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Top 16 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga:
September 2026
It’s not every month that you get a new book from Shaun Tan, hailed and honoured for The Arrival as well as his animation, so his Hometown is eagerly awaited by me and many others.
Yeong-shin Ma is a daring, boundary-breaking Korean graphic novelist I’ve long admired and had the chance to interview - discover his latest!
And Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson address pressing problems in their multi-layered collaboration, a stand-out graphic memoir of the year. Take a look through these and other titles currently or imminently on bookstore shelves and maybe also on your own shelves too!
A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole & Albert Monteys
Boom! Studios
$29.99
The publisher says:
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, now adapted into graphic novel format for the first time! From hot dog carts to Bourbon Street, experience the French Quarter of 1960s New Orleans in stunning visual form through the lens of one of literature’s most unforgettable characters–Ignatius J. Reilly! Experience John Kennedy Toole’s outrageous, darkly hilarious, and deeply human masterwork of American fiction, reimagined for a new generation of readers and lifelong fans alike. A graphic novel adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize–winning cult classic—a wildly outrageous satiric portrait of 1960s America that still resonates today. Set in the French Quarter of 1960s New Orleans, this cult-classic satire follows unforgettable misfit Ignatius J. Reilly as his misadventures ricochet from hot dog carts to Bourbon Street, and collide with the city’s politics, vice, and absurdity. A wildly outrageous, darkly hilarious portrait of America, still razor-sharp and painfully relevant, reimagined in stunning visual form for lifelong fans and new readers. Albert Monteys writes and draws comics in Barcelona where he lives with his wife and two kids. He spent the first twenty years of his career working as a satirical cartoonist until he got fed up of trying to do good caricatures of politicians. In 2014, he started his digital science-fiction series Universe! that is published at Panel Syndicate, along with many other amazing comics. In 2017, he was the artist for Solid State, a graphic novel by Matt Fraction that adapted the songs of Jonathan Coulton. His current projects are more issues of Universe! and trying to remember what he did with his free time. John Kennedy Toole (December 17, 1937 – March 26, 1969) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, whose posthumously published novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. 240pgs colour hardcover.
The Cutting Garden
by Erin Connally, Darcy Van Poelgeist & Aditya Bidikar
Image Comics
$22.99
The publisher says:
A tender, brutal love story about mothers and daughters and what we become in their absence in this gorgeous, hand-painted original graphic novel. On a quiet street in 1930s New Orleans, a florist agrees to work through the night to construct a floral arrangement for a funeral the coming morning for a peculiar customer—a precocious 11-year-old girl named Adeil who pays the florist in stories. For every new flower the florist adds to the bouquet, Adeil offers another dissonant detail in her story: a chance meeting with a disillusioned jazz singer, a dilapidated family home, an idyllic life on the fringes of an imperfect world. As dawn approaches and the arrangement takes shape, the florist is left to piece together the final details of Adeil’s mysterious life and ponder…where exactly does she fit into this story? From Eisner Award-winning writer Darcy Van Poelgeist (Little Bird) and superstar watercolour artist Erin Connally comes a gorgeously rendered meditation on finding beauty in the darkest corners of our own humanity. 128pgs colour hardcover.
Forevr
by Box Brown
Top Shelf
$19.99
The publisher says:
Why say goodbye? Death is only a temporary glitch in this eerily plausible future from award-winning graphic novelist Brian “Box” Brown. Brenda’s mom is dying… but not for long. Like millions of others, she’s uploaded her consciousness to the groundbreaking new app “Forevr,” which allows the surviving family members to chat with her on their screens for a very reasonable monthly fee. Now Brenda’s dad doesn’t have to be alone… while Brenda and her girlfriend focus on building their careers as wilderness survival influencers. But when this very modern family sets out on a camping trip, their tensions and tech addictions build to an explosive climax whose consequences may last… forever. 144pgs colour paperback.
A Ghost Arm of Angry Ghosts
Oni Press
by Oliver Mertz & Alex Diotto
$29.99
The publisher says:
From writer and colourist extraordinaire Oliver Mertz (The Monuments, First Law of Mad Science) and acclaimed artist Alex Diotto (Youth, Indigo Children) comes a weird tale of conspiracy, faded superheroics, and suburban angst in ‘90s Washington, D.C. Sixteen-year-old Ari Ackerman just witnessed a murder. Or two. Or maybe he didn’t. He’s not quite sure. What he does know is that he loves the Washington, D.C., punk scene and is trying very hard to process the perpetual impending death (and frequent resurrections) of his cancer-stricken father. Ari’s best friend, Maya Meng, just wants to hang out and go see Jawbox play at the Black Cat. But sadly, an escalating series of unexplained deaths can really ruin a perfectly good day. For readers who like What’s the Furthest Place from Here?, Love and Rockets, David Lynch, Daniel Clowes, Seinfeld, Agatha Christie, Powers, Fugazi, and Wes Anderson, A Ghost Arm Made of Angry Ghosts is sure to evoke all the feelings that come with being an outsider, making sense of the world around you, and finding your place in it. 192pgs colour hardcover.
HODO: A Life In Two Acts
by Yeong-shin Ma, translated by Janet Hong
Drawn & Quarterly
$30.00
The publisher says:
A deeply affecting portrait of a woman’s life from the author of the Harvey Award-winning Moms. At first there was “Lake,” and then there was “Island.” Or was it the other way around? A story told in two parts, it is up to the reader to determine where they’d like to begin this eerie journey. Based on a true story that Yeong-shin Ma felt compelled to help share, together these two parts are Hodo—the story of a painter, whose hard and dark past is brought to life with sensitivity and authenticity. Lake—Hodo is haunted—by her mother and step-mother, her classmates, a neighbor, and yes, literal ghosts. She is also five years old. Through masterful cartooning, we see a child’s despair in the face of pervasive violence, and her confusion as to why bad things keep happening to her. We see the edges of her depression begin to appear. Island—Hodo is haunted—by her past, a friend’s suicide, her sister’s heartbreaking yet unsurprising betrayal, and yes, literal ghosts, still. Through masterful cartooning, we see a woman reckoning with her past and the shadow it has cast on her adulthood. But we also see her develop her artistic practice and witness her determination to find herself through her paintbrush. Because despite the incredible pain, Hodo is a story of light in the dark—a story of hope. 296pgs B&W paperback.
Hometown
by Shaun Tan
Levine Querido & Walker Books
$24.99 / £25.00
The publisher says:
If a stranger arrived and told you that the world you knew-your community, your family, and your hometown-wasn’t really where you belonged, would you follow them and leave it all behind? Imagine living in a perfect world. You have a loving family, a beautiful home, awesome friends and about three hundred loyal pets.Everything is just as it should be. Until one day, when a stranger arrives. A stranger who looks just like you. A stranger with a very disturbing message… Hometown is a visually gorgeous, emotionally stunning (and frequently funny) meditation about what it means to belong, and what makes us who we are. From the singular mind and brush of Shaun Tan, creator of The Arrival, Tales from Outer Suburbia and The Lost Thing. 136pgs colour hardcover.
Major Taylor
by Frederick Noland
Drawn & Quarterly
$30.00
The publisher says:
Celebrating the history-making Black American who smashed world records and became a global cycling sensation. Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was one of the greatest American athletes of the early 20th century, setting records in regional bike races as a teen and winning his first world championship by the age of twenty. But Taylor was born in 1878 in Indianapolis and came of age during the height of the Jim Crow era, facing racism at every turn. Cartoonist Frederick Noland is a cyclist himself and in this epic 400 page graphic biography of America’s first Black world champion, he thrills in the records Taylor broke and the adoring public he found across North America, Europe, and Australia, all the while showing how the invention of the bicycle changed society. Yet Noland also documents how racism inflected Black life in the post Civil War era: cyclists would collude to injure Taylor, and he faced segregationist policies even in liberal cities such as San Francisco. And while Taylor found respite racing overseas, he also soon found American-style racism exported internationally to sell tickets. Noland pens a gorgeous, humane, graphic paean to Major Taylor, illustrating how the fastest man in America also had a deep well of integrity and fortitude not just to succeed, but to overcome the racist abuse he faced from fellow athletes and society at large. Major Taylor is a loving tribute to an exceptional American. 324pgs colour hardcover.
Mind vs. Machine: The Chess Match That Changed the World
by Steve Shenkin, Maurice Ashley & Thien Pham
Roaring Brook Press
$22.99
The publisher says:
The hopes of humanity rest on the shoulders of one chess player in this true graphic novel about the epic chess match between a human and a super computer, by bestselling author Steve Sheinkin, Chess Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, and award-winning comics artist Thien Pham. It’s May 1997 in Manhattan, New York. World champion Garry Kasparov is about to begin a six-game match against Deep Blue, the cutting-edge super computer developed by a team of visionaries at IBM. No machine has ever defeated a chess champion in a multi-game match. If it happens, it will be a major turning point in human history. It will be, as Newsweek declares on its cover, “the Brain’s Last Stand.” Will the human mind prevail? Or is this checkmate for humankind? Told through three-time National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin’s gripping storytelling and first-hand accounts from Chess Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, with riveting illustrations by Eisner winner Thien Pham (Family Style: A Memoir), this nail-biting narrative captures the excitement and suspense of a classic sports showdown and explores thought-provoking themes about where humanity stands at the rise of AI. Don’t miss these other exciting illustrated histories by Steve Sheinkin: Bomb: The Race to Build―and Steal―the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, illustrated by Nick Bertozzi, and Diamond Fever! A True Crime Story in the Wild West, illustrated by Jon Chad, 240pgs colour hardcover.
My Beloved Other: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Optimism in a Time of Denial
by Nick Abadzis & Angela Watson
23rd Street Books
$29.99
The publisher says:
A timely graphic memoir about the far-reaching impact of racism in today’s society, as seen through the lens of one couple’s interracial marriage. Where does the concept of “the other” come from? And who truly benefits when we allow fear of the other to steer our society? Through charming banter and illuminating anecdotes from their personal lives, writer-artist Nick Abadzis and psychotherapist Angela Watson chronicle their nearly forty-year interracial relationship, their respective family histories, and their ongoing experiences with anti-Black racism in Britain and America, from the overt racial taunts of childhood bullies to the more subtle biases of the adult workplace. In the midst of a dangerous political backlash that threatens to derail decades—if not centuries—of movement towards a more equitable and diverse world, My Beloved Other puts questions of race front and center, and turns a critical eye to the systems that seek to exploit our differences. Above all else, it challenges readers to do what can sometimes feel impossible: keep hope alive for a future where difference is embraced as a source of unity, not division. 272pgs colour hardcover.
Nightmares and Daydreams: A.C. 2020
by Mirko Ilic
SelfMadeHero
£19.99
In 2020, New York-based artist and designer Mirko Ilic started drawing self-contained single-page stories created to reflect the mood of an unprecedented time. He called this collection “After Covid 2020” or “A.C. 2020”. Mirko continued to create these visual essays even as the lockdowns slowly lifted, channelling his anxieties and observations into striking and surreal images that combine personal imagination with motifs and inspiration from music, fine art, comics, and more. Shocking and provocative, captivating and meditative, this sequence of illustrations paints a unique picture of a man’s inner turmoil amidst a crumbling world. Nightmares and Daydreams: A.C. 2020 is a testament to both a period of unprecedented upheaval and the stunning talent of its award-winning author. 152pgs colour hardcover.
Peaceful Remission
by Jonathan Djob Nkondo
Magnetic Press
$29.99
The publisher says:
Animation director Jonathan Djob Nkondo (Scavenger’s Reign, Gorillaz) tells a melancholy tale of life in a space-faring future. Set in a sleek satellite home orbiting Earth, Peaceful Remission follows elderly couple Marlène and Jerry Nomo, whose quiet life is disrupted by a mysterious nighttime rumble. But the real tension lies not in the noise but in Marlène’s simmering frustration with Jerry’s passivity. The incident becomes a catalyst for emotional confrontation, revealing the cracks in their long-standing relationship. When Jerry’s obsession with a recent discovery leaves Marlene responsible for his health and well-being, their seemingly ordinary tasks—shopping, driving, caregiving—are refracted through a surreal, futuristic lens, emphasizing the emotional weight of routine and the quiet heroism of unspoken love. Encapsulating themes of conjugal fatigue, silent devotion, and the illusion of tranquility, this surreal, contemplative work is told through clean, futuristic interiors contrasted with intimate character framing. In this fragmented yet lyrical tale that alternates between dialogue and silent observation, Jonathan Nkondo uses the sterile calm of space as a metaphor for emotional distance, crafting a story that feels both timeless and eerily current. 260pgs colour
Real Life Comix: Only in New York
by various
Prana
$35.00
The publisher says:
Real Life Comix: Only in New York features 51 short stories in a sprawling, high-voltage, graphic memoir anthology celebrating the grit, glory, absurdity, and heart of life in New York City. Co-edited by veteran comix creators Dean Haspiel and Doug Latino, this vibrant collection brings together a wildly eclectic mix of legendary and emerging voices, including New Yorker cartoonists, MAD contributors, and American Splendor collaborators. Storytellers hail from across comix, comics, graphic novels, literature, art, film, and music, each offering their own take on the city that never sleeps—humorous, heartbreaking, surreal or unmistakably true—capturing the everyday chaos and accidental poetry of New York life. The anthology features work from cultural luminaries and underground icons alike, including Roz Chast, David Collier, Joe Dator, Gary Dumm, Liana Finck, Bob Fingerman, Drew Friedman, Danny Hellman, Ben Katchor, Gideon Kendall, Keith Knight, Peter Kuper, Barbara Willy Mendes, Rachelle Meyer, Josh Neufeld, Ann Nocenti, Rick Parker, R. Sikoryak, Noah Van Sciver, Doug Latino, Julia Wertz, Ron Wimberly, Jonathan Ames, Karl Stevens, Onur Tukel, Spencer Alexander, Wesley Allsbrook, Dieu Sam B., Jonathan Baylis, Nick Bertozzi, Wendy Blake, C. Cassano, Cecil Castellucci, Ezra Cumbo, Vito Delsante, Jen Ferguson, Dean Haspiel, Charles Fetherolf, Christopher Gomez, Ben Granog, James Greene, Sarah Lee Grillo, Jennifer Hayden, Ariel Kahtan, Whitney Matheson, Jared Miller, Moby, Chris Miskiewicz, Eli Neugboren, Ayoko Nito, Pat Palermo, Joan Reilly, Peter Rostovsky, Gil Roth, Rani Som, JG Thirlwell, Cynthia Von Buhler, Sean Von Gorman, Steve Walker, Owen Brozman, Carol Tyler, and Tony Wolf—each conveying a singular voice and style within the city’s ever-evolving mythology. 216pgs colour hardcover.
Second Generation Blues: A Graphic Novel
by Julio Anta & Red Dryer
HarperAlley
$26.99 / $18.99
The publisher says:
Almost American Girl meets Brownstone in Second Generation Blues, a poignant coming-of-age young adult graphic novel about a Cuban American teen as he struggles to choose between being the son his parents need him to be and living the life he wants. Luis Menendez wants to be free from his immigrant Cuban-American parents’ expectations. Instead, he’s spending the summer delivering food for his family’s faltering restaurant, sweating under the hot sun and the crushing weight of a future he didn’t choose. At least there’s Yara. Confident, assertive, and basically Luis’s dream girl, she might be the only person who understands him. If only he had any free time to spend with her. Amid the chaos, Luis starts carving out his own path. But when trying to be the son his parents need clashes with the life he wants, he’s forced to face the question he’s most afraid of answering: Is family loyalty worth sacrificing his own happiness? 256pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Twins: A memoir
by Teresa Robertson
Mensch Publishing
£25 / £15 eBook
The publisher says:
Twins is a quintessentially English coming of age graphic memoir about family, memory and the post war generation, capturing the fragility of life with warmth, wit and quiet emotion. Teresa and her twin brother Adam grew up inseparable. They were creative, unruly, and shaped by bohemian parents who first fell in love designing theatre sets in the 1950s. Raised on art over ambition and family over money, the twins stick out wherever they go, but they always have each other. As Teresa stumbles through squats, unsuitable men, and the slow business of growing up, one thing never wavers: Adam is always there. Then, just as she’s expecting her first child, he is killed in a motorbike accident at 28, and the story becomes something else entirely: a reckoning with grief, fate, and the strange, quiet signs that seem to follow in his wake. Spanning six decades, Twins is a warm, funny, and unflinchingly honest account of one family’s unravelling and remaking – of babies becoming parents, of loss folding into renewal, and of a bond that death cannot quite sever. 182pgs B&W paperback.
Wandering Son Vol. 1 & 2 (of 15)
by Shimura Takako, translated by Rachel Thorn
Takumigraphics / Fantagraphics
$22.99
The publisher says: . In Volume One, Shuichi and Yoshino covertly experiment with cross-dressing and new hairstyles, and get to express their identities when the class puts on a gender-bent play. In Volume Two, our protagonists make supportive new friends with the grown-up Yuki-san, a trans woman who they look up to as a mentor, and their classmate Saori, who becomes a queer ally to Shuichi. A poignant coming-of-age story, Wandering Son is a sophisticated work of literary manga and was adapted into a popular anime series in 2011. 432pgs B&W paperback. The publisher says: The publisher says:
Middle School. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well liked by their classmates. But they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy. Celebrated manga artist Shimura Takako (Even Though We’re Adults (Seven Seas Entertainment)) portrays Shuishi and Yoshino’s journey with affection, sensitivity, and gentle humour as they figure out their gender identity and take tentative, age-appropriate steps toward transitioning. This new paperback edition collects the first two volumes of 
Who Needs Donuts?
by Mark Stamaty
Drawn & Quarterly
$18.00
The cult classic kids book in all its resplendent absurdity and subversiveness. Sam’s love of donuts takes him to the Big City where he makes friends with Mr. Bikferd, a world class collector of donuts. But when Mr. Bikferd falls in love with Pretzel Annie, the prophecy of an old woman comes true: “Who needs donuts when you’ve got love?” Mr. Bikferd bequeaths his donut collection to Sam, who uses it to save the old woman from drowning in a basement flooded with coffee. This is a reissue of Mark Alan Stamaty’s masterpiece of the absurd, first published 50 years ago. With an illustration style that mixes a benign Hieronymus Bosch with an urban Where’s Waldo?, Stamaty’s off-the-wall humour is on target for little kids and big kids today. 40pgs B&W hardcover.
WTF Is A Podcast With Marc Maron
by Box Brown
Z2 Comics
$29.99 / £27.99
Since 2009, Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast established the gold standard for podcasting and revolutionized entertainment, as it challenged assumptions on what audiences could find compelling. In the process, it garnered a loyal fanbase and an unbelievable roster of guests, stretching out over 1,000 episodes, including President Barack Obama. In June of 2025, fans were heartbroken when it was announced that Marc would be ending the show officially. Now we can share the most exciting final chapter in the WTF book. Now, celebrating the full history of WTF, and in commemoration of its conclusion, Marc and Z2 are announcing the official history of the WTF Podcast, told in graphic novel form, adapted into comic book format by Marc’s longtime partner-in-crime Brendan McDonald and acclaimed cartoonist Brian Box Brown. A saga that spans from 2004 to 2025 (covering the span of the story) WTF Is A Podcast is a must-have for all WTFers. 132pgs B&W hardcover.
