Thought Bubble Anthology Collection: 10 Years of Comics

Every year, the British comics festival Thought Bubble produces a short collection of shorter comics. This anniversary anthology collects all 10 years of the collections, featuring top creators from both sides of the Atlantic and the winners of the festival’s own comic art award. Most entries are only a page long, which doesn’t provide a lot of space for storytelling. A handful of pieces stand out: a glimpse of an alternate-history comic book store by Gail Simone and Tula Lotay, an ode to summer by Hwei Lim and Emma Rios, instructions for hosting a comics jam by Sarah McIntyre and David O’Connell, and a fable by Emily Rose Lambert. But most are prettier to look at than they are satisfying to read, and as the book continues, more and more installments are transparently advertisements for the creators’ ongoing comics. That said, it’s still an attractive, eclectic overview of the non-superhero comics field over the past decade. (Oct.)