The leading comics website Broken Frontier, run by Andy Oliver, has announced the winners of its 20th annual BF Awards, voted for by its readers and the BF team. The winners include a number of British creators, Beck Kubrick, Michael Molcher, Paul B. Rainey, Emma Reynolds and David Roach among them.
The BF team feel the winners and nominees reflect a wide range of the socially conscious and progressive work that championed the marginalised and disenfranchised throughout 2023 with empathy and eloquence.
“It may not have been a vintage year for insightful or well-informed UK broadsheet comics commentary but it was certainly a vintage year for comics,” says Andy Oliver. “This year’s Broken Frontier Awards shortlist reflected that and received a near record number of votes, surpassed only by that year when a webcomic with an Instagram account of nearly a million followers was nominated (at least we didn’t have to deal with the site crawling to a halt as we did back then!).
“What a year it was for genuinely indie, alternative and small press comics it was,” Andy continues. “There were wins for some of the key rising micropresses who are embracing the full potential of the medium, reminding audiences of what the form can be beyond the confines what it is traditionally thought to be. These are the micropublishers that are forging ahead with a radical agenda and a belief in the unique properties of the form and, in the process, creating a new Golden Age for alternative comics work.
“It was a vintage year for comics.”
• You can read the full announcement here on the Broken Frontier web site
Best Writer: Alice Oseman (Heartstopper Volume 5, Hodder)
Alice Oseman is an award-winning author, illustrator, and screenwriter. She’s the creator of LGBTQ+ YA romance comic Heartstopper, and the writer, creator, and executive producer for the Emmy Award-winning television adaptation for Netflix, produced by See-Saw. Alice has written every episode and been involved at every stage, from casting to music.
She’s also the author of several YA contemporary novels about teenage disasters: Solitaire, published when she was 19, Radio Silence, I Was Born for This, and Loveless, a New York Times bestseller. Alice’s books have won, been shortlisted or nominated for a number of awards, including the YA Book Prize, the Inky Awards, the Carnegie Medal, and the Goodreads Choice Awards. Alice was named the Attitude Person of the Year 2023, and The British Book Awards Illustrator of the Year.
Heartstopper, now a Netflix series, encompasses all the small moments of Nick and Charlie’s lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.
Other nominees:
- Dave Cook (Killtopia Volume 5, BHP Comics)
- Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer: The End, Dark Horse Comics)
- Marjorie Liu (The Night Eaters: Her Little Reapers, Abrams/Titan)
- Saadia Faruqi (Saving Sunshine, First Second)
Best Artist: Nicole Goux (Pet Peeves, Avery Hill Publishing)
Nicole Goux (she/her) is an Eisner Award nominated illustrator and cartoonist from Los Angeles. She’s the artist of DC’s Shadow of the Batgirl and co-creator of Forest Hills Bootleg Society at Simon and Schuster, Everyone is Tulip at Dark Horse Comics, and Fuck Off Squad at Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club. She has been published by DC, IDW, LionForge. Her work often explores the themes of coming of age, interpersonal drama, and learning how to be a human. Lately she’s spent a lot of time in the house (like a lot a lot), but loves traveling the country selling her wares and making new friends.
In the horror graphic novel Pet Peeves, Bobbie’s life is going nowhere fast. She’s working at a bar, wanting to play music but never having the time or energy. The only bright spot is her dog – always cheerful, always cuddly, and always there for her.
As the relentless day-in, day-out of work piles up, music and roommates and social plans begin to seem less and less important as Bobbie struggles to make rent and have any time to be creative. The only thing she has time for outside her job is her dog . . . and her dog is going to do everything he can to keep it that way.
This debut solo graphic novel from breakout author Nicole Goux explores the struggles of a young artist – haunted not only by debt and society, but by more sinister (though adorable) canine forces.
Other nominees:
- CROM (Birdking Volume 2, Dark Horse Comics)
- Ellice Weaver (Big Ugly, Avery Hill Publishing)
- Martin Simpson (NORD, Soaring Penguin Press)
- Shazleen Khan (Saving Sunshine, First Second)
Best Colourist: Beth Fuller (Witching Hour, Quindrie Press)
Beth Fuller is a Dublin-based illustrator specialising in detailed linework and concept development.
In Witching Hour, available direct from Quindrie Press, Esio knows all the rules about travelling to the fae realm: stick to the path, don’t say your name, and don’t eat any offered food. She is determined to make it to the realm’s castle and ask for a wish from the mysterious being who lives there. Unfortunately for her, struggling stockbroker Ted has invited himself along for the dangerous journey.
Other nominees:
- Ian Simmons (Unicorn, Hunted, ShortBox Comics Fair)
- Joe Sparrow (Cuckoo, ShortBox)
- Miquel Muerto (The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos, Dark Horse Comics)
- Shazleen Khan (Saving Sunshine, First Second)
Best Letterer: Natalie Norris (Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir Book One, Fantagraphics Books)
Natalie Norris started a diary at age 10. Come middle school, she began regularly documenting her life, and never stopped.
“I think it was for a number of things. Just to have someone to talk to, share about what was going on in my life,” Norris told The Comics Journal. “And then as I got older, I think it was a way to write down things that I knew I couldn’t fully wrap my head around, but I know I knew that it felt important to record them so that at some point I would be able to look back and maybe make sense of all of these things that had happened.”
The 29-year old Norris is the author of Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir, Book One, which documents a troubled period of sexual trauma in her teens, presented as an illustrated letter to a friend.
Dear Mini is Natalie Norris’ debut graphic memoir (the first of two books, with Book Two coming in 2025), a bittersweet coming of age story that chronicles the author’s teenage experiences with sexual assault, PTSD, and resiliency. Dear Mini is not a cautionary tale, however, it is a vivid (at turns hilariously and uncomfortably so) depiction of adolescent agency in the face of trauma, tracing Norris’s journey from wayward wild-child to harnessing her adult voice after almost a decade of silence.
Other nominees:
- Aditya Bidikar (The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos, Dark Horse Comics)
- Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Dead Boy Detectives, DC Comics/Black Label)
- Nate Piekos (Black Hammer: The End, Dark Horse Comics)
- Roger Langridge (Doctor Who: Liberation of the Daleks, Panini)
Breakout Talent: Pigeon/Kamila Krol (Rusalka: Whispers of the Forest, Strangers Publishing)
Kamila Krol is a queer Polish illustrator and comics maker based in Cardiff. Her playful imagery is often inspired by dreams and folklore, with much of her work focused on reviving and re-imagining elements of her Slavic heritage.
Her debut comic, Rusalka, a tale of a Slavic water nymph – was awarded as Best Debut of 2021 by the Polish Comics Association and won the Polish Indie Comics Award in two categories.
Her first graphic novel, Rusalka – Whispers of the Forest was published in November 2023 by Strangers Publishing, a publisher that describes its catalogue as “a celebration of the forgotten and overlooked” Its publication was funded through Kickstarter, and made its English language debut at Thought Bubble last year.
It’s a story centring on the titular mystical figure from Slavic folklore, a demonic entity whose appearance as a beautiful young woman lured travellers to their doom.
A Polish translation of Rusalka – Whispers of the Forest will be published in 2024 by Kultura Gniewu.
Other nominees:
- Deb JJ Lee (In Limbo, First Second)
- Emilia McKenzie (But You Have Friends, Top Shelf Productions)
- Lawrence Lindell (Blackward, Drawn & Quarterly)
- Natalie Norris (Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir Book One, Fantagraphics Books)
Best Periodical Series: PeePee-PooPoo (Caroline Cash, Silver Sprocket)
Caroline Cash is an independent comics artist and printer active in the Chicago, self publishing community. After dabbling in “fine art,” Cash took a low-brow turn into the world of zine and comic making with coloured pencils, screen-printing, and offset print-making. PeePee PooPoo is published by Silver Sprocket. She’s also author of Girl In The World, also published by Silver Sprocket.
“When Daniel Clowes started Eightball, it was a conscious and highly confident redirection from what he had been doing before,” notes reviewer Rob Clough. “You could tell that this was a cartoonist who was hitting his stride. The same is true for Caroline Cash with PeePee PooPoo. As much as she’s laughing at outdated comics conventions and attitudes and uses that as an initial hook, the real value of these comics is seeing how confidently she goes from memoir to slice-of-life to absurdist humor to observational comics.”
Other nominees:
- mini kuš! (Anthology series – various creators, kuš! comics)
- Monster Fun (Anthology series – various creators, Rebellion)
- A Pocket Chiller ( (Anthology series – various creators, Strip for Me)
- The Re-Up (Chad Bilyeu & Juliette de Wit, Bistro Books)
Best New Periodical Series: Blab! (Edited by Monte Beauchamp, Dark Horse Comics/Yoe Books)
BLAB! is a Harvey Award-winning from Dark Horse Comics, an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction presented in a variety of forms-comics, picture books, and illustrated essays-with a special emphasis on style and tone.
In Volume One, Noah Van Sciver depicts the tragic demise of “Crime Does Not Pay” editor Robert Wood. Ryan Heshka recounts the rise and fall of Superman creators Siegel and Shuster. Sasha Velour portrays the making of film director F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. Children’s book illustrator Giselle Potter examines Peter Rabbit author Beatrix Potter’s passion as a naturalist. Illustrated articles include the history of the gorilla and a report on UFOs. All this and much more in Comics and Stories That Will Make You BLAB!
Other nominees:
- Boxes (Edited by Steven Ingram, ThirdBear Press)
- Con & On (Paul Cornell & Marika Cresta, Ahoy Comics)
- Fractures (A Wolfgang Crowe, Colossive Press)
- The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos (James Tynion IV & Tate Brombal, Isaac Goodhart, Miquel Muerto and Aditya Bidikar, Dark Horse Comics)
Best One-Shot: Don’t Worry, I Die at the End (Beck Kubrick, Self-published)
Don’t Worry, I Die at the End, available here as a digital download for a measly £3, is a 64-page of totally-completely-entirely true diary comics about death, dying and… no longer being alive by UK-based writer and cartoonist, Beck Kubrick. Beck’s debut comic, Coby, Alone, was just shy of 1000% funded on Kickstarter.
Beck is also the artist on an unannounced graphic novel coming 2025 from Andrews McMeel and am currently writing a YA- thriller novel. I also work on indie series, Meat4Burgers and created Dead Girls: Beach Day.
Other nominees:
- The Gift (Jamila Rowser and Sam Wade, Black Josei Press)
- Of Thunder & Lightning (Kimberly Wang, Silver Sprocket)
- Times Tables (Gareth Brookes, Self-published)
- Zayani Zam (Mereida Fajardo, Self-published)
Best One-Shot Anthology: Drawn to Change the World: 16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists (Edited by Emma Reynolds, HarperAlley)
Emma Reynolds shines a spotlight on sixteen incredible youth activists from around the world who are fighting to protect the planet and all life on Earth. From Autumn Peltier campaigning for clean water to Edgar Edmund Tarimo turning plastic waste into building materials—and many more—these inspiring true stories highlight the importance of taking charge and creating change.
Beautifully illustrated by sixteen different artists and accompanied by facts and pictures that explain the science, Drawn to Change the World is for anyone who wants to learn more about the climate and nature crisis and what we can do about it, with extensive front matter and back matter materials.
You are not too young and you are not too old to begin. We need everyone to help with the biggest challenge the human race has ever faced. We can do this if we work together.
For after all, change starts with you!
Emma Reynolds is an illustrator and author based in Manchester. Drawn to Change The World: 16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists, is her latest book. Her debut picture book Amara and the Bats, about bat conservation, peaceful protest and community action was a Nautilus winner, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard, National Science Teacher Association ‘Best in STEM’, and an Empathy Lab #ReadForEmpathy selection.
Other nominees:
- Change (Edited by Joe Stone, WIP Comics)
- The Color of Always: An LGBTQIA+ Love Anthology (Edited by Brent Fisher and Michele Abounader, A Wave Blue World)
- The Power of Welcome: Real-Life Refugee and Migrant Journeys (Anthology – various creators, Scholastic)
- What Awaits Them (Liam Cobb, Breakdown Press)
Best Webcomic: Guide to the Oblivion (Kry Garcia)
In the South of the continent there is a cursed forest, where wicked creatures roam free and trees feed on your memories – the Kingdom of Oblivion, the creation of Kry Garcia, available to read on Tapas. When a young scribe must embark on a quest to help her family, writing will be the only way to survive.
Kry Garcia is an illustrator, writer and comic artist from Spain, currently living in London, who loves fantasy and ghost stories. “When I’m not drawing, you will find me chasing animals on the streets, trying to trick them into being my friends.”
Other nominees:
- After School Lessons for Unripe Apples (Soonkki)
- Hell(P) (Oliver Levang & C. Vinter)
- Nap Comix (Rachael Smith)
- To Be an Actor (Kimhaema, from an original novel by Gogwang)
Best Graphic Novel: Why Don’t You Love Me? (Paul B. Rainey, Drawn & Quarterly)
A couple struggles through their unhappy marriage in this dark science-fiction comedy. Claire and Mark are in the doldrums of an unhappy marriage. She doesn t get out of her bathrobe and chain-smokes while slumped on the couch. Mark has lost track of the days and can t get the kids to school on time. They ve lost interest in family and order-in pizza and chinese food every night. Mark sleeps on the couch and has trouble remembering his son s name. He feels like a fraud at work but somehow succeeds. Claire stalks an ex-boyfriend. How could he have left her to this life? Claire and Mark are both plagued by the idea that this is all a dream. Didn t they have different lives? When reports of an imminent nuclear war come on the radio, the truth begins to dawn on them: this is not the life they chose. Why Don t You Love Me? is a pitch-black comedy about marriage, alcoholism, depression, and mourning lost opportunities. Paul B. Rainey has created a hilariously terrifying alternate reality where confusion and pain might lead people to make bad choices but also eventually freedom maybe.
Other nominees:
- Adherent (Chris W. Kim, Conundrum Press)
- A Guest in the House (Emily Carroll, First Second)
- The Gull Yettin (Joe Kessler, New York Review Comics)
- Monica (Daniel Clowes, Fantagraphics/Jonathan Cape)
Best Graphic Non-Fiction: But You Have Friends (Emilia McKenzie, Top Shelf Productions)
In But You Have Friends, When a dear friend commits suicide, her survivors are left with only memories. This poignant graphic memoir is a moving exploration of friendship despite challenges and love despite grief.
From the moment they met in Grade 9, Emilia and Charlotte were best friends. Built on creative writing, indie music, feminist literature, a love of purple, and much more, their special connection sustained them through high school and the many ups & downs that followed – until Charlotte died in 2018 following a long struggle with depression.
This graphic memoir is Emilia’s tribute to her memory and the bond they shared, woven together from a series of short episodes as they passed in & out of each other’s lives. It includes themes of mental health and suicide, but more than anything But You Have Friends (titled from a Sarah Kane play) is a humorous, honest story about a special friendship and an homage to a hilarious, smart, and irreplaceable friend.
Emilia Mckensie has been making and publishing comics since 2008. Primarily working in the sci-fi genre as Emix Regulus she has been a regular contributor to the Decadence sci-fi comics anthology and Offlife (the UK’s only street press comic magazine). In 2015, her work was selected for inclusion in Over the Line, a showcase of poetry comics published by Sidekick Books and endorsed by Alan Moore. But You Have Friends is her first book-length autobiographical graphic novel. Emilia grew up in Puerto Rico, New Jersey, Istanbul and the UK; she lives in London and works in the museum sector.
Other nominees:
- Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir Book One (Natalie Norris, Fantagraphics Books)
- Glass Half Empty (Rachael Smith, Icon Books)
- The Last Gay Man on Earth (Ype Driessen, Street Noise Books)
- Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter (Oscar Zarate, SelfMadeHero)
Best Collection of Classic Material: A Very British Affair: The Best of Classic Romance Comics (Edited by David Roach, Treasury of British Comics/Rebellion)
Curated by Eisner-nominated historian and artist David Roach, A Very British Affair charts the stratospheric rise of romance comics in postwar Britain with a selection of the greatest romance comics ever printed in the UK. Featuring an eclectic mix of artists from Spain, Italy, and the UK, this collection unearths the sensual art and emotional writing which delighted generations of comics readers.
Featuring over 50 comics stories – many of which have never been reprinted before – this lavish book is a stunning tribute to the often uncredited creators who crafted an industry of love. Roach shines a spotlight on the Spanish and Italian artists who dominated romance, as well as the genre’s forgotten female contributors, like Jenny Butterworth, Pat Tourett and Diane Gabbott.
Featuring art by comics icons like Shirley Bellwood (Misty), Jordi Badía Romero (Creepy) and Enrique Badía Romero (AXA), Mike Hubbard (Jane), Carlos Ezquerra (Judge Dredd), John M. Burns (Modesty Blaise), Purita Campos (Patty’s World), Jesus Blaco (Steel Claw), Pepe Gonzalez (Vampirella) Jesus Redondo (Kitty Pryde) and Blas Gallego (Black Beth).
Other nominees:
- Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos (Jay Jackson, New York Review Comics)
- The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1925-1927 (George Herriman, Fantagraphics Books)
- Misty: 45 Years of Fear, the Essential Collection (Edited by Olivia Hicks, Treasury of British Comics/Rebellion)
- Where I’m Coming From: Selected Strips 1991-2005 (Barbara Brandon-Croft, Drawn & Quarterly)
Best Book on Comics: I Am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future (Michael Molcher, Rebellion)
He is the law – and you better believe it!
Judge, jury and executioner, Judge Dredd is the brutal comic book cop policing the chaotic future urban jungle of Mega-City One, created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra and launching in the pages of 2000AD in 1977.
But what began as a sci-fi action comic quickly evolved into a searing satire on hardline, militarised policing and ‘law and order’ politics, its endless inventiveness and ironic humour acting as a prophetic warning about our world today – and with important lessons for our future.
Blending comic book history with contemporary radical theories on policing, I Am The Law takes key Dredd stories from the last 45 years and demonstrates how they provide a unique wake up call about our gradual, and not so gradual, slide towards authoritarian policing.
From the politicisation of policing to ‘zero tolerance’, from violent suppression of protest to the rise of the surveillance state, I Am The Law examines how a comic book warned us about the chilling endgame of today’s ‘law and order’ politics.
Michael Molcher is a journalist, publicist, and podcaster. Previously a local newspaper reporter and then a government shill, he has been the publicity manager for 2000AD for more than a decade. He has written extensively about comics for SFX, Comic Heroes, politics.co.uk, 2000AD, and the Judge Dredd Megazine, and has interviewed in-depth many of the writers and artists who have worked for 2000AD over its forty-five year history. Between 2015 and 2018 he produced an extensive series of critical pieces on Judge Dredd for Hachette Partwork’s Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection series.
Other nominees:
- Blockheads, Beagles, and Sweet Babboos: New Perspectives on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts (Michelle Ann Abate, University Press of Mississippi)
- Comic Book Punks: How a Generation of Brits Reinvented Pop Culture (Karl Stock, Rebellion)
- Howard Cruse (Janine Utell, University Press of Mississippi)
- Jewish Women in Comics: Bodies and Borders (Edited by Heike Bauer, Andrea Greenbaum & Sarah Lightman, Syracuse University Press)
Best Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specialising in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, as well as the quality of printing and design.
Other nominees:
- Avery Hill Publishing
- Conundrum Press
- Rebellion
- Silver Sprocket
Broken Frontier Hall of Fame
- 2017 – Annie Koyama (Koyama Press)
- 2018 – Corinne Pearlman (Myriad Editions)
- 2019 – David Schilter and Sanita Muižniece (kuš! comics)
- 2020 – Gosh! Comics
- 2021 – Steve Walsh (Gosh! Comics, Avery Hill Publishing)
- 2022 – Avery Hill Publishing and C. Spike Trotman (Iron Circus Comics)
- 2023 – Thought Bubble and Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)
• You can read the full announcement here on the Broken Frontier web site
Since 2017 Broken Frontier has run at a significant, five-figure net loss; a deficit that is sadly no longer sustainable. Help them to secure their longer-term future by making a one-off contribution to their running costs here at Ko-fi if you are able.
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics
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