Broken Frontier

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! Finding a new angle on such a played-out genre as super-heroes is not an impossible one but it’s not an easy one either. While the Big Two are comfortable endlessly recycling the same storylines from decades before that they were already rehashing twenty years ago there are still sources out there in the small press and indie worlds trying to approach the cowl and capes world from a different direction.

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! As you will have been reading for the last two weeks here at BF the ARC Festival of contemporary comics hits London this weekend and there’s plenty of Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ artists from our annual mentoring programme tabling there. First up we have a Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ table at the event.

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! “I think Limbo is probably the best work I’ve ever done in any medium.” When a creator makes a statement like that in an interview it’s obviously something to take immediate notice of. Especially if, as I had done in preparation for that recent chat here at Broken Frontier, you have just finished a massive read of their back catalogue of comics practice.

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! New issues of Fraser Geesin and Laurie Rowan’s Pricks have been one of the highlights of the debut releases at Thought Bubble over the last few years. While the fifth issue of Pricks wasn’t ready quite in time for our TB Month last year that just means we can comfortably slot it into our ARC Festival coverage for 2026. This is one of the finest and funniest satires you will read in comics, made all the more relevant for its brutal swipes at the most deserving of targets.

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! When we announced this year’s Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ back in January I spoke in more depth about why alt-style comics artist Francis Todd had been chosen, saying of his self-published series Caribou: “its off-centre approach to oddball characters, darkly enticing comics shorts, and unashamed experimental storytelling made Francis a definite pick for this year’s list.

Judge Dredd and the Biker Mice from Mars?

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! Periodical is a rather aptly named anthology of nine comics from nine different creators, all centred around periods. The title itself grew out of a hilarious misunderstanding of the word “periodical” in a group chat, before evolving into this collection of stories. Described as “gorgeous, hilarious, sometimes informative,” the anthology showcases the talents of Rachael Ball, Chie Hosaka, Nuala C.

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! Back in 2020 Henry McCausland’s breakout work, Eight-Lane Runaways from Fantagraphics, caught our attention so much at BF that it earned the artist a nomination in the Breakout Talent category in that year’s Broken Frontier Awards. McCausland’s experimental style, innovative approach to page layouts, and quirky storytelling is well worth checking out at London’s ARC Festival this weekend.

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! For the uninitiated, UK cartoonist Ed Pinsent has been creating and self-publishing comics since the early 1980s. His characters psychic detective Drake Ullingsworth and companion Dog, the subject of today’s review, date back to near the very beginning of that creative journey. Pinsent is one of the longstanding pillars of the scene. Indeed, BF’s Tom Murphy described him as “the small press Godfather” here on the site a few years back.

ARC FESTIVAL 2026! A new indie micropress is always an exciting development on the UK circuit and when it’s as experimentally focussed as Francis Todd’s Blue Funnel Books all the more so. Fidelia Schlegl’s Smoke is one of the two debut comics from Blue Funnel, making its first appearance at this weekend’s ARC Festival. It’s a bold statement of intent from the small press outfit, underlining their objective to provide form-pushing practice with a distinctively tactile aesthetic.