue-in-cheek.
Cover by Anna Readman
Edited by Jack Fallows, Cryptids of Leeds is representative of what all the finest comics anthologies have to offer – a selection of established small press names you may already be familiar with alongside newer and emerging talents to investigate further. The standouts herein for me included Molly Pukes’ ‘Rabbit Hole’ (below) which takes the very simple concept of rescuing an injured rabbit as a child and, with a late twist, turns it into something incredibly sinister. Pukes’ art has a welcoming, appealing feel which only makes the underlying tension all the more effective.
James Patricks and James Lawrence’s ‘Night of the Hobgoblin’ (below) takes a deliciously different take with a Viz-style account of boozy goblin pub antics. Lawrence’s cartooning having a suitably slapstick sensibility for Patricks’ irreverent strip. Cara Brown’s name is one that is very much on my radar right now and her ‘Pleasant Pastures’ gives us a highly atmospheric take on a very specific supernatural urban legend as a young couple come to regret their make-out stop in countryside.
Frank Deacon’s ‘Life After Leeds’ (below) is more ghost story than cryptid story but it’s a highlight of the collection for me. A fatal accident transports a deceased man into a Leeds-specific limbo, extrapolating the concept of haunting to its logical conclusion. It’s a neat idea, well executed, with a use of shading that really enhances the story’s eccentrically otherworldly qualities. It’s rather difficult to say too much about Tom Kneeshaw’s ‘The Hyde Park Rat Man’ without giving things away but if rodents make you squirm then this is probably not the strip for you! Similarly MD Penman’s ‘The Thackray Maiden’ is just one page and two panels but there’s so much impact in that short space from this ever dependable artist.
Some work is far more polished than other offerings but that’s absolutely the point of a comic like this. It’s a showcase, a testing ground, a platform where less established artists can learn their craft and find their voice. I have been covering the UK small press scene for decades now not just years, and I remember a time when projects like this were everywhere. They are relatively sparse now which makes it all the more important that we support these community efforts when we can. Especially when they’re as much fun as Cryptids of Leeds.
Anna Readman, Jack Fallows, Feff Silvers, Flo Woolley, Molly Pukes, Kevin Haworth, James Lawrence, James Patricks, Seren Deacon, Hannah McCann, Joe Eaton, Charlie Ellis, Cara Brown, Rob Luckett, Frank Deacon, John J, Pearson, THREESIX, Tom Kneeshaw, Ros Murray, MD Penman • Leeds Comic Collective, £4.99
Review by Andy Oliver
Read our interview with LCC’s Jack Fallows and Rob Luckett here
Cryptids of Leeds can be bought from contributors’ tables 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
