Edinburgh Zine Fair – Nov 1st 2025 Comics and zines – close relatives but different in many ways. Like homo neanderthalis and homo florensis. A comic can be a zine and a zine can be a comic, or not. For me the essence of being a zine is DIY. Scalpel and Pritt Stick, printer and photocopier. The ever present Risograph – I mean if you … Continue reading Three Chords and a Photocopier (or a Riso machine)
Jon McNaught event for his book Hors Scène (Off Stage) at La Belle Adventure, Edinburgh The heavy rain marked the slow end of summer, but a cosy crowd filled one venue in Leith Walk to celebrate comics. La Belle Adventure in Edinburgh’s Leith Walk specialises in bringing the thriving French comics scene to British readers. The shop is filled with a curated selection of the … Continue reading The Lion, the Rain and the Bookshop
The Sequential Scotland comic convention is a new addition to the shifting lineup of cons here in the exotic lands north of the wall. There is a sharper divide between the autograph/funkopop/labubu type cons and those which feature actual comics these days. This comic-con 2.0 world means there are more great events like Sequential where you can find small press and emerging comic talents. Or … Continue reading Sequential Scotland
Airbag #3 More Stories by Brian Canini At first I took Airbag to be an autobiographical collection. It starts out with that staple of autobio comics, the school yard tale from childhood – or playing ground tale if you are British. But instead we have stories told from the perspective of a cast of characters including cartoon mice. The broad theme of this issue is … Continue reading Two Wolves and a Couple of Mice
So Buttons 14 Nostalgia. A perfume that Alan Moore teased us with in Watchmen. A dangerous force that points us towards an unobtainable past that never existed. An essential part of being human that keeps love alive and people in our lives long after they are gone. The latest issue of Jonathan Baylis’ So Buttons is really a book of two parts. One part deals … Continue reading You & Me Remembering
Underground Kingdom Comix Fantasy Matt Greaves, Samuel Hickson, Josh Hicks, Jonny Brokenbrow, Harry Dean Willmott, Matt Simmons and Ethan Llewellyn Having already covered the genres of crime and horror, the Underground Kingdom clan have turned their attention to Fantasy. The genre that has filled bookshops, charity shops and landfill sites ever since those Lord of the Rings movies came out and George R. R. Martin … Continue reading Carpal Tunnels and Trolls
Drops Issue 2 Matthew Cooper and Connor Montgomery I covered the first issue of Drops a while back. Now writer Matthew Cooper and artist Connor Montgomery are continuing the story with a second issue. Dystopian doesn’t really begin to describe the type of society described in Drops. Not just a fascist police state, but also a satanic occult conspiracy. Dog headed torturers and goons in … Continue reading Against the Tide
Anticucho & Other Peruvian Cyberpunk Stories Created by Gustaffo Vargas Colour Flats – Laura Dragon, English language adaptation – Fraser Campbell, Proof Readers – Tom Woolnough, Gab Contreras As I look out of the window the rain drizzles down on a grey Scottish Sunday in June. It feels like summer is a fiction, a concept that belongs to the past. Something stolen from us by … Continue reading Cyber Conquistadors and Cuisine
In Our Dreams Awake Issue 2 I reviewed the first issue of In Our Dreams Awake back in 2022. The book tells the story of Jason Byron a man living in a mediaeval theocracy where technology both mundane and exotic is forbidden. But when he dreams, he seems to slip into a very different world. This realm is a post-apocalyptic flooded city and Jason is … Continue reading Dreaming and Drowning
The United: Going Underground by Jonny Cannon Who doesn’t love a slightly-off alt-historical setting for a comic? Nostalgic but unsettling. The near future as someone from the 70s or maybe the 80s might have viewed it. If this sounds like the type of vibe that Alan Moore consistently went for in strips like Captain Britain and V for Vendetta, then you would be on the … Continue reading Descend into the Dark
The Writings and Ramblings of Ben Herman
This is a blog dedicated to what I have been lucky enough to find out about comics. I might add in some other geeky goodness, but it's mainly about the comics.
Comics with a British focus
Interviews with big name comic book creators brought to you by the Official Lakes International Comic Art Festival Podcast.
Just another WordPress.com site
Comic Writer
Feeding the habit one issue at a time
Comics with a British focus
Daredevils and Warriors 