In celebration of the upcoming Gothic Takeover at @leedsmuseumsandgalleries@leedsfestivalofgothica I’ve put together a selection of Gothic Graphic Novel Essentials!
How many of you read? What’s your favourite?
Leeds City Museum has loads of free talks, an alt market and more happening next weekend (May 23rd). Make sure to check it out! They even have a Brutalist Architecture walk happening… 🤤
It’s Mental Heath Awareness Week. Mental health is not a trend, a buzzword, or a neat little lesson wrapped up with a hopeful ending. It’s messy. Ongoing. Exhausting. Quiet sometimes. Loud at others.
When I started working at OK, I was really unwell. I was 21 years old, barely able to speak to people, and completely consumed by my depression. Depression and anxiety have been constants in my life for longer than I can remember but at that time, I couldn’t leave the house or function at all really. It’s something I’ve held a lot of shame for, for a really long time. It’s not something that goes away either, and sometimes it’s not something that gets easier. Some days, I feel as though I haven’t made any progress at all.
Comics have always understood that. They’ve given shape to grief, anxiety, loneliness, burnout, trauma, joy, recovery, and the strange act of continuing anyway. Through impossible worlds and deeply human stories, they remind us that surviving is not weakness, and neither is asking for help.
This Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re grateful for the books, creators, and readers who make space for honesty. For the stories that sit with difficult feelings instead of trying to “fix” them. For the reminder that connection can come from something as simple as passing a comic across a counter and saying: you might need this one. I am also beyond grateful to Jared and OK and everyone that I’ve crossed paths with either over the counter or behind it. Thank you for taking a chance on a very broken young girl, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without it (still broken but handling it as best as I can).
Take care of yourselves and each other. Rest when you can. Reach out when you need to. And don’t underestimate the power of stories to help us feel a little less alone.
Criminal Update!
Last year, Sean Phillips graciously created a new piece of art for us to give away to one lucky customer. It’s of Ricky Lawless, as portrayed by Gus Halper in the upcoming Criminal series on Prime.
Our intention was to offer the chance to win the art as and extra treat for people buying the most recent Criminal one-shot.
We were planning to announce the winner when the TV show appeared on Prime at the end of 2025. The show has yet to be shown. Obviously it will be on eventually, but we can’t wait any longer.
The next Brubaker and Phillips book, Five Gears in Reverse, will be out in two weeks and we plan to announce the winner then.
If you have a Criminal subscription, or purchased the issue through our webshop, we have your details. We invite everyone else who purchased it from us to drop us a quick email ([email protected]) to make sure they’re included in the draw.
Apologies and thanks to everyone who has waited so long for this. It was never our intention for this to go on so long.
A gloriously unhinged descent into fandom, obsession, and convention-floor chaos.
Nerd Inferno by Evan Dorkin is loud, bitter, hilarious, and painfully accurate: a venomous love letter to comic shops, sci-fi conventions, gaming culture, and the beautiful disasters who live inside them.
Dorkin skewers gatekeeping, collector brain, fanboy entitlement, corporate geek culture, and the endless hunger for validation with razor-sharp satire and chaotic cartooning that feels seconds away from total collapse.
Equal parts underground comic, panic attack, and convention hangover, this is essential reading for anyone who has ever cared too much about fictional universes.
Messy. Angry. Brilliant.
We’re so stoked to have an exclusive signed bookplate to accompany our copies! Thanks for making our year, Evan.
Manga that will get you out of your reading slump…
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a dark, introspective sci-fi story following Shinji Ikari, a reluctant pilot fighting monstrous Angels. Beneath its apocalyptic battles, it explores loneliness, identity, and the need for connection.
Vagabond is a sweeping, meditative retelling of Miyamoto Musashi’s life, charting his path from violent youth to disciplined swordsman. Blending brutal duels with quiet reflection, it explores strength, purpose, and the search for inner peace.
Dementia 21 is a surreal, darkly comedic series following a home-care nurse navigating increasingly bizarre elderly patients. Blending grotesque body horror with sharp satire, it explores aging, care, and the absurdities of modern life.
Search and Destroy is a gritty, dystopian sci-fi reimagining of Dororo, following an orphan and a mysterious, weaponized girl as they hunt powerful enemies in a city overrun by robots and corruption. Blending brutal action with themes of rage and justice, it’s a raw, stylised take on revenge and survival.
Berserk is a brutal, dark fantasy epic following Guts, a lone mercenary driven by vengeance in a world of demons and betrayal. Renowned for its intense action and haunting themes, it explores fate, trauma, and the struggle to retain humanity.
…. Continued in the comments!
Come hunt for treasure on the OK Comics shelves…
A gritty, surreal street fable, Tekkonkinkreet follows two orphaned boys battling to protect their city from encroaching darkness. If you liked AKIRA, read this!
A twisted, noir-tinged mystery, The Chuckling Whatsit unravels a trail of eerie clues, secret societies, and a sinister, ever-grinning mask. Perfect for David Lynch lovers.
A dreamlike sweep of myth and memory, Raging Clouds drifts through war, longing, and the fragile threads that bind people together. If you loved A Portrait of a Lady on Fire… this one is for you.
A quiet environmental and introspective science fiction tale from one of our favourite publishers/illustrators. Perfect for fans of Shangri-La or Carbon + Silicon by Mathieu Bablet.
A sharp, offbeat detective tale, Maggy Garrison follows an unemployed Londoner turned reluctant PI, stumbling through messy cases with wit and grit. This feels like a Mackenzie Crook production.
A horrifying, hilarious trainwreck, Cornelius follows a hapless dog spiralling through guilt, ambition, and absurdity, in a surreal fever-dream that swings between slapstick chaos and psychological horror. This one really plays with comics as a medium, boundary pushing!
A mind-bending sci-fi love story, Patience follows a man unraveling time itself as he tries to save his wife, drifting through decades, obsession, and cosmic consequence. Classic Daniel Clowes.
A haunting, human portrait of disaster, The Guardian of Fukushima follows life in the aftermath of the nuclear crisis, where survival, memory, and quiet acts of care collide. Showcasing the best humanity has to offer.
A brutal, myth-soaked revenge epic, Yan Volume 1 follows a warrior girl forged in blood and betrayal, cutting through a corrupt world where vengeance and destiny blur. Criminally under appreciated.
A sleek, violent plunge into a near-future underworld, Mujina into the Deep follows contract killers navigating a society where morality is optional and survival is the only rule.
I started working at OK Comics 23-ish years ago, and stayed for nearly a decade. Nearly two and a half decades later, I’m on the A-board. OK is, of course, where we’ll be launching GIGS. It’s happening June 18th, though we don’t have all the details yet. This is an absolutely huge deal for me. Save the date! (And in the meantime, preorder GIGS from the OK webshop)
PS: Happy Free Comic Book Day to all who celebrate.
Happy Free Comic Book Day!
OK Comics is open today from 8am!
We have thousands of free comics to giveaway! Thousands of £1 back issues, £2 manga and £5 graphic novels have been added to our sale too!
See you soon?
Folk horror, rendered in paint and blood.
Thistlebone The Complete Collection gathers all three volumes of T.C. Eglington and Simon Davis’ haunting series into one stark, beautifully unsettling volume.
Simon Davis’ painted artwork is the real spell here: earthy, textural, and steeped in shadow. Faces emerge from darkness, landscapes feel ancient and watchful, and every page hums with quiet dread. It’s the kind of comic that lingers visually long after you’ve closed it.
Set against the eerie stillness of rural Britain, this is folk horror at its most atmospheric: ritual, memory, and something older than both creeping in at the edges. (okcomics.co.uk)
A complete collection that doesn’t just tell a story, it builds a place, one you’re not sure you should enter.
Pre-order now from OK Comics and get a copy with our exclusive signed print. It was a real career highlight getting to chat with one of my favourite artists. Thanks again for all your help, Simon!
A lonely world after the end of everything.
Humanity is gone. The robots we left behind keep things running, quietly, efficiently… happily. At least, most of them are.
Not Abe.
After a near-fatal encounter, Abe sets out across a silent Earth in search of something more… purpose, meaning, maybe even hope. Or at the very least, something worth not being recycled for.
From artist Andy MacDonald and writers Mark Elijah Rosenberg and Matthew Rosenberg comes a sharp, strange, and deeply human sci-fi series about existence after extinction, and what it means to keep going when there’s nothing left to hold onto.
A story about purpose. Hope. And very, very lonely robots.
The kindness of comic creators never ceases to astound me. Thanks to these lovely folks, we have a bunch of free extras to giveaway to those that subscribe to the series at OK Comics (while stock lasts). We have signed posters, a signed copy of the comic, stickers and more!!
There’s a UKIP/Yorkshire Patriots march in Leeds today… Leeds wouldn’t be the vibrant city that it is, without all the people and cultures it is home to.
Comics have, and will always be political. Comics are a visual language of resistance, satire, and possibility. They can comfort, provoke, and disrupt in the same breath.
From the earliest newspaper strips to modern graphic novels, comics reflect the world they’re made in: its fears, its power structures, its injustices, and its hopes. Superheroes aren’t just punching villains… they’re wrestling with ideas about justice, authority, and who gets to be saved. Sci-fi worlds aren’t just escapism, they’re mirrors held up to our own.
Whether it’s Superman smashing the Klan in the 50’s, or Absolute Batman beating up White Supremacists… one thing remains the same, comics shine a lot of hope in a scary world.
Fresh from the printers!!
Our OK Comics exclusive (soon to be) signed bookplate for Dogs on Dates by @lukewhealy@drawnandquarterly 🐶
A scruffy, big-hearted graphic novel about love in unlikely places.
Bernie, a university dropout, and Brad, an eco-anxious charity worker, are two single dogs drifting through Dog City. When they collide, they start dating… through bad films, new food spots, and plenty of awkward mishaps, slowly realising that finding someone is only half the story.
Funny, tender, and a little anxious, it’s about love, hope, and figuring out how to make things work.
Pre-order your copy today!
