Teenage Riot: A Gloriously Rowdy Interview with the Young People Who Lead Comics Youth

In the greatest way possible, our chat with Comics Youth board members (and talented young artists) Joe (18) and Sophie (21) officially goes off the rails within just ten minutes of the interview. After some formative, powerful conversations about how these inspiring young people found and fell in love with Comics Youth, our attentions are turned immediately and unexpectedly to two other important facets of our organisation: Snacks and funnies.

An impassioned rant regarding the mysterious disappearance of Wonka Bars from the corner shops and supermarkets of Britain (#WonkaConspiracy) inexplicably jumps into an exchange of stand-up comedy quotes. Performed expertly by Joe and Sophie, the exchange perfectly highlights how the two have the repartee of friends who have known each other for years, rather than months.

They crumble into laughter when they realise that this entire exchange is still being recorded, and that it will need to be transcribed and written up for this exact piece. “This interview is hilarious,” Joe says, between bites of popcorn. Sophie agrees, “Yeah like, ‘So, what’s Comics Youth about?’ ‘Well, we talk about John Mulaney … and Wonka bars…’”

Weirdly, it’s an exchange that indirectly, yet perfectly, illustrates the inner workings of Comics Youth. We make art here and we use art as a unique theraputic pathway and to help young people fight isolation: But we also forge futures here too. And if you want to witness the proof of that first hand, you need only look to the fiercely positive development of the young people who lead Comics Youth.

In a random conversation about the anguish of losing the greatest chocolate bar known to humanity, you find young people who are comfortable, relaxed, and open to sharing anything and everything that’s on their mind. Within an impression of a John Mulaney bit about children being cruel about his feminine hips, you’ll find young people who feel safe enough to come out of their shell and share moments of pure joy with likeminded others.

On the surface, Comics Youth is a community organisation which supports marginalised young people with creative comic book and zine workshops. But as Joe and Sophie prove, the unseen beating heart of our organisation revolves around encouraging young people to let their hidden potential be seen and celebrated. It’s about finding your people and proudly flourishing alongside them.

“Comics Youth really brought out this part of me that I didn’t know I have just because I was in an environment where I felt like people wanted to listen to me”

t’s exactly how Sophie came to discover Comics Youth in the first place, after a chance encounter with the organisation’s director, when they were 20. “I met Rhiannon on the train after Liverpool Pride and we were both reading so I asked her about her book and then I saw her Comics Youth pin badge,” they explain, “I asked her about it and that just got the ball rolling. I decided to volunteer. It’s pretty fitting that we met on the train after Pride,” they laugh.

A small while later, Sophie came in to see Comics Youth HQ and was invited to participate in a couple of sessions. “It was instantly just a really cool environment and people were very respectful of pronouns and stuff and it was just really nice. A really welcoming space. So, I was like, Okay, I guess I’ll keep coming!”.

Joe had a “far less poetic” experience in discovering Comics Youth after hearing about us through school. But he nonetheless “absolutely fell in love with the place”, including the team who run it and the young people who attend sessions here.

“The environment in general is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, so I really got sucked into it,” he says, “ Everyone is so open and once I saw who everyone was, I felt like I could really lean into who I was too. And this was just after I’d decided to detach myself from some quite toxic friends. So, getting thrown into this environment full of people who I immediately liked and who were promoting positive mental health was a blessing.”

Both Joe and Sophie found the environment to be nurturing. Not only for their overall mental health and wellbeing, but also for bringing them out of their shells. Joe explains that Sophie knows him now as “quite a dramatic, theatrical person” but that this hasn’t normally been the case for him. “Up until about two months ago, I was still quite…I wouldn’t say quiet, but I wasn’t as openly extroverted or as loud and theatrical as I am now. Comics Youth really brought out this part of me that I didn’t know I have just because I was in an environment where I felt like people wanted to listen to me.”

As Joe tells it, he’s “improved more in the past two or three months” than he thinks he did “in the past three years” of secondary school. “I just feel like the people here and the environment itself have brought out the best parts of me,” he adds.

Unsurprisingly, Sophie’s experience is not too dissimilar. “When I first came I was really nervous and I didn’t really speak to people. I know that everyone here has seen me be pretty anxious. But I don’t think many know how much more anxiety there was before I came here. I wouldn’t speak to anyone unless I knew them and would pretty much just fade into the background.”

Meeting Rhiannon after Liverpool Pride marked a turning point for Sophie. It was a moment that perfectly reflected so much of what makes Comics Youth a success: Making young people feel seen, valid, and valuable. “Rhiannon was covered in Pride stickers and stuff so I was like, ‘Okay. You’re like me’. And I think that – you’re like me – that idea really helped me a lot. Because in here I know that people really like me and that they really don’t mind me being who I am: very autistic and very out there and very odd.

“And because I know that people don’t mind me being myself it’s made me want to come out of my shell a lot more. I wouldn’t do this interview six months ago…and now I’m chatting all the time and and singing and dancing around! I wouldn’t do that six months ago. But Comics Youth is so welcoming. It feels open and like I can be myself here. It’s very freeing.”

Both Joe and Sophie admit that the safe, inclusive, and friendly environment of Comics Youth hasn’t just built them up in terms of confidence, it’s also had a positive impact on their mental health. Calling Comics Youth “light years ahead of the rest of society” in terms of “social movements” and “how society should treat people”, it’s something that they see in all of the young people who use the space.

“There’s no stigma in talking about mental health here,” Joe says, “People are able to say ‘Oh, I have depression’ and ‘Oh, I’ve been on antidepressants” and have that not make someone feel uncomfortable. If anything, I’ve seen people move forward and listen more when you bring it up because they know that it’s personal to you and that’s something you get almost nowhere else.”

“Yeah, I’ve had panic attacks here and no-one’s cared,” Sophie adds, before pausing and readjusting their statement, “Well, people care but nobody’s been like *pulls a mean face and makes an evil noise* People care in the fact that they don’t care. They’re just like, ‘Oh, you have depression and anxiety? No worries!’”

As we bring the interview to a close, Sophie and Joe both reflect on the fact that being part of Comics Youth has helped to shape and motivate their respective career goals, with Joe affirming that the environment makes him “so artistically charged from just being in the space” that it inspires him to want to create even more work.

Inevitably, however, we end things somewhere close to how we begin: Snacks and funnies. As we all scramble for the final popped kernels of microwave popcorn, I ask Sophie and Joe what their favourite memories of Comics Youth are so far. Delightfully, the conversation dissolves into pure joy, with excitement and giggles accompanying reservations that their responses are “really cheesy”.

Joe recounts the first official Comics Youth D&D session in which his Lovecraftian inspired character dropped such a massive plot twist that it sent “shockwaves” through the entire group in attendance. It’s an event apparently so legendary that both he and Sophie enthusiastically recall it as the time that Joe did the thing.

Meanwhile, Sophie shyly declares how much they love “the little moments” which they believe don’t happen anywhere else in “the wait between sessions.” Like, for instance, the sort of impromptu musical outburst which ends the interview: Joe and Sophie join forces for a spirited rendition of Abba’s “Mamma Mia” which ends majestically in a series of chuckles.

Clearly, they had it absolutely spot on earlier: Wonka bars or not, this is what we’re all about. Though Comics Youth is all about investing in the bigger moments – in helping marginalised youth to find a space to be themselves in and to flourish within and beyond it – it’s also about the little moments that make life bright and exceptional: Snacks and funnies. Wonka Bars and John Mulaney. Lovecraftian plot twists and “Mamma Mia”. Joe and Sophie.

It’s about understanding that sometimes small changes can have the most colossal impact on society when we’re given the power to share those moments – the difficult, the wonderful, the inspiring, and the heartwarming – as a community, and not just as individuals.

It’s like we said: We’re not just making art here, we’re forging futures.