A month ago, our Dad was campaigning for Hannah Spencer in Gorton & Denton Yesterday, Dad and his friends went to the Together march against the far right in London. They said it was huuuuuge. Here he is with the protest signs he made:

Who’s the REAL main character of our graphic novel This Slavery?

Imagine being so annoyed that you wrote an influential book which made everyone else annoyed - that’s dedication

What’s it like working with your sister? When you have a whole life time of ‘history’ with your colleague you know one another almost too well…

Thank you Chris for sharing this! We had a good old chat covering why and how we make these books, as well as the wider social aspects of art (including toilet paper 🧻)

Hey if you fancy a walk but you can’t get out, read this from @traveloguer.bsky.social It has the added charm of smashing industrial capitalism to bits along the way, and a photo that <so nearly> includes our childhood home www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

We spoke to Alex at Cartoon County in Brighton all about the making of This Slavery graphic novel - and now that chat has become a podcast! Listen by clicking through here 👇

Here’s a glimpse of the day This Slavery brought a crowd to Queen Street Mill in Burnley and filled it with art and song and resistance ✊ @commonerschoir.bsky.social @jenniferballads.bsky.social @jennyharper.bsky.social @selfmadehero.bsky.social Thanks to Huckleberry Films

This is the stage between the script and the art of a graphic novel - and although we tend to do it quickly, some of the most important decisions get made at this point. Where the page turns fall, what we’re looking at when people deliver key lines, small panels or whole pages etc etc etc

Cup of Tea?

Here’s a story about an 18th-century woman that caught my imagination. There are scant details but her strong personality really comes through. I wish we knew more about her. 1/10

This fever-dream of a double page spread from This Slavery is an homage to the William Morris utopia story ‘News from Nowhere’ Have you read it? I have some strong opinions…

It’s getting increasingly difficult to believe what you see on the internet when you’re searching for image references, but there are ways…

Come and look around the Royal Brighton Pavilion, the extravagant party palace of George IV (the one played by Hugh Laurie in Blackadder)

There’s been so much going on this week I barely have time to get to know my new and very real friend Jon Bon Jovi

We're very proud and excited to share that @rickardsisters.com ( #ThisSlavery) and @myfanwytristram.bsky.social ( #TheNoisyValley) will be at @hayfestival.bsky.social this year to helm 'Placards & Panels: Graphic Novels as Protest' on May 27th! General booking opens at 12pm on Saturday 14 March!

This is the bookplate we designed to come out with our 2022 suffragette book No Surrender. At the time it felt like the suffrage colours were being co-opted by anti-trans activists, so we made something that was very clear about equality and dignity for everyone, undefined by biology or gender 🏳️‍⚧️✊

We’re so looking forward to this! Myfanwy’s book NOISY VALLEY is published by @selfmadehero.bsky.social in May (UK) and June (US) and is available for pre-order now

Here we are talking with @myfanwytristram.bsky.social about making graphic novels and the right to protest - a little preview of the kind of thing you might hear if you come to see us in conversation at this year’s Hay Festival 📚

We’re going to be at Hay Festival @hayfestival.bsky.social chatting with @myfanwytristram.bsky.social about protest in graphic novels! Wanna come and heckle us? www.hayfestival.com/p-25291-soph...

Our Collective is walking around Wakefield, and may get a pint in the Red Shed

Hope your Sunday includes a book and a dog, if that’s your cup of tea

this This THIS … “changing the world is more like caregiving than it is like war”

This Slavery: shortlisted for Book of the Year (Graphic Novel) at the Nibbies

AMAZING AWARD NEWS! This year marks the first ever Book of the Year: Graphic Novel category at the #BritishBookAwards, and we're delighted to announce that #ThisSlavery by @rickardsisters.com has been shortlisted! Congrats to the shortlisters, and fingers crossed for May 11th! 🔗 buff.ly/sj83lyv

We’re flabbergasted to see This Slavery shortlisted for Book of the Year: Graphic Novel at the Nibbies! What an incredible list to appear on, and isn’t it great to have a graphic novel category

It’s hard to explain the excitement and trepidation of that moment when people get to read the book you just spent years putting together…

Marking #WorldBookDay with personalised copies of the @rickardsisters.com Ragged Trousered Philanthropists for two of our partner schools. #Team71 is at its best when we’re building things with our community. Recipients anonymised!

Here we are location scouting for This Slavery graphic novel - I’ll think of a prize for anyone who can name the town from these clues alone…

On one hand I’m happy that some schools seem to be moving on from elaborate World Book Day costumes (poverty proofing, focusing on everything but reading etc) but on the other hand… …would love to see some primary school Frank Owens wielding paintbrushes and socialist diatribes

This Slavery is a book about the nature or work, and it centres the domestic kitchen as a workplace in a matriarchal ‘economic unit’ (or as we think of it, a family) Drawing that kitchen thirty billion times doesn’t seem to have put Scarlett off

Looking for something to read during Women’s History Month? Both these graphic novels explore authentic experiences of women’s place in early 20th C Britain - and told in pictures. No Surrender is about civil rights and This Slavery is about industrial capitalism. Enjoy!

What percentage of museum visits should you be allowed to touch? Find out where Scarlett draws the line (and where Sophie would hide contraband) at Macclesfield Silk Museum

What’s the best time to mention the grand piano to the artist in a graphic novel project? The second best time is now…

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! This St David’s Day, let’s all take a deep breath and contemplate the Dave with a dove on his shoulder, who extorts us to pull the plough ourselves, to lay off the booze and the meat, and to live free of personal possessions. Aspirational

Eighty elementary schoolchildren died a violent death today, killed by the United States. Eighty little girls. There is no justification for that www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Never forget that shutting down your local arms factory is infinitely more useful to the victims of war than voyeuristically consuming imagery of mutilation.

Jip does not appreciate having his toes dried

Isn’t it fun to have the option to vote for people who are not shareholders, aristocrats and capitalists? It’s so heartwarming to see how thoroughly the people of Gorton & Denton voted for hope and solidarity, rather than hate and division

Congratulations to @greenparty.org.uk, to the people of Gorton & Denton, and very specifically to our brilliant Dad who travelled 250 miles to spend 3 days tramping the streets to spread a positive message of hope. What a triumph!

This Slavery is a book about women and work and weaving - but it’s also quite a lot about BURNING EVERYTHING DOWN 🔥

Just a daffodil appreciation post to brighten your Monday morning.

What are you up to this evening, fancy coming out for a drink? We’ll be in The Walrus in Brighton talking to @cartooncounty.bsky.social about making This Slavery graphic novel

Can I just save all of the writers, artists and comic creators 5 mins of panicked googling: the UK’s new Making Tax Digital quarterly reporting thing has an income threshold of £50k. I think we can all carry on as before, don’t you?

Mood

A family day out in sunny BLACKBURN! We saw the whole world that day (feat. our brother Jacob) Please correct our woeful misunderstandings of both Latin and physics in the comments…

Our next big project is the third in our series of Radical Poster Pocketbooks - a book about the radical art of Walter Crane. The writing and artwork are nearly done. We are hoping to have it printed and distributed in April.

Scarlett loves drawing cars (so long as they were made before about 1964)

Our forthcoming graphic novel, *The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad*, has its first review, in *Kirkus*, which aims at libraries and booksellers: “An evocative, incisive, and powerful piece of graphic history.” The book’s voyage begins with stout wind! www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

The pre-launch page for our Kickstarter for Orlando by @julesscheele.bsky.social is now up! This stunning adaptation of Virginia Woolf's classic novel will be funding in April, but you can sign up now so you don't miss it when it goes live! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ave...