Now in our 6th year, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to put out new work. While 2023 didn’t quite go as we’d planned, we’re looking at next year with optimism. (And we’ve been sitting on some news that’s supposed to break in January!)

Before we get into the nitty gritty of the numbers, it’s worth acknowledging that both Paul and Gareth started new jobs in 2023 – comics, unfortunately, does not cover the cost of living – and Paul took on both a teaching job in the University of Galway and the role of Chair with Octocon. All other personal circumstances aside, there were very real drains on time and energy on the team. But that didn’t stop us!

(And hey, we started this newsletter!)

Just before we get started, it’s worth acknowledging the elephant in the room: last year was an anomaly. With the first conventions ‘post-Covid’, we had several new books at Dublin Comic Con alone. 

This year didn’t have the benefit of several years’ work coming out at once, work which included several collections of stories. What we did have – and continue to have – is a clear idea of the future. Improving on every category would have been nice, but it also would have been difficult.

Books to Print

We put a lot less to print this year than last, but they were mighty books all the same. As a group in 2023, we published:

• Three new books
• Two zines

Our expensive hobby was in part helped by the Arts Council this year. Long may their support continue!

Paul is currently wrapping work on scripts for three books (two short stories for one, and longer scripts for the other two), and has an artist working on a fourth. Gary is sitting on news – and has been for… a year. Gareth is settling in at his new job, and may yet get to churn out the third issue of Meouch. And Seamus has gotten the ball rolling on issue 2 of Limit Break Presents.

And that’s just the projects that aren’t waiting on funding decisions or a Kickstarter campaign!

We’re excited to get to bring more work to the folks who’ve supported us these past few years, and to introduce readers to more new titles under the LB banner.

The zine front was quiet this year, but that doesn’t mean the team aren’t working on more already.

For 2023, Paul focused his attention on celebrating Barbenheimer, and on publishing a short story that was originally published in the Poison Apple zine.

(And don’t worry, we’re already bothering Gary to get another analysis from him akin to The Daredevil’s Advocate!)

Event Spaces

We were spread thin this year, and that was without Paul’s teaching gig in Galway being taken into account. Our year of events in 2023 was tough to fit into one image!

2023 was filled with events, with major cons in January, March and November, and a few of our favourites scattered in between. Paul attended each and every one of them, accompanied by Gareth or Gary in most cases.

The highlights of the year were getting to bring Limit Break books to Enniskillen and the Cork Comic Expo for the first time. The last time any of the team got to attend either event was in the months prior to the founding of Limit Break Comics – in the case of Cork, Paul finalised one of the ideas for Life & Death while on the train home!

We’re looking forward to returning to several of these events next year, starting with two MegaCons in January 2024 – London and Dublin, one week apart!

Telling a few stories

We’ve been publishing shorts since we started. In our first few years (2018-2021), we published five books with a total of 32 stories between them. Last year, with a bumper year for publications, we published 36 stories across five books.

This year, things were a little slower, but the stories were generally bigger.

Once again, an anthology is the cause of the number reaching such great heights. In this case, Fractured Realms had the support of the Arts Council to help us publish 24 new stories, all four pages in length.

Accompanying our 2023 myth anthology was a new edition of Lens, now with a brand new six page backup story, and the IrishComics.ie OGN Mr & Mrs Van Helsing by Aaron Fever and Hugh Madden. It’s currently the longest standalone book released by Limit Break Comics, and began to make its way around the convention scene since Small Press Day in August.

That’s 174 pages of comics put to print, not counting any stories published digitally via IrishComics.ie.

With a fourth open call currently underway, and plans for other books in 2024, we’re confident that these numbers will have jumped by this time next year.

Meet the Creators

Paul ran the number on this one to make sure it was all correct. Between three books released this year, we have 54 unique creators attached to them. The majority of these creators worked on Fractured Realms.

The consequence of publishing just Fractured Realms is that we’ve now passed 130 creators published under the label of Limit Break Comics. 

It’s exciting to get to work with so many different people, and this year we took steps to thank those who’ve worked on multiple books with us over the years. Our super shiny LB pins have been handed out whenever we’ve had the chance to talk to people face to face. We’ll need to resort to the good ol’ postal system in the new year to get some to our friends abroad.

Here’s to 2024

So there it is. Our mark on the world for 2023. It doesn’t include things like the number of panels we spoke on, or workshops ran, or emails with queries regarding crowdfunding. It doesn’t touch upon the Evolution Programme or the associated teaching internship in Galway. And it doesn’t include anything done with IrishComics.ie outside of Mr & Mrs Van Helsing.

It also doesn’t mention how many new pins Paul designed. (Three this year, including the LB pin, in case you wondered. Maybe next year we’ll need to add that in as a category…)

While we have you, let this be a reminder of our 2024 anthology, following on from the success of Turning Roads, Down Below and Fractured Realms.

Wish Upon a Star is an anthology of far-future fairytales. We’re looking for pitches for four-page comics that put a sci-fi far-future spin on classic stories. Paul and Gary are teaming up again to edit this 20-story collection, as Limit Break turns its attention on modern mythology.

The pitch submission form will be open until 11:59pm (Irish Time) on January 26, 2024. Late submissions will not be accepted.

The book will be funded via Kickstarter in March 2024. Keep an eye out for the campaign details on our social media in February, and in our February 2024 issue of the LB Bulletin.

Need help finding a team? We put up portfolio-sharing posts on Facebook, Twitter and Bluesky, where artists and other visual creators can share their work if they’re interested in partaking in the anthology.

Last little celebrations

This was a tough year for everyone, but we can’t ignore the good things that happened during the year.

• We were nominated as Best Published in the European Science Fiction Society Hall of Fame Awards
• We celebrated our fifth birthday as a collective
• We surpassed 5,000 books printed

And with that, we can take a deep breath and relax.

Happy holidays,

Paul, Gareth, Gary and Seamus