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Top 44 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
October 2023
40 Men and 12 Rifles
by Marcelino Truong
Arsenal Pulp Press
$28.95
The publisher says:
40 Men and 12 Rifles is an expansive, gripping graphic novel set in Indochina in the year leading up to 1954, when the French-held garrison at Dien Bien Phu fell after a four-month battle, leading to the end of the first Indochina war between French forces and Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist rebels. Minh (no relation to Ho) is a young man from Hanoi, an aspiring painter who dreams of experiencing la vie bohème in Paris’s Latin Quarter. To dissuade him from pursuing an artistic life, his father sends him into the countryside to tend to the family’s holdings. He is soon pressed into serving with the Ho Chi Minh rebels, where he becomes a soldier despite repeatedly defying his cadres - ideological Communist commanders with whom he disagrees - becoming both hero and anti-hero in the process. 40 Men and 12 Rifles is a moving and beautifully illustrated book about the human and artistic spirit of the Indochinese people who persevered in the face of warfare and suffering. 296pgs colour paperback.
Artificial: A Love Story
by Amy Kurtzwell
Catapult
$38.00
The publisher says:
A visionary story of three generations of artists whose search for meaning and connection transcends the limits of life. How do we relate to—and hold—our family’s past? Is it through technology? Through spirit? Art, poetry, music? Or is it through the resonances we look for in ourselves? In Artificial, we meet the Kurzweils, a family of creators who are preserving their history through unusual means. At the centre is renowned inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who has long been saving the documents of his deceased father, Fredric, an accomplished conductor and pianist from Vienna who fled the Nazis in 1938. Once, Fred’s life was saved by his art: an American benefactor, impressed by Fred’s musical genius, sponsored his emigration to the United States. He escaped just one month before Kristallnacht. Now, Fred has returned. Through AI and salvaged writing, Ray is building a chatbot that writes in Fred’s voice, and he enlists his daughter, cartoonist Amy Kurzweil, to help him ensure the immortality of their family’s fraught inheritance. Amy’s deepening understanding of her family’s traumatic uprooting resonates with the creative life she fights to claim in the present, as Amy and her partner, Jacob, chase jobs, and each other, across the country. 368pgs ? hardcover
Asterios: The Minotaur
by Serge Le Tendre & Frédéric Peynet
Cinebook Expresso
$18.95
The publisher says:
Theseus, prince of Athens, awakens injured and bound inside an unknown hut. Facing him stands his captor – a mighty, bull-headed man! There, at the centre of the labyrinth built by engineer Dedalus for the king of Crete, Minos, Theseus is astonished to discover that the blood-thirsty monster that the legends describe is in fact a rational being named Asterios, who begins to recount the story of his life. Between the young Athenian sacrifice and the feared creature, grudging respect emerges … Serge Le Tendre is one of the big names of Bandes Dessinées. He took classes from masters such as Mézières (Valerian & Laureline) and Giraud/Moebius, alongside other stalwarts of the medium such as Juillard (Blake & Mortimer) and Loisel, and is the authors of unforgettable series La quête de l’oiseau du temps and Jerome K. Jerome Bloche. Frédéric Peynet claims Rosinski (Thorgal) as one of his main sources of inspiration; he is the illustrator of several series including Les contes du Korrigan and Le Feul. 72pgs colour paperback.
Ben Katchor
by Benjamin Fraser
University Press of Mississippi / Biographix
$99.00 / $20.00
The publisher says:
The recipient of a 2000 MacArthur fellowship, Ben Katchor (b. 1951) is a beloved comics artist with a career spanning four decades. Published in indie weeklies across the United States, his comics are known for evoking the sensorium of the modern metropolis. As part of the Biographix series edited by Frederick Luis Aldama, Ben Katchor offers scholars and fans a thorough overview of the artist’s career from 1988 to 2020. In some of his early strips published in the 1980s in the New York Press and Forward, Katchor introduced one of his quintessential characters, Julius Knipl, a real estate photographer. By crafting Knipl as an urban flâneur prone to wandering, Katchor was able to variously demonstrate his absurd humour and linguistic whimsy alongside narratives packed with social critique. Three volumes collecting the Julius Knipl strips—Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer; Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay; and The Beauty Supply District—helped cement Katchor as a distinguished comics artist and social commentator. Later works, such as The Cardboard Valise, Hand-Drying in America, and The Dairy Restaurant, have diversified his comics legacy. Rooted in close analyses of the artist’s numerous series and collections, each chapter in Ben Katchor is dedicated to a distinct aspect of the urban experience. Individual pages from Katchor’s work depict not only the visual, but also the auditory, tactile, and olfactory dimensions of life in the city. 128pgs B&W hardcover / paperback.
Be That Way
by Hope Larson
Margaret Ferguson Books
$22.99
The publisher says:
Seventeen-year-old Christine keeps a journal of an eventful year in her life in mid-90s, while juggling troubled friendships and looking for love. It’s January 1, 1996, and high school junior Christine wants more than anything to be that cool girl everyone notices, like her gorgeous best friend, Landry. She usually hates New Year’s resolutions, but this year she vows to be that shiny kind of girl—and record it all in her diary through prose, illustration, and comics. When Landry drops her, Christine is surprised to discover just how much she doesn’t miss her and her drama. But a misguided kiss with film-obsessed Paul, her only other close friend, also causes a rift, and she finds herself facing a long, lonely summer. With nothing to lose, Christine finds a new sense of courage. She gets a job at her neighbourhood video store, experiments with her art, and becomes romantically entangled with her next-door neighbour Whit, who’s either the coolest guy ever or a total jerk. In spite of all this, she doesn’t quite feel shiny—until a shocking betrayal shows her the value of the words and drawings she hides in her diary, and she finally understands that she doesn’t need to be cool to be noticed—she only needs to be herself. Eisner-award winning author and illustrator, Hope Larson, has created a powerful coming-of-age story set in a time before the Internet that explores themes of betrayal, first love, self-expression, and the power of art. 272pgs hardcover.
Betwixt: A Horror Manga Anthology
by various
Viz Media
$25.00
The publisher says:
All-new horror anthology featuring cover art by international bestseller, Junji Ito. Manga creators from Japan and the US present an international showcase of horror. Collected for the first time in Betwixt: A Horror Manga Anthology, six short stories reveal the universal fear of the space between the known and unknown. Will anyone cross that border? Featuring stories from a range of award-winning and popular creators, as well as a foreword and exclusive cover art by global phenomenon, Junji Ito. Ryo Hanada (creator of Devil’s Line), Aki Shimizu (creator of the Suikoden III manga), and Shima Shinya (creator of Lost Lad London and cowriter of Star Wars: The High Republic, The Edge of Balance) each tell uniquely Japanese tales of ghosts and creatures who exist alongside us. American creative duo, Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad (cowriters of Wonder Woman and Batgirls) along with duo Leslie Hung (cocreator of Snotgirl) and Sloane Leong (creator of A Map to the Sun) and up-and-coming creator Hua Hua Zhu round out the anthology. 200pgs B&W hardcover.
Curses
by George Wylesol
Avery Hill Press
$24.99
The publisher says:
‘Sometimes I think I see things. Out of the corner of my eye, behind a door, I catch a glimpse of something. It’s like a curtain caught in the wind, and then it’s gone.’ From hospitals to hell to the wilderness, George Wylesol’s short stories take place in liminal spaces where nothing is as it seems; the surreal becomes real; and something is lying in wait around every corner. As our main characters navigate through corridors, passageways, and highways, they sink deeper and deeper into everyday strangeness that slips into peculiarity, creating an internal journey from normalcy to the supernatural. With surprising twists and turns, cleverly combining the strange and realism, smart, surprising, and sometimes terrifying - these stories make it clear that George Wylesol is like no one else in short comics-format fiction. 240pgs colour paperback.
Forty Lies: A Work of Ipsedixitism
by David Shenton
Knockabout Comics
£16.99 / $22.99
The publisher says:
‘Neighbours and relatives called me names. I have been a ‘Queer Cartoonist’ for over 40 years and throughout this time I have been as serious, as angry, as funny, camp, and ridiculous as I can possibly be, sometimes all at the same time, because it’s how I see my job, and my duty as a gay man. I’ve always made LGBTQI+ cartoons and been lucky enough to have had them regularly published. I have played a central part in them, sometimes as a character or narrator, exploring gay politics from the inside perspective, which means I can criticise governments, health education offices, the church, the police, anything that is bigoted, and still laugh at myself. Attacking the haters, fighting, and trying to protect my community through my cartoons, one tiny square at a time. This anagram of a book, is a vaguely chronological patchwork of forty(ish) personal stories, that don’t bear too much factual scrutiny, yet are as real and honest as need be, following the trials of Coming Out, the Age of Consent, family rejection, dodgy boyfriends, shaky career prospects, police swoops, the enemy without, queer bashers, the stern presence of HIV/AIDS, the loathsome Section 28, the friends, the outrage and outrageous, the fun, the sex, the scene, Love, Equal Marriage and bereavement… This is my History, it is the history of every 70 year old gay man in Britain today. FORTY LIES=LIFE STORY. Basically, a Comic Book, with knitting patterns.’ 288pgs colour paperback.
Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock’s Lost Queen
by Gregory Cahill & Kat Baumann
Humanoids / Life Drawn
$24.99 / £19.99
The publisher says:
The true story of beloved Cambodian singer Ros Serey Sothea, whose “Golden Voice” helped define Cambodia’s Golden Age of music until her mysterious disappearance in the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Developed in partnership with Sothea’s family. There is a saying in Cambodia: ‘Music is the soul of a nation’. Perhaps no one embodied that spirit more than Ros Serey Sothea, a young woman who would forever change the landscape of Cambodian music as the Queen with the Golden Voice. From a humble rice farmer to nationally recognised singer, Sothea’s success captured the hearts of the Khmer people. Throughout her career, she recorded over 500 songs, her signature angelic voice soaring over genres from traditional ballads to psychedelic rock and beyond. As the Cambodian civil war raged, Sothea’s singing career continued to flourish, even when she served in the army as one of the country’s first female paratroopers. After years of bloody conflict, the communist Khmer Rouge seized control, murdering artists and destroying their music, bringing Cambodia’s golden age into a dark era of silence. Sothea’s fate is unknown. Ros Serey Sothea’s golden voice lives on in the popular music of Cambodia to this very day. Gone but not forgotten, her legacy continues to inspire. The Golden Voice tells the story of Sothea’s life, developed alongside the surviving family who knew her, and accompanied by an interactive soundtrack. Gregory Cahill is an Emmy Award winning television producer based in Los Angeles. His credits include The Talk, Mad Men, Medium, and 24. He fell in love with the stunning voice of Ros Serey Sothea from the soundtrack to Matt Dillon’s crime noir City of Ghosts, inspiring him to direct an award-winning short film also titled The Golden Voice in 2006. He has spent the past 17 years researching and writing the iconic Cambodian singer’s life story. 187pgs colour paperback.
Haruki Murakami Manga Stories Vol. 1
by Haruki Murakami, adapted by Jean-Christophe Deveney, illustrated by PMGL (Pierre-Marie Grille-Liou)
Tuttle Publishing
$19.99
The publisher says:
Haruki Murakami’s novels, essays and short stories have sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into dozens of languages. Now for the first time, many of Murakami’s best-loved short stories are available in graphic novel form in English. With their trademark mix of realism and fantasy, centring around Murakami’s characteristic themes of loss, remorse and confusion, the four stories in this volume are: “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo”: A few days after an earthquake, Katagiri discovers a giant frog in this home. The frog promises to save Tokyo from another earthquake, but Katagiri must help him. Is this real, or is Katagiri dreaming?; “Where I’m Likely to Find It”: A woman’s husband goes missing so she hires a detective. As the detective traces the man’s whereabouts, he reflects on the meaning of his own life; “Birthday Girl”: A woman tells her friend the story of a surreal encounter she has on her twentieth birthday with the owner of the restaurant where she works, who grants her a wish; and “The Seventh Man”: The story of a man scarred by the death of his childhood friend in a tsunami. This novel visual take on these classic Murakami stories will be devoured by his fans and provide a new window onto his work for younger readers not yet familiar with it. 144pgs colour hardcover.
Huda F Cares?
by Huda Fahmy
Dial Books
$16.99
The publisher says:
In this laugh-out-loud funny sequel to the graphic novel Huda F Are You?, the Fahmy’s are off to Disney World, but self-conscious Huda worries her family will stand out too much. Huda and her sisters can’t believe it when her parents announce that they’re actually taking a vacation this summer . . . to DISNEY WORLD! But it’s not quite as perfect as it seems. First Huda has to survive a 24-hour road trip from Michigan to Florida, with her sisters annoying her all the way. And then she can’t help but notice the people staring at her and her family when they pray in public. Back home in Deerborn she and her family blend right in because there are so many other Muslim families, but not so much in Florida and along the way. It’s a vacation of forced (but unexpectedly successful?) sisterly bonding, a complicated new friendship, a bit more independence, and some mixed feelings about her family’s public prayers. Huda is proud of her religion and who she is, but she still sure wishes she didn’t care so much what other people thought. 208pgs colour paperback.
Illegal Cargo
by Augusto Mora
Black Panel Press
$22.99
The publisher says:
Although he had never been the most present father, José Sendero, an elderly Salvadoran, has always wanted the best for his daughter, Helena, who now lives far away in America. When an unexpected messenger arrives at his door, José must decide whether to bury his head in the sand, or leave everything he knows behind to be there for his daughter when she needs him most. Inspired by the struggles of migrants from Mexico, Central and South America on their way to the United States. 108pgs colour hardcover.
Illustrators’ Sketchbooks
by Martin Salisbury
Thames & Hudson
£30.00
The publisher says:
A treasure trove of visual delights: examples of the sketchbooks of sixty international illustrators offer new insights into their artistic practice. Intimate and often unseen, the sketchbook means something different to each illustrator. It might be a beautiful object, a work of art in its own right, where every line is painstakingly considered. It might be a pictorial playground, where mistakes can make art. The boundaries between sketchbooks, notebooks and visual journals are often blurred, lending to the creativity that fills their pages. It is likely that you will recognise many of the illustrators featured, including classic childhood favourites Beatrix Potter, Jean de Brunhoff, Edward Ardizzone and Tove Jansson, and established names such as Beatrice Alemagna, Oliver Jeffers and Shaun Tan. Others are up-and-coming, for example Charlotte Ager and Leah Yang. Martin Salisbury draws on decades of experience as an illustrator and educator to shed light on the lives and work of each artist. He even reveals pages from his own sketchbooks, exposing the rawness of his ideas and the narratives that surround them. As the reader will discover, sketchbooks are often a fascinating and surprising window into the mind of the illustrator. 304pgs colour hardcover.
I Must Be Dreaming
by Roz Chast
Bloomsbury
$27.99
The publisher says:
The #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast’s new graphic narrative, exploring the surreal nighttime world inside her mind and untangling one of our most enduring human mysteries: dreams. Ancient Greeks, modern seers, Freud, Jung, neurologists, poets, artists, shamans—humanity has never ceased trying to decipher one of the strangest unexplained phenomena we all experience: dreaming. Now, in her new book, Roz Chast illustrates her own dream world, a place that is sometimes creepy but always hilarious, accompanied by an illustrated tour through “Dream-Theory Land” guided by insights from poets, philosophers, and psychoanalysts alike. Illuminating, surprising, funny, and often profound, I Must Be Dreaming explores Roz Chast’s newest subject of fascination and promises to make it yours, too. 128pgs colour hardcover.
Kafka
by Franz Kafka & Nishioka Kyodai
Pushkin Press
£12.99 / $19.95
The publisher says:
Two cult-favorite Japanese writers present eerie graphic adaptations of 9 classic Kafka short stories, with hypnotic illustrations that will appeal to fans of Junji Ito. Franz Kafka’s work is given vivid new life in this collection of manga adaptations of 9 of his greatest stories. With spectacularly detailed, otherworldly illustrations, the brother-and-sister duo known as Nishioka Kyodai create a haunting, claustrophobic visual world for Kafka’s surreal masterpieces. Features adapted versions of: ‘The Metamorphosis’, ‘A Hunger Artist’, ‘In the Penal Colony’, ‘A Country Doctor’, ‘The Concerns of a Patriarch’, ‘The Bucket Rider’, ‘Jackals and Arabs’, ‘A Fratricide’, and ‘The Vulture’. Among the standouts are ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘A Hunger Artist’, which present absorbing moments for their unique art style to offer vivid entry points into Kafka’s world and which take the immersion experience to a whole other level. 176pgs B&W paperback.
Local Fauna: The Art of Peter de Sève
by Peter de Sève
Abrams / Cernunnos
$40.00 / £30.00
The publisher says:
Featuring beloved New Yorker covers, iconic animated characters, and more, this is the definitive monograph by leading artist and illustrator Peter de Sève. His work spans four decades and various media, including magazines, books, television commercials, Broadway posters, and character designs for animated feature films. He is perhaps best recognised for his many covers for The New Yorker magazine and his character designs for the blockbuster Ice Age franchise (Scrat is a veritable international celebrity). De Sève has also contributed to such films as Finding Nemo, Robots, The Little Prince, and The Grinch to name only a few. He is currently working as lead character designer to establish the design style across Netflix’s recently acquired Roald Dahl franchise, including Matilda, The BFG, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Peter de Sève’s monograph will showcase his distinct and captivating style, from character design for animation (especially but not limited to Ice Age), his work on iconic Broadway posters, his beloved New Yorker covers, and a smattering of sketches and personal work that have become fan favourites across social media. The book will open a doorway into de Sève’s universe of design, and it will include behind-the-scenes shots of his studio and process―from a character or cover’s first conception to the final product―and all the creative iterations and exercises along the way. It includes an introduction by Dreamworks animator Carter Goodrich and an interview with Bill Watterson, the legendary creator of Calvin & Hobbes, as well as essays by The New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly, Disney animator Glen Keane, creator of Hellboy, comic artist Mike Mignola, and illustrator Randall de Sève. 288pgs colour hardcover.
Macanudo: Optimism is for The Brave
by Liniers
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
Elves, witches, forest monsters, unicorns, children, talking cats and penguins… plus zombies with fitbits, Stephen King’s Christine working as an Uber, and office politics? The bounds of a daily comic strip don’t restrict Macanudo’s imagination or subjects. With the range of The Far Side, the whimsy of Mutts, and the heart of Calvin & Hobbes, artist Liniers brings his distinctive illustrative line and sensitive watercolours to whatever crosses his mind on a given day. Readers of the previous volume will recognise some recurring characters and stock players, but each book stands alone, and every strip builds its own world. Whether commenting on pop culture, society, or the environment, or celebrating art, nature or the act of reading, Liniers (Ricardo Siri) expresses his thoughts with joy and beauty. Most of them are pretty funny, too. Beginning in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Macanudo steadily gained popularity around the world, and has been appearing in US newspapers since 2018. Optimism is for the Brave is the second of a series of volumes collecting Liniers’ groundbreaking strip. 176pgs colour hardcover
Mobilis: My Life with Captain Nemo
by Juni Ba
TKO Studios LLC
$29.99
The publisher says:
From Ringo Award-nominated creator Juni Ba (Djeliya) comes an undersea adventure that explores a familiar story through the eyes of a child and delves into a timely dilemma: what do you do when you inherit a broken world - and have to face those who broke it? It has been centuries since the oceans rose and swallowed up all the nations of men. Now only beasts and unseen horrors lurk below the waves, kept in check by one man: Captain Nemo, in his legendary ship the Nautilus. Until one day, young Arona comes onboard his ship, a stowaway from times long past, giving Nemo his first crew member in years. But as he raises the young orphan in his image, she begins to have questions that ask Nemo to dredge up the past: what has become of the world? Can it be saved? And was it all worth it? 160pgs colour hardcover.
Monica
by Daniel Clowes
Fantagraphics / Jonathan Cape
$24.99 / £20.00
The publisher says:
Discover Monica, a wild romp through genre telling the cradle-to-grave story, actually, stories, of an ordinary American life—from the creator of Ghost World. Monica is a dazzling, spectacular tapestry of interconnected narratives that together tell a life story. Abandoned by her free-spirited parents, this eponymous protagonist is a rag-to-riches character who succeeds in clawing her way to the top, only to lose it all in a stroke of bad luck. Monica lives out the rest of her contemplative days in search of her parents, encountering a cast of eccentric characters who help piece together the story of her life. This graphic novel extravaganza is an unforgettable ode to the many genres that have defined the comics form—from war, romance and horror to crime and the supernatural. Mysterious, uncategorisable and quintessentially Clowesian, here is a multi-layered masterpiece born of a lifetime of inspiration. Monica marks the creative apex of Daniel Clowes’ distinguished career, one of the defining voices of the graphic novel boom over the past quarter-century. Daniel Clowes was born in 1961. He is the creator of the comic books Eightball, Ghost World, which was made into a film by the director Terry Zwigoff, David Boring, and Ice Haven. His adaptation of his own Ghost World graphic novel for the screen earned him an Oscar nomination. A regular contributor to the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and the Best American Comics, he lives in California with his wife. 112pgs colour hardcover.
Moonray Mother’s Skin
by Brandon Graham & Xurxo G. Penalta
Living the Line
$35.00
The publisher says:
In a post-human world, the man of miium is born. Created to avenge a slain goddess, our nameless warrior travels an unrecognisable landscape, constantly evolving with new wonders and terrors: Zanikam pirates, deadly reflections, a living bridge, and a red tear in the sky. Written and drawn by Eisner-award-winning author and artist Brandon Graham (Prophet, King City, Rain Like Hammers), and featuring artist Xurxo G. Penalta, Moonray presents a mind-altering new dawn for a distant sci-fi future unlike any other. This bold graphic odyssey births the Moonray universe, from comic book to video game and beyond. Moonray is a daring experiment in world-building, a true graphic epic that began in a truly unusual way. Moonray the graphic novel series shares its name and characters with a surreal 3rd-person multiplayer battle arena game set in a fantastical sci-fi world. Featuring intense combat, stunning visuals, and a world-class soundtrack, Moonray the game has been in development by the independent game developers Moonray PBC since 2019, and will be available publicly in an arena-combat form this fall of 2023. But Moonray was written and drawn almost entirely in reverse of the normal process of a video game “tie-in” book. Rather than developing a book based on a game, the game team is developing a game based on Graham’s work. In Moonray Book One, Graham leverages his narrative freedom to create a story of untethered exploration, of naiveté and determination, a graphic novel as gentle as it is thrilling. 160pgs colour hardcover.
My Brilliant Friend
by Elena Ferrante, Chiara Lagani & Lara Cerri
Europa Editions
$26.00
The publisher says:
Elena Ferrante’s New York Times bestselling masterpiece, My Brilliant Friend, book one of her Neapolitan Quartet, is now an extraordinary, visually vibrant graphic novel, with text adapted by Chiara Lagani, and illustrations by Mara Cerri. HBO’s four-season TV adaptation of My Brilliant Friend has enjoyed success with critics and viewers in the U.S.; the novel has been adapted for the stage and radio plays. Here, for the first time, it is brought to vivid life as a graphic novel by one of Italy’s most beloved illustrators. For Ferrante fans, for those new to Ferrante, for readers of graphic novels, Chiara Lagani’s and Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend: the graphic novel is a thrilling new adaptation of one of the best loved novels of recent decades. Translated by Ferrante’s long-time translator, Ann Goldstein, the graphic novel tells the enduring story of the complex friendship between Lila and Lenù in post-war Naples. 256pgs colour hardcover.
No Longer Human
by Osamu Dazai, retold & illustrated by Chika Ito, translated by Makiko Itoh
Tuttle Publishing
$14.99
The publisher says:
“I’ve led a life full of shame. Human beings are a complete mystery to me.” This manga version of novelist Osamu Dazai’s masterpiece No Longer Human—the #2 bestselling novel of all time in Japan—tells the story of Yozo Oba, a young man growing up in Japan in the immediate aftermath of World War II, who finds himself caught between the disintegration of the traditions of his aristocratic provincial family and the impact of the new postwar world. Oba is tormented by a failure to find any value in himself or in human relationships, despite being surrounded by women who love him. He creates the persona of a buffoon who mocks himself while entertaining others. But inside he is tortured, and as he moves from childhood to adulthood he becomes addicted to sex and alcohol. Largely autobiographical, No Longer Human explores Dazai’s own sense of failure and alienation which drove him to self-destruct with alcohol and numerous suicide attempts. Osamu Dazai (1909—1948) is Japan’s second most popular novelist (after Soseki), and his works are seeing a huge surge in popularity among young people worldwide thanks to the success of the recent manga, anime and film series Bungo Stray Dogs, whose protagonist, a detective called Osamu Dazai, has similar character traits to Yozo Oba. Fans of manga and anime are turning to the original No Longer Human novel, whose themes of alienation from society and an inability to reconcile social appearances with inner self—told with great wit, irony and pathos—strike a deep chord among readers today. 192pgs B&W paperback
Nord
by Martin Simpson
Soaring Penguin Press
£24.99 / $39.99
The publisher says:
A Viking King who has lost EVERYTHING, a devious plot hatched by the trickster God Loki and a quest to defeat Death itself. To seek these things…head NORTH! Blurring the line between a graphic novel and a picture book, Nord is a visual tour de force that will take you on an epic journey through myth and fantasy. Martin Simpson is a freelance illustrator and comics creator based in the UK. He has illustrated for the likes of Apple, Scholastic, Templar Publishing, The House of Books, The Chicken House Publishing and Puffin Books. His comics work has included a one-man comics Anthology called ‘Misc’ and ‘The Needleman’, a graphic novella (also for ‘Soaring Penguin Press’). In 2020, Martin joined a team of six UK based comics creators to help create and contribute towards the much lauded SKRAWL Comix Magazine. All the while, Martin has been diligently working away on Nord over the last four and a half years of his life. His wife is very happy that it is now finally finished. 80pgs colour hardcover.
One in a Million: A Graphic Memoir
by Claire Lordon
Candlewick Press
$16.99
The publisher says:
Debut graphic novelist Claire Lordon’s medical misfortunes may be one in a million in this relatable memoir, but so is her determination, grit, and passion to beat the odds and reclaim her life. Something is wrong with Claire, but she doesn’t know what. Nobody does, not even her doctors. All she wants is to return to her happy and athletic teenage self. But her accumulating symptoms—chronic fatigue, pounding headaches, weight gain—hint that there’s something not right inside Claire’s body. Claire’s high school experience becomes filled with MRIs, visits to the Mayo Clinic, and multiple surgeries to remove a brain tumour. But even in her most difficult moments battling chronic illness, Claire manages to find solace in her family, her closest friends, and her art. A deeply personal and visually arresting memoir that draws on the author’s high school diaries and drawings, One in a Million is also a sophisticated portrayal of pain, depression, and fear that any teen or adult can relate to. With a sensitive preface and an author’s note connecting past to present, this true story of resilience strikes a moving balance between raw honesty in the face of medical and mental trauma and the everyday musings of a teenager. 272pgs B&W paperback.
One More Step, Come Stand By My Side
by Takeda Toryumon
Yen Press
$15.00
The publisher says:
The wordless time a kidnapped princess and her fingerless caretaker spend together. The ten minutes an ordinary woman spends with her stalker. The six months a man learns is all he has left to spend with his beloved, terminally ill wife. These are some of the moments we have to share with the people featured in One More Step, Come Stand By My Side, this collection of seven of Takeda Toryumon’s manga one-shots, including his highly acclaimed The Wife I Loved Dearly. 256pgs B&W paperback.
Poor Helpless Comics: The Cartoons (and More) of Ed Subitzky
by Ed Subitzky
New York Review Comics
$29.95
The publisher says:
For the entire run of National Lampoon, Ed Subitzky bent, broke, and reimagined what a cartoon could do: A cartoon that hypnotizes you. A cartoon that goes to prison. A cartoon that folds up and flies away. Framed by an interview with Mark Newgarden, this first-ever collection of Subitzky’s work is a portrait of one of the funniest, most prolific humorists of the ’70s and ’80s. Ed Subitzky is a cartoonist, humour writer, and performer. A contributing editor at National Lampoon for nearly two decades, he also wrote and performed for The National Lampoon Radio Hour. He went on to write and perform for several seasons of The David Letterman Show. His art and writing have appeared in The New York Times, American Bystander, and The Journal of Consciousness Studies, among others. He lives in New York City. Mark Newgarden is a cartoonist and illustrator. He is the author of Cheap Laffs: The Art of the Novelty Item; a collection of comics and stories, We All Die Alone; with Megan Montague Cash, the Bow-Wow series of children’s books; and, with Paul Karasik, How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels. 176pgs B&W paperback.
Ralph Azham: The Dying Flame Vol. 4
by Lewis Trondheim
Papercutz
$19.99 / $14.99
The publisher says:
When Ralph and his close companions, the religious mage Yassou and the lie-detecting thief Zania, encounter a group of immortals, Ralph finds himself with more in common with his enemy, Vam Syrus, than he ever realised. Ralph Azham’s path as the Chosen One ends here one way or the other. Will he fulfil his dark prophecy? Answers will be revealed when Ralph Azham is forced to make decisions that not only impact the people he loves, but the safety of the entire kingdom of Astolia. These are the climatic concluding chapters of this sprawling fantasy tale full of magic, knights, castles, angry ghost hordes, and deadpan humour, from legendary comic creator Lewis Trondheim. Harvey and Eisner Award nominee Lewis Trondheim is one of the most prolific comic creators of his generation, having published over 35 graphic novels in the last 10 years. 144pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Robert Williams: Conversations
edited by Joseph R. Givens & Darius A. Spieth
University Press of Mississippi
$110.00 / $25.00
The publisher says:
A legendary figure of underground comix, Robert Williams (b. 1943) is an important social chronicler of American popular culture. The interviews assembled in Robert Williams: Conversations attest to his rhetorical powers, which match the high level of energy evident in his underground comix and action-filled canvases. The public perception of Williams was largely defined by two events. In 1987, Guns N’ Roses licensed a Williams painting for the cover of their best-selling album Appetite for Destruction. However, Williams’s cover art stirred controversies and was moved to the inside of the album. The second defining event was Williams’s participation in the Helter Skelter exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in 1992. Protests ensued when a room was set aside to feature his work. Uncovering long-forgotten and hard-to-find interviews, this collection serves as a social chronicle of counterculture from the 1960s through the early 2000s. One of the founders of the original ZAP Comix collective in the 1960s, Williams drew inspiration from pulp fiction, hot rod culture, pin-up girls, and traditional academic art. He invented the comics character Cootchy Cooty and worked for the studios of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. He rubbed shoulders with outlaw motorcycle gangs and tested the legal limits of what was permissible comic book art during his day. He has often been described as a figure courting scandal and controversy, a reputation he discusses repeatedly in some of the interviews here. Since the 1980s, Williams has emerged as a force in the fine art world, raising interesting questions about how painting and comic art interrelate. 224pgs B&W hardcover / paperback.
Rose Wolves
by Natalie Warner
Top Shelf Productions
$14.99
The publisher says:
This wordless two-colour graphic novel is an enthralling fable about disability, companionship, and transformation, set in the haunting beauty of the wild. One day, a little girl picks an unusual flower from an unusual bush in the forest. Overnight, the flower blooms and turns into a magical creature: a rose wolf, missing a leg just like she is missing an arm. Together, the new friends must go on a journey to find where they belong. Natalie Warner is a Canadian illustrator and author based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She attended the School of Art at the University of Manitoba and Briercrest College. Natalie’s books are dedicated to children and the young at heart, valuing creativity, community, and lifelong curiosity. 80pgs two-colour hardcover.
Satan’s Kingdom
by Robert Sergel
Secret Acres
$19.99
The publisher says:
The road to Satan’s Kingdom is paved with good intentions. Robert Sergel’s Best American Comics selection and Ignatz Award nominated series, Eschew, captures those awkward, private, hilarious moments of our past. This new collection proves those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Tour America’s haunted history of spite houses and bad babysitters, meet Napoleon in New Jersey, and find yourself somewhere between Desolation Bay and Satan’s Kingdom. This is one to remember. Robert Sergel was born in Boston, MA in 1982. He has a degree in Photo & Imaging from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. In the mid-2000’s he was a member of the Transplant web comic collective. He is the author of the graphic novel Bald Knobber, and draws the Ignatz-nominated comic series Eschew, a Best American Comics selection. SPACE: An Eschew Collection was published by Secret Acres and counted on Paste Magazine’s best comics of the year. Satan’s Kingdom is the second Eschew collection, published by Secret Acres. 148pgs B&W paperback.
Saturday AM Annual 2024: A Celebration of Original Diverse Manga-Inspired Short Stories from Around the World
by various
Saturday AM / Rockport Publishers
$15.99
The publisher says:
Curated by Saturday AM, the Saturday AM Annual series is the ultimate version of the eponymously titled digital magazine. Since 2013, Saturday AM has stood as one of the biggest brands in manga-inspired comics, with hit series like Apple Black, Clock Striker, and The Massively Multiplayer World of Ghosts. Built on the belief that comics and pop culture are only strengthened with the addition of diversity, Saturday AM’s mission is to discover, develop, and debut artists from Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, and more. Annual events like #summerofmanga have consistently wowed Saturday AM fans with original short stories from new artists. These short story concepts range from action-oriented superhero tales to heartfelt examinations of identity and orientation. While Saturday AM Annual harkens back to the days of comic anthologies by offering several stories featuring favourite heroes, the 2024 edition focuses on new voices, taking popular Saturday AM characters from hit series like Apple Black and Clock Striker and pairing them with exceptional new artists, some of today’s hottest up-and-coming creators! Celebrate the next wave of amazing new artists with Saturday AM Annual 2024. 224pgs part-colour paperback.
Smash the Patriarchy: A Graphic Novel
by Marta Breen & Jenny Jordahl
Helvetiq
$19.99
The publisher says:
The patriarchy is falling. It’s time to smash it. This graphic novel shows you how. Patriarchy means “the rule of the father” and describes a system where men are in control. At least since the time of Aristotle, loud-mouthed men have called women weak and inferior. In entertaining comic book form, Smash the Patriarchy shames the culprits and salutes more than 100 inspiring women—from Pharaoh Hatshepsut to Mary Wollstonecraft to Petra Herrera—who stood up to them. The book is not afraid to examine some of the worst crimes—public shaming, medical examinations, and the widespread murder and jailing of feminists around the world—as it calls on readers to finally smash the patriarchy forever. These men get embarrassed: Aristotle, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Woody Allen and many more… These women are celebrated: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Emily Dickinson, Queen Christina of Sweden, Arundhati Roy, Amanda Gorman, and many more… 96pgs colour hardcover.
Smoking Kills
by Fantagraphics Underground
$30.00
The publisher says:
Ghost, a cantankerous character who drowns his cynicism in booze and cigarettes. Skeleton, a sensitive soul full of curiosity and wonder. This odd couple makes for a hilarious pairing as they are doomed to roam a desolate afterlife. Sarcastic and heartfelt in equal measure, this droll adventure sets out to explore the meaning of life in the land of the dead. In Smoking Kills, Flemish cartoonist Thijs Desmet renders a bewitching tale of spooks and truths in vivid coloured pencils. The corporeal form of Thijs Desmet resides in the medieval town of Ghent, Belgium, where he practices the dark arts, communes with the land of the dead, and draws demonic comics in a haunted beguinage. 168pgs colour paperback.
Stories of the Islands
by Clar Angkasa
Holiday House
$22.99 / $14.99
The publisher says:
Journey into a land of magic and powerful girls in this feminist retelling of Indonesian folktales, lushly reimagined by a debut graphic novelist. Once upon a time. . . A princess was cursed to live as a snail, Two sisters were trapped by their father’s wrath, And a mother and daughter faced a hungry giant. No one is coming to save them. Will they get their happily ever after?’ In this collection of reimagined Indonesian fairy tales, the girls are the ones with power. The power to fight evil, to protect others, and to grow as people. Because why should girls in folktales always need saving? What if they save themselves instead? Based on graphic novelist Clar Angkasa’s favourite childhood stories and gorgeously illustrated with a dedicated color palette for each tale, this retelling of “Keong Mas,” “Bawang Merah Bawang Putih,” and “Timun Mas” is filled with spectacular landscapes, deep emotions, and a firm belief in the power of girls’ stories. Clar (pronounced like Clark but without the ‘k’) is short for Clarisse (yes, like in The Silence of the Lambs). She was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration. An illustrator, animator, and comic artist with a passion for narrative art, she draws inspiration from stories, nature, and wholesome people. Her work has received such honours as the MoCCA Arts Festival Awards of Excellence, an Adobe Awards Top Talent, and more. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. 176pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
The Cliff
by Manon Debaye, translated by Montana Kane
Drawn & Quarterly
$22.95
The publisher says:
A budding friendship between two misfits unravels in the wake of school violence. Schoolyard outcasts Charlie and Astrid meet up after school near a cliff at the edge of the woods surrounding their sleepy town. They make a blood pact to jump together in five days time, before their thirteenth birthdays. Not that navigating the unspoken pecking order of the school quad makes it easy. Can the intensity of their bond survive the scrutiny of their peers, or will it crumble under the sum of each other’s disappointments? Manon Debaye’s characters live in a world just on the periphery of adult supervision, where kids prey upon one another with casual aplomb only to find themselves completely out of their depth. A deft use of coloured pencils brings sleepy but barren suburban landscapes to the fore, further capturing childhood’s last pivotal moments as it teeters on the edge of adolescence with startling honesty in this devastatingly well-crafted debut. Winner of the 2023 Philippe Druillet Prize at Angoulême, The Cliff is a moody, visceral glimpse into pre-teen life, unflinching in its portrayal of trivialised cruelties alongside simple joys. Manon Debaye is an illustrator and cartoonist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Zadig, Biscoto, and Zeit Wissen. Debaye is also the co-founder of the small press collective Mökki. This is her first graphic novel. 160pgs colour paperback.
The Chromatic Fantasy
by H.A.
Silver Sprocket
$29.99
The publisher says:
A gorgeously drawn graphic novel reminiscent of stained glass and illuminated manuscripts, telling a story of queer transmasc romance, daring adventure, and (literally) fighting your demons. Jules is a trans man trapped in his life as a nun. The devil that the convent guards against offers him a deal to escape: an illicit tryst and lifelong possession. Jules takes the deal, and begins his new life as a criminal who’s impervious to harm. He soon meets Casper, another trans man and a poetic thief, and together they steal, lie, and cheat their way through bewildering adventures, and develop feelings for each other along the way. But as Jules and Casper’s relationship deepens, so does the devil’s jealous grasp.. H.A. is a cartoonist originally from New York State. His work is colourful, campy and surreal, and combines fantasy with mundanity. He focuses on writing fun stories about queer protagonists with an emphasis on trans men. 312pgs colour paperback.
The Complete Jontar
by Bill Miller, Tony Lorenz & Dane Barrett
Power Comics
$29.99
The publisher says:
The “Citizen Kane” of 1980s outsider small press comics, published in its entirety for the first-time ever. The Complete Jontar features nearly 300 pages of the full story, all-new creator interviews and never-before-released alternate issues by entirely different artists. Originally published at the height of the indie black-and-white comic boom of the 1980s, the Jontar series was self-published by creator Bill W. Miller. He enlisted five separate artists over the course of nine issues to realise his wildly warped and singular vision which includes disappearing camels, petrified elves, lizard lords, Christian punk cults, and even a gritty ‘90s-style reboot rebranding the franchise with era-appropriate anti-heroes. Male stripper by night and street sanitation worker by even later-night, Jontar finds his mulleted and naïve existence is about to seriously change after the discovery of a disappearing elf in a trashcan. When a group of blackmailing mob heavies harass his best gym buddy, Jontar intervenes only to be tragically and fatally stabbed. Before permanent death takes hold, his soul is transported to the “dream dimension” of Master Elf-Keeper, who resurrects him as his chosen earthly sword-bearing avenger to lead in some of the most delightfully WTF adventures comics has ever seen. Foil and UV cover enhancements! After the lucrative black-and-white comics boom of the 80s, the series vanished into obscurity residing mostly in back issue quarter bins around the country, until a rabid cult audience formed around the comics in the internet age. 288pgs B&W paperback.
The Hard Switch
by Owen D. Pomery
Avery Hill Publishing
$20.99
The publisher says:
Ada, Haika, and Mallic are on a mission . . . one last mission, before everything, everywhere shuts down. They’re raiding old, abandoned spaceships and wrecks for the (sometimes-expensive) parts—and they make just enough money to get by. But living their nomadic, exploring life isn’t sustainable when they can’t afford fuel anymore. The time is coming when the mineral that makes inter-system jumps possible runs out. When it does, the scattered inhabitants of the vast galaxy will be stuck where they are. Everything will be different . . . unless the discovery in the latest wreck Ada, Haika, and Mallic are scavenging can unlock a whole new kind of interstellar transit. Owen D. Pomery grew up in rural England before studying architecture and moving to London. Through his architectural illustration work, he started writing and drawing comics, becoming known on the UK scene with the publication of his debut book Between the Billboards & the Authoring of Architecture from Avery Hill Publishing. He followed this up with Victory Point in 2020, plus books with publishers such as Top Shelf. He continues to work with an array of design clients and explores architecture & narrative illustration. 100pgs colour hardcover.
The Mysteries
by Bill Watterson & John Kascht
Andrews McMeel
$19.99
The publisher says:
From Bill Watterson, bestselling creator of the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, and John Kascht, one of America’s most renowned caricaturists, comes a mysterious and beautifully illustrated fable about what lies beyond human understanding. In a fable for grown-ups by cartoonist Bill Watterson, a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns. For the book’s illustrations, Watterson and caricaturist John Kascht worked together for several years in unusually close collaboration. Both artists abandoned their past ways of working, inventing images together that neither could anticipate—a mysterious process in its own right. Bill Watterson created the newspaper comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, one of the most iconic and memorable comic strips of our time. His original work is on long-term loan at the Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. John Kascht is regarded as one of America’s most important and highly regarded caricature artists. A master of the form, he has caricatured thousands of famous faces for magazines, newspapers and Broadway marquees. His work is collected by the National Portrait Gallery. 72pgs B&W hardcover.
Time Under Tension
by M.S. Harkness
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
Time Under Tension is a smart, funny, no bullshit work of autobiography, a story of searching for dignity in a world that rarely affords it and taking agency of adulthood in the face of so many easy excuses not to. M.S. Harkness is graduating from art school in Minneapolis and facing a crossroads in life. She has a strained relationship with her mother, a sexually abusive father on parole, and is in love with an aspiring MMA fighter who mostly hangs out with her to get high and already has a girlfriend and career prospects with a fight promoter. An art career feels untenable ― as one professor tells her, “Don’t expect to get by on this fucked-up broke girl shit.” She decides to get a personal trainer’s certificate ― it seems like a feasible and sensible career option―but continues to dabble as a sex worker and weed dealer because the money is too irresistible. With idle hands due to no classes or full-time work, M.S. has ample time to aimlessly fuck around ― or, to get her shit together. “I want to be better, I want to be stable and solid. I don’t want to keep aimlessly shifting between untenable situations.” Harkness’s bold, precise black-and-white cartooning and eye for storytelling invites the reader in, while her sharp wit and naturalist ear as a writer takes it away from there. Never didactic, always real, Time Under Tension is a spirited and assured work of graphic memoir. 264pgs B&W paperback.
Unended
by Josh Bayer
Uncivilized Books
$24.95
The publisher says:
What prevents you from finishing your life’s work? Josh Bayer finds a manuscript of an unfinished play inside his deceased father’s desk. The play tells the story of Josh’s mother’s early death (age 35) and his father’s struggle with single parenthood. When he attempts to adapt the play into comics, it triggers a series of personal crises. Bayer’s limitations and futile ambitions are brought into sharp relief as he grapples with an estranged, unknowable parent and the play’s frustrating lack of resolution. Humans worship lore, myth, and fables, but many people’s unwritten stories become abandoned. This book looks at the dreams we leave to that abyss and asks, “why?” Bayer’s inky line, tangled textures, and kaleidoscopic colour boldly fuse on the page into comic book semiotics, flights of grandeur, and tangents inside tangents. Josh Bayer stitches scattered memories into surrealistic episodes permeated with dream logic. Unended may be a Promethean journey towards fiery triumph and emotional closure, or will it be a doomed quest that remains unending? 272pgs colour paperback.
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel
by Richard Adams, James Sturm & Joe Sutphin
Ten Speed Press / Puffin
$35.00 / £25.00 / $24.99
The publisher says:
“Every rabbit that stays behind is in great danger. We will welcome any rabbit who joins us.” A beautiful and faithful graphic novel adaptation of Richard Adams’s beloved story of a group of rabbits on an epic journey in search of home. Watership Down is a classic tale of survival, hope, courage, and friendship that has delighted and inspired readers around the world for more than fifty years. Masterfully adapted by award-winning author James Sturm and gorgeously illustrated by bestselling artist Joe Sutphin, this spectacular graphic novel will delight old fans and inspire new ones, bringing the joy of Watership Down to a new generation of readers. Richard Adams (May 9, 1920—December 24, 2016), an English veteran of World War II, originally told the story of Watership Down to his two daughters, who insisted he publish it as a book. It became an instant classic, selling over a million copies in both the United Kingdom and the United States, winning both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1972. His other books include Shardik, Maia, Tales from Watership Down, The Girl in a Swing, and The Plague Dogs. 384pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Whisper of the Woods
Ennun Ana Iurov
Maverick / Mad Cave Studios
$19.99
The publisher says:
In search of his missing friend, Adam travels to the heart of Romania’s most supernatural forest, Hoia Baciu. Disregarding the local’s warnings of iele hunting the men in the vicinity, and the witch’s premonition of his impending death, he remains steadfast in his decision to find his friend. Though with every passing night, it becomes impossible to ignore the happenings around him… Ennun Ana Iurov (she/he/they) is a Romanian illustrator that is extremely pumped to have Needle & Thread professionally published under the Maverick imprint as her first dabble into young adult graphic novels. For over 6 years Ennun has created and self-published short comics and stories focusing mainly on empowering charity zines, working with organisations such as, Action Against Hunger, and others. Ennun’s illustration skills have a wide range from folk tales to dream core to horror and more. 96pgs colour paperback.
Posted: August 15, 2023
