Chin Music: Richard Short’s New Graphic Novel Bats for Cricket’s Oddball Soul
A new graphic novel is stepping up to the crease to celebrate cricket’s most eccentric traditions. Chin Music, by cartoonist Richard Short, launches the World of Sport series with an affectionate and observational look at what the book’s publisher calls “that most British of sports.” Indie powerhouse Breakdown Press has brought the project to market, and early attention from comics criticism site Broken Frontier signals that this is no ordinary sports comic.
A Sports Comic Unlike Any Other
Rather than delivering a play-by-play account of a match, Chin Music uses cricket as a lens to explore the culture, idiosyncrasies and offbeat rituals surrounding the game. The Broken Frontier coverage describes the project as the first instalment in Short’s “World of Sport” sequence, a series that promises to examine athletic pursuits not as competitive feats but as rich seams of human behaviour and social commentary.
The title itself – “chin music” – carries a double meaning in cricket parlance: it refers to a short-pitched delivery that whistles past the batsman’s chin, but also to the sledging and verbal jousting that define the sport’s mental battles. Short’s take leans into the term’s lyrical possibilities, blending observation, satire and a distinctly literary-comics sensibility. Expect the quiet dramas of a village green, the hypnotic rhythm of a five-day Test, and the gentle absurdity of a rain-affected tea break all to feature prominently.
From the Boundary Edge to the Page
Richard Short is carving a niche for comics that treat sport as a cultural subject, not merely a backdrop for heroics. His focus on cricket’s slower rhythms taps into a growing movement within graphic literature that mines everyday rituals for meaning. In recent years, independent publishers have released works exploring everything from football terrace culture to the philosophy of cycling, but cricket has seldom received such dedicated, long-form comic treatment.
The choice of cricket is particularly fitting. The sport is steeped in unwritten codes and arcane terminology, from “silly mid-off” to the hallowed laws guarded by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord’s. Short’s book arrives as a kind of comic counterpoint to those official histories – a celebration of the game’s eccentric heart rather than its rulebook. Where the MCC preserves the letter of the laws, Short preserves the spirit of the pavilion.
Breakdown Press Brings It to the Crease
Chin Music is published by Breakdown Press, the London-based imprint known for championing offbeat, artistically ambitious comics. The publisher has previously released works that blur the lines between art, memoir and narrative, making it a natural home for Short’s sport-meets-cultural-study approach. While exact release dates and page counts have yet to be widely publicised, the early coverage at Broken Frontier confirms the book is available or due imminently through the Breakdown Press store and select comic retailers.
For followers of the small-press scene, the collaboration is a welcome addition. Breakdown Press has a track record of giving cartoonists the space to pursue idiosyncratic visions, and Short’s project fits squarely within that ethos. The book is likely to appeal as much to comics connoisseurs as to cricket lovers who might never have picked up a graphic novel before.
A Series with Global Ambitions
Short’s “World of Sport” series plans to extend beyond cricket, though full details remain under wraps. If Chin Music is any indication, each volume will tackle a different sport, peeling back its cultural layers with the same blend of curiosity, wit and visual flair. The series name itself hints at an expansive, almost anthropological scope, marrying the global language of athletics with the intimacy of the comic panel.
For now, cricket fans and comics readers alike have a fresh way to connect with a game that prides itself on being both incomprehensible to outsiders and endlessly fascinating to its devotees. As the sport continues to evolve – with shorter formats and new audiences – Short’s graphic novel acts as a time capsule for its quirkiest traditions. Whether you know your googly from your yorker, or just enjoy a good cultural study, Chin Music promises to be a literary innings worth savouring.
Chin Music is out now from Breakdown Press.
