It’s been a while! In fact it’s been almost a year since I last sat down to write an issue of Thumbnails. Thank you for bearing with me! So, what have I been up to?

The year started off with work on illustrations for my friend Catherine Heymans new book How to Design a Universe. Catherine is an awesome astrophysicist, a superb science communicator, and the Astronomer Royal for Scotland. We’ve collaborated a couple of times over the last few years, with some comics for Aquila Magazine.

Some time last year, Catherine approached me about doing some illustrations for a book she was writing. It was about the physics that underpin our universe, and whether it would be possible, given what we know, to create a simulation of our universe. Indeed, whether it’s possible that we’re living in a simulation now. Fun stuff!

She came with some great wee doodles of what she had in mind - diagrams that would help illuminate and support the fantastic ways she’d figured out to illustrate some of the most fundamental (and complex) forces that shape our reality. These wouldn’t be any old diagrams but ones infused with Catherine’s humour and sense of play: The Quantum Cat brandishing a machine gun; David Hasselhoff illustrating how light interacts with water; Tour De France cyclists cheating with some quantum tunnelling. We sat down and I had the honour of picking her brains for a few hours, working to really understand (as much as my brain can, anyway) the concepts at play.

From there I went away and drew some very rough thumbnails of these diagrams. Making sure not that they looked good, but that they contained everything in there that would make the image both fun and scientifically accurate.

After some back and forth, tweaking details and making sure things lined up properly, I was ready to illustrate the final pieces.

I’m really happy with how the illustrations turned out. Science engagement projects like this are a wonderful part of my work, giving me a chance to sit down with scientists and really learn something. A one-on-one tutorial with really smart and knowledgeable people.

The book is loaded with interesting science, and I came away with a new appreciation for the fabric of our universe. You can buy a copy of How To Design a Universe now at all good book shops!

Another fun science project from earlier this year was Genomic Detectives: The Hunt for Antimicrobial Resistance, in collaboration with Target AMR.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing and serious threat to human welfare across the globe. It’s a topic I’ve been aware of for years, and this was a great opportunity to dive in and learn more about the science of AMR, and the work being doing to combat it. Working with Kate Baker and Paul Flowers was a treat - a biologist and sociologist working together to target this issue, along with colleagues around the world. Early in the process Kate shared an article of hers that juxtaposed modern epidemiology with the very early attempts by John Snow during the Soho cholera outbreak of 1854 to identify the source of the outbreak. As soon as I read it, I knew we needed to explore this theme in our comic.

It’s a thrilling and evocative setting, and helped set up the modern science wonderfully. Really fun getting to draw a smoggy old London streets, and do some deep dive visual research. Duck Duck Go does a pretty good job of filtering out AI but you still need to stay on your toes to vet every image you look at these days. Is an image AI? Has a genuine image been upscaled or reworked by AI? Fun for all the family as you try an hold onto your grasp of reality and history.

If this all sounds interesting you can read the full comic, and find out more about Target AMR here.

This all brings us to what I’ve been working on since April, which is my new [REDACTED]!

It’s a project I’ve been trying to get off the ground for a while, and readers of Thumbnails may well be able to guess what it is. But as of yet [REDACTED] is still to be officially announced, so you’ll just have to remain patient. I promise it’ll be worth the wait. This is a dream project and I really feel like I’m producing some of my best work yet.

At time of writing, I’m almost finished the inking process, and from there I’ll have the rest of the year, and a little into 2027 to colour it and get it finished. Hopefully by then I’ll be able to share more.

Bear with me! I’ve got lots to say about the making of this comic, so stay tuned!

With spooky season upon us, we’ve been hard at work giving our eldest a horror education. We came up with a list of thirteen horror movies we felt would give him a good grounding in the history of horror cinema.

Not wanting to risk putting him off from the outset, we started things off with Psycho (1960), then moved through the decades to introduce various horror sub-genres like slashers (Halloween), zombie movies (Dawn of the Dead) and possession movies (The Exorcist). We’ll then pull him kicking and screaming into modern era, via Scream (1996), The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Get Out (2017). It’s been really fun, and watching movies with someone who’s experiencing them for the first time is an amazing way to see them afresh. It’s given me a renewed appreciation for some of my favourites, like The Shining (1980) and The Thing (1982) and a chance to revisit some movies I hadn’t seen in years.

What horror movies would you add to this list? What would your own list look like? Let me know in the comments!

Horror was such a defining genre in my growing teenage cinephilia. It’s great to see our eldest getting a similar experience, and learning a bit about how cinema has evolved along the way. I thought this would be a nice chance to share the pages about The Shining from Filmish: A Graphic Journey Through Film:

If you’ve previously enjoyed my Filmish comics, I heartily recommend you check out Tom Humberstone’s Grave Offerings newsletter. Every couple of days for the whole of October, Tom has been dropping a thoughtful horror film essay into subscriber inboxes, complete with his beautiful two colour illustrations.

I’ve been busy, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been having time off. In fact, one of the core pillars of my work this year has been trying to keep my comics work sustainable. I’ve been stretching every morning, going for afternoon walks with my dog, and doing my best not to crunch. And also watching plenty of TV and movies, gaming, and board gaming with pals.

Since it is October, here are some appropriately horrifying recommendations for the gore-hounds, and some gentler stuff for those that don’t observe spooky season!

A sequel to last year’s fantastic 28 Years Later that was hobbled by some bad marketing and very poor release timing. I think a lot of people just didn’t know this was out? And it’s a shame because this sequel beautifully follows up the last movie’s themes of compassion with its grotty counterpoint - the seductive allure of populist cruelty. What plays out is not so much the battle for a young man’s soul as I’d expected, but a beautifully put together tale of good versus evil. What elevates it is that it portrays doing good as the hardest, most dangerous work imaginable, while showing cruelty to be all too easy, yet ultimately something that wears down even its most ardent followers. Warning: This is, in places, by far the most violent and tough to watch 28 movie yet. Definitely not for the squeamish - even I felt a little nauseous for that scene.

If you’re not in the horror mood, then how about the DIY comedy of the decade? One of the funniest and most creativity-affirming movies I’ve seen in a long time. A live-action cartoon but much better than that sounds. I don’t want to spoil too much, but if you're in doubt maybe check out the trailer and see if that works for you? This has been my go-to recommendation for families with kids who want to show them something a bit weirder than the usual Disney+ fare.

I’ve been diving deeper into Mike Flanagan’s TV shows this month. I actually tried this before and was lukewarm on both The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Club. But we recently tried out Midnight Mass and it absolutely clicked for me. Long form, talky, atmospheric horror that spends time growing its characters, and ramping up its horrors, building to a conclusion that satisfies on both fronts. What Flanagan does so well is tap into melodrama and human emotion, all in service of underpinning the horror. Horror usually fares best in short doses, but in these TV shows the set-up and pay-off really work. I’m not usually scared by haunted houses or creepy islands, but in these shows’ case I get genuinely creeped out!

I’ve since watched The Fall of the House of Usher which I also adored. It’s got a sort-of Final Destination vibe going, and I really dug it.

You’ll still need a stomach for gore with this one. The Pitt is HBO’s spiritual successor to ER, taking everything that was good about ER and bringing it into the modern era. The show performs what is close to a public service by exposing the horrors of the modern American healthcare system, the pressures on patients and medical staff, and with stuff to say about Covid, militarised policing, male violence, mass shootings and a heap more to boot. Grounding it all though is a cast of characters so good that you’re immediately sucked into the drama. I pretty much love every one of these character, but for sure Mel is the fave of this household.

I finally got round to Blue Prince on the Switch 2. Totally up my street. Escape rooms meets board games, meets brain-teasers. I’m definitely not smart enough to be good at it, but got there eventually. Thankfully the core ‘room-drafting’ mechanic was enough to keep me hooked even when I was going in circles on the puzzle-box element. This is a marginal spook’em up. Not really scary, but curled up on a stormy night under a blanket, you’ll definitely get sucked in to the creepiness of exploring an empty, labyrinthine mansion.

That’s all for now! I’ll try and be back again sooner next time, maybe share some work in progress on The Mystery Project, or at least give you something nice to read in the mean time!

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Till next time, folks!