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Top 24 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
March 2025
One year draws to a close, and the next one is gearing up. Anders Nilsen has been self-publishing his Tongues for several years and next March these chapters get compiled into book form as he always intended them. And this is Volume 1, so more are set to follow in his unfolding, hypnotising parable.
Fresh voices are always exciting and welcome and this month brings Bim Ericksson from Sweden, Ursula BLix Denmark, and from Australia Rachel Ang with a compilation of her captivating short-form pieces.
Muybridge proves to be much more complex and significant than we might assume, after reading Guy Delisle’s gripping, thoroughly researched life-story.
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And by conceptualising a plausible techno-authoritarian near-future, Melissa Chan and Badiucao underline the constant struggle for our rights and freedoms. I hope you find some of these and my other PG Tips below pique your interest. Thanks for exploring and see you through 2025 for more of my monthly recommendations!
All the People I have Been
by Alfonso Casas
Ablaze
$24.99
The publisher says:
It’s better to laugh in life. And, if possible, to laugh at yourself. In this new graphic novel, cartoonist Alfonso Casas reflects on the various phases of life, portrayed through beautiful illustrations created to remind us of the power of our thoughts and the new worlds in which we constantly find ourselves. All The People I Have Been is a journey to the centre of oneself. Because to find yourself today, you have to embrace all the people you were. It is a book to say goodbye to the lives you will not live, to the goals you no longer want to achieve, to those beliefs that limited you. (And, perhaps, to some monsters.) But it is also a book about finding the life you choose, the path you draw as you walk, all the people you were and the people you will become. As in his previous title, MonsterMind, Casas focuses on the premise that all humans live their own lives, within their own minds, which deserve to be treated with grace as our homes among this crazy, big, diverse world. 144pgs colour hardcover.
Arkadi and The Lost Titan
by Caza
Humanoids
$84.99
The publisher says:
Humanoids is proud to present this stunning opus that sits beside classic sci-fi comics sagas The Incal and The Metabarons as a colossal achievement in the form and genre. Spanning over 500 pages, Arkadi and The Lost Titan—a masterwork comprised of nine individual tomes and a prequel created over the course of 20 years—unfolds through a visually stunning tableaux that blends imaginative landscapes with intricate detail, and classic sci-fi adventure with spiritual and metaphysical exploration. It’s Year 10,000 of the Still era, and Earth has stopped moving. Half of the world is plunged into frigid Night, the other is scorched in Day. Nestled in the heart of this everlasting night is Dis, the last fabled domed-city, ruled by artificial intelligence. There live the Chosen, the last biologically pure humans, who are completely reliant for their survival on cyborgs known as Titans. In Twilight, the thin strip of habitable zone at the edge of Day and Night, survives the rest of humanity. In the small village of Accaia, a wandering warrior meets a sorceress and fathers a child, Arkadi. It is during these trials that Arkadi will rebel against the established order and discover his true power and set forth on a quest. 528pgs colour hardcover.
Baby Blue
by Bim Ericksson, translated by Melissa Bowers
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
Set in a not-so-distant future where the State polices people’s emotions, this dystopian graphic novel explores themes of mental health, queer identity, and the dangers of unchecked fascism. In the not-so-distant future, twenty-something Betty lives in a fascistic society that polices feelings. When her depression causes her to have an emotional episode in public, she is taken to an Orwellian health facility to “fix” her mental illness. There, she meets Berina, a fiery woman who opens her eyes to an alternative reality: The Resistance. If she can navigate a deviant underworld and band together with a queer, ragtag crew of resistance fighters, she just might have a chance to oppose the regime. The English debut of Swedish comics artist Bim Eriksson, Baby Blue is a haunting dystopian thriller. Drawn in a delightfully twisted, sad girl style, and suffused with pop music and other cultural touchstones, this graphic novel feels fresh and contemporary. Ultimately, a bold and vital tale of queerness, love, rebellion, and the value of being different. 264pgs one-colour paperback.
Blake & Mortimer: The Complete Collection Vol.1
by Edgar P. Jacobs, translate by Jerome Saincantin
Cinebook
£37.99 / $46.99
The publisher says:
At long last, a hardback collected edition of Blake & Mortimer is published in English! A Cinebook exclusive, not even available in French, this Complete Collection will gather two or three books per volume, in the original publishing order, plus another book’s worth of fascinating extra material on the series and the author, as well as sketches and historical notes—unmissable for any true fan. Four volumes will come out in 2025, with the next four already scheduled for 2026. This first one brings together the three episodes of our heroes’ very first adventure, The Secret of the Swordfish, introducing their nemesis Olrik, their habit of saving the world ... and Jacobs’s love of airplanes. 224pgs colour hardcover.
The Confessional
by Paige Hender
Silver Sprocket
$29.99
The publisher says:
In this compelling debut horror graphic novel, a newly turned vampire yearns for salvation in the arms of the priest who uncovers her secret. New Orleans, 1922. Cora Velasquez lives with her sister and her own haunted memories in a speakeasy run by a vampire coven. Unable to bear the weight of her damned soul, she turns to Father Orville Thibodeaux, a charismatic priest and the object of her hidden desires. Their veiled courtship becomes deadly serious when he discovers her nature, and proposes a way to both slake her thirst and save her soul. So begins the charged dance between an all-powerful but unsure young woman, and the mortal man who claims to hold her fate in his hand. A gothic story of adoration, power, and manipulation, lushly told in Art Nouveau-inspired illustration. 200pgs colour hardcover.
Extra Large
by Tyler Page
First Second
$22.99 / $14.99
The publisher says:
Tyler Page returns with a touching middle grade memoir about a boy dealing with Button Pusher weight gain, bullying, and gendered expectations all while starting a new school year. It’s the start of a new school year for Tyler, and with it comes brand-new problems. There are new bullies, new rules, and Tyler’s starting to have a new understanding of his body. In the gym locker room, he notices how his body’s soft curves contrast with the thin frames and toned muscles of the other boys. And on TV, it seems like someone who looks like Tyler never gets the girl. But is being thin the same thing as being healthy? What’s wrong with being fat, anyway? When his dad forces the Page family to start dieting, Tyler discovers the difference between building a body that conforms to society’s expectations and one that actually feels good to live in. 208pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Happy Endings
by Lucie Bryon
FairSquare Graphics
$25.00
The publisher says:
Once upon a time, there was a cemetery gardener who fell in love with a professional grave mourner, with a look of a ghost. Once upon a time, there was an Art student who asked a young man to pose for her on New Year’s Eve. Once upon a time, there were agents from the future sent to our present, to a small seaside town, to fix a temporal cat related paradox. They found themselves enjoying Italian ice cream while watching sunsets and no longer wanted to return to their dimension. And they ended up… who knows where. All beautiful things must come to an end, but if we must choose, let it be beautiful. In Happy Endings, the new hit graphic novel from Lucie Bryon (Thieves), all stories are intwined. And they all end up with a smile. 172pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Hourglass
by Barbara Mazzi
Silver Sprocket
$15.99
The publisher says:
A stunning coming-of-age graphic novel from cartoonist Barbara Mazzi, exploring the dystopian divide of class difference, the strength of human connection, and what truly makes the heart tick. The Hourglass is called many things: the perfect machine, the source of all life, the fountain of youth. It promises immortal comfort to the privileged, but it also looms over its creators, trapping them in its cycle. Martel knows that there are other, inexplicable things that give life meaning, way more valuable than her own immortality. She only feels alive in the stolen moments with Twenty, an assembly worker in the dangerous gears of the machine. Will the differences between their lives tear their relationship apart, or will the Hourglass shatter first? After all, a society built on rejecting these feelings is beyond fragile… it’s a ticking time bomb. 112pgs black-and-second-colour paperback.
I Ate the Whole World to Find You
by Rachel Ang
Drawn & Quarterly / Scribe (AU/NZ)
$22.95
The publisher says:
An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship…unless it gets inside. I Ate the Whole World to Find You maps the topography of trauma, treasures, and loss imposed onto the body of Jenny, a twenty-something-going-on-thirty-something partial hot mess who’s routing her way more firmly into adulthood. As she navigates friendship, family, and romantic relationships, will her inability to communicate destroy her, or ultimately be her rebirth? A coworker-turned-prospective-lover confesses a hard-to-swallow fetish. A train ride fantastically goes off the rails as old habits get dragged across the tracks. Cousins revisit summer holiday bliss―or was it really horror? Exes fumble an attempt to reconnect over a dip in the pool on a squelching summer day. And an expectant mother slips into an unusual place as she embarks on a communion with her baby more pure than language can accommodate. Set against an exquisitely lush Australian backdrop, Rachel Ang’s pencils are fluid yet scratchy, precise and evocative, bringing to life the inner and external world of Jenny with stunning realism and gushing imagination. Sprinkled with speculative fiction and fantasy, Ang’s radiant debut collection introduces a dynamic voice to comics, and establishes Ang as one of the most exciting short-story writers working in comics today. 316pgs B&W paperback.
JMB: The Unseen Art of John M. Burns
by John Dakin & John M. Burns
The Book Palace
$51.99
The publisher says:
John M. Burns was one of Britain’s, if not the world’s, finest continuity artists. In a career spanning over 60 years, he produced vast amounts of work for numerous British weeklies including TV Express, The Hotspur, Boys’ World, Diana, Wham!, Lady Penelope, TV Action, Look-in, 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine as well as working for publishers in Europe and the USA. He also drew hundreds of newspaper strips: The Seekers; Danielle; George and Lynne; Modesty Blaise; Eartha; Jane and Psycops to name but a few. Although always in demand, John found time between his numerous long term work commitments to help John Dakin in his quest to revive the British newspaper comic strip. Unfortunately this revitalisation never happened, but over a 15 year period, both Johns created characters, strips and full colour pages that, until now have barely been seen by the public. Reproducing 40 colour pages, including all 25 pages of their unfinished epic, A Surfeit of Assassins, numerous strips, sketches and roughs, this book truly reveals the unseen art of John M. Burns. Limited edition of only 500 copies with 4 FREE prints included with every advance order. 68pgs colour hardcover.
Kirby’s Lessons for Falling (in Love)
by Laura Gao
Harper Alley
$26.99 / $18.99
The publisher says:
Once dubbed the Queen of Balance as her school’s top rock climber, Kirby Tan suffers an injury that sidelines her for the rest of the season. Now she’s forced to join the newspaper club for some desperately needed extra credit. Worse, she’s recruited by crystal-wearing, tarot-reading Bex Santos for her astrology-based love advice column. As Kirby reluctantly agrees to orchestrate “matches made in heaven” with Bex, she begins to wonder if their own stars could be aligned. But loving who she wants isn’t so easy when her family and church community are on the line. Can Kirby pull off her greatest balancing act yet? From Laura Gao, the acclaimed creator of Messy Roots, comes an authentic slow-burn romance and coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Heartstopper, lovers of astrology and tarot, and anyone looking for answers on the right way to fall (in love). 304pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Medusa + Perseus
by André Breinbauer
Ablaze
$29.99
The publisher says:
Was Medusa a monster? Was Perseus a hero? André Breinbauer explores the famous mythological tale in his debut graphic novel, telling the story from two differing perspectives. Abused by a god and cursed by a goddess for her indiscretion, Medusa is subject to cruel circumstances. Perseus, still a child, is a plaything of the powerful. Featuring a unique storytelling device, Medusa + Perseus is read from both sides, offering parallel points-of-view before the characters’ legendary clash when they meet in the middle. 288pgs colour hardcover.
Muybridge
by Guy Delisle, translated by Helge Dascher & Rob Aspinall
Drawn & Quarterly
$24.95
The publisher says:
How do you capture a changing world in the blink of an eye? Sacramento, California, 1870. Pioneer photographer Eadweard Muybridge becomes entangled in railroad robber baron Leland Stanford’s delusions of grandeur. Tasked with proving Stanford’s belief that a horse’s hooves do not touch the ground while galloping at full speed, Muybridge gets to work with his camera. In doing so, he inadvertently creates one of the single most important technological advancements of our age―the invention of time-lapse photography and the mechanical ability to capture motion. Critically-acclaimed cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Hostage) returns with another engrossing foray into nonfiction: a biography about Eadweard Muydbridge, the man who made pictures move. Despite career breakthrough after career breakthrough, Muybridge would only be hampered by betrayal, intrigue, and tragedy. Delisle’s keen eye for details that often go unnoticed in search of a broader emotional truth brings this historical figure and those around him to life through an uncompromising lens. Translated from the French by Helge Dascher and Rob Aspinall, Muybridge turns a spotlight on what lives in the shadow of an individual’s ambition for greatness, and proves that Eadweard Muybridge deserves to be far more than just another historical footnote. 216pgs part-colour hardcover.
Pavil’s Mask
by Jeremy Perodeau
Black Panel Press
$32.99
The publisher says:
When a mysterious aircraft crashes on the windswept archipelago of Lapyoza, its lone survivor―Pavil―utters only two words: “Crystal! Empire!” Is Pavil merely the scribe he claims to be, or something more sinister? Despite their suspicions, the people of Lapyoza cannot deny him hospitality. He will stay as their guest, but he must contribute to the community before he can return to the Empire. Thus, Pavil, an ordinary citizen of the Empire, finds himself immersed in the life of Lapyoza, a remote village battered by relentless winds on an isolated archipelago. Far from the bustling imperial cities, Pavil observes the simple yet mysterious rituals of the villagers―changing the face of a massive totem, collecting peculiar artefacts, melting them down, and renewing them in a never-ending cycle. Drawn deeper into the secrets of Lapyoza, Pavil edges closer to the truth behind the sacred masks and the unseen entity, Hodä, revered by all but known to none. 160pgs colour hardcover.
The Plot Holes Vol.1
by Sean Murphy
Massive
$17.99
The publisher says:
The Plot Holes are a squad of fictional warriors who transport themselves into the pages of other books, using their unique skills to save the plots to stop them from being destroyed. And Cliff is their newest recruit, a comic creator who’s just realised his world isn’t real in fact, it’s a complete fiction that exists inside a novel. The other members are misfits like him, pulled from unpublished books that couldn’t be saved: a manga samurai, a barbarian tiger, a kid from a comic strip, and a vampire assassin. Outclassed by the other members, Cliff sets out to prove his worth to The Plot Holes, as they fight to save as many books as possible. 124pgs colour paperback.
Punk Rock in Comics
by Nicolas Finet & Thierry Lamy
NBM
$24.95
The publisher says:
Here is the can’t-miss overview of the punk rock scene from its early inception in the seventies in New York and the UK. This includes chapters on The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and more. Punk was also the flex point for women in rock that paved the way for the Riot Grrrl movement like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Blondie, The Runaways, Patti Smith and The Slits. Flashing the finger against the slick corporate rock of the ‘70s, punk was faster, messier, and louder than anything before it. Covered here with the same raw energy, look, and attitude as the music itself! 176pgs colour hardcover.
Pushing Buttons
by Ursula Blix
Black Panel Press
$14.00
The publisher says:
In Department C11, new employee Margit operates one of the company’s 3AZ machines. Ah, the first day at a new job! And just in time to avoid that eviction notice. All thanks to Margit’s best friend, supervisor Chloe. Is there anything greater than getting to work with your best friend? Even if Chloe sometimes can be a bit… So what does a 3AZ machine do, you ask? Excellent question. It doesn’t concern you! So just turn that knob, pull that lever, and push that button. And no whistling under any circumstances! In this futuristic slice of life, debut Danish graphic novelist Ursula Blix explores the dynamics of two best friends turned manager and employee. 76pgs one-colour hardcover.
Santos Sisters Vol. 1
by Greg & Fake
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
One day while combing the beach in their hometown of Las Brisas, the Santos Sisters discover a pair of beautiful medallions. What happens next changes their lives, forever. The medallions are imbued with the powers of a goddess, Madame Sosostris, and can transform them at will into flying, gun-wielding, mask-wearing murder-heroes with hearts of, if not gold, then at least candy. Follow Ambar and Alana, the Santos Sisters, as they balance spicy superheroics with the drama of their everyday lives in a playful mix of Archie Comics and Love and Rockets. The Santos Sisters fight crime, date guys, and try to just deal with day-to-day life as young women in a world of deadly assassins, roided-up footballers, zombie attacks, organised crime, and more ― while their creators, Greg & Fake, help restore the concept of unabashed fun in comic books with a healthy infusion of nostalgia and laughs. Collecting the first five issues of the charmingly weird and weirdly charming hit indie comic book series! Note: This book is published as a jacketed hardback; the jacket is a clear acetate printed with an image of the sisters in their superhero costumes. When removed, it shows the sisters in their everyday outfits. 160pgs colour hardcover.
Season of the Roses
by Chloé Wary
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
Dazzling to the eye, Season of the Roses is at once a deeply felt coming-of-age story and an inspirational rallying cry for young women living in a “man’s world”. Barbara has big goals. As the fiery captain of her U19 soccer team, the Rosigny Roses, she’s determined to win a championship before graduating high school and leaving the grungy Parisian suburbs in the dust. So when her club threatens to divert their funding to the men’s team and forfeit their season, she’s devastated. Banding together, the Roses come up with a longshot plan―battle the men’s team in a winner-takes-all match. Do Barbara and the Roses have what it takes to save their season? Inspired by the author’s experiences, Season of the Roses is an authentic portrayal of a teenager at a crossroads. Her dazzling illustrations, drawn in colourful felt-tip pens, encompass the thrills of playing soccer as well as the angst of navigating life off the field. In Season of the Roses, soccer isn’t just a game―it’s all about self-discovery, making bold choices, and standing up to sexism and injustice. 240pgs colour hardcover.
Tamaki and Amane
by Fumi Yoshinaga, translated by Taylor Engel, lettered by Adnazeer Macalangcom
Yen Press
$16.00
The publisher says:
Family, romance, friendship―love takes many shapes. Modern Day: Tamaki is shocked to see her only daughter kissing a female classmate. But as it turns out, her husband, Amane, once had a crush on a boy in middle school… Meiji Period: Tamaki and Amane, two students at an all-girls school, become close friends. But when Amane gets engaged, the pair are separated…1970s: Tamaki’s illness has left her without much longer to live. As she tries to make the most of the days she has left, she meets a little boy who seems to be having a rough time, too…Postwar Era: Amane, a discharged soldier, reunites with Tamaki, his former squad leader, and joins in on his black market operations. However, Tamaki has a secret…Edo Period: Tamaki has slain his childhood friend Amane’s husband. When she seeks him out again to take her revenge, the wheel of fate begins to turn in a new direction… Single volume. 228pgs B&W paperback.
Tedward
by Josh Pettinger
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
Meet Tedward―a blockhead with a heart of gold, and a talent for making bad situations worse. Tedward is, in many ways, the quintessential ‘lovable loser’―an almost literal blockhead and ingenue in the grand tradition of Pee-Wee Herman, Candide, and Flakey Foont, affording his creator the perfect vehicle to indulge his brilliantly absurdist storytelling instincts. Tedward’s susceptibility to temptation, exploitation (capitalistic or sexual), and misplaced trust continually lands him in ridiculous and hilarious situations, be they scatological, orgiastic, violent, or mundane. Through it all, his heart of gold never wavers. Tedward is the debut collection from British-born, Philadelphia cartoonist Josh Pettinger. Featuring sex trousers, coital hygienists, warm televisions, hot rocks, and clown meat, as well as romance, crime, conflict, and cosmic wonders! A spiritual cousin to the humour of Simon Hanselmann and Daniel Clowes, Pettinger’s singularity of tone and style in these episodic comedies mark him as a master cartoonist just entering his prime. 160pgs colour hardcover.
Tongues Vol. 1
by Anders Nilsen
Pantheon Graphic Library
$35.00
The publisher says:
Set in a version of modern Central Asia, Tongues is a retelling of the Greek myth of Prometheus. It follows the captive god’s friendship with the eagle who carries out his daily sentence of torture and chronicles his pursuit of revenge on the god that has imprisoned him. Prometheus’s story is entwined with that of an East African orphan on an errand of murder, and a young man with a teddy bear strapped to his back, wandering aimlessly into catastrophe (a character readers may recognise from Nilsen’s Dogs and Water). The story is set against the backdrop of tensions between rival groups in an oil-rich wilderness. Tongues is both an adventure story and a meditation on human nature in our present fraught, historical moment. 368pgs colour hardcover.
Veil Vol.1: Temperature of Orange
by Kotteri
Udon Entertainment / MangaSplanining
$15.99
The publisher says:
Like a classic film, he and she encountered each other by chance. He was an on-duty police officer in the city. She was a runaway heiress who could not see. When he learned that she is looking for work, he decided to welcome her as the police station’s telephone operator… This was the beginning of the everyday lives of he and she, and the delicate distance between them. Veil is a stunning full-colour romance, slice of life, fantasy, and artistic manga by the incredible illustrator Kotteri. Unlike anything else in English, enjoy Veil’s witty dialogue, bold artwork, and stunning presentation. Translated by Jocelyne Allen 128pgs colour paperback.
We All Got Something
by Lawrence Lindell
Drawn & Quarterly
$21.95
The publisher says:
After a rocky attempt at living in London with his partner, Lawrence finds himself single, broke, and back at home in Compton with his mom and great-aunt, moping from bed to kitchen table and back to bed again, with long layovers on the front porch to sit and watch the world pass him by. Everything had been so good―a degree, an animation internship, paid music gigs, the perfect girl. How the heck did Lawrence get knocked so far down, with such little semblance of his former life remaining to hold him together? Well, that’s a long story… Set to a cacophonous soundtrack of church praise, playground noise, bus-stop camaraderie, and Pacific Ocean waves, Lawrence Lindell’s heartbreaking―and heartwarming―We All Got Something recounts a tragic and random act of violence, the PTSD that follows, lost love, and coming to terms with the underlying mental health crises sabotaging it all. A testament to the healing power of art and the vital role community plays in the process, Lindell’s graphic memoir is deeply personal and specific, but also relatable―because we all got something. The follow-up to Lindell’s Eisner-nominated and Excellence in Graphic Literature Award-winning graphic novel Blackward, We All Got Something brings Lindell’s love of the comics community into a different light, and shows the author exploring deeper and darker corners of his past, with his signature blend of humour, heart, and cartoony lines. 168pgs colour paperback.
You Belong Here
by Sara Phoebe Miller & Morgan Beem
First Second
$25.99 / $17.99
The publisher says:
It’s the first day of senior year and seventeen-year-old Essie Rosen is already over it. Her best friend went off to college and barely responds to her texts, her brother’s on the other side of the country in rehab, every conversation with her mom becomes a fight, and her long-term boyfriend, Bruno, feels weirdly distant. Essie’s counting down the days until she can escape her Long Island hometown and join her bff at NYU, where she’s SURE she’ll get into the acting program she’s dreamed about for years. But when Essie gets dumped AND botches her college audition, her entire trajectory changes. Instead of doing community theatre, she ends up slumming it in the school play, where she’s cast opposite the unexpectedly charming Christopher Sun…the younger brother of the drug dealer who got Essie’s brother hooked. Is he the perfect rebound―or the worst decision Essie could make? 256pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
You Must Take Part in the Revolution
by Melissa Chan & Badiucao
Street Noise Books
$23.99
The publisher says:
From Emmy-nominated journalist Melissa Chan and esteemed activist artist Badiucao comes a near-future dystopian graphic novel about technology, authoritarian government, and the lengths that one will go to in the fight for freedom. It’s 2035. The US and China are at war. America is a proto-fascist state. Taiwan is divided into two. As conflict escalates between nuclear powers, three idealistic youths who first met in Hong Kong develop diverging beliefs about how best to navigate this techno-authoritarian landscape. Andy, Maggie, and Olivia travel different paths toward transformative change, each confronting to what extent they will fight for freedom, and who they will become in doing so. A powerful and important book about global totalitarian futures, and the costs of resistance. 264pgs black-and-red paperback.
