THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2024! It must say something intriguing about our UK indie comics community that since Thought Bubble moved to Harrogate the thing that has most captured their imagination about the new location has been the now infamous splendour of the Victorian toilets of the Majestic Hotel. Indeed, so alluring are the environs of this capacious restroom that they have now inspired an entire comics anthology. One replete with some of the biggest names in serial comics, sitting side by side with emerging stars of our ever vibrant small press scene.
With the Secrets of the Majestic comic now spawning its own spin-off exhibition as part of this year’s festival I caught up with editor Chris Mole to chat about the genesis of the project, haunted lavatories, and comics camaraderie at Thought Bubble…
Cover by Laura Helsby, Dearbhla Kelly and Chris Mole
ANDY OLIVER: As comics anthologies go Secrets of the Majestic is on one level perhaps one of the most niche collections thematically that we have covered here at BF. So, firstly, can you tell us a little about the idiosyncratic environment that inspired it?
CHRIS MOLE: How can one encapsulate the madcap wonder of the Majestic toilets? I’ll do my best – on a basic level, it’s just a ridiculously big and excessively fancy toilet tucked away in an innocuously modern-looking corridor of an otherwise quite grand and palatial hotel. The contrast between the corridor outside and the Victorian splendour within is what grabs people’s attention, I think. But aside from the actual visuals of the space, I think it’s more the community feel of Thought Bubble and the people there who inspired this book. I might have latched onto the toilet as a vehicle for the comics, but what I really wanted to do was give all the super-talented people who frequent the Thought Bubble party a place to play around – in much the same way that the last few mid-con parties have had people playing around in that toilet!
Chris and chums in the palatial opulence of the Majestic toilets at Thought Bubble 2021
AO: What was the genesis of the project? How did Secrets of the Majestic first get proposed?
MOLE: It was after the Thought Bubble 2022 party – I’d had a couple of drinks and we’d spent some of the evening mucking around in the Majestic Toilet, as is tradition. I’d also been chatting to Cecil Castelluci outside and we were collectively marveling over why they were so fancy, so she deserves the lion’s share of the credit for planting the idea in my head! On the way back to my hotel I tweeted the question of whether anyone would pitch to an anthology about the toilets and got an overwhelmingly positive response from various peers and friends (and Kieron “Toilet Pied Piper” Gillen), so that (and Chris Wildgoose, whose table was opposite mine, coming over the next day to tell me he wanted to draw a story for the prospective anthology) spurred me into deciding to actually go through with it.
The short version of all that is: it’s Adlai’s fault. Most things are!
‘The Secrets of the Majestic Toilet’ by Kieron Gillen and Benjamin AE Filby
AO: Who are some of the creative voices involved? And how much of a thrill was it to bring together established creators with some of the emerging new talents of the self-publishing scene?
I’ve name-dropped a few of the more established ones already (Cecil Castelluci, Kieron Gillen, Chris Wildgoose) but the full creative list is absolutely stacked with some of my favourite writers and artists from across the self-publishing scene and beyond. I don’t want to miss anyone out so here’s the full list:
Kieron Gillen, Tula Lotay, Chris Wildgoose, Benjamin AE Filby, Laura Jones, Dee Cunniffe, Jodie Troutman, Rik Worth, Jordan Collver, Owen Watts, Cecil Castelluci, Lauren Knight, Dearbhla Kelly, Dave Cook, Laura Helsby, JP Jordan, Rob Luckett, James Lawrence, Ria Grix, Sofie Dodgson, Fraser Campbell, Craig Munro, Aaron Thomson, Dan Bell, Gary Moloney, Colin Craker, Paul Carroll, Lane Lloyd, Rob Burton, Sarah Peploe, George Joy, Umar Ditta, Paul Tonner, Mark Granger, Liam ‘Pais’ Hill, Matt Hardy, Jonathan Scott, Rob Jones, Sam Chase, Aaron Eamer, David Cousens, Doug Lee, Adlai McCook, Gavin Mitchell, Asa Wheatley, Sammy Ward, Matt Simmons, Erika Price, Gareth Luby, Liana Kangas.
‘Smash the Patriarchy’ by Cecil Castellucci, Lauren Knight and Dearbhla Kelly
It was a real treat assembling the book and trying to give established creators an equal footing with people from the small press scene, because at the end of the day, I’m a small press guy myself – we do things like this because we love the medium and we’re having fun, so it’s less about trying to market the book effectively and more about just having a good time. Everyone involved was an enthusiastic and excellent participant and it’s honestly been a dream to have such a stacked line-up on my first proper attempt at curating an anthology!
AO: This was always going to be something of an esoteric compilation of stories but were there any which particularly surprised you in how inventively they approached the premise of the anthology?
MOLE: I’m particularly fond of Fraser Campbell and Craig Munro’s story, which really de-emphasised the actual toilet – you get a cubicle and a bit of the tiled floor, but the whole point of the story is the friends you’ve made along the way and not the toilet itself. It was a bold swing that nevertheless encapsulated the joy and magic of the whole endeavour, and I was happy to include it!
‘The Fool’s Gambit’ by Gary Moloney and Colin Craker
AO: There’s also a Secrets of the Majestic exhibition opening over the Thought Bubble weekend in Harrogate and running through to March. What can visitors expect from that and what has the reaction to the comic’s existence been like from the direction of the local population of Harrogate?
MOLE: The whole concept of doing an exhibition is still wild to me, so I’m very excited about that – it gives this silly little book of toilet comics a feeling of legitimacy which I find deeply amusing. Visitors can expect to see a good spread of original artwork from the book, including pages from Daniel Bell, Broken Frontier artist-to-watch Sammy Ward, and Eisner winners and nominees Tula Lotay and Jordan Collver, plus the original art for the fantastic pin-ups by Matt Simmons and Erika Price. There’ll also be museum-quality prints of a curated selection of other pages from the book, plus a video/audio component and since we’re doing this in partnership with the hotel itself, there’ll be some historic material from them to place the toilet in a real-life historical context – I love the idea of having some of the real history surrounded by the wild and fantastical alternate histories/realities that we came up with for it.
‘The Interstice’ by Dave Cook, Laura Helsby and JP Jordan
The general reaction has been a very positive one, as far as I can tell – we’ve had some coverage in the local paper, the Harrogate Advertiser, which sparked interest and the excellent Harrogate comic shop Destination Venus have been enthusiastic supporters of the book. I think once the exhibition is open more people will find out about it and I think they’ll appreciate what we’re going for!
AO: Turning to your own work can we expect any new comics from you at Thought Bubble this year?
MOLE: You can! I’ll have the second (and final) volume of Brigantia, my creator-owned fantasy story about a Pagan goddess from pre-Roman Britain who is thrust into the modern day. Volume 2 of the story brings things to a dramatic and I think very heartfelt/hopeful conclusion, and the creative team for the book (artist Alaire Racicot, colourist Rebecca Nalty and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou) absolutely knocked it out of the park. I’m excited for people to see how the saga ends and to draw a satisfying line under a story that’s been my creative focus for the past 8 or so years!
AO: Is there a creator or a comics project you’re particularly looking forward to checking out at Thought Bubble this year?
MOLE: Every year at Thought Bubble is a great chance for me to catch up with friends and fellow creators I don’t see often enough, so it’ll be great to see what people have been up to. I’ll be picking up the latest volume of the excellent Gateway City series from Russell Mark Olson but other than that I’m excited to take 20 mins away from my table, walk the aisles and find some new favourites!
Chris Mole will be at Table C51 in the DSTLRY Hall at Thought Bubble.
Secrets of the Majestic will also be available from Chris Mole’s online store after 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
