Matthew Dooley
If someone told you a story about a widowed old man, who works in a lost and found department, who talks to his pet bird, and lives in a small quiet fictional seaside town, was the makings of a really good graphic novel, you might think that person was telling you a lie. But I’m not telling you a lie…
Written by Creative Stories
27/08/2025
Photos and Cover image provided by Matthew Dooley
Matthew Dooley’s latest graphic novel ‘Aristotle's Cuttlefish’ is just that, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I reached out to Matthew to see if he’d be up for answering a few questions, and he agreed!
Matthew describes himself “as a cartoonist who makes comic books,” which makes sense, really. Comic books have been a part of his life from an early age, “As a kid I was an Asterix fan but I loved the Romans even more. The first comic I can remember making was an Asterix story in which the Romans finally won and massacred everyone in Asterix’s village. I was perhaps 7 or 8 years old.”
Matthew says he’s “been coming up with stories for as long as I can remember. I drew incessantly growing up but stopped in my teens. I started making comics, as an adult at least, in my late twenties.” I’d like to ask what made Matthew stop drawing, but these articles can only be so long and we need to keep your attention, so we’ll move on.
I first came across Matthew’s work when I bought his previous graphic novel ‘Flake’, it instantly stood out for me. The colours, the artwork, the style, it all looked delicious. “It’s Economical. I’m quite slow, so a sparse style means I can make comics whilst just about holding on to my sanity.”
Flake is about rival ice-cream salesmen, it’s very funny, and warm, and it instantly fell into my ‘read it at least once a year’ list. It’s also set in the fictional seaside town of Dobbiston, which as someone who likes the seaside, I did research to see if I could visit (before I realised it was fictional…) “It is a sillier version of the West Lancashire town of Ormskirk, where I grew up,” Matthew explains.
I might not be able to visit Dobbiston in real life, but it feels real when you’re reading his books. I’m fascinated to know where Matthew gets his ideas from, “It can really be anywhere. But quite often I’ll see something, a news story, a historical anecdote and think – there’s something there. Then let your mind wander and often it will lead you to a unexpected places. I like to let ideas float round in my head. When starting the writing process I rarely actually write things down early on. I find the act of writing it down calcifies an idea, making it harder to change it once it’s on paper.”
It’s really nice to see someone creating such original work, it’s completely and only Matthew, “I think the instinct to create comes from same place as the instinct to play. Ultimately that’s what I feel like I’m doing when trying to write stories.”
“The idea for my first graphic novel, Flake, came when the picture of an ice cream man stood on top of his van amidst the oncoming tide popped into my head unbidden. Then it was a case of working out how to get there. Sometimes an idea my be sparked by something you read, you hear… there are many ways it can happen.”
To me, Matthew’s stories are about small town people, they read like indie British films, films that don't really get made anymore. They are based in a reality we know and live in, but also have these lovely adventures, which makes them very relatable, in a way. It’s also refreshing to read something with a slower pace, “Whilst one day I might write a space opera where the fate of the universe is on the line, I tend to be attracted to stories that are gentle and small. I like the everyday, low stakes obsessions of quiet oddballs.”
So what about his latest book ‘Aristotle's Cuttlefish’, “It was the combination of a couple of stories I’d had at the back of my mind for a few years – the endless lost property office and the lonely widower who only has a bird for company. The lost property office had a visual appeal and the lonely old fella some pathos and I felt they could work together.”
Looking forward into the future, Matthew is “working on a new graphic novel for Jonathan Cape called Daphne and Laurel. It’s about two pensioners who steal a minibus and go to the seaside.” Let’s be honest, if it’s anything like his previous, I can’t wait to read it. I finish things up by asking if he has any dream projects, “outside of comics, I’d love to write a sitcom.” So if anyone from the TV or streaming world is reading this, Matthew might have your next hit series.
A huge thanks to Matthew for taking the time to speak with me, and I highly recommend you read his graphic novels.
