Tuisku Hiltunen Debuts Two Comics At Thought Bubble

Tuisku Hiltunen is a French comic book creator bringing two of her comics to Thought Bubble that have never before been seen at an English language comic convention. One is Herätys 7:00 (Alarm set for 7:00), a surrealist ten-page comic about the effects of burnout. Tuisku Hiltunen says “The comic is inspired by my own experiences but is not directly autobiographical. This comic was originally created for the Katkenneita Lankoja -anthology (2020) in which multiple Finnish comic artists shared their experiences with burnout. It was published by Atena and edited by Anssi Vieruaho and Karoliina Korhonen.”

The other is Epistle, which was written by Barbara Perez Marques. “It’s about letter writing, fighting for what we believe in, and of course, love. This comic was an absolute joy to get to work on, Barbara’s writing moved me, and I tried my best to do it justice” says Tuisku Hiltunen.

Thought Bubble is the UK’s largest comic art festival; a week-long celebration of comics, illustration, animation, and more that culminates in this weekend’s comic convention. Focused on those who create comic books, specifically the artists, and the writers, it is especially supportive of small press. The festival was founded in 2007 by Yorkshire artist, Lisa Wood, also known as Tula Lotay, and was organised as part of the Leeds International Film Festival to raise the profile of comics in the area. The first Thought Bubble was held on Saturday, 10 November 2007 in the basement of Leeds Town Hall and was attended by a couple of hundred people, but has grown a little since then. The convention originally ran throughout Leeds but, in 2019, due to issues with Leeds City Council and the need for more space, the convention moved to nearby Harrogate. And earlier this year, Lisa Wood stepped down from the role of director to be taken by Travelling Man’s Nabil Homsi. This week’s events are already underway and the convention begins on Saturday the 12th of November until Sunday the 13th of November. Bleeding Cool will be reporting from the show all weekend long. Do feel free to say hi!