Staff Picks
#BroaderBookshelf 2022 - Graphic Novels set in NY
- Mahogany S.
- Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Collection
Check out one of these graphic novels and fulfill the #BroaderBookshelf 2022 Reading Challenge prompt "read a fiction or nonfiction book set in California or New York".
This list is part of the #BroaderBookshelf 2022 Reading Challenge. Find more lists here.
Windows on the World
Published in 2020
"This moving graphic novel, set in a New York City in mourning, explores the grief of loss, the push-and-pull between love and obligation, and the harsh realities of living in America while undocumented"-- Provided by publisher.
Moonshine. Vol. 01
Published in 2017
"Set during Prohibition, and deep in the backwoods of Appalachia, Moonshine #1 tells the story of Lou Pirlo, a city-slick "torpedo" sent from New York City to negotiate a deal with the best moonshiner in West Virginia, one Hiram Holt. Lou figures it for milk run -- how hard could it be to set-up moonshine shipments from a few ass-backward hillbillies? What Lou doesn't figure on is that Holt is just as cunning as ruthless as any NYC crime boss and Lou is in way over his pin-striped head. Because not only will Holt do anything to protect his illicit booze operation, he'll stop at nothing to protect a much darker family secret...a bloody, supernatural secret that must never see the light of day...or better still, the light of the full moon"--Amazon.
Robert Moses
Master Builder of New York City
Published in 2014
From the subway to the skyscraper, from Manhattan's financial district to the Long Island suburbs, every inch of New York tells the story of one man's mind: Robert Moses, the architect who designed it all. Now, in Pierre Christin and Olivier Balez's new graphic biography, the rest of Robert's story will be told.
Crema
A Haunted Romance in Three Chapters
Published in 2022
"Esme, a barista, feels invisible, like a ghost... also, when Esme drinks too much coffee she actually sees ghosts. Yara, the elegant heir to a coffee plantation, is always seen, but only has eyes for Esme. Their world is turned upside down when the strange ghost of an old-world nobleman begs Esme to take his letter from New York City to a haunted coffee farm in Brazil, to reunite him with his lost love of a century ago. Bringing sinister tidings of unrequited love."-- Amazon.
Gray
Published in 2021
"A contemporary reimaging of the classic Oscar Wilde novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," Gray is a supernatural revenge thriller about an alluring but violent woman, Dorian Gray, who seeks vengeance on a cabal of powerful men who wronged her years ago; and of the straight-laced African American detective with a past of his own, who is tasked with stopping her. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's only novel and one of the classics of gothic literature, is the tale of the most beautiful man of his age, who sells his soul and his conscience in exchange for eternal youth, beauty and power -- and who spends his life murdering, raping and corrupting. All the time in his attic, his picture degrades and rots. GRAY takes that basic idea but flips its moral framework and gender archetypes: our DORIAN GRAY is a Millennial social media princess who drifts through the coolest cliques of NYC, breaking hearts and turning heads wherever she goes. But Dorian has secrets. For one thing, she's a violent criminal. For another, she's an immortal creature of magic, who commits violent burglaries and assaults some of New York's most powerful men. 30 years ago, whilst an innocent student, Dorian was sexually assaulted by these men. In that moment that she became something both more and less than human. 30 years later, but not a day older, she's ready for her revenge. Then Dorian meets Detective HANK WUTAN, the African-American NYPD detective assigned to stop these crimes, struggling with his own loyalties as a Black cop in the era of Defund the Police. Despite the fact that Dorian is his suspect number one, and he is effectively working for her abusers, they fall for each other, hard. GRAY takes Wilde's classic novel and reinvents it as a tale of cathartic revenge for the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter era, a violent fantasy about how powerful, super-rich white men don't always win, how the powerless can find justice, and about how a murderous demon and a law-abiding detective can be soul mates."--Amazon.com.
Grace
The Jeff Buckley Story
Published in 2019
"California, 1991. All his life, people have told Jeff Buckley how much he looks like his father, the famous '60s folksinger he barely knew. But Jeff believes he has gifts of his own: a rare, octave-spanning voice and a songwriting genius that has only started to show itself. After he falls in love with a mysterious girl in New York, he sets out to make a name for himself outside his father's shadow. What follows are six turbulent years of music, heartbreak, hope, and daring--culminating in a tragedy that's still reverberating in the music world today. Written by Tiffanie DeBartolo and with art by Pascal Dizin and Lisa Reist, this graphic novel biography uses archival material provided by Jeff's mother, Mary Guibert, to reveal the young songwriter in the process of becoming a legend."--Amazon.com.
Blacksad
They All Fall Down Part One
Published in 2022
"Feline private eye John Blacksad he goes up against Lewis Solomon, a construction magnate with dreams of power and plans to pave over large swaths of 1950s New York"-- Provided by publisher.
Minding the Store
A Big Story About a Small Business
Published in 2018
"An illustrated history of the iconic New York City dish store Fishs Eddy"-- Provided by publisher.
Wake
The Hidden History of Women-led Slave Revolts
Published in 2021
"An historical and imaginative tour-de-force, WAKE brings to light for the first time the existence of enslaved black women warriors, whose stories can be traced by carefully scrutinizing historical records; and where the historical record goes silent, WAKE reconstructs the likely past of two female rebels, Adono and Alele, on the slave ship The Unity. WAKE is a graphic novel that offers invaluable insight into the struggle to survive whole as a black woman in today's America; it is a historiography that illuminates both the challenges and the necessity of uncovering the true stories of slavery; and it is an overdue reckoning with slavery in New York City where two of these armed revolts took place. It is, also, a transformative and transporting work of imaginative fiction, bringing to three-dimensional life Adono and Alele and their pasts as women warriors. In so doing, WAKE illustrates the humanity of the enslaved, the reality of their lived experiences, and the complexity of the history that has been, till now, so thoroughly erased"-- Provided by publisher.
Welcome to the New World
A Graphic Novel
Published in 2020
"After escaping a Syrian prison, Ibrahim Aldabaan and his family fled the country to seek protection in America. Among the few refugees to receive visas, they finally landed in JFK airport on November 8, 2016, Election Day. The family had reached a safe harbor, but woke up to the world of Donald Trump and a Muslim ban that would sever them from the grandmother, brothers, sisters, and cousins stranded in exile in Jordan. Welcome to the New World tells the Aldabaans' story. Resettled in Connecticut with little English, few friends, and even less money, the family of seven strive to create something like home. As a blur of language classes, job-training programs, and the fearsome first days of high school (with hijab) give way to normalcy, the Aldabaans arelulled into a sense of security. A white van cruising slowly past the house prompts some unease, which erupts into full terror when the family receives a death threat and is forced to flee and start all over yet again. The America in which the Aldabaans must make their way is by turns kind and ignorant, generous and cruel, uplifting and heartbreaking"-- Provided by publisher.
Happiness Will Follow
A Graphic Novel Memoir
Published in 2020
"Mike Hawthorne's mother is left alone to raise her son in New York City, a city that torments them both with its unforgiving nature. But when Mike falls victim to an old world Santeria death curse, a haunting sign from the old country of something his mother could never truly escape --she begins a series of events that drive him away both physically and emotionally. For the first time ever, Eisner Award-nominated artist Mike Hawthorne (Superior Spider-Man) tells the true and tragic story of enduring abuse, discovering a love of art, and a passion that helped him to build the home he never had in this graphic novel memoir about family, survival, and what it means to be Puerto Rican in America"-- Provided by publisher.
Incognegro
Published in 2008
"The early 20th Century: an era when lynchings were commonplace throughout the American South. To most of the press, this epidemic of racial murder wan't even news. But a few courageous reporters from the North risked their lives to expose these atrocities. They were light-skinned African-American men who could 'pass' for white. They called this dangerous assignment 'going incognegro.' Zane Pinchback, a reporter for the New York-based New Holland Herald, barely escapes with his life after his latest 'incognegro' story goes bad. But when he returns to the sanctuary of Harlem, he's sent on a new story-- the arrest of his own brother, charged with the brutal murder of a white woman in Mississippi" -- from dust jacket.
Eclipse. Vol. 01
Published in 2017
"What if you couldn't go outside during the day anymore? In the wake of a cataclysmic solar event, the sunlight that once fed the human race has turned deadly, killing many of the Earth's inhabitants and transforming societal routines. When a killer emerges in the now nocturnal New York City, murdering his victims with sunlight, disillusioned solar engineer David "Bax" Baxter is called in to help stop this new threat. Bax teams up with police detective James Everly to protect the killer's next target, the daughter of a solar industrialist, but they soon learn there's more going on in the city's shadows. Throughout this kinetic first volume, Bax must face his own dark past, but can he rise to the occasion and stop this killer?"--page 4 of cover
The Tower of the Comic Book Freaks
A Graphic Novel
Published in 2016
Fourth of July, 1971. Five awkward, young men drive to New York City to attend the '71 comic convention in search of love, sex, art, comic books and a glimpse at the city's wicked underbelly. What they encounter changes their lives forever. Visit a pivotal time as comics change from a business to an art form. Meet Allan Caldwell, comic artist, blacklisted since the 1950s for his testimony to the U.S. Congressional Inquiry. Tour the greatest city in America during a period of social disintegration.
City of Spies
Published in 2010
In 1942 New York City, when budding cartoonist Evelyn and her new friend Tony find a genuine Nazi spy after some false alarms, it soon looks like Evelyn might end up in the kind of adventure she writes about in her comics.
Something New
Tales from a Makeshift Bride
Published in 2016
In 2010, Lucy and her long-term boyfriend John broke up. Three long, lonely years later, John returned to New York, walked into Lucy's apartment, and proposed. This is not that story. It is the story of what came after: The Wedding.
Brooklyn Blood
Published in 2018
"In Brooklyn, a serial killer is on the loose--and when strange clues lead down a paranormal path, a detective confronts his inner demons to solve the case. After returning from a tour in Afghanistan, detective Billy O'Connor returns home to a Brooklyn he doesn't recognize. As he tries to return to his normal routines, his PTSD is easily triggered and he suffers severe hallucinations. Once he begins to work a gruesome homicide case, however, O'Connor has difficulty sorting out what's real--and after he uncovers some strange clues, he'll have to face the unthinkable to bring the killer to justice. From New York Times Bestselling authors Paul Levitz (75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Myth-Making) and Tim Hamilton (Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation)"-- Provided by publisher.
The Kitchen
Published in 2015
"New York City, late 1970s. Times Square is a haven for sex and drugs. The city teeters on the verge of bankruptcy, while blackouts can strike at any moment. This is the world of THE KITCHEN. The Irish gangs of Hell's Kitchen rule the neighborhood, bringing terror to the streets and doing the dirty work for the Italian Mafia. Jimmy Brennan and his crew were the hardest bastards in the Kitchen, but after they're all put in prison, their wives - Kath, Raven and Angie - decide to keep running their rackets. And once they get a taste of the fast life and easy money, it won't be easy to stop. THE KITCHEN takes one of the most popular genres in entertainment and, like The Sopranos, reimagines it for a new generation to present a classic gangster story told from a fresh point of view. Written by talented newcomer Ollie Masters with stunning art by Ming Doyle (Mara) and killer covers by Becky Cloonan (GOTHAM ACADEMY, Killjoys, DEMO), THE KITCHEN is not to be missed. Collects THE KITCHEN #1-8"-- Provided by publisher.
Gone to Amerikay
Published in 2012
"This sweeping, century-spanning graphic novel explores the vivid history of Irish émigrés to New York City via three intertwined tales, from a penniless woman raising a daughter alone in the Five Points slum of 1870, to a struggling young artist drawn to the nascent counterculture of 1960, the year America elected its first Irish-Catholic president."--Publisher's website.
Jane
Published in 2017
"A powerful modern day reimagining of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel Jane Eyre. Jane learns that in the world of New York's elite, secrets are the greatest extravagance and she must decide if she should trust the man she loves or do whatever it takes to protect her best friend from the consequences of his deception" -- Provided by publisher.
I Am Alfonso Jones
Published in 2017
The ghost of fifteen-year-old Alfonso Jones travels in a New York subway car full of the living and the dead, watching his family and friends fight for justice after he is killed by an off-duty police officer while buying a suit in a Midtown department store.
Frank Miller's Sin City. Vol. 1, The Hard Goodbye
Published in 2005
Marv goes looking for answers and revenge when he is framed for the murder of Goldie, a beautiful woman he spent the night with, only to wake up and find her dead next to him. Includes adult content.
LaGuardia
A Very Modern Story of Immigration
Published in 2019
"In an alternate world where aliens have integrated with society, pregnant Nigerian-American doctor Future Nwafor Chukwuebuka has just smuggled an illegal alien plant named Letme Live through LaGuardia International and Interstellar Airport... and that's not the only thing she's hiding. She and Letme become part of a community of human and alien immigrants; but as their crusade for equality continues and the birth of her child nears, Future -- and her entire world -- begins to change."-- Provided by publisher.
Generations
Published in 2017
Once upon a time, a skinny kid from New York City picked up a shield and charged into battle... a prodigal son lifted a sacred hammer and proved himself worthy... and an arrogant genius forged an armor that would harness his true potential. And together, they became Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Today, that heroic legacy lives on in the next generation of heroes - and it will be put to the test as the Marvel Universe's greatest champions unite and charge headlong into tomorrow!
Weegee
Serial Photographer
Published in 2018
The New York photographer Weegee often appeared on the scene immediately after accidents and crimes, sometimes even before the police. The position of the body would be altered if that resulted in a better picture. His street photographs made him world famous.
Imagine Wanting Only This
Published in 2017
"A gorgeous graphic memoir about loss, love, and confronting grief. When Kristen Radtke was in college, the sudden death of a beloved uncle and, not long after his funeral, the sight of an abandoned mining town marked the beginning moments of a lifelong fascination with ruins and with people and places left behind. Over time, this fascination deepened until it triggered a journey around the world in search of ruined places. Now, in this genre-smashing graphic memoir, she leads us through deserted towns in the American Midwest, Italian villas, islands in the Philippines, New York City, and the delicate passageways of the human heart. At once narrative and factual, historical and personal, Radtke's stunning illustrations and piercing text never shy away from the big questions: why are we here, and what will we leave behind?"-- Provided by publisher.
The Furnace
Published in 2018
"One decision. Thousands of lives ruined. Can someone ever repent for the sins of their past? When Professor Walton Honderich was a young grad student, he participated in a government prison program and committed an act that led to the death of his friend, the brilliant physicist Marc Lepore, and resulted in unimaginable torment for an entire class of people across the United States. Twenty years later, now an insecure father slipping into alcoholism, Walton struggles against the ghosts that haunt him in a futuristic New York City. With full-color art and a cutting-edge critique of our increasingly technological world, The Furnace speaks fluently to the terrifying scope of the surveillance state, the dangerous allure of legacy, and the hope of redemption despite our flaws."-- Page [4] of cover.
Post York
Published in 2021
"Set in New York City after the melting of the polar ice caps, an independent loner along with his cat and only friend, navigates the flooded city as he tries to live another day. Each morning he sails in search of food, crossing paths with others from this makeshift community--from outsiders like himself to the depraved and ruthless elite--all struggling to maintain a sense of normalcy in a city drowned in its past. But everything changes when he encounters both a mysterious woman and a trapped blue whale. Will they be each other's salvation . . . or destruction?"--Provided by publisher.
Hawkeye. Freefall
Published in 2020
"When a mysterious and ruthless new Ronin starts tearing a destructive path through the city, suspicion immediately falls on Hawkeye, but Clint has more to worry about than who's wearing his old costume. After a clash with the Hood ends badly, Hawkeye gives himself a new mission that will place him in the crosshairs of one of New York's most dangerous villains. Hawkeye's mission and Ronin's secret plans will set them on a collision course that only one of them will walk away from."--Amazon.
American Gods
Shadows
Published in 2018
"This supernatural American road trip fantasy tells the story of a war between the ancient and modern gods. Shadow Moon gets out of jail only to discover his wife is dead. Defeated, broke, and uncertain where to go from here, he meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, who employs him to serve as his bodyguard--thrusting Shadow into a deadly world where ghosts of the past come back from the dead, and a god war is imminent."-- Provided by publisher.
Apsara Engine
Published in 2020
"In trans illustrator Bishakh Som's debut work of fiction, questions of gender, the body, and existential conformity are explored over the course of eight speculative and graphic short stories"-- Provided by publisher.
Strongman
Published in 2009
"Imagine the Dark Knight if Batman had been a Luchadore. Tigre, a masked Mexican wrestler, was huge in Mexico in the 70s a crime-fighting movie star. These days, he's 65 and drunk, living in Manhattan. When a beautiful woman begs him to stop an organ trafficking ring, the old warrior decides to take one last, epic shot at redemption" -- from publisher's web site.
The Hazards of Love. Book 1, Bright World
Published in 2021
"This fantastical, stunning tale shines in both story and artwork. " School Library Journal (star review).. "A noir fantasy part adventure, part love story, all the way spectacularly creepy. "--Kirkus Reviews (star review).. The Hazards of Love follows the story of--a queer teen from Queens who makes some mistakes, gets dragged into a fantastical place, and tries to hustle their way back home... Amparo's deal with the talking cat was simple: a drop of blood and Amparo's name to become a better person. Their mother and abuela would never worry about them again, and they'd finally be worthy of dating straight-A student Iolanthe. But when the cat steals their body, becoming the better person they were promised, Amparo's spirit is imprisoned in a land of terrifying, flesh-hungry creatures known as Bright World... With cruel and manipulative masters and a society that feeds on memories, Amparo must use their cleverness to escape, without turning into a monster like the rest. On "the other side," Iolanthe begins to suspect the new Amparo has a secret, and after the cat in disguise vanishes, she's left searching for answers with a no-nonsense medium from the lesbian mafia and the only person who might know the truth about Bright World.
Weird Detective
Published in 2017
"The only man capable of fighting the terrors that plague New York City, Detective Sebastian Greene, may not be a man at all. Greene's partner, Detective Sana Fayez, is becoming suspicious of his actions but with a new, deadly threat loose on the streets, they'll need to work together if they want to solve the case"-- Provided by publisher.
Bitter Root. Vol. 01, Family Business
Published in 2019
In the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance is in full swing, and only the Sangerye Family, once known as the greatest monster hunters of all time, can save New York -- and the world -- from the supernatural forces threatening to destroy humanity. But those days are fading and the once-great family that specialized in curing the souls of those infected by racism and hate has been torn apart by tragedies and conflicting moral codes. A terrible tragedy has claimed most of the family, leaving the surviving cousins divided between by the desire to cure monsters or to kill them; they must heal the wounds of the past and move beyond their differences ... or sit back and watch a force of unimaginable evil ravage the human race.
Bitter Root. Vol. 02. Rage & Redemption
Published in 2020
"Monster-hunting has been the Sangerye family business for generations as they battle the jinoo - hideous creatures born out of hate and racism. But now the Sangeryes face a different threat -- the deadly inzondo, a new kind of monster born out of grief and trauma. With one of their own turning into an inzondo and an army of tortured souls on the attack in 1920s Harlem, the Sangerye family must once again fight to save the world, unless their own pain and suffering transforms them into monsters as well!"--Provided by publisher.
Yo, Miss
A Graphic Look at High School
Published in 2015
Yo, Miss - a graphic look at high school takes the reader inside John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy, a second-chance high school in New York City, where Lisa Wilde has worked since 1997. A school where all the students are considered at risk, Wildcat offers these teens a ticket to the middle class - a high school diploma. With humor and humanity, Yo, Miss challenges preconceptions of who these kids are and what is needed to help them graduate.
The New York Five
Published in 2011
Four women in their freshman year at New York University move into an East Village apartment together and participate in a video-therapy project.
Foiled, V.1
Published in 2010
Aliera is a star at fencing, but at school no one notices her--until her new lab partner Avery begins flirting with her. Aliera's mother just bought her a foil from a garage sale, and it has a strange jewel attached to the hilt. Will Aliera's first date be ruined when magical creatures try to steal her foil?