Avoidance Central

Shortbox Comics Fair launched on the first of October. It ends when November arrives.

The SCBF used to be physical comics, and is where you'll have seen books like I see a Knight by Xulia Vicente, the story of a woman followed throughout her life by a headless knight that only she can see. It is excellent. Or Joe Sparrow's Homunculus, which made me cry in a coffee shop. Or Lissa Tremain's Minotaar, about two friends confronting what lies at the heart of a Scandinavian influenced flat pack furniture store.

SBCF has made the move to digital only, as their official bluesky says Over 140+ all-new, original comics created by artists from around the world, gathered exclusively in one place -for October only!

And it's all online, with all digital comics: no shipping, no waiting, no travelling.

You can, if you wish, buy the entire catalogue at the touch of a button. It only costs £997.89!

My first browse of the store has yielded a basket of 13 books for the bargain price of £92. Maybe I'll prune that list, maybe I'll add to it.

It includes...
Knightfall by Rowan Fartousi
The plan was simple: sneak into the Knights’ headquarters, steal what they need, and get out before sunrise. On the run and running out of time, Blue clings to a crumbling plan and a partner who barely believes in him. But when the past catches up in the form of the boy he left behind, Blue must confront the memories that refuse to stay buried.
I do love a heist. And I DO enjoy knights.

War and the Maiden by Riotbones
War and a historian meet in a library at the end of the world: what follows is a reckoning between memory and myth. As ruins smoulder beyond the walls, they trade stories—the historian, relentless in remembering and cataloguing every atrocity, while War, ageless and unrepentant, offers only more questions.
In the previews for SBCF, this book stood out as an obvious buy on sight.

Wide Open Spaes by Lara Joven
A coming of age short comic about two friends facing adult life in two very different ways, so different that it tears them apart without them even knowing. A story not only about friendship but also about how insecurities can blind us.

Summer of the Wondrous Salamander
A narrator's reminiscence on a strange childhood summer spent with a creature that eludes both definition and the authorities. Also a story not-quite about a grandmother, and a house.
Now THAT's how you title a comic book!

Laura by Marty Tina G
Ten years after the vampire Carmilla has been killed, Laura (her former prey) continues to be haunted by her ghost. How vivid can an apparition get? What do you do when you can’t find escape from grief?
Laura is a gothic horror comic directly inspired by the 1872 vampire novella Carmilla. It can be enjoyed as a standalone story even by people who haven't read the book.
Marty Tina G is AKA Geezmarty. She's very good. I've commissioned a few pieces from her in the past and always been delighted with the results.

Ladies of the Living Princess by Theo Stultz
The ladies of the living princess serve their mistress in the cloistered halls of the mysterious innermost castle. Ursa, ostracized by the others, carefully tends to the most respected young lady among them, Genevieve, who has been abandoned by her friends after being struck with a sleeping curse. But when those responsible for the curse seem to turn their attention to Ursa, a strange power makes itself known…
The Queen of the Underworld is dead, the dead spill vengefully upon the living. A medieval haunted-house fairytale about weird girls winning.
This looks weird, and maybe a little bit Ninth House. I love it.

How to be a good human by MIUWN
Three tablespoons of flour, two-and-a-half cups of baking soda, and a teaspoon of butter... if only being human was as simple as following a recipe. The official human guidebook is rather complicated, but as long as the instructions are followed carefully, everything will turn out well, won’t it?
The blurb didn't inspire me, but the art does. Nothing looks like this. I'm delighted by the idea.

A Little Beauty by Laura Knetzger
After an ordinary woman brings home a huge ugly bouquet of flowers, her personality changes. Suddenly intensely interested in creativity, she throws herself into making art and worshipping the bouquet as her muse. As she spirals further into obsession, her son has to choose between destroying his mother’s joy or saving her ‘normal’ life.
This sounds weird. I love it.