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Top 12 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga:
May 2026
For your delectation below are my latest choices of up-and-coming titles for you to consider and discover. I’ll be adding and updating this as and when any further recommendations come to light. I’ve chosen the long-awaited return and conclusion of Riad Sattouf’s ambitious autobiographical magnum opus. It’s something of a miracle that these two volumes are coming into English at last!
As I Dream of You
by Jennifer Lee & LeUyen Pham
First Second
$27.99 / $19.99
The publisher says:
Falling in love is supposed to hurt. That’s what Franny and Sam, two cynical teens raised on tales of heartbreak and loss, have come to understand. But when they fall for each other, they find the reality of love is something else entirely—it’s electrifying, effortless, all-encompassing, and easy. Theirs is a love that can conquer anything… maybe even death. After a shocking accident ends the couple’s life together before it can really begin, Sam finds himself drowning in thoughts of Franny. He simply can’t imagine a world without her in it. And soon, he doesn’t have to. In a series of vivid lucid dreams that blur the line between reality and fantasy, the two find each other again and vow to never separate. But as time goes on, cracks begin to form in their perfect world, and unsettling truths become harder and harder to ignore. This heartrending yet life-affirming romance from Disney’s Jennifer Lee is paired with breathtaking, career-best art from LeUyen Pham. The result is a sublime YA graphic novel that’s poised to become a classic. Jennifer Lee is the Academy Award-winning writer and director of Disney’s Frozen and Frozen 2. She earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical for her stage adaptation of Frozen. She also co-wrote the screenplay for Oscar-nominated Wreck-It Ralph, as well as the story for the Academy Award-winning Zootopia. She served as Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios from 2018 to 2024, when she began work on Frozen 3. A lucid dreamer herself, Lee and her family split their time between New York City and Los Angeles. LeUyen Pham is the award-winning and best-selling creator of over 140 books for children, including The Man Who Didn’t Like Animals by Deborah Underwood, Shrinking Violet by Laurel Snyder, Caldecott Honor Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris, and the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel Lunar New Year Love Story with Gene Yang. She is also the illustrator of the Princess in Black series, Real Friends graphic novel series, and co-creator of Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn with Shannon Hale. LeUyen lives with her family in Los Angeles, CA. 352pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
30 x 30 Thirty Years of Conundrum Press
by various creators, edited by Andy Brown
Conundrum Press
$30.00
The publisher says:
An anthology of graphic shorts from 25 Canadian artists. Featuring a preface by Brown on thirty years of publishing activity at Conundrum, 30×30 collects all the books in the CONUNDRUM 25 pocketbook series in celebration of the 30th anniversary of this highly acclaimed publishing company. Featuring veteran cartoonists, archival work, and fresh new talents this anthology expands what a graphic short can be. Front cover by Adam de Souza. Back cover by Seth. Introduction by Zsuzsi Gartner. Biographical portraits by Jonathan Dyck. Contributors: Day Old by Joe Ollmann; The Water Lover by Patrick Allaby; Spells by Graeme Shorten Adams; The Man Who Walked Through Walls by OBOM; Petrozavodsk by Alison McCreesh; Next Time Around by Billy Mavreas; Maladies by Henriette Valium; Sasha Strong by Kim Edgar; We Were Younger Once by Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet; CONDOLADY by Elisabeth Belliveau; Post-Modern Mini-Comics by Colin Upton; Partum Me by Natalie Pendergast; Only a Slender Internal Connection by Xiaoxiao Li; Between Gentlemen by Rupert Bottenberg; Bar Delicious by Blaise Moritz; Just Happy to See You by Shea Proulx; Cousin Bear Comes to Visit by Halie Finney; We see stars only at night by Cole Pauls; On the Border by Brandon Hicks; Wanderer of the Wastes by Tyler Landry; It Really Is by Cole Degenstein; Citymouse by Eleanor Hannon; Let the Good Times Roll by Veronica Post; Future Me is Fat by Mollie Cronin; Fever Dream by D. McFadzean. 360pgs 2-colour paperback.
Barrier
by Brian K. Vaughan & Marcos Martin
Image Comics
$19.99
The publisher says:
Barrier originally ran on Panel Syndicate, the digital comics platform founded by Marcos Martin and Brian K. Vaughan and was nominated in 2018 for an Eisner for best digital comic. The series focuses on Liddy, a rancher who finds a skinned horse head on her property and suspects it is a message from drug cartels, and Oscar, who is fleeing to the U.S. from Honduras. Then the aliens show up. The comic is bilingual, with both English and Spanish dialogue. Image published the print edition in 2018 as a five-issue weekly in a deluxe landscape format featuring cardstock covers. The creators originally planned not to collect the comics into a single volume; the comics were released in a slipcase edition the same year (see “’Barrier’ Gets Slipcase Edition”). 208pgs colour landscape paperback.
Charley’s War by Joe Colquhoun: Apex Edition Vol. 1
by Pat Mills & Joe Colqhoun
Rebellion / Treasury of British Comics
£100.00 / £120.00
The publisher says:
Charley’s War began serialisation in the British weekly comic Battle in 1979. As written by Pat Mills, it is one of the greatest strips in the history of British comics, a serious look at how the First World War affected Britain’s working class. Complementing the story was the artwork of Joe Colquhoun. Fresh off the immensely popular Johnny Red Colquhoun pushed himself even further, detailing the wartime travails of Charley Bourne, producing stunning artwork each and every week. This book collects pages from the first few years of the series, including many complete episodes, printed at their original size so you can appreciate Joe Colquhoun’s mastery of the artform. 144pgs colour oversized hardcover or webshop-only slipcase limited edition.
The Children of Light
by Jean Pleyers
New York Review Comics
$29.95
The publisher says:
In the far reaches of the Andromeda Galaxy, a supernova obliterates the homeworld of the Zors, an advanced alien race. But the Zors knew this particular apocalypse was coming. To escape destruction, they built a world-sized spaceship run by an omniscient supercomputer. They search for a new home, but the odds are bleak. Aboard the ship, major unrest amongst the crew and passengers endangers the mission of survival. Outside in the cold of space, the enemies of the Zors gather to destroy them. Watching over the Zors are the Beings of Light, mysterious godlike creatures able to intervene in the affairs of others. But will they be able to save the Zors? Written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Jean Pleyers in the early 1980s, The Children of Light is his awe-inspiring vision of a universe completely different from our own. Intricately drawn and laser-blasted with radiant colour, this is the first time The Children of Light has been collected and translated into English. This new edition features an interview with Pleyers conducted by Tom Oldham of Breakdown Press, which sheds light on the creation of this wholly original work. 112pgs colour hardcover.
The End of the Arab of the Future: A Youth in the Middle East: A Youth in the Middle East 1992-1994
by Riad Sattouf, translated by Sam Taylor
Fantagraphics
$22.99
The publisher says:
Eagerly anticipated by American readers, Riad Sattouf concludes his internationally award-winning graphic memoir series, Arab of the Future. Riad is a teenager growing up in the French region of Brittany, where he lives with his mother and brother and attends high school in Rennes. But his adolescence is anything but typical. Born to a Syrian father and a French mother, Riad spent much of his early childhood in Libya, rural Syria, and France—moving through contrasting worlds, political ideologies, and daily absurdities. Years earlier, his father—charismatic, authoritarian, and obsessed with dictators and with building a utopian Arab society—abducted Riad’s second younger brother, Fadi, and returned to Syria, leaving behind a fractured family. At 14, Riad navigates puberty, isolation, and the pressures of French society, while haunted by the absence of his father and brother, and the sadness of his mother. He turns to books, heavy metal, and drawing as refuge. The tone is darkly comic and sharply observant, capturing both the universal pains of adolescence and the surreal contradictions of the 1990s. Blending personal story and social commentary, this standalone volume offers a biting, poignant portrait of a young man coming of age in a world that feels both familiar and foreign. The End of the Arab of the Future is the first book in a two-volume series that concludes the critically acclaimed autobiographical graphic novel begun in Arab of the Future. 184pgs colour paperback.
Gay Mormon Dad
by Chad Anderson & Remy Burke
Graphic Mundi
$21.99
The publisher says:
A father upends his religious identity to embrace his long-secret gay sexuality in this crowdfunded graphic adaptation of Anderson’s prose work, drawn by a genderqueer cartoonist. All his life, Chad Anderson was told he was broken. He believed with all his heart that being a good Mormon would make him straight, because that is what he was told. Chad followed the prescribed road map: mission, marriage, and children. But it didn’t make him happy, and it didn’t make him straight. For Chad, coming out meant losing everything and starting again. Gay Mormon Dad is the story of one man learning to love himself in a complicated world. This inspiring autobiography unfolds in two parts, “Then” and “Now,” woven together in a way that will hit you right in the heart. Vibrantly illustrated by artist Remy Burke, this moving graphic novel sheds light on the dangers of spiritual abuse and illuminates the path to healing. 104pgs colour paperback.
Mary Pain
by Lola Lorente, translated by Andrea Rosenberg
Drawn & Quarterly
$30.00
The publisher says:
Mary Pain’s hit rock bottom with nothing left to lose … but she’s also absolutely free. Mary Pain might just be the patron saint of second chances. Unemployed and all out of options, she buys a one-way bus ticket to the dead-end town she grew up in. Time stands still there―all the same people still telling the same old gossip she’s been running from for ages. Back in her childhood home, she needs to find a way to save the house from foreclosure, care for her ailing grandfather, and make peace with her mother’s ghost, whose telephone calls still come in on the old kitchen landline. With the odds stacked against her, Mary Pain doesn’t let her mid-life rut keep her down: she picks up men for midnight trysts in the park, and remains open to deepening connections with childhood friends, new lovers, and precocious altar boys. Lola Lorente’s slick black inkwork feels sophisticated and voluptuous, and her rendering of townsfolk and their customs is a sensorial delight. Her devoted attention to fabric textures, body shapes, and one-of-a-kind faces brings this cast of oddballs and weirdos, sometimes verging on the grotesque, fully to life. Translated from the Spanish by Andrea Rosenberg, Lorente’s English debut is a sorrowful yet hopeful portrait of a young adult at a crossroads in life―a quintessential loser looking for meaning and redemption in a town full of ghosts. 216pgs B&W hardcover
Narrow Rooms
by Choi Sungmin, translated by Janet Hong
Drawn & Quarterly
$30.00
The publisher says:
Is a fresh start truly possible? Or will society’s strictures and your own impulses keep re-creating the same messed-up relationships in every narrow room you enter? Choi Seongmin’s Narrow Rooms follows a young woman who leaves her rural hometown to study in Seoul and seek self-improvement. But once there, she quickly becomes the target of unwanted attention from her teacher, and the whispers of other students only deepen her alienation. Living in a cramped, poorly soundproofed room, the suffocating atmosphere begins to further distort her boundaries and perceptions. Longing for escape, she fixates on a handsome new neighbour, her fascination spiraling into obsession: she secretly rummages through his mailbox, collects his discarded cigarette butts and teabags, and hoards his trash. But when she discovers something unsavoury about the object of her desire, will she be forced to confront the morals of her own behaviour? With clean, uniform lines and milky colours reminiscent of glass paintings, Choi’s cartooning heightens the story’s sense of claustrophobia and unreality. Expertly translated from the Korean by Janet Hong and originally serialised as a Webtoon, Narrow Rooms has been praised for its raw, unsparing depiction of how human desires leak out when confined behind thin walls, emerging in unsettling, antisocial ways that no amount of self-control can fully contain. 400pgs colour paperback.
New Adventures from the Trigan Empire Vol.1
by Michael Carroll & Tom Foster
Rebellion
£19.99
The publisher says:
For the first time in forty years, the Trigan Empire rises once again! Michael Carroll (Dreadnoughts), and Tom Foster (Judge Dredd), bring you New Adventures from the Trigan Empire, continuing the classic, groundbreaking comics story originally told by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence. Decades have passed since we were last visitors to The Trigan Empire, and an ageing Emperor Trigo has started to think about who his successor may be. His right-hand man and nephew, Janno, has already taken on many of his duties—but Trigo’s estranged son, Nikko, has inherited his mother’s mantle as ruler of the powerful nation of Hericon. When Janno’s daughter Judelle is kidnapped from Hericon, tensions escalate as each side blames the other, and decades-old resentments come to the surface, setting both kingdoms on a dangerous path from which there may be no turning back… Will the Trigan Empire rise… or fall? Don’t miss the beginning of an incredible new saga! 64pgs colour hardcover.
Opioids & Organs
by Arizona O’Neill
Drawn & Quarterly
$30.00
The publisher says:
A heart-wrenching memoir of a daughter losing her father and a scathing indictment of the medical industry. Arizona grieves at the hospital bed of her father, a man she hardly knew, brain dead after a fentanyl overdose. Doctors encourage her to act quickly to recast him as a hero by way of organ donations. Distraught, Arizona makes a decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life. As she struggles to come to terms with her father’s death and her role as next of kin in making his life’s last decision, she uncovers inconvenient truths about the organ industry’s own codependence on the opioid crisis. Her parents were bohemian wild kids of 90s Montreal. He was a talented skateboarder, charming guitarist, and visual artist. She was an aspiring writer and outcast. They lived with other teenagers in the Plateau in a messy apartment filled with drugs, alcohol, and black-market animals. The city’s macabre history―McGill Medical School, the Mount Royal Cemetery, ancient cadavers at the Maude Abbott Medical Museum―takes centre stage as Arizona sorts out fact from fiction. Opioids and Organs is a damning critique of an industry that takes advantage of society’s outcasts. It is also the graphic novel debut of O’Neill herself, who weaves together a dramatic personal history with that of how humanity made its scientific advances. A muted yet striking pastel palette and a doll-like fantastical elegance belie both the gruesomeness of the book’s topic and the rage of its author. 380pgs colour hardcover.
The Reaper and the Waiting
by January Sun
WEBTOON Unscrolled
$19.99
The publisher says:
Reaper spends his days completing his task of sending souls into the afterlife, until he meets a peculiar but familiar soul that has him questioning everything. Waiting follows him everywhere, and Reaper’s spirit helper, Dog, seems to take a liking to Waiting. Reaper, however, has his reservations. Souls must be guided to the other side, and it’s his job to help them cross, but something draws him closer to Waiting. Reaper prefers to live in ignorance of his past life, while Waiting insists that knowing who you were is important to understand where you come from—and who you may have left behind. Who is Waiting, and why is he so intrigued by the one meant to seal his fate? Through their journey together, travelling the realm in search of lost souls Waiting and Reaper unpack the bittersweet mystery of their previous lives. This graphic novel collects the complete stunning Webtoon comic series The Reaper and the Waiting. January Sun is a Vancouver-grown artist with an interest in the magical and the colourful aspects of life. She previously studied molecular biology to enter medical school before realising her true passion lies in storytelling and creating laughter with her art. 192pgs colour paperback.
