We’re excited to announce our first graphic novel release for Spring 2025 – Second Shift by Kit Anderson.
Out 5th June 2025
132 pages, paperback, full colour throughout, 160 x 220mm
Birdie Doran’s life on the station is the same routine every day… until she starts finding secrets in this science fiction graphic novel.
From the time when the station wakes her up, Birdie Doran is on the clock. It’s just her and one or two others on Terracorp’s isolated outpost, processing comets. So she slips into virtual reality, with the station creating adventures for her as she does repairs, routine maintenance, and checks the status on all the systems.
But when Birdie discovers another abandoned station just within walking distance of her own, she begins to question her isolation, and her own memories of what her job- and her life—really is. And at every turn, she starts finding the things the station has been hiding from her. Ignatz Award-nominated author Kit Anderson presents a psychological science fiction exploration of the lines between reality inside and outside the mind.
Events!
Avery Hill creators have been involved with all sorts of events lately! Tim Bird and Kat Chapman spoke about their work at P&G Wells Booksellers and the Cartoon Museum respectively. Kit Anderson will be on a panel on the 14th November at LibraryCon, talking about Sci-Fi and her upcoming book Second Shift. You can register to take part in this online event here.
Dates for your diary
It’s November – Thought Bubble month! You’ll be able to find us at table C39 in the Travelling Man Hall. As usual we’ve created a handy map to help you locate all the Avery Hill creators who’ll be at the festival later this month!
B. Mure will be taking part in an excellent-sounding panel about folklore in comics. Don’t miss this on the Saturday!
Also, a reminder for all those arriving in Harrogate on Friday the 15th before the festival – Tim Bird will be launching his beautiful book Adrift on a Painted Sea at the Mercer Gallery that evening. It’s also the opening night of an exhibition showcasing paintings by Sue Bird and artwork from the graphic novel. Join us on the 15th from 6-8pm for a glass of fizz and a chance to get a copy of the book signed by Tim! The exhibition will then continue until 31st March 2025.
In other news…
We had a great time at the SPX comic festival in Maryland in September. Two Avery Hill artists took part in panels this year, and the panels are now available to watch on YouTube! Check them out here:
Tim Bird wrote a wonderful piece on Electric Lit where he recommended 8 graphic novels about parent-child relationships. Check it out here!
Finally, we have a treat for you from our own podcast Signals from the Hill! Kat speaks to Tim Bird about family, memory, loss, art… and making quiet comics, in celebration of his new graphic novel Adrift on a Painted Sea. The podcast is available to watch below or listen here!
The Scrapbook of Life and Death by J. Webster Sharp was reviewed on Four Color Apocalypse: “2024’s most VITAL, most CONFRONTATIONAL, most PERSONAL, most DARING work is here.”
Adrift on a Painted Seaby Tim Bird was reviewed on Publishers Weekly: “An elegant and eclectic tribute to art as antidote to grief.”
Adrift on a Painted Sea was also reviewed on Shelf Awareness: “With obvious admiration and poignant longing, British comics maker Tim Bird memorializes his late mother, artist Sue Bird. Mother and son produce a lingering homage to family, creativity, and the everlasting power of art.”
It was also reviewed in the Herald Magazine: “Tim Bird is the cartoonist of British domesticity; his comic strips are a symphony of street lights and motorway service stations, supermarkets and seaside towns. This sweet, sad story is a quiet marvel, one that lingers long after you’ve turned the last page.”
The Hard Switch by Owen D. Pomery was reviewed on Solrad: “Striking. An interesting blend of two science fiction standards: post-apocalypse and space opera… I appreciate playing with tropes, especially if they’re done in a way that makes me wonder why they haven’t been done before.”
In this episode we talk to Tim Bird, the creator of Adrift on a Painted Sea, which came out on the 1st October 2024. Kat talks to Tim about family, memory, loss, art… and making quiet comics.
In this episode we talk to J. Webster Sharp, the creator of The Scrapbook of Life and Death, which came out on the 3rd September 2024. We talk about newspaper clippings, the secret lives of humans, and art as exorcism.
In this episode, Avery Hill Publishing’s Ricky Miller talks to Katriona about the cultural influences on her work in comics. Kat picks a favourite book, play, film, comic, and TV show to discuss.
In this episode, Avery Hill Publishing’s Ricky Miller talks to Pidge about the cultural influences on her work in comics. Pidge picks a favourite book, film, comic, TV show and podcast to discuss.
The Kickstarter for the new UK edition of Tillie Walden’s Spinning has just gone live, and we’re thrilled to share this deeply personal and beautifully illustrated memoir with you! This incredible hardback edition brings together Tillie’s Eisner Award-winning graphic novel in a stunning new format with an all-new cover design. There are also some great bonus items to accompany the book, so read on…
A competitive figure skater for twelve years, every day was the same for Tillie Walden. Sports, school, and family, with no chance for her to stop and think. But when Tillie met her first girlfriend, it changed her whole life. She broke out of the reinforced sameness of a routine into a new relationship and a new interest in making art. She began to be sure her life should be different.
A poignant, honest autobiographical graphic novel about realising you can reinvent your life.
Specifications: 400 pages, hardback with a brand new cover design, 153 x 216mm
Praise for Spinning:
“A coming-of-age classic.” – The Guardian “Gripping.” – The Washington Post “A queer coming-of-age memoir that’s hauntingly, vividly resonant.” – Publishers Weekly “An engrossing, gorgeously quiet memoir.” – The New York Times “A stirring, gorgeously illustrated story of finding the strength to follow one’s own path.” – Booklist “A raw and intimate memoir.” – The Daily Dot
Tillie Walden is a cartoonist and illustrator from Austin, Texas. Her gorgeously illustrated, deeply personal graphic novels have won the Eisner Award and the LA Times Book Prize. She teaches at the Centre for Cartoon Studies and lives in Vermont, where she is the state Cartoonist Laureate.
We’ve produced a set of A5 bookplates featuring line art by Tillie based on the book. These will be numbered and signed.
We’ll also have a limited number (30) of signed/sketched copies of the book available!
In this episode, Avery Hill Publishing’s Ricky Miller talks to Lizzy Stewart about her book ‘Walking Distance’ and the cultural influences on her work in comics. Lizzy picks a favourite book, film, comic, TV show and piece of music to discuss.
In this episode, Avery Hill Publishing’s Ricky Miller talks to Kit Anderson about her book ‘Safer Places’ and the cultural influences on her work in comics. Kit picks a favourite book, film, comic, TV show and piece of music to discuss.
Our Kickstarter for Tim Bird’s Adrift on a Painted Sea has just gone live and we’re really excited to share this gorgeous, moving story with you!
Tim’s been with us since the very start of Avery Hill and it’s been one of our greatest pleasures as a publisher to see him grow as an artist. Adrifton a Painted Sea is his most personal and engaging book yet.
A poignant, thoughtful graphic memoir that explores family, loss, and art through the author’s relationship with his mother, who painted as a hobby throughout her life.
Sue Bird was always painting: botanical art, landscapes, still lifes, and especially the sea.
She took classes, kept countless sketchbooks, and filled the house with art. From their neighborhood to their family trips, all the moments of her life were memorialized in her artwork. Throughout her life, she never sold a piece—she gave art to family and friends, and shared her work online, but never received wider recognition for her work.
This graphic novel by her son, Tim Bird, explores their family life and her creative explorations through a mix of her paintings and Tim’s comics, depicting their relationship and her life from teenagehood to her struggle with cancer at the height of the covid pandemic. After her death, this graphic novel at last showcases her work.
Specifications: 84 pages, softcover with French flaps, 168 x 239mm
Praise for Adrift on a Painted Sea:
“This is such a beautiful and touching work about the persistent power of love, the mirrors of memory and the endless narratives of the sea. When I’d read it I had to stop what I was doing and gaze out of the window for a while until my soul stopped trembling.”
– Ian McMillan
About Tim:
Tim Bird is an illustrator and comic artist based in Winchester, who’s finishing an MA in Illustration at Falmouth University in 2024. He’s published a number of comics through Avery Hill Publishing as well as self-published zines and webcomics such as Rock & Pop, and It’s a Bird’s Life. He’s contributed work to a diverse range of anthologies. His comic From the City to the Sea won best comic at the British Comic Awards in 2015.
Tim’s made some lovely exclusives for the campaign that you can add on at checkout—there’s a behind-the-scenes zine showing the making of the book and a postcard set featuring Sue’s paintings. You can also get copies signed and sketched in by Tim.
We’ve also created a ‘Personal Stories Bundle’ including five Avery Hill titles that we think complement Tim’s book beatifully:
