Bobby Joseph should need no introduction to most readers of this site. A writer and publisher, he’s the first UK Comics Laureate of Indian descent.
Bobby was announced as the Comic Laureate 2023-25 during the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in 2023. He is an acclaimed comic writer, artist, tutor and editor whose work has often challenged and inspired its readers. His early work includes the creation of Skank magazine, where his best-known strip, “Scotland Yardie”, first featured, later collected by Knockabout Press in 2017. It was the first BAME graphic novel to be studied as a module on an English Literature MA course at King’s College, London.
His latest graphic novel, My Dad Fights Demons!, drawn by Abbigayle Bircham, is published by SelfMadeHero in this month (September 2025).
Bobby has written for The Guardian newspaper, Dazed and Confused and Vice.com. His comic work was a prominent feature at the Anarchy in the UK comic exhibition at the British Library in 2015 and was seen by over 60,000 visitors. He is also a vocal advocate for diversity and BAME representation in comic books and is credited on the BBC website as instrumental in featuring some of the “first comics by black creators featuring black characters.”
Bobby’s Laureate Library List – detailed in full here on the Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s Comics Can Change The World web site – includes works by authors such as Sabba Khan, Adam and Lisa Murphy, Bex Ollerton, Shanti Rai, David Shenton and Jamie Smart, and manga creators such as Eiichiro Oda and Hajime Isayama.
Bobby, first, thanks for your time and the chance to catch up. You’re busy on so many fronts, as Comics Laureate giving talks in schools and at events, promoting the medium. I guess the first questions I’d like to ask are, a) what were your expectations when you took on the role of Comics Laureate back in 2023 and b) have your priorities changed as your time in the role has progressed?
I had no expectation! I was given free rein to do what I wanted and all I wanted to do, as cliched as it sounds, was to make a difference and help UK comic creators. Now, a lot of people thought that all the things I did as Laureate was just a plan I concocted with LICAF. Most were unaware that I haven’t worked to anyone’s spec, I was not part of any committee, I haven’t been handed a manifesto of what a Laureate should be doing. I didn’t have a template, I became the template.
So in the beginning, it was all trial and error for me. That said, over the time I have been doing it, I have managed to reinvent the role of what the Comics Laureate should be or what a Comics Laureate could be. Once it all clicked for me as Comics Laureate, I hit the ground running!
I have promoted comics and graphic novels through public talk at events and libraries, as well as schools throughout the UK. By also bringing my teaching expertise into the role, it has taken the laureate role into new territory and has made the role more known in different circles from Parliament to the prison service. My priorities have remained the same since the beginning, and that is to promote comics to all, and for diverse voices to be heard and this will continue into my third and final year as Laureate. Yes, I am extended for another year! I have a few things under wraps, once they are done, I will then step aside next September for the next incarnation of The Comics Laureate (2026-2028.) to make their presence felt!
When you took on the role, did former Laureates offer any advice on what to expect?
I am not going to say which one, but I was advised by one to expect no help from certain quarters. Which made me laugh.
Could you give us an idea of what a month in the life of a Comics Laureate entails for you?
I am promoting comics 24-7. It could be doing talks for secondary schools, primary schools, libraries or teaching CPD sessions for teachers or doing workshops. As I have stated, my background as a teacher has helped me tremendously as Comics Laureate.
It was wild to think that recently, I was at the National Literacy Trust and taught a room full of educators (from all around the UK) how to use “comics as a differentiation tool in the classroom.” The role is also about a lot of emails and Zoom/Teams meetings but this needs to be done, to get things done!
What’s the most enjoyable aspect of being the Comics Laureate?
Opening the public’s eyes to why diverse voices are needed in comics. On a personal level, doing workshops creating comics with primary and secondary children – this to me is the most fun I have had during my run, as children are brutally honest, teenagers especially. Also, that I have pushed UK comic creators through libraries. Comic creators are now getting a new revenue streams from libraries. And also, their work is now reaching new audiences, which is nice to see as libraries are the pathway to connect different communities creating new audiences for comic book creators.
Do you find it a challenge to get comics recognised as a distinct medium, or is the work of the Laureate an extension of what you had done in the past and that hurdle isn’t as difficult for you now as it might have been?
I think people are finally catching up to the fact that comics are amazing! The only thing I have found that has surprised me is that most people have not realised how accessible comics really are.
There is so much terrain to cover as Laureate. I have been just one person, with an email and an abundance of charm! However, I have been spread thin over the last few years (by choice, and not by choice, I might add) and I have had no real help doing what I do. Luckily, the Young Comics Laureate will jump into the fray and do their part with Comics Youth.
That said, I do feel there is a need for yet another Comics Laureate – possibly a Thought Bubble version to focus on independent comic creators needs. I also feel that there is room for a Children’s Comics Laureate too – a Comics Laureate solely focused on Primary school pupils would be amazing.
Do you think the very fact there is a “Comics Laureate” helps raise the profile of comics? Has it helped gain recognition for how it can benefit school pupils and teachers as educational tool?
Yes, it does. It has helped me to have conversations about comics with all sorts of people in education. We have a reading deficiency with children in this country. Facts! I have said this before, if done correctly, comics can be a gateway to reading and learning in the classroom. And I have proven it in practice as a teacher, as I have used comics as a scaffolding tool to aide pupil progress.
Comics are perceived as not being as “visible” to children as they once were, in newsagents for example. Given your work creating things like your “Laureate’s List” and the work of others promoting the medium – creators, publishers and organisations – do you think that’s true? For example, just to take one example of a creator in the classroom, Kev F. Sutherland’s “Comic Master Classes” seems as popular ever..., as does the work of Comics Youth CIC in Liverpool…
Comics are very visible to kids. If that wasn’t the case, how is it that all the major book publishers are all scrambling to compete with Jamie Smart? How is the Beano hitting eight decades plus?
We may not have comics on the newsstands like we used to, but kids are able to find comics.
Also, the consumption of comics is different nowadays – there is more access to different avenues. A kid will happily read a comic on their tablet, just the same as they would a physical copy.
Alongside your voluntary work as Comics Laureate, you’re still creating comics. SelfMadeHero will be publishing your book, My Dad Fight Demons! with art from breakout illustrator, Abbigayle Bircham later this month. How did that project come about?
It had been a while since I have dropped a graphic novel (eight years since the last one). I was intrigued to do a YA or MG graphic novel. SelfMadeHero were also intrigued in doing a YA graphic novel – so plans aligned and it is also great to be part of a brilliant team of creatives.
My Dad Fights Demons is an idea I have wanted to do for a while, and I bribed Abbie with the promise of copious amounts of tea and biscuits as payment. She took the bait and created something magical with my words. She really did. Her energy, her artistic spark lit up every page.
Admittedly, I haven’t held up my end of the bargain with tea and biscuits. I assume there will be a tea and biscuit reckoning at some point! That said, my Lapsang dealer has gone to ground!
Can you tell us a little more about My Dad Fight Demons! and how it came about? Did your work as Laureate prompt the writing of this new book?
I am author that likes to pivot. If you think I am just one thing, I will show you something completely different. This book was prompted from my work as a teacher, rather than the Laureate stuff. If you teach Secondary kids, then, like me, you’ll find that teenagers are the funniest people on the planet. Facts!
So, I wanted to write about them for them. So I created a magical realism tale, peppered with social commentary that looked at social media stars and vaping! I based the two main characters of the book (Mr Mantrikz and Rye) on both myself and my son, and how we interacted with each other when my son was a teenager.
It’s a very different project to your breakout book, Scotland Yardie, which so many have enjoyed. Was your approach to this book different to that one?
Weirdly, it is the still the same approach, as it is a shared universe with Scotland Yardie. If you are eagle-eyed, you can spot a small crossover, and also a completion of the Blue Chicken story I started out with Scotland Yardie.
My only approach to writing this book was, can I out funny myself? That was my only approach. Once it can make me laugh, which is tough, as I am a harsh critic, then I knew I had succeeded. And I can flick through this book and certain gags still get me. More so than my previous work.
What's next for you as a writer and Laureate? What have you got coming up in the next few months, ahead of your appearance at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival?
Going into my third and final year as Laureate, I am doing the Cheltenham Festival, the Todmorden Book Festival, the Manchester Literature Festival, and a charity event for the Cartoon Museumabout Diversity and Representation.
As a writer, I have a Commando comic coming out called “The Lions of Ypres”, with the legendary artist Mike Dorey - a tale of Indian soldiers in World War One. This is hopefully out October or November. As I have got older, I have become more passionate about ensuring marginalised histories and stories, especially of people of colour, are told truthfully and creatively. One of the things I hope that all my writing delivers, is that it shows I care deeply about representation, history, and legacy.
Finally, as a comic creator, what one piece of advice do you give anyone seeking to follow that path?
Constantly work at your craft to improve. Many creators stagnate after they peak. Don’t be that. Constantly look to improve, and evolve. Be in competition, not with others, but with the creative force you were yesterday. Were you better than that person creatively, artistically?
Also, never ever give up the passion that made you want to get in the game to begin with. Keep pushing through. Trust your process of creativity. Win!
Bobby, thanks very much for your time and good luck with all your projects!
My Dad Fights Demons! by Bobby Joseph and Abiigayle Bircham, published by SelfMadeHero, will be released on 25th September 2025 and will be available to order from all good bookshops and some run by demons | ISBN: 978-1914224348
• Find out more about the work of the UK Comics Laureate here on Comics Can Change The World
BOBBY JOSEPH ONLINE
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Abbigayle Bircham is a Norwich-based comic artist with a penchant for the weird and wonderful, who is probably scribbling away in her favourite tea shop at this moment. A LICAF [Lakes International Comic Art Festival] Breakthrough Initiative participant, she has published work with Soaring Penguin Press and the Rat Pack Collective, dreams of having her own cartoon show one day, and first met Bobby Joseph when taking his Writing Comics short course.
