The Leeds Comics Collective is returning for its third annual comics anthology with Warriors of Junk Food, for the Thought Bubble 2026 festival running from November 9th to the 15th, with the convention weekend taking place on the 14th and 15th, brokenfrontier.com reported. Following previous editions like Cryptids of Leeds in 2024 and Mixtape of Mystery in 2025, the 52-page A5 landscape volume features black and white risograph interiors, full colour digitally printed covers, and a cover illustration by Frank Deacon, as detailed by leedscomicscollective.bigcartel.com.
What Readers Need to Know About the LCC Anthology
- The Theme: Seventeen comic strips explore fast-food iconography, meal mascots, and sewer fatbergs.
- The Contributors: The project pairs newer creators side-by-side with established small-press names, including Rob Luckett, Kristyna Baczynski, Doctor Simpo, and James Grimshaw.
- Availability: Compiled by Jack Fallows and published by the Leeds Comics Collective, the book is priced at £4.99 and debuts at table B34 in the Bubbleboy Hall at Thought Bubble.
Inside the Seventeen Fast-Food Strips
The Warriors of Junk Food collection gathers seventeen distinct takes on its central culinary theme. Rob Luckett’s opening strip, ‘Burgoblins Everywhere!’, summons mystical burger demons through ordinary restaurants with kinetic cartooning and wordplay, according to brokenfrontier.com. Doctor Simpo contributes ‘Beware the Fatberg’, blending social commentary with an account of a monstrous fat deposit forming in sewers beneath a fast food joint. Meanwhile, Kristyna Baczynski’s ‘Greasy Bandits’ frames corporate fast-food mascots returning from oblivion like corporate kaiju.
Other contributors approach the theme through diverse visual and narrative lenses. James Grimshaw and Molly Pukes present ‘Foul Spirits’, utilizing oozing, fluid visuals styled after video games. Hobie Smith offers alt-comics weirdness in ‘Hotdog’, while Patrick Boyle contributes ‘Nanthy’, a dark Nancy parody. George Pooley and Flo Woolley round out highlights with ‘Over Easy’, a concise dive into childhood reverie.
Small Press Creators Contribute to the Anthology
The complete roster spans collaborative teams and solo artists from across the small press scene. According to the publishing details, the 52-page anthology features contributions from Rob Luckett, Jamie Dipper, Martin Hopwood, Abi Wye, Doctor Simpo, James Patricks, Kevin Haworth, beardedhorse, Adrien Bryter, Fiona Marchbank, Kristyna Baczynski, Molly Pukes, James Grimshaw, Hobie Smith, Spike Wilson-Staley, Patrick Boyle, TC Robin, Lily Edwards, George Pooley, Flo Woolley, Dan Pollard, David North, Robbie Tweedale, and N Hui.
Tableting at Thought Bubble 2026, the Leeds Comics Collective positions its third anthology at table B34 in the Bubbleboy Hall. The volume is available online and at the festival for £4.99, continuing the collective’s tradition of small press publishing and community meet-ups that run alongside initiatives like Small Press Day.
| Anthology Edition | Release Year | Core Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Cryptids of Leeds | 2024 | |
| Mixtape of Mystery | 2025 | |
| Warriors of Junk Food | 2026 | Fast food |
Thought Bubble 2026 runs from November 9th through the 15th, with the core convention weekend scheduled for November 14th and 15th.
