Tops and Bottoms – 8th October 2025. – Never Iron Anything

Down and Safe!

“All I want to do is sit on my ass all day and fart and think of Dante.”— Samuel Beckett

And so this week has been another deluge of comics and comics friends. I’m living in my pants in the house during a two week window between contracts and sooo many comics have been consumed. I even tried at some Ink(Jack)tober. No you can’t see, optic nerves aren’t that strong!

As part of my time off I travelled to Sudbury in the land of Suffolk to meet up with an old school buddy. (He has an Aston Martin, I do not). During a wander I ran into by complete chance a toy shop that sells a few boxes of comics. There was about a Shortbox of Silver Age DC Comics and I swagged the first ‘A-Man’ (aka ‘Animal Man’) in costume, minor key. It wasn’t in bad condition so whilst not a steal it was nice to see and buy. ‘Ray’s Retro – Classic Toys and Collectibles’ also has a selection of 90s comics, some British annuals and a load of toys (obviously). If you’re in North Street/the general Suffolk area it may be worth a nose. Communication sadly wasn’t Ray’s strong suit but it’s a cool little shop nonetheless. (Maybe I just look like a stranger with light fingers?)

Sunday was the Comic Mart and my buddy J Cannon travelled from the stormy north to make an appearance. I met up with him and Falpy on Saturday for a look at Gosh Comics and then the new exhibition at the Cartoon Museum ‘The Future Was Then’. Some breathtaking art on show. Here’s a small selection to get your gander up!

I also tried a Matcha green thing. It tasted of mud.

Then the following day onto The London Comic Mart. Laughed my way through the day. Got to meet Ilya again and look through his fab new book and spent far too much cash before heading home exhausted.

Then on Sunday we had our newest friend Gina Wynbrandt on the show. We’ve been loving her hilarious and psychedelic slice of life comics and it was great to catch up finally in person. We also have a massive moan-in about the current state of Global Comix. Worth a listen. Click here.

There’s also a rumour that we may even have another NIA podcast for you soon.

“For in spite of language, in spite of intelligence and intuition and sympathy, one can never really communicate anything to anybody.” — Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), “Sermons in Cats”

Back to the unreasonable and toxic programming.

Old BD Collection That’s Still Wrecking My Brain!

Tops.

Rook Exodus is back. Glorious BD art and story served up to us in US Comic-sized portions. Sadly we never seem to get enough (maybe 5 or 6 issues a year). But, this reader, is E.D. Free now this is in my hand. (If only I had E.D. This life may have been less dramarama- centric!) If you’ve missed out you can get the trade of the first six issues. The roster of creature masks has grown. The world is ending and there are a few set to save it or die.

Bottoms.