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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
Top 21 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga: April 2026
Posted: March 29, 2026
I’ve singled out for my PG Tips British graphic novelist Lizzy Stewart’s latest and longest project, an arresting ensemble character study. Read about this and my other recommendations here…
Top 12 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga: March 2026
Posted: February 7, 2026
British cartoonist Joff Winterhart is a true favourite of mine. Some years ago, he came a close second in the annual Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comics Graphic Short Story Prize. Still, although he didn’t quite win, his cartooning wit and empathetic characters led to his being commissioned to make his debut graphic novel at Cape, Days of Bagnold Summer. His second book was not difficult, but if anything Driving Short Distances was better still. So I can’t wait to read his third, out very soon… Check out Dear Historian and more here…
Top 7 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga: February 2026
Posted: January 16, 2026
I’m continuing to round up, and update, my PG Tips columns for you in this atomised publishing system, so I can bring to light what I feel are the most interesting, diverse titles out now or soon. I interviewed Barbara Yelin at the Comix Creatrix exhibition at The House of Illustration in London in 2016 when her first English edition came out from SelfMadeHero. A decade after, her latest is one of the stand-outs for February. More discoveries await below and as more releases get confirmed and scheduled right here…
Top 6 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga: January 2026
Posted: December 7, 2025
Let me be perhaps the first to wish you a splendiferous New Year for 2026! Looking ahead at exciting upcoming comics has become a bit more challenging, following the demise after decades of Diamond Comics Distributors’ phone directory-sized advanced catalogue Previews. The US company’s ongoing trauma is in one way lessened by knowing that luckily the separate, profitable UK branch of Diamond has been bought out by its employees and should be resuming business shortly.
Meantime, I’ll share here my gleanings for you from online researches, bearing in mind actual publication dates are liable to slip or change. I will be adding to and amending these, as further details and dates of titles come to light… Explore them here…
Top 7 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga: December 2025
Posted: October 14, 2025
Fewer new titles get released during the festive month of December, but this select band of my personal picks are well worth checking out, like Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas’s fantastical yet topical collaboration. Read about this and further suggested books here…
Top 21 Graphic Novels. Comics & Manga: November 2025
Posted: September 7, 2025
It’s not every month (or year or decade even!) that you get an all-new new title from R. Crumb, his first fresh, complete, solo-author, old-school underground comic in over two decades. This also includes the final Dirty Laundry story, scripted but sadly not co-drawn by his wife, the late, massively missed Aline Kominsky. Check this out and more from my personal sections here on this website…
Top 22 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga: October 2025
Posted: August 7, 2025
“Read for difference.” This was some concise but provocative advice I recently read, summing up the value of reading outside the familiar, outside comfort zones and genres formulas. I think it’s an idea worth considering and I hope each month my recommended short(-ish) shortlist of new titles stimulates you to explore and expand your horizons. After all, comics are about pretty much everything and anything… like this deep, daring fable by acclaimed Argentinian creator Sole Otero… Read about this and many more here on my website...
Top 30 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga: September 2025
Posted: July 6, 2025
The return of Simone Lia’s adorable Fluffy tops the bill for me and comes at a perfect time when we especially need her wit and philosophical depth. Find out more about this and my other PG Tips here…
Top 22 Graphic Novel, Comics & Manga: August 2025
Posted: May 26, 2025
Is it just me or have you also noticed how graphic novels are getting more and more lengthy? Several titles this month top 200 pages, and not just bumper compilations of previously published material, but whole brand new works that have required bold ambition and true commitment. Among my PG Tips for August is Mimi Pond’s labour of literary love about England’s ever-fascinating Mitford Sisters, a delightful treat whether you’re one of their admirers or new to their wild ways… Read about this and my other PG Tips here…
Top 24 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga: July 2025
Posted: May 4, 2025
Good to have you back as we explore another bountiful batch of forthcoming international comics in print and in English. This month they range across genres, themes, styles and origins. I’m especially pleased that Saga de Xam, one of the pivotal missing masterpieces of the 1960s revolution in bandes dessinées is finally arriving in English after nearly 60 years. The others range from biographies of a Tudor Queen, Walt Disney and his brother and sequential art genius Will Eisner to memoirs, manga, a massive BD best-seller for kids and much more besides. Find out about them all here…
