'I was the only girl in the comic book store'

“When I went to comic book stores, I would've been the only girl there."

Comic books have been a huge part of Marianna Mooney's life growing up and in recent years she believes stereotypes have changed.

Originally from Kildare, Marianna moved to Belfast in 2021 and she is among a number of local artists to feature in the debut print issue of Low Intensity, a comics anthology.

The graphics designer said she loves storytelling, but in terms of comics "it is definitely harder to make a career out of it".

"Comic writing and drawing definitely informed everything in my life," she told BBC News NI.

Her submission, The Liberation of Eve, reflects on going through a break-up, seen through the prism of the biblical Adam and Eve story.

Marianna said her work often deals with “tricky emotions, or life experiences, and why we think the way that we do”.

Low Intensity's founder, Andrew Pope, said the publication's aim is to showcase comics and sequential art from this part of the world.

“Having it in print really felt important,” he said. “Now, market forces are against us, and it's totally understandable why print media has gone the way it has.

“But having comics in print; I like it, I really do like it”.

Andrew’s hope for Low Intensity is to eventually print older archived material to include in the anthology.

“I would love to get some stuff from the seventies, eighties, nineties and two thousands, reprinted and in the anthology to show to a new audience,” he continued.

Low Intensity is being published by Local Colour Comics, which also runs the Belfast Comic Jam, a collaborative comic making event, where many of the artists became involved in the project.

One of those artists is Kathryn McGrane, who hopes the anthology will “go far and wide”, and show people that “there’s a comic making community here, and we have lots of stories to tell”.

As woman, Kathryn felt intimidated by the comic industry when she first started drawing, but explained that, as you settle in, “you realise that your preconceptions are only surface level".

"You realise we’re all just really keen to draw and get to know each other.”

“You think of Marvel, you think of DC; Superman or Batman, very masculine figures. But actually, any kind of art movement is women at the grassroots,” she said.

“The first Star Trek convention was organised by women. If you go to Q-con in Belfast, a lot of the artists are women."

Kathryn uses her art to show “fun and a sense of humour”, even with difficult subject matters.

Her entry features a little monster getting Covid-19, “but he kind of makes it humorous, as opposed to this terrible illness”.

Titch Dixon has also been working on Low Intensity, and said her biggest source of inspiration is her father.

“My dad's very artistic, so I would've grown up with him teaching me how to draw," she said.

"We have a matching tattoo that he designed.

“I have always drawn since I’ve been no age, and I only started being fairly open about it in the past year or so.

"I’ve only just started putting stuff out on Instagram,” she added.

Titch’s comic for Low Intensity focuses on homelessness in Belfast, drawing on her experiences as a support worker.

She wants to show that “there are workers out there who aren't getting paid a lot of money, that see fairly significant incidents; and they care deeply for people who have been trodden on for most of their lives”.

“I do other illustrations and drawings,” Titch added.

“Whether it's social issues, nerdy stuff like dragons. I am also a nerd, so I will include things like that as well.”

In the future, Titch told BBC News NI she hoped to create a comic detailing more of her experiences as a support worker to get it out to “the likes of nurses, doctors, carers and frontline workers”.

“There's still a level of support that is needed, a true and honest account and acknowledgement for the work that people do”.