RSS Feed

Facebook

Twitter

Top 22 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:

October 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… from this deeply-researched yet fictional biography of Jane Austen by Kate Evans…

...to this deep, daring supernatural fable by acclaimed Argentinian creator Sole Otero.

Ben Passmore delivers undoubtedly his most urgent work, contextualising more than a century of Black resistance in America and deepening its relevance to today’s struggles…

Joana Mosi addresses the emotions of grief and recovery through her formally experimental yet powerful affecting narrative…

A master of manga and especially anime, Rintaro recounts his life of pursuing his passion to bring some of Japan’s greatest animation to the screen…

And Bill Griffith digs deep into his family history to reveal his great-grandfather’s pioneering role in American photography. These and other enticing invitations to explore fresh worlds and ideas are listed for you here. Which will you be reading - for difference?


Astral Panic
by Katie Hicks
Flying Eye Books
£16.99 / $21.99

The publisher says:
A colourful, punchy, YA, coming of age graphic novel about roommates tackling anxiety, work life balance (or lack thereof), digital overwhelm and the stresses of every day life. Gale’s trying to master his anxiety, and he’s hoping the latest wonder-cure “Simply Pear” can help. Not turning up to his art classes and feeling like everyone is a lot cooler and more in control than he is, he chugs his Simply Pear products and takes advice from its demanding app. Oh, it’s definitely not working… His plan is thrown into chaos by the bubbly Aiden, who needs a buddy to help him get a job. Can this colorful and heartfelt romp through shoddy part-time jobs help Gale out of his anxious bubble? There’s only one way to find out. Katie Hicks was born in Sault St. Marie but grew up in St. Catharines Ontario. She started drawing at a young age by copying her favourite cartoon characters. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and graduated with a bachelors of illustration. After school she did freelance illustration for companies like The New York Times, Reader’s Digest and PlanSponsor. She has self published her own comics and was nominated for an Ignatz for her 2020 horror comic GUTS. 192pgs colour paperback.


Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance
by Ben Passmore
Pantheon
$22.00

The publisher says:
From the Ignatz and Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Ben Passmore comes a whirlwind graphic history of Black life, taken by force. It’s the summer of 2020, and downtown Philly is up in flames. “You’re not out in the streets with everyone else?” Ronnie asks his ambivalent son, Ben, shambling in with arms full of used books: the works of Malcom X, Robert F. Williams, Assata and Sanyika Shakur, among others. “Black liberation is your fight, too.” So begins Black Arms to Hold You Up, a boisterous, darkly funny, and sobering march through Black militant history by political cartoonist Ben Passmore. From Robert Charles’s shootout with the police in 1900, to the Black Power movement in the 1960s, to the Los Angeles and George Floyd uprisings of the 1990s and 2020, readers will tumble through more than a century of armed resistance against the racist state alongside Ben—and meet firsthand the mothers and fathers of the movement, whose stories were as tragic as they were heroic. What, after so many decades lost to state violence, is there left to fight for? Deeply researched, vibrantly drawn, and bracingly introspective, Black Arms to Hold You Up dares to find the answer. 224pgs black-&-red paperback.


Bone Broth
by Alex Taylor
SelfMadeHero
£16.99 / $22.99

The publisher says:
In this coming-of-age queer thriller, the young transmasculine Ash begins his transition into adult life by landing his first job at a ramen-noodle shop in London, prepping the bone broth. But as the financial landscape shifts under Ash’s feet, and after months of bonding with a series of challenging co-workers, everything suddenly stops dead. Literally. At a drunken staff party, Ash’s bullying boss turns up dead, and everyone’s been taking selfies with the corpse. Good thing Ash has already spent a year on the job. Alex Taylor is a queer visual artist based in London, working creatively through multiple mediums of expression including illustration, painting, digital art, comics, zines, and film. He was the winner of the First Graphic Novel Award in 2023. 208pgs colour paperback.


Bridge Planet Nine
by Jared Throne
Top Shelf Productions
$19.99

The publisher says:
A heist gone wrong. In this gritty, intimate sci-fi graphic novel, four down-and-out thieves touch down on an abandoned colony planet for an easy heist…until the masks come off. Bridge Planet Nine, once a thriving outpost, is now deserted. Corporations have claimed what’s left of its natural resources for automated extraction, and even the freighter ships that refuel here are completely unmanned. Now one of those freighters…is about to be robbed. The hijackers are a small, reluctant crew, each with their own reasons for being there. With no one around for millions of miles, they don’t expect interference. But the planet’s grim history and dark secrets will turn a simple job into a bloody fight for survival. Featuring elegant inky artwork, tense pacing, lived-in characters, and a touch of pandemic paranoia, Jared Throne’s Top Shelf debut is a captivating work of suspenseful sci-fi that will leave readers gasping for breath. 208pgs B&W paperback.


Cat Mask Boy
by Linus Liu, lettered by Book Buddy Media
Nakama Press
$10.99

The publisher says:
In 1970s Hong Kong, Tiger, a secondary school student at Resettlement Area Rooftop Primary School, spends more time having fun than studying for his classes. His only ambition is to become a superhero, so he makes himself a cat mask. On report card day, he wants to show his mum his academic progress, but his report card is mistakenly taken by someone else. With no other choice to avoid punishment from his mum, he sets out to retrieve it and ventures into Kowloon Walled City, a notorious shantytown where no rules apply except those of the mafia. All kinds of illicit businesses flourish: gaming rooms, opium dens, and undercover trading. There, he meets a new friend named Dragon, who offers to help. Together, they must confront their fears and recover the lost report card! Linus Liu is an independent comic artist born in the last century. He is deeply fond of old Hong Kong, the city where he grew up. While researching for Cat Mask Boy, he experienced a sense of nostalgia, as if he had returned to those bygone days. He has been drawing and creating for years, participating in projects that involve sketching, comics, animation, digital art, and more. His creative inspiration comes from daily life and his wild imagination. His publications include Cat Mask Boy, the illustration collection She and She Remembers, the animated short Cat Mask Boy’s Summer Holiday, and the comics Timeless Encounter, which he co-created with Hong Kong Machines. He is also serialising a 4-panel daily comic strip called Gold Fish Cat. 192pgs black-and-two-colour paperback.


Electric Cowboy
by Ansel Kite
Silver Sprocket
$14.99

The publisher says:
Debut time-loop comic from illustrator ansel kite asks if love and fate are separate paths we take. A devoted android traverses the memories of their missing partner in this science fiction comic perfect for fans of thwarted love and surreal art. Alfie and Caroline are celebrating. Tomorrow, they’ll go down to the enormous red desert planet they’re orbiting, restart the electric dynamo at the planet’s core, and create a new habitable planet for humankind. Tonight, they kiss over hot toddies and rest knowing their mission is nearly complete. Yet when Alfie awakes the next morning, Caroline is nowhere to be found. Alfie descends to the barren planet and discovers a tear in the spacetime continuum, allowing them to clamber into Caroline’s memories in search of her. As they chase an elusive Caroline through time, they receive more questions than answers—why won’t she let Alfie find her, and who is this other stranger in her memories? Debut author ansel kite weaves a twisting tapestry of identity and love in this time-travel romance. 48pgs colour staple-bound.


The Essential Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz: The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time
by Charles M. Schulz, written by Mark Evanier, introduction by Patrick McDonnell, foreword by Jean Schulz
Abrams ComicArts
$75.00

The publisher says:
This spectacular deluxe edition celebrates the 75th anniversary of Peanuts and the life, art, and legacy of Charles M. Schulz, and comes packaged with unique bonus materials. Extras include: 8 ready-to-frame prints, 5 vinyl stickers, 8 postcards, an iron-on patch, a full-colour comic book, and more! Beautifully designed in a deluxe gift-ready slipcase, this one-of-a-kind 336-page full-colour hardcover collects more than 700 images, including Schulz’s most iconic comic strips and related ephemera. 336pgs colour hardcover in slipcase with extras.


Fishflies
by Jeff Lemire
Image
$31.62 / $24.99

The publisher says:
A strange and surreal new tale of friendship and small town life from the creator of Sweet Tooth and Descender. A small town crime sets off a chain of events that will permanently alter the lives of several residents of bucolic Belle River, Ontario. As the manhunt heats up, a lonely girl named Franny Fox forms an unlikely friendship with a fugitive that leads them both on an odyssey of discovery and redemption… a journey that also uncovers dark secrets from the town’s eerie past. 408pgs black & second-colour hardcover/paperback.

 


Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit
by Kim Hyun Sook & Ryan Estrada
Penguin Workshop
$24.99 / $17.99

The publisher says:
Acclaimed creators Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada are back with a lightly creepy yet hilarious young adult graphic novel about first love and friendship—sure to offer both tricks and treats. It’s almost Daeboreum in 1980s South Korea—a holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the year. Taehee couldn’t care less. All she wants is to spend time with her boyfriend Kiwoo, avoid her controlling father, and play music for her mask dance club. But Taehee’s weird granny and her even weirder friends have other plans for Taehee: they drag her, Kiwoo, and the rest of the dance club to their remote farm to celebrate Daeboreum…the old-fashioned way. As the group arrives at the farm, Taehee overhears her granny talking about ceremonies, ghosts, and possibly (probably) sacrificing her friends to evil spirits. And if that’s not bad enough, Taehee just said those Three Little Words to Kiwoo that he can’t seem to say back. Meanwhile, her friends are running wild with secrets—ones they definitely don’t want the grannies to overhear. It seems like everyone is up to no good. The first full moon of the year is about to arrive, and with it confessions that threaten to change everything. That is, of course, if they all make it out alive. Featuring beloved characters from Banned Book Club and No Rules Tonight, Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit is a standalone story that melds tradition with the unexpected, and the spooky with the sweet. 208pgs colour hardcover/paperback


How to Say Goodbye in Cuban
by Daniel Miyares
Anne Schwartz Books
$21.99 / $13.99

The publisher says:
Here is the dramatic coming-of-age graphic novel memoir of 12-year-old Carlos (who would grow up to become the author’s father), his life during the Cuban Revolution, and his family’s harrowing escape to America. Carlos, who lives in a small town in the Cuban countryside, loves to play baseball with his best friend, Alvaro, and to shoot home-made slingshots with his abuelo. One day, a miracle happens: Carlos’ father, his papi, wins the lottery! He uses the money to launch his own furniture business and to move the family to a big house in the city. Carlos hates having to move—hates leaving Abuelo and Alvaro behind—and hates being called country kid at his new school. But the pains of moving and middle school turn out to be the least of his problems. When rebel leader Fidel Castro overthrows the existing Cuban president, the entire country is thrust into revolution. Then, suddenly, Papi disappears. Carlos’ mother tells him that Papi has gone to America, and that they will soon join him. But Carlos really doesn’t want to leave Cuba, the only home he’s ever known. Besides, how will they get to America when Castro’s soldiers are policing their every move? Will Carlos ever see his father again? This powerful book about a boy coming of age amid massive political upheaval tells a timeless story of one family’s quest for freedom and for a new place to call home. 240pgs colour hardcover/paperback.


Lost & Found
by Mia Wolff
Fantagraphics Underground
$29.99

The publisher says:
Artist Mia Wolff’s latest book of visual narrative is a lament and a celebration of her two closest friends, now gone. Assembled from the ashes of unfinished works, an elegiac piece of graphic poetry emerges —a lucid dream where mythical figures pirouette and grieve. Like waves lapping against the shore, Wolff’s multimedia musings are situated in the place where dream and memory converge ― and solace is found. Lost & Found, which weaves together reality and the imaginary, the ordinary and the fantastical, and laughs at its own weirdness, is a wistful and melancholic fantasia that floats overhead and leaves a lump in one’s throat. 92pgs colour hardcover.


Messiahs, Meshugganahs, Misanthropes, and Mysteries: True Tales of Comics, Conflict, and Creativity
by Bob Levin
Fantagraphics
$30.00

The publisher says:
In Messiahs, Meshugganahs, Misanthropes & Mysteries, Bob Levin, with his characteristic open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity, enters into and investigates the artistic sensibilities of cartoonists as disparate as Vaughn Bode, R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Trina Robbins, Johnny Craig, Guy Colwell, Edward Gorey, Harvey Kurtzman, Frank Frazetta, Art Spiegelman, Alex Toth, and Dave Sim. For nearly four decades, Levin has been weaving strands of critical opinion, historical research, pop cultural analysis, journalism’s five Ws, biography, memoir, and the occasional tasty fiction into a never-before-seen-on-this-planet basket, which has made his writings on comics unique and indispensable. So if you want to learn what really happened to Ghastly Ingels, or The Someday Funnies, or the “Keep On Truckin’” copyright—if you dare to confront art that provoked criminal conviction and Senatorial investigation, and which led to a trashed art gallery, a vandalized museum—even a ban by the “Berkeley Barb”– his book is for you. 360pgs B&W paperback.


The Mongoose
by Joana Mosi
Pow Pow
$22.95

The publisher says:
In a lonely house by the sea, a woman is haunted by ghosts unseen and memories unspoken. In the aftermath of a devastating loss, Julia finds herself living with her unemployed brother Joel in their grandmother’s beach house, uncertain of what comes next. Julia tries to convince her family and friends that she’s doing just fine, but when her nascent garden plot is destroyed one night, Julia becomes obsessed with finding the culprit… A mongoose whose existence no one else seems to believe in. A powerful tale of grief from one of Europe’s most exciting young talents, The Mongoose is a stunning, formally-inventive graphic novel in the vein of Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina and Richard McGuire’s Here. 192pgs B&W paperback.


My Life in 24 Frames per Second
by Rintaro
Abrams ComicArts
$29.99

The publisher says:
An autobiography in manga form from legendary anime director Rintarô. Fully illustrated and with a foreword by director Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of Akira, this inspiring memoir is the unique journey of an animation trailblazer and Grand Prize Winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Rintaro joined the Japanese animated film company Toei Animation in 1958 at the young age of 17. Even in his humble beginnings, when he was involved in putting the finishing touches on the animated film Legend of the White Serpent, Rintaro made unfathomable waves for anime as we know it, with Hayao Miyazaki citing it as a core inspiration in becoming an animator and director rather than a manga artist. In 1960, Rintaro transferred to Mushi Production, an animation studio established and overseen by the “god of manga” Osamu Tezuka himself. He made his directorial debut with the TV anime Astro Boy (1963–66) and served as the chief director for the first-ever full-colour TV anime in Japan, Kimba the White Lion, which aired from 1965 and made peerless contributions to the development of technical Japanese anime culture during its early years. Rintaro returned to Toei in 1977 and began work on Jetter Mars. In 1978, his directorial work on Space Pirate Captain Harlock caught the attention of the then-president of Toei Animation, leading to his appointment as the director of the theatrical version of Galaxy Express 999. Released in 1979, this film became a record-breaking hit. After being chosen by Haruki Kadokawa to direct Genma Wars in 1983, Rintaro shifted their main activities to studio Madhouse, directing major films such as The Dagger of Kamui, Yona Yona Penguin, and the critically acclaimed Metropolis. A unique journey that will take us from postwar Japan to the release of the film Metropolis in 2001, My Life in 24 Frames per Second is a journey filled with encounters, opportunities, endless nights, jazz, cigarettes, but above all, cinema. Follow Rintaro’s memoir as key milestones in the history of Japanese animation are unearthed in insightful clarity. 256pgs B&W hardcover.


Nocturnos
by Laura Pérez
Fantagraphics
$29.99

The publisher says:
In Nocturnos, Spanish comics artist Laura Pérez follows up her celebrated graphic novels, Totem and Ocultos, with an immersive tour through the ethereal world of nighttime. “The night does not belong to us. She harbours her own mysteries.” Nocturnos delves into the ethereal world of the night, when the mundane vibes of the day cede to a mysterious atmosphere in which anything seems possible. In the twilight hours, the darkness feels vast and untameable, the dead can intrude upon the land of the living, and the distance between imagination and reality seems closer than ever. Haunting narration connects a series of vignettes that capture glimpses of people’s lives as they navigate the nighttime. A traumatic collision while driving down a dimly lit road; a bedtime story that blurs the bounds of the imaginary, a walk through the woods that leads to strange symbols; this nighttime tour encompasses lush forests, dreamscapes, and the shadowy corners of private rooms. Along the way, these stories question the truths veiled in dreams, the nature of fear and loneliness, and the unknowable aura of the nocturnal world. In Nocturnos, her most masterful work to date, Spanish comics artist Laura Pérez explores the magic and melancholy we encounter when dusk descends. 192pgs colour hardcover.


The Past is a Grotesque Animal
by Tommi Parrish
Fantagraphics
$29.99

The publisher says:
A rich collection/scrapbook of over two dozen short stories, plus diary entries, photos, and other images fuelled by a propensity to understand the way we relate to each other, and told with a visual and lyrical beauty―and raw emotion―that collectively reaffirms the power of art. Tommi Parrish is an Australian trans cartoonist and one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary comics and graphic novels. Balancing emotional honesty with a keen awareness of the human condition, Parrish navigates fear, loneliness, identity, body politics, queer desire, masculinity, fear, and the ever-fluid nature of all human relationships. The Past is a Grotesque Animal collects over two dozen short stories of varying lengths, interspersed with ephemera from Parrish’s own life: diary entries, photographs, illustrations, paintings, and more. Parrish’s autobiographical elements inform their voice as a writer and the ways their characters constantly find one another adrift in their own seas of experience, current situations, trauma, and desire. How those characters coexist, how they are complicated by outside forces, and internal ones, affect our hardwired need for meaningful connection. The book also showcases Parrish’s singular and assured visual style, blending clear lines, expressionistic character designs and gorgeously complex, hand-painted colour. 220pgs colour hardcover.


Patchwork: A Graphic Biography of Jane Austen
by Kate Evans
Verso Books
£25.00 / $34.95

The publisher says:
A bold reimagining of the life of a much-loved writer, from the author of Red Rose and Threads. In her later years, Jane Austen made a patch­work quilt. She folded thousands of tiny scraps of fabric over diamond-shaped slips of paper and painstakingly stitched them together. Kate Evans employs these slivers of cloth to illustrate Jane Austen’s life story. Evans teases apart the threads that connect Austen’s beloved novels, the events of her life, and the fabric of society in Regency England. Patchwork is a major new work of graphic biography. Kate Evans has an unparalleled ability to marry drama, comedy, and historically im­mersive detail, bringing Austen’s story to life with fluid, dynamic artwork, at times embroi­dered onto cloth itself. The author’s love for Austen shines throughout. Her incredible eye for historical detail—panes of glass, bits of lace, hedge-laying styles, the cut of a coat or the architecture of a Hampshire cottage—creates a captivating vision of Jane Austen’s world. 240pgs colour hardcover.


Photographic Memory: William Henry Jackson and The American West
by Bill Griffith
Abrams ComicArts
$35.00

The publisher says:
Legendary cartoonist Bill Griffith brings a personal touch to this illustrated history of his great-grandfather, William Henry Jackson—a pioneering photographer of the American West whose work led to Yellowstone becoming the first National Park and was a major influence on Ansel Adams. In his new graphic biography, legendary cartoonist Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead, tells the story of his namesake and great-grandfather, William Henry Jackson, who was one of the first photographers of the American West. Jackson’s photography spurred Americans to move westward, inspiring photographers such as Ansel Adams, and playing a role in the creation of our national parks, including Yellowstone. Using his unique approach to graphic novel biography, which Kirkus hails as setting a “standard” for the medium, Griffith explores every aspect of his great-grandfather’s life and legacy, which he pulls from family letters, diaries, and anecdotes, primary sources, and the archives of the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress, as well as from the more than 25 books written about Jackson and his work. Like all of Griffith’s biographies, Photographic Memory is a thoroughly researched, sharply observant character study written from a place of love, which explores photography in an illustrated medium. Not an easy trick to pull off—unless you are Bill Griffith. 288pgs B&W hardcover.


Pushing Hope: An Illustrated Memoir of Survival
by Raymond Santana & Keith Henry Brown
Calkins Creek
$33.99 / $24.99

The publisher says:
One of the Central Park Five reflects on his wrongful conviction—and tireless fight for his 2002 exoneration—in this moving young adult illustrated memoir. Raymond Santana’s story is an example to teens of the power of hope and resilience—and the importance of fighting injustice to stand up for what’s right. When Raymond Santana was just 14, he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. The 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park was pinned on Santana and four other young teens, a tragedy that would change their lives forever. In this powerful illustrated memoir, Raymond Santana takes readers on a journey from his move to Harlem, to his arrest and trial, and from his time in prison to his ongoing fight for justice. Exonerated in 2002, Santana has made it his mission to fight wrongful convictions and injustice. What has sustained him and given him the strength for that fight, is his creativity—art and fashion have always been a refuge and a source of hope. Teaming up with celebrated artist Keith Henry Brown, Raymond Santana shows in vivid colour how one can survive by pushing a message of hope. 288pgs colour hardcover / paperback.

Ken Burns, filmmaker, says:
“This is what justice looks like. We are told we live in an age of few if any heroes, but Raymond Santana is a real genuine hero. His story is one of unbelievable courage in the face of rampant injustice and impressive resilience as he maintains his dignity and in the face of obstacles that would destroy many of us. Bravo!”


Quiet Crossings
by Vivi Partridge, with inker Janaina Spada
Conundrum Press / Emanata
$20.00

The publisher says:
At the Inn, check-out is just part of the job. But what happens when you’re not ready to say goodbye? After crashing her truck in the unfamiliar countryside, Selena agrees to help out at the nearby Inn in exchange for a room. Located on the edge of the world, the Inn attracts extraordinary customers from near and far. The most popular attraction is the complimentary ferry ride to the Great Unknown, a mysterious shore past the edge of the world. But when no one ever travels back, Selena begins to feel uneasy. Is the innkeeper Alice really as nice as she seems? What secret does the ferryman hold? And should Selena be packing her bags and hailing the nearest taxi?
One thing’s for sure: Selena’s never had a job like this before. 120pgs colour paperback.


Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
by Anaïs Folgny
Abrams ComicArts
$25.99

The publisher says:
A gripping and lushly illustrated tale of love and lies set between 1930s Chicago and New York’s criminal underworld, perfect for fans of manga like Banana Fish and readers of graphic novels like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me who are looking for adult LGBTQIA+ fiction. Chicago, 1930. Jules Tivoli is a penniless Italian immigrant doing odd jobs to make ends meet. A twist of fate causes him to cross paths with Adam, a kingpin in Chicago’s criminal underworld who sees something in Jules that nobody else does—something special. Under Adam’s wing, Jules becomes somebody and falls in love hard with the man who made him. But after an FBI crackdown, Adam and Jules must flee to New York to escape being caught in the ensuing chaos. In New York, Jules’s Italian heritage gains him access, recognition, and power in the Cosa Nostra crime family. As he becomes more important in a city where Adam can’t seem to catch a break, he meets Eufrasio—his handsome, violent, and ambitious new partner who insists that Adam is holding Jules back. But Jules would be nothing without Adam—wouldn’t he? Torn between his past and his future, a sudden betrayal forces Jules to find a way to protect his love and prove his loyalty—if he can even manage to make it out alive. Anaïs Flogny is an illustrator and cartoonist based in France whose work is inspired by artists like René Gruau, Austin Briggs, Kamome Shirahama, and Cyril Pedrosa. She loves to draw intimate moments, cars, goats, historical fashions from the medieval era to the 1950s, and everything in between. Smoke gets in Your Eyes is her debut graphic novel. 240pgs colour hardcover.


The Space Between The Trees
by Norm Konyu
Titan Comics
$19.99

The publisher says:
From acclaimed artist and writer Norm Konyu, Aurora Award winner for A Call to Cthulhu, comes a visually stunning paranormal thriller. A journey through mystery and time, via a labyrinth of eerie forests—with mind-bending twists and supernatural threats. Norm Konyu delivers a supernatural and psychological thriller graphic novel, set in an eerie and extraordinary forest where Meera and Mark, an ordinary couple, find themselves lost during their journey to find a new home. After an accident within the forest, the house-hunters become the hunted. They must navigate a labyrinth of time and space, surrounded by towering trees with unusual qualities. As they wander deeper into the wilderness, they discover dark secrets and ancient powers that manipulate their every move. The forest isn’t just alive—it’s watching. The couple must find a way to escape before they become lost forever in a world that defies logic and reason. Norm Konyu, the award-winning creator of A Call To Cthulhu (2024 Aurora Award for Best Graphic Novel), The Junction, and Downlands, brings his signature style and talent to this uncanny and unforgettable tale. His mastery of animation and graphic storytelling infuses the pages with haunting visuals and a palpable sense of dread. Blending elements of supernatural horror with psychological tension, readers are drawn into the twisted reality between the trees, where time is fluid, fear is constant, and every turn is a new nightmare. This is a journey where nothing is ever what it seems. 104pgs colour hardcover.


Wish We Weren’t Here: Postcards from the Apocalypse
by Peter Kuper
Fantagraphics
$19.99

The publisher says:
New York Times and Rolling Stone cartoonist Peter Kuper addresses climate change and our oligarchical future in an all-new graphic novel / political cartoon hybrid. 45 years after his first political cartoons focused on capitalism’s impact, Peter Kuper takes stock of the state of the world… and isn’t optimistic about what he sees. Across 100 pages of vivid, colourful, silent four-panel comics, Kuper traces as many aspects of how business and politics have accelerated the climate crisis, and looks at how, if things keep going in the direction they are, our oligarchic lives will be further transformed. Witty and angry in equal measure, Kuper deploys bold figures, clever metaphors, despairing howls, and some of the best drawings of his career to get his message across. Originally serialised in the legendary French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, each page is a single blackly funny gag strip, but themes flow, recur and build across sequences to create a true hybrid of political cartoon and graphic novel. Since co-founding the influential political comics magazine World War III Illustrated in 1979, Kuper has maintained his deeply humanist / anti-capitalist perspective, while developing and broadening his graphic and story-telling skills across a range of topics and styles. In this book, he brings all of that experience, study and passion together into a powerful work that stands as a culmination of his career. See the future now, and laugh hollowly while you still can. 144pgs colour paperback.


Witchcraft
by Sole Otero
Fantagraphics
$34.99

The publisher says:
Three mysterious sisters, dancing at the knife’s edge of benevolent and malevolent, lie at the heart of Witchcraft―a maelstrom swirling together horror and comedy, magic and religion, colonialism and indigenous folklore. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1768. It is a dark and foreboding night when the boat arrives from Europe, bringing three shadowy figures to shore. The María sisters have come to take the New World by storm. At once righteous and menacing, the sisters will exert their insidious powers over generations, leaving a wreckage of shattered spirits in their wake. Told through the eyes of the people whose lives the sisters have cast asunder, Witchcraft is a mesmerising mystery to piece together. Strange magic, dark humour, and a fiery undercurrent of female rage cohere into a heady tale of colonialism, indigenous folklore, and modern agoraphobia. A kaleidoscopic work of literary fiction, crafted with vision and verve, that assures Sole Otero as one of South America’s most dynamic cartoonists. 376pgs colour paperback.


The Witch’s Egg
by Donya Todd
Avery Hill Press
$19.95

The publisher says:
‘It was a spiderweb moon / And the imps did wonder / What dark delights wouldst the cat-witch conjure.’ By the Sardine Queen, by salt and the devil, by blackwormy earth, and by the deep, dark sea, the catwitch Urfi conjures an angel to love her and have children with her. But angels aren’t meant for love, and with the embryonic egg of their unborn children, Urfi flees from her partner’s violence, enduring terrible trials to find a new and safe home in the faery forest. As her children, Isobel, Batzel, and Mazel, grow up with her, they find the horrors their mother endured during her flight to the forest returning to their lives—this time for the three of them to defeat for good. With secret magic, solemn bonds of friendship, and sisterhood, they can at last stand against the threat of the angels’ terror and insanity in this dark fairytale of motherhood, magic, and apocalyptic romance. A gorgeous intergenerational family story of promises made, promises kept, and a mother who would do anything to protect her daughters. 180pgs colour paperback.

Posted: August 3, 2025

Donate!

If you are finding this website helpful, please support it by making a donation:

My Books




Comics Art by Paul Gravett from Tate Publishing

Comics Unmasked by Paul Gravett and John Harris Dunning from The British Library






1001 Comics  You Must Read Before You Die edited by Paul Gravett