Staff Picks
Best Comics of 2025
- Thomas M.
- Monday, November 24, 2025
Collection
The end-of-year lists are coming! This is a great time to take a look back at some of the most acclaimed graphic novels published in 2025, from touching memoirs to bold adventures and inventive visuals. Anything is possible in a comic, especially in these combined selections found in "Best of" lists across the book and publishing industry, including School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews, to name a few.
Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy
City of Glass, Ghosts, The Locked Room
Published in 2025
"From award-winning novelist Paul Auster comes the graphic adaptation of his deeply beloved series, The New York Trilogy, a postmodern take on detective and noir fiction. In 1985, Paul Auster's City of Glass was adapted into a graphic novel and became an immediate cult classic, published in over 30 editions worldwide, excerpted in The Norton Anthology of Postmodern Fiction. But City of Glass was only the first novel in a series of books, Auster's acclaimed New York Trilogy, and graphic novel readers have been waiting for years for the other two tales to be translated into comics. Now the wait is over. The New York Trilogy is post-modern literature disguised as Noir fiction where language is the prime suspect. An interpration of detective and mystery fiction, each book explores various philosophical themes. In City of Glass, an author of detective fiction investigates a murder and descends into madness. Ghosts features a private eye named Blue, trailing a man named Black, for a client called White. This too ends with the protagonist's downfall. And in The Locked Room, another author is experiencing writer's block, and hopes to brake it by solving the disappearance of his childhood friend. The second two parts of this trilogy will be appearing in this volume for the very first time as a graphic novel. Paul Karasik, the mastermind behind the three adaptations, art directed all three books. City of Glass is illustrated by the award-winning cartoonist David Mazzucchielli, the second volume, Ghosts, is illustrated by New Yorker cover artist, Lorenzo Mattotti, and The Locked Room is adapted and drawn by Karasik himself. These adaptations take Auster's sophisticated wordplay and translate it into comicsplay: both highbrow and lowbrow and immensely fun reading"-- Provided by publisher.
Bug Wars. Book One, Lost in the Yard
Published in 2025
"The Old Slaymaker House; Neighbors whisper about it. Children dare each other to step foot in its overgrown lawn. Exterminators refuse to visit and shudder at the thought of what multi-limbed monsters may burrow in its earth. For Slade Slaymaker and his brother Sydney, it's the last remnant of their father, a dedicated entomologist devoured by the very creatures he dedicated his life to understanding. Slade, too young to remember his death, continues his legacy with his own love of all things insect. Sydney, old enough to remember the gruesome scene, despises and seeks to annihilate any bug he sees. When these two brothers' opposing obsessions clash, Slade finds himself shrunk to the size of his diminutive subjects and thrust into the middle of a brutal Bug War, an earth-shattering struggle that will decide the fate of his family and, perhaps, uncover the secrets behind his father's gruesome demise."-- Amazon.com
Love Languages
Published in 2025
"Two foreigners in France reach across language barriers and turn each other's lives upside down in this stunningly beautiful queer romance graphic novel painted in dazzling watercolor. Sarah Huxley has moved from London to Paris, only to find a lonely life of corporate drudgery and disappointment--a far cry from her romantic expectations of the city. She collides with Ping Loh, a young woman working as an au pair to a wealthy family of Hong Kong expats, and the two bond over their shared struggle with the French tongue. In museums and markets, over text messages and translation apps, Ping and Sarah slowly begin to learn each other's languages, communicating in a rich and ever-shifting blend of English, French, and Cantonese. As their friendship blooms, so does their private dialect--a personal linguistic patchwork, a shared secret just for them. But when their feelings for each other start to deepen, they discover that the simplest words to translate can be the hardest words to say." -- Provided by publisher.
Second Shift
Published in 2025
"From the time when the station wakes her up, Birdie Doran is on the clock. It's just her and one or two others on Terracorp's isolated outpost, processing comets. So she slips into virtual reality, with the station creating adventures for her as she does repairs, routine maintenance, and checks the status on all the systems. But when Birdie discovers another abandoned station just within walking distance of her own, she begins to question her isolation, and her own memories of what her job - and her life - really is. And at every turn, she starts finding the things the station has been hiding from her..."--Provided by publisher.
Cry when the Baby Cries
Published in 2025
With the wit of a comedian and the observational skills of a sociologist surveying a new subculture, Becky Barnicoat writes about her first few years of parenthood with warmth, sharp insight, and uproarious humor in her debut graphic memoir Cry When the Baby Cries. Barnicoat's prose is always relatable, smart, and so funny while discussing everything from how ignoring women's pain is baked into the practice of obstetrics to the impossibility of putting a child down drowsy but awake while you are permanently drowsy but awake, to the tyranny of gentle parenting, and more. Barnicoat gives us permission to cry when the baby cries, and also laugh, snort, lie on the floor naked, drool, and revel in a deeply strange new world ruled by a tyrannical tiny leader, growing bigger and more cherished by the day.
Spent
A Comic Novel
Published in 2025
"In Alison Bechdel's hilariously skewering and gloriously cast new comic novel confection, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel, running a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont, is existentially irked by a climate-challenged world and a citizenry on the brink of civil war. She wonders: Can she pull humanity out of its death spiral by writing a scathingly self-critical memoir about her own greed and privilege? Meanwhile, Alison's first graphic memoir about growing up with her father, a taxidermist who specialized in replicas of Victorian animal displays, has been adapted into a highly successful TV series. It's a phenomenon that makes Alison, formerly on the cultural margins, the envy of her friend group (recognizable as characters, now middle-aged and living communally in Vermont, from Bechdel's beloved comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For). As the TV show Death and Taxidermy racks up Emmy after Emmy-and when Alison's Pauline Bunyanesque partner Holly posts an instructional wood-chopping video that goes viral-Alison's own envy spirals. Why couldn't she be the writer for a critically lauded and wildly popular reality TV show...like Queer Eye...showing people how to free themselves from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life?!!"-- Provided by publisher.
Black Cohosh
Published in 2025
"A heartfelt, comedic coming-of-age debut from a bright new talent. When we meet Eagle Valiant Brosi, he is a long-haired commune kid, bullied by other kids, teachers, and his neighbors. And because of his speech impediment, Eagle observes silently and often. Mom—a classic earthy, free spirit prone to discursive lectures on natural medicine and the efficacy of certain plants—is the only one who really cares. So Eagle lets others talk and talk and talk, revealing their true natures and selfish (sometimes even selfless) motivations. In Black Cohosh, Eagle pieces together the puzzling and hurtful things he has been told as he takes his first, tragic steps into adulthood. While things may seem grim, Brosi’s drawings are loose and limber, stretching and falling across each page. His cast of hippie archetypes come with iconic thatches of hair, bushy beards, and scrawny, gesticulating arms. Black Cohosh is a captivating debut from a natural storyteller with the expert timing of a veteran comedian and the soothing empathy of a death doula."--Publisher.
Trans History
From Ancient Times to the Present Day
Published in 2025
"What does "trans" mean, and what does it mean to be trans? Diversity in human sex and gender is not a modern phenomenon, as readers will discover through illustrated stories and records that introduce historical figures ranging from the controversial Roman emperor Elagabalus to the swashbuckling seventeenth-century conquistador Antonio de Erauso to veterans of the Stonewall uprising Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. In addition to these individual profiles, the book explores some of the societal roles played by trans people beginning in ancient times and shows how European ideas about gender were spread across the globe. It explains how the science of sexology and the growing acceptance of (and backlash to) gender nonconformity have helped to shape what it means to be trans today. Illustrated conversations with modern activists, scholars, and creatives highlight the breadth of current trans experiences and give readers a deeper sense of the diversity of trans people, a group numbering in the millions. Extensive source notes provide further resources. Moving, funny, heartbreaking, and empowering, this remarkable compendium from trans creators Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett is packed with research on every dynamic page"-- Provided by publisher.
Gaysians
Published in 2025
"..a heartwarming story following four gay Asians navigating love, identity, and friendship--a celebration of queer chosen family." When AJ moves to Seattle in the early aughts, he's ready to reinvent himself as a gay Asian man--but his dreams hit reality fast with no friends, no job, and an apartment so far out, "not even lesbians live there." Then a spilled drink at a bar introduces him to K, a glamorous drag queen; John, a shy gamer; and Steven, a reckless flirt. AJ's "Boy Luck Club" helps him find love, pride, and belonging--until a brutal attack tests everything they know about friendship and family. Meticulously observed and gorgeously illustrated, Gaysians is a fierce, funny, and tender story of queer resilience and self-discovery."--Publisher.
Spacewalking with You. Vol. 01
Published in 2025
"Kobayashi just can't focus--not on studying, not on work--and the adults in his life think he's in danger of becoming a worthless dropout. Then, one day, a strange new presence arrives in his class: an energetic and naive kid named Uno. Kobayashi saves Uno from getting scammed, and that close encounter launches a new friendship. Uno's definitely a space cadet, but Kobayashi can't help admiring the way he floats through life, and before he knows it, he might start feeling his feet lift off the ground, too..."-- Provided by publisher.
Baby Blue
Published in 2025
In the not-so-distant future, twenty-something Betty lives in a fascistic society that menacingly polices mental health. When she is caught crying in public, the Peacekeepers take her to an Orwellian health facility to control her emotions. There, she meets the defiant Berina, who opens her eyes to an alternative reality: the Resistance. If Betty can navigate a rollicking underworld, where all manner of queerness is celebrated, she just might have a chance to strike back against the regime. Deliciously twisted, fiercely contemporary, and backed by a Swedish pop soundtrack, Baby Blue is the dynamic graphic novel debut of comics artist Bim Eriksson. A vital manifesto about the need to express your unique identity in a chillingly conformist world.-- Publisher description
Huda F Wants to Know?
Published in 2025
When her parents announce they are divorcing, Huda Fahmy struggles to keep her plans on track for junior year.
Checked out
Published in 2025
"In which a queer library worker searches for love, artistic validation in New YorkCity, and the perfect book. An aspiring cartoonist and book lovin' lesbian, Louise works a dead-end day job at a shoe store, where she spends most of her time brooding over a coworker who will never quite love her back. By night, she works diligently and obsessively on her graphic novel--the true story of a carrier pigeon who rescued a battalion of soldiers in WWI. When Louise unexpectedly lands a new job at a private library on the Upper East Side, she feels like her graphic novel will finally take off--surely the oldest library in New York has excellent holdings on pigeons and WWI. But what she finds in the stacks might be less revelatory than her discoveries between the sheets and buried in her own family history. A graphic novel set against a perfectly cartoony NYC backdrop--complete with landmark haunts, street fashion, and quintessential characters of the city--Checked Out is at once a valentine to libraries and New York, and the story of an artist working to make her dreams come true. Drawn in a delightfully vivacious style, Checked Out buzzes with Katie Fricas's vibrant energy, quick wit, and storytelling aplomb."--Amazon.com.
Electric Life
The Hidden Radiance of Everything
Published in 2025
"From subatomic particles to the solar system we're all part of, electromagnetic forces have long formed the building blocks of reality as we know it. Yet the full extent of their impact is only just beginning to come to light. Electric Life invites readers on a breathtaking journey into this unseen world, revealing how electricity and magnetism affect not only us humans but also our planet and the universe at large: How does lightning influence communication among fish? Can plant electricity be translated into music? Do Earth and the sun charge the moon like a solar battery? Does your heart's magnetic field surround your entire body? Can the electrical properties of microbes be used to heal our bodies or even reverse environmental damage? With a fresh perspective and an accessible tone, Electric Life breaks down recent scientific advances and emerging technologies to answer these questions and more. Sander Funneman brings his many years of research to bear to create a cohesive and essentially hopeful look at the interconnectedness of life, complemented by the clarity and humor of Peter Brouwers's spectacular illustrations. Together, they challenge readers to take a closer look at this incredible electrical world we are all part of" -- Jacket flap.
I Hated You in High School
Published in 2025
"Struggling 20-something Tessa has a dead-end job as a barista and the dream of a creative career that never quite seems to take off. When the coffee shop where she works goes out of business, she's able to visit her parents for the first time in years. Arriving at her family home, she discovers that her parents have rented out the basement apartment to her high school nemesis, Olive Virtue. Old wounds resurface during Tessa's stay, but an accident that traps them in the attic forces them to face their past and think about their future"-- Back cover.
Life Drawing
Published in 2024
"Ten years in the making (and torn from the pages of the legendary Love and Rockets), Life Drawing skillfully weaves two generations of Jaime Hernandez's beloved characters - the youthful Tonta and the venerable Maggie - into a satisfying story of love. Tonta has a crush on her art teacher, Ray, as well as an axe to grind with an older woman in the neighborhood. When Tonta finds that the woman is Maggie - Ray's girlfriend - things get complicated. And Tonta does not handle complications well. Life Drawing showcases Hernandez's brilliant talent for character, weaving relationships, rejections, infidelities, and adventures involving: Tonta's self-involved sisters Vivian, Violet, and Muñeca; her colorful pals Gomez, Judy Fair, and Brown Alice; her mother, the infamous 'Black Widow of the Valley'; and of course, the two great loves of Maggie's life, Ray and Hopey. There's also a forest spirit, some cosplay, a little pole dancing, two weddings, and page after page of breathtaking comics by the medium's most wide-eyed romantic"-- Back cover.
The Color of the End
Mission in the Apocalypse. Vol. 01
Published in 2025
"Years after the earth was wiped clean of life by the mysterious beings known as Executioners, a single girl walks alone through the empty, beautiful ruins. Her seemingly endless mission--to search for survivors, cleanse the land...and bury the dead. But when the countless funerals are over, will there be anyone left alive to mourn?"-- Back cover.
Helen of Wyndhorn
Published in 2025
"Following the tragic death of her late father C.K. Cole, the esteemed pulp writer and creator of the popular warrior character Othan; Helen Cole is called back to her Grandfather's enormous and illustrious estate: Wyndhorn House. Scarred by Cole's untimely passing and lost in a new, strange world, Helen wreaks drunken havoc upon her arrival; however, her chaotic ways begin to soften as she discovers a lifetime of secrets hiding within the myriad rooms and hallways of the expansive manor. For outside its walls, within the woods, dwell the legendary adventures that once were locked away within her father's stories"-- Back cover.
The Woman with Fifty Faces
Maria Lani & the Greatest Art Heist That Never Was
Published in 2025
"A revelatory biographical graphic novel chronicling the elusive life and tumultuous times of Maria Lani"-- Provided by publisher.
Cannon
Published in 2025
"We arrive to wreckage -- a restaurant smashed to rubble, with tables and chairs upended riotously. Under the swampy nighttime cover of a Montreal heat-wave, this is where we meet our protagonist, Cannon, dripping in little beads of regret sweat. She was supposed to be closing the restaurant for the night, but instead, well, she destroyed it. The mess feels a bit like a horror-scape -- not unlike the horror films Cannon and her best friend, Trish, watch together. Cooking dinner and digging into deep cuts of Australian horror films on their scheduled weekly hangs has become the glue in their rote relationship. In high school, they were each other's lifeline -- two queer second-generation Chinese nerds trapped in the suburbs. Now, on the uncool side of their twenties, the essentialness of one another feels harder to pin down. Yet, when our stoic and unbendingly well-behaved Cannon finds herself -- very uncharacteristically -- surrounded by smashed plates, it is Trish who shows up to pull her the hell outta there. In Cannon, Lee Lai's much anticipated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Stone Fruit, the full palette of a nervous breakdown is just a slice of what Lai has on offer. As Cannon's shoulders bend under the weight of an aging Gung-gung and an avoidant mother, Lai's sharp sense of humor and sensitive eye produce a story that will hit readers with a smash" -- Provided by publisher.
We All Got Something
Published in 2025
"When you're always searching, you might just surprise yourself with what you find. After a rocky attempt at living in London with his partner, Lawrence finds himself single, broke, and back at home in Compton with his mom and great-aunt, moping from bed to kitchen table and back to bed again, with long layovers on the front porch to sit and watch the world pass him by. Everything had been so good--a degree, an animation internship, paid music gigs, the perfect girl. How the heck did Lawrence get knocked so far down, with such little semblance of his former life remaining to hold him together? Well, that's a long story... Set to a cacophonous soundtrack of church praise, playground noise, bus-stop camaraderie, and Pacific Ocean waves, Lawrence Lindell's heartbreaking--and heartwarming--We All Got Something recounts a tragic and random act of violence, the PTSD that follows, lost love, and coming to terms with the underlying mental health crises sabotaging it all. A testament to the healing power of art and the vital role community plays in the process, Lindell's graphic memoir is deeply personal and specific, but also relatable --because we all got something. The follow-up to Lindell's Eisner-nominated and Excellence in Graphic Literature Award-winning graphic novel Blackward, We All Got Something brings Lindell's love of the comics community into a different light, and shows the author exploring deeper and darker corners of his past, with his signature blend of humor, heart, and cartoony lines."--Publisher's website.
Drome
Published in 2025
First, there was nothing. Then, humanity was born, and an endless cycle of violence began. From the depths of the ocean, a mighty demigoddess is called forth to rein in humankind's destructive impulses, and teach a language of peace and harmony. Civilization quickly takes root, a great city rising from the desert. But the balance between chaos and order is a fragile one, and there are higher powers at work in this strange new world.
Simplicity
A Novel
Published in 2025
"In 1977, a group called The Spiritual Association of Peers decamps to the woods of the Catskills, taking over an abandoned summer camp. They name their new home Simplicity. In 2081, scholar Lucius Pasternak, a fastidiously organized trans man, tries to keep his head down living in the New York City Administrative and Security Territory, which was founded after the formal dissolution of the United States in 2041. Then, he's offered a job by the mayor, billionaire real estate developer Dennis Van Wervel, to complete an anthropological survey of the people of Simplicity for a history museum he's financing. A wary Lucius is nevertheless drawn in by the people of the small wooded community, intrigued by its strange rituals and in particular by the charming acolyte Amity Crown-Shy. Born and raised on the compound, Amity is comfortable in their own skin, a striking contrast to Lucius' repressed reserve. But Lucius' control starts to slip when he begins to suffer visions both terrifying and sensual—visits from beautiful but nightmarish creatures. Then, just as Lucius discovers that Van Wervel's project is more sinister than it seemed, members of the community begin to disappear, leaving behind grisly signs of struggle. The denizens of Simplicity believe that a being they call "The Lamentation" is responsible for the attacks. Amity and Lucius set out to hunt for the creature in the dangerous Exurb Zones, a wild wood full of libertarian doomsday preppers, wealthy isolationists, and worse. There, they'll finally discover the true threat to their way of life—and what they're willing to do to stop it"-- Provided by publisher.
Rebis
Born and Reborn
Published in 2025
"Born with paper-white skin, Martino is an outcast. To the villagers, albinism is more than a curiosity--it's a curse. Bullied and shunned, Martino seeks refuge in the deep woods--and finds it in Viviana. Powerful and beautiful, Viviana belongs to a sisterhood of outcast women. Martino is welcomed into the fold and, drawing on the magic of the forest, is reborn. In Rebis, Italian duo Irene Marchesini and Carlotta Dicataldo deliver a medieval fantasy steeped in mystery--a haunting and hopeful tale of transformation and found family."--Book flap.
Land of Mirrors
Published in 2025
Antonia is the sole inhabitant of a deserted town, with only a roaming pack of dogs and her own worn out memories to keep her company. Nothing is new in this world, the ponds are so still they are dead, and her recollections feel more vivid than her surroundings. At times, the isolation is unbearable. Until she meets her flower. Her flower gives her purpose: a reason to get up each morning, to ring the bells of the town, to wake up the fields, and to feel alive. And yet a relentless thought eats away at her--what will happen once her flower dies? Her quest to save the flower begins alongside a charming traveler from the land of mirrors. The pair embark on a journey filled with music, swimming holes, and folk tales whispered late into the starry night. They march through the fields to the beat of turtledove calls, occasionally stopping to get drunk off the fruits of the strawberry tree. Slowly Antonia opens up to the world beyond her town, to the people who inhabit it--and to the endless possibilities of community and friendship. . -- Publisher
Saint Catherine
Published in 2025
In her 20-something years of existence, Catherine never skipped mass once. As a recovering Irish American Catholic, she has mostly traded the world of communion and confessionals for the "city-girl" struggle of work-life balance, family, and her relationships. The only thing she has not been able to shake is her fear that something bad will happen if she misses Sunday mass. But her fears become a reality when she skips mass for the first time and discovers she is now being possessed by a demon claiming to be the prince of hell. As she takes matters into her own hands and attempts to exorcise these demons (both the paranormal and emotional kind), Catherine must face her buried guilt and what it truly means to be good.
We Could Be Magic
Published in 2025
"When Tabitha Laurie was growing up, a visit to Sommerland saved her belief in true love, even as her parents' marriage was falling apart. Now she's landed her dream job at the theme park's prestigious summer program, where she can make magical memories for other kids, guests, and superfans just like her. All she has to do is audition for one of the coveted princess roles, and soon her dreams will come true. There's just one problem. The heroes and heroines at Sommerland are all, well... thin. And no matter how much Tabi lives for the magic, she simply doesn't fit the park's idea of a princess. Given a not-so-regal position at a nacho food stand instead, Tabi is going to need the support of new friends, a new crush, and a whole lot of magic if she's going to devise her own happily ever after... without getting herself fired in the process." -- Provided by publisher.
Bowling with Corpses & Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown
Published in 2025
"From a search for the beating heart of a long-dead sorcerer, to a pirate girl who makes a deal with the devil, to the titular boy who wins a grim prize in a game with some undead interlopers, and more. Mignola builds a brand-new world filled with the weird, wicked and whimsical in this volume that will delight longtime Hellboy fans and new readers alike"-- Provided by publisher.
Angelica and the Bear Prince
Published in 2025
"A young girl falls in love with the bear mascot of her local community theater and learns to make space for herself while recovering from burn out"--Provided by publisher
Tongues. Book 1
Published in 2025
"In the remotest reaches of Central Asia a minor god is chained to a mountainside. Tongues follows his friendship with the eagle who comes everyday to eat his liver, a young girl on an errand of murder and a young man with a teddy bear strapped to his back lost in a wilderness and heading to a crossroads. Set in a version of modern Central Asia, Tongues is a retelling of the Greek myth of Prometheus. It follows the captive god's friendship with the eagle who carries out his daily sentence of torture, and chronicles his pursuit of revenge on the god that has imprisoned him. Prometheus' story is entwined with that of an East African orphan on an errand of murder, and a young man with a teddy bear strapped to his back, wandering aimlessly into catastrophe (a character readers may recognize from Nilsen's Dogs and Water). The story is set against the backdrop of tensions between rival groups in an oil-rich wilderness. Tongues is loosely based on a trilogy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus, of which two plays are lost and only dimly reconstructed by historians. Key to the story of Tongues is Prometheus' role as creator and protector of humanity. In flashbacks and in Prometheus' conversations with the eagle and others, the book will touch on humanity's deep evolutionary past and its complicated prospects for a future. Tongues is both adventure story and meditation on human nature in our present fraught historical moment"-- Provided by publisher.
Dogsred. Vol. 01
Published in 2025
"Rou once chased figure-skating glory. Now he chases redemption in the ice hockey rink. After winning the national championship, 15-year-old figure skater Rou Shirakawa was on his way to the Olympics. But with his mother's tragic death on his mind, he threw it all away in an outburst of rage. Banned from figure skating, he and his sister move to Hokkaido. When he meets some local kids at the skating pond, they convince him to be a stand-in player for their soon-to-be-disbanded hockey team. The team has never won a game, and they're up against the local champs--but if they've got to go down, they want to score at least one goal before it's all over. Rou hasn't got a clue how to play ice hockey, but he sure knows how to skate!"-- Back cover.
Witchcraft
Published in 2025
"Three mysterious sisters, dancing at the knife's edge of benevolent and malevolent, lie at the heart of Witchcraft, a maelstrom swirling together horror and comedy, magic and religion, colonialism and indigenous folklore. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1768. It is a dark and foreboding night when the boat arrives from Europe, bringing three shadowy figures to shore. The María sisters have come to take the New World by storm. At once righteous and menacing, the sisters will exert their insidious powers over generations, leaving a wreckage of shattered spirits in their wake. Told through the eyes of the people whose lives the sisters have cast asunder, Witchcraft is a mesmerizing mystery to piece together. Strange magic, dark humor, and a fiery undercurrent of female rage cohere into a heady tale of colonialism, indigenous folklore, and modern agoraphobia. A kaleidoscopic work of literary fiction, crafted with vision and verve, that assures Sole Otero as one of South America's most dynamic cartoonists."-- Provided by publisher.
Black Arms to Hold You Up
A History of Black Resistance
Published in 2025
"From the Ignatz and Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Ben Passmore comes a whirlwind graphic history of Black life, taken by force. It's the summer of 2020, and downtown Philly is up in flames. "You're not out in the streets with everyone else?" Ronnie asks his ambivalent son, Ben, shambling in with arms full of used books: the works of Malcom X, Robert F. Williams, Assata and Sanyika Shakur, among others. "Black liberation is your fight, too." So begins Black Arms to Hold You Up, a boisterous, darkly funny, and sobering march through Black militant history by political cartoonist Ben Passmore. From Robert Charles's shootout with the police in 1900, to the Black Power movement in the 1960s, to the Los Angeles and George Floyd uprisings of the 1990s and the aughts, readers will tumble through more than a century of armed resistance against the racist state alongside Ben-and meet firsthand the mothers and fathers of the movement, whose stories were as tragic as they were heroic. What, after so many decades lost to state violence, is there left to fight for? Deeply researched, vibrantly drawn, and bracingly introspective, Black Arms to Hold You Up dares to find the answer"-- Provided by publisher.
Do Admit!
The Mitford Sisters and Me
Published in 2025
Born with pedigrees but without the pocketbooks to match, The Mitfords were certainly no strangers to lies, intrigue, or scandal. Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah. All six sisters were weaned on their family's well-documented upper class eccentricities: a ne'er do well would-be entrepreneur father; a stern, stiff-upper-lipped mother; a revolving door of governesses of varying propriety, all against the backdrop of a crumbling estate falling into disrepair. The sisters grew from cloistered turn-of-the-century country girls into debutantes who would marry into political influence -- for better or worse. Is it any wonder that a young, working class Mimi in Southern California becomes enamored with The Mitfords' downright fanciful rich-and-famous lifestyle? This charming, inventively cartooned, and lovingly researched biography captures the dramatic, over-the-top antics of high society's strongest personalities as they rubbed elbows with some of history's most infamous fascists and communists. Pond's genius for classic cartooning in the vein of the Vanity Fair caricature and the satirical illustrations of Charles Addams brings the aesthetic decadence of the 1920s and '30s to life with effortless aplomb, warts and all.
Hunger's Bite
Published in 2025
After growing up together on the luxurious SS Lark, Neeta Pandey and Emery Botwright are ready to start their lives. Emery wants to follow in his father's footsteps and sail the Lark forever, while Neeta yearns to travel the world. But neither will have any future at all if the Lark's new owner, Mr. Honeycutt, has his way. Mr. Honeycutt . . . The first-class passengers adore him, while he makes the ship a nightmare for the crew. Twisted by unnatural appetites, the rich are actually transforming into something less than human, and their insatiable demands soon push the staff toward a--quite literal-- burnout. Something otherworldly is undeniably aboard the SS Lark, something horribly hungry. But it's not Wick Farley: vampire, secret agent, and paranormal investigator. Alone and at sea, with only Neeta and Emery to help him, he must uncover the truth about Mr. Honeycutt. And fast--before a ravenous craving for power consumes them all. Taylor Robin's debut graphic novel is a thrilling supernatural adventure told in crackling, vibrant colors.
El Fuego
Published in 2025
"A mass-extinction event is imminent as a giant meteorite is hurtling toward the Earth. Renowned architect Alexander Yorba, entrusted to design a citadel on the Moon which would ensure the survival of humanity, is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Thrust into an existential crisis, Alexander begins to question the validity of his successes, having colluded with the world's elite to spare only the wealthiest members of society, and grapples with what it means to be a decent person in a decaying world. His spiritual and moral journey will take him from the Moon to Madrid, by way of New York, Helsinki, Amsterdam, and Rome, where he will have to confront his past choices with those who were his greatest influences, in hopes of finding his way . . . before the end comes"-- Amazon.com.
The Once and Future Riot
Published in 2025
"A graphic novel about the 2013 Muzaffargnar Riot in Uttar Pradesh, India, that expands to investigate the mechanics, dynamics, mythologies, and uses of riots writ large"-- Provided by publisher.
Tokyo Alien Bros. Vol. 01
Published in 2025
"Fuyunosuke Tanaka is a perfectly ordinary college student, except for one thing--he's secretly an alien. He and his brother Natsutaro have traveled across the galaxy to study the people of Earth and evaluate the planet's resources, but adapting to life on this new world may prove a bit harder than they thought. Fuyunosuke's been living the good life in Tokyo. In fact, he's almost got the whole "being human" thing down. His brother Natsutaro, on the other hand, can't figure out the first thing about blending in on this strange planet. There's still a lot they don't know about humans, but with any luck, Fuyunosuke might just be able to show his bro that life on this little blue ball isn't so bad after all"-- Provided by publisher.
You and Me on Repeat
Published in 2025
Chris O'Brien has a genius plan: If he can share the perfect first kiss with his crush, Andy, then of course he'll break free from the time loop that has him repeating graduation day over and over...and over. Alicia Ochoa thinks Chris's plan is doomed. Valedictorian and a total nerd, she knows it'll take more than a kiss to escape the loop they're trapped in together. Besides, Chris may be a hopeless romantic, but Alicia doesn't think he has a real shot with Andy. Once close friends, Alicia and Chris have history--lots of it. As they got older, the pair fell out after Chris ditched her for the "cool kids" and left her in the dust. But when you're looping side by side, you never know if friendship might rekindle or what new feelings could spark along the way.
The Dissident Club
Chronicle of a Pakistani Journalist in Exile
Published in 2025
"In Islamabad in 2018, Pakistani investigative journalist Taha Siddiqui is kidnapped at gunpoint and barely escapes being killed. He flees the country on the first plane to France with questions left unanswered: What motivated the attack? Was the tyrannical Pakistani military involved? The Dissident Club is an action-packed graphic memoir about Islamic politics, complex family dynamics, and one man's dedication to truth and principle. With illustrator Hubert Maury, Siddiqui, winner of the prestigious journalism award Prix Albert Londres, tells the story of his intriguing life and career, beginning with his childhood in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan under the stern gaze of a fundamentalist Islamic father. Taha rebels against his religion, but his personal freedom is constrained by strict Islam, especially after his father joins a jihadi mosque. Following the Gulf War and then the shock caused by 9/11, Taha enters university and begins his personal emancipation. He becomes a journalist, but as he reveals the crimes of the Pakistani military, he learns the hard way that journalists are moving targets. Once in Paris, he opens the Dissident Club, a bar dedicated to helping political dissidents from around the world. An expansive Pakistani coming-of-age story, The Dissident Club documents Taha's experiences as a young man fighting for truth and justice against the harsh backdrop of Islamic fundamentalism and corruption."-- Provided by publisher.
Tall Water
Published in 2025
"Ever since she turned sixteen, Nimmi has wanted to see her mother. Though she has a loving but overprotective father and a budding relationship, she yearns to travel to Sri Lanka to confront the mother who refused to leave the island during a war, not even for Nimmi's sake. Her father is going back for the first time as a reporter on assignment, but he refuses to take her, deeming Sri Lanka too dangerous. But then Nimmi's mother appears to her in a dream, asking her to come find her, and Nimmi knows she must go. Her father is livid when he sees her at baggage claim, but by then it's too late, and he reluctantly agrees to help Nimmi make contact with her mother. In Sri Lanka, Nimmi tags along with her father and his guide, past checkpoints and armed soldiers and increasing hints of the war that rages there. However, the day after Christmas, disaster strikes and a tsunami ravages the island. Stranded amid the devastation and destruction, can Nimmi reunite with her mother? Through her journey, Nimmi might just learn that the person she most needed to find was herself"-- Provided by publisher.
I Wanna Be Your Girl. Vol. 01
Published in 2025
Being in love with your childhood best friend can be complicated, especially when, right before high school, she transitions to living as a girl. Hime has secretly been in love with her childhood best friend Akira for as long as she can remember. She was the first person who knew that Akira identified as a girl, and she made it her mission to be her Akira's protector against the world. Hime is thrilled that Akira has finally decided to live as her true self now that they are starting high school. However, as Akira starts to attract all types of attention, Hime takes it upon herself to aggressively stick up for Akira whenever necessary. Not wanting her to be singled out or bullied, Hime decides that her only option is to put herself in Akira's shoes. Hime dresses like a boy in support of the friend she loves, too bad her plan only backfires on them both. -- Publisher description
It Rhymes with Takei
Published in 2025
"Following the award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy, George Takei's new full-color graphic memoir reveals his most personal story of all--told in full for the first time anywhere! George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing--one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared...and it rhymes with Takei. Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the terrible fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes with Takei offers a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history. Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes with Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly--and legally--before the whole world. Looking back on his astonishing life on both sides of the closet door, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid account of how far America has come...and how precious that progress is."--Publisher.
Dan in Green Gables
A Modern Reimagining of Anne of Green Gables
Published in 2025
Abandoned to live with his grandparents in rural Tennessee, fifteen-year-old Dan adjusts to working on the farm, starting high school, and being queer in a conservative community.
The Witch's Egg
Published in 2025
"It was a spiderweb moon. And the imps did wonder. What dark delights wouldst the cat-witch conjure. By the Sardine Queen, by salt and the devil, by blackwormy earth, and by the deep, dark sea, the catwitch Urfi conjures an angel to love her and have children with her. But angels aren't meant for love, and with the embryonic egg of their unborn children, Urfi flees from her partner's violence, enduring terrible trials to find a new and safe home in the faery forest. As her children, Isobel, Batzel, and Mazel, grow up with her, they find the horrors their mother endured during her flight to the forest returning to their lives -- this time for the three of them to defeat for good. With secret magic, solemn bonds of friendship, and sisterhood, they can at last stand against the threat of the angels' terror and insanity in this dark fairytale of motherhood, magic, and apocalyptic romance"--Back cover.
Exquisite Corpses. Volume 1
Published in 2025
"Every five years on Halloween, the wealthiest families in America play a game. Twelve of the deadliest people in the world are dropped into a small town with just one goal: last killer standing wins. For the citizens of Oak Valley, Maine--this year's unlucky arena--the goal is much simpler. They must survive the night"--Page 4 of cover.
Let This One Be a Devil. Vol. 01
Published in 2025
"In the early 1900s, Henry Naughton returns home to the family farm in the swampy Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. One night, he encounters a strange predator stalking the woods. This sends the young scholar on a research project that uncovers the legend of Mother Leeds and the terrible birth of the Jersey Devil in 1735"-- Provided by publisher.
Flip
Published in 2025
"SENIOR YEAR BUCKET LIST? SWITCH BODIES WITH YOUR CRUSH. Chi-Chi Ekeh has one huge problem: She keeps having crushes on rich white boys who have no idea she exists. Enter Flip Henderson, the most popular boy at school, who receives Chi-Chi's private video proposal to go to senior prom. But when Flip rejects Chi-Chi in front of their entire class, what happens next is completely unexpected: Chi-Chi--shy nerd and scholarship student--switches bodies with Flip. Suddenly Chi-Chi is 6'1" and cool, while Flip gets a crash course on Chi-Chi's life--that is, K-pop, hair-braiding, and being a poor kid of color at a rich white private school. With graduation looming and their body swaps lasting longer and longer, Chi-Chi and Flip must form the most unlikely friendship their school has ever seen. But will they survive senior year? And, most importantly, can they find a way back to themselves? From bestselling author of Check, Please! comes Flip, a thrilling and fantastical tale about self-acceptance, Black girlhood, and how walking a mile in someone else's shoes can teach you how to finally see yourself"--Publisher's website.
Song of a Blackbird
Published in 2025
"In 1943 Amsterdam, Emma Bergsma's world changes when she witnesses Jewish families being forcibly deported to concentration camps. That pivotal moment lights a fire within her, and she decides to jointhe Dutch Resistance. Before long, Emma is drawn into a clandestineworld of printing presses and counterfeiters, with thousands of lives on the line. In 2011 Amsterdam, teenage Annick's world has changed as well. A search for a bone marrow donor for her beloved oma leads to a shocking revelation: her grandmother was secretly adopted as a child. The only clues to finding their lost family are a series ofart prints hanging on the wall--each signed by a mysterious "Emma B.""-- From publisher description.
Skin
Published in 2025
"Feeling adrift after her daughter leaves the nest, Rita makes the audacious move to model nude for a live drawing class. There, she meets Esther, an artist who sees beyond the superficial and captures people's true essences in her drawings. The two connect as kindred spirits, and their unexpected, yet endearing relationship teaches them to accept their eccentricities and feel comfortable in their own skin. Skin is the striking debut graphic novel by writer Mieke Versyp and illustrator Sabien Clement. In this seamless collaboration, poetic turns of phrase pair with impressionistic watercolors, creating a tangible intimacy between words and imagery. Keen observation and dynamic artistry combine to tell a tender story of the human condition, as playful and devastating as life itself."-- Provided by publisher.
The Flip Side
Published in 2025
After losing his best friend to cancer, grieving Theo navigates a haunting alternate reality that embodies his depression, where he faces a shape-shifting monster and teams up with a mysterious girl to survive in a world where everyone has vanished.
More Weight
A Salem Story
Published in 2025
"Every word is an accusation...and every whisper kills." This staggering graphic novel explores the infamous Salem witch trials and the long shadows they cast more than 300 years later. In Salem, Massachusetts, 1692 is a year of terror. When accusations of witchcraft plunge the community into paranoia and death, curmudgeonly farmer Giles Corey and his great-souled wife Martha are forced to confront their troubled pasts, fighting to hold onto their principles even at the cost of their lives. In the 1860s, famed writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stroll the streets of Salem together, reflecting on their own dark connections to those wicked days. Today, graphic novelist Ben Wickey wrestles with the complex legacy of "the Witch City" and what it shows us about the best and worst of humanity. Based on true events, set in three centuries, and hand-drawn over a decade, More Weight is a stunning visual symphony -- a unique and profound inquiry into the infamous Salem witch trials and the long shadows they still cast on us all.
Hello Sunshine
Published in 2025
"Noah is heartbroken. He returns from Bible camp to find that Alex, his secret boyfriend, has had a breakdown and disappeared. He wishes more than anything that he hadn't left that day. Sky is determined. She'll stop at nothing to find her childhood friend, even if it means alienating the people she loves. Izzy is ashamed. She knew something weird was going on with Alex, and she didn't say anything to her boyfriend, Jamie--Alex's twin brother. If she had, would Alex still be here? Jamie is angry. Angry at Alex for being gone, angry at himself for not noticing something was wrong, and angry at his long-dead mother, Desdemona, who had problems of her own. But what if there was something more to Desdemona's demons? Why is Jamie seeing her ghost? And can he get past his hatred of her if it means finding out what happened to his brother?"-- Page 4 of cover.