Art At The End Of The World
A new zine, a new old zine, and liminal horror in 2026
Firstly, I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has read/shared/bought Just Work. I really appreciate it. I'm especially grateful to everyone who has signed up to a paid subscription of this newsletter or sent me a tip.
Thank you.
Onto the actual newsletter!
I've collected my essay from March (This Is An Art Attack) into a two colour riso-printed zine!
The essay is slightly revised with some new bits but remains mostly unchanged. There are loads of new illustrations though (a lot of skulls), and all the art has been reconfigured to suit the blue and fluo pink colour palette.
The zine is 28 pages long. Because I'm not trying to cram several essays into one zine, I've been able to really give the art (and words) more space to breathe and I think it's resulted in the best designed zine I've made so far.
I was initially worried some of my points about the UK's defence spending might go out of date with Andy Burnham replacing Starmer. But while Burnham is making some good noises about supporting care work - his commitment to Trident, and appointment of former defence secretary John Healey as chancellor sadly continue to make the zine's points remain relevant.
One nice bit of timing is that Some More News just released a new video about America's military spending which I highly recommend watching: Why There's Always Money For War. It crosses over with a lot of the points I make about the magic money tree always being there for the military, but not for welfare.
You can buy a physical copy of the zine from my online shop here, or pick it up from me at Sequential Scotland on Saturday (August 8th).
If you'd prefer a PDF, you can pick one up from my shop or from my itch.io store.
Any top-tier paid subscribers to this newsletter will get a free copy of the zine in the post!
I also have a new edition of my Billy & Stu zine back from the printers! This is the third printing after selling out the last two. This time around, I've updated the inners to be two colours the entire way through. I've also cut one of the films covered - giving the text and art more elbow room and having a bit more fun with the design as a result.
The film I cut will form part of my next horror zine collection which I will (hopefully) say more about in October.
You can buy copies of the new old zine from my shop or directly from me at Sequential Scotland.
Alternatively, grab a PDF copy here or from itch.io here.
Another thing I'll have with me at future art festivals, zine fairs and comic conventions are some beautiful riso-printed bookmarks! There are five designs. All printed in four colours (black, blue, aqua, pink). Free with any purchase or £1 each. If you order anything online, one of these will be tucked into the order.
In other news, I've just finished writing and illustrating about the popularity of liminal horror in 2026. Backrooms was more successful at the box office than Baby Yoda, and in the age of of hyperscale data centres and ICE detention warehouses, I don't think that's a coincidence.
In the essay I explore hostile architecture, Theresa May's hostile environment, SUVs, hauntology, Amazon fulfilment centres, corporate personhood, purpose built student accommodation, disembodied logistics, and why homes in modern films don't look like anyone lives in them anymore.
I called it Modern Life is Backrooms.
The piece was written for the new issue of Skrawl Magazine which is currently being kickstarted. You can pre-order your copy and help make it happen here.
Skrawl is full of amazingly talented comic artists and writers. It makes me think of the heyday of Deadline with a dash of Metal Hurlant. They pay all their contributors and are producing some excellent, serialised comics that feel distinctly European in flavour. I really hope they go from strength to strength.
Despite the magazine not being riso-printed, my art was created using three riso colours (violet, green, yellow) as I love having a limited palette and these felt like the best way to recreate that sickly liminal Backrooms vibe.
I'm not the only one noticing that the rise in popularity of horror might have something to do with [gestures at everything]. I'd recommend checking out Thomas Flight's latest video about just that.
Finally...
It is now August, and August in Edinburgh means the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
A lot of locals understandably have mixed feelings about the Fringe taking over our city for a month, but despite living here for ten years, the novelty of having the entire performing arts world arrive on our doorstep has not worn off.
My friend basically taught himself how to make a social media website to make Festies - a site where you can log shows you're interested in, follow your pals, see what they're booking, rate the shows you've seen, add booked shows to a calendar (that figures out clashes for you!), and find shows based on times/dates/venues/genres etc.
For anyone who likes to really micro-manage their fun (hi) it is, in my opinion, an absolutely vital component of the Fringe this year. And it's entirely FREE. This is the sort of internet I love. People making very specific, very useful things mainly to see if they can. If you're at all thinking of going to the Fringe at any point this August, give Festies a try.
One show I'd recommend is John Luke Roberts' What I Talk About, When I Run About, Talking. I illustrated one of Luke's poems as a comic and there are a limited amount (100) of signed and numbered riso prints available to buy after the show. I even made some bespoke badges out of riso test prints and some posca paint doodling.
The comic is printed in three colours (black, yellow, fluo pink) on 225gsm recycled context birch paper-stock. As ever, I couldn't be happier with the printing by Out of the Blueprint who do all my riso prints, bookmarks, zines and comics.
If you're curious to see how I make these badges, I made a quick reel that you can watch on my Instagram or TikTok.
Thanks for reading.
Hopefully see some of you at Sequential Scotland on Saturday! x