Our selection of 61 anticipated YA and adult graphic novels for winter 2026 isn’t just escapism–they’re dispatches, drawn in real time. In a season shadowed by censorship battles, culture-war whiplash, climate dread, and the nonstop renegotiation of who gets to be safe, seen, and believed, comics are doing what they’ve always done best: turning the pressure into story.
Across YA breakouts and adult heavy-hitters, creators are tracing the fault lines of the moment with bracing specificity: Archie Bongiovanni skewers the performance and vulnerability of queer internet fame in Leo Rising; Jarrett Dapier and AJ Dungo dramatize student resistance to book bans in Wake Now in the Fire; and journalist-historian Mariam Naiem, with artists Yulia Vus and Ivan Kypibida, maps Ukraine’s centuries-long fight against Russian domination in A Brief History of a Long War. Elsewhere, Ezra Claytan Daniels and Camilla Sucre fuse bayou horror with racial terror in Mama Came Callin’, while Sofia Szamosi exposes the “troubled teen” industry’s machinery in Bad Kid. And when the lens swings to the global supply chain and digital afterlife of extraction, Saul Williams and Morgan Sorne bring the heat with the cyberpunk fable Martyr Loser King.
Even the fantasies and genre rides crackle with sign-of-the-times urgency: Robert Mgrdich Apelian reworks Armenian and Persian mythology into family-and-survival stakes in Fustuk; Mari Costa spins exorcism into electric queer romance in The Demon of Beausoleil; and Bérénice Motais de Narbonne drops readers into a dystopian youth-culture fever dream in Metadoggoz.
Consider this your winter stack of must read books: gorgeous, furious, tender proof that in 2026, graphic novels aren’t just reflecting the zeitgeist—they’re interrogating it, panel by panel.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY
The Pass
Author: Katriona Chapman
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Jan. 21 (Comics Shops) / Jan. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover
In this keenly observed character study, up-and-coming London chef Claudia struggles to balance the weight of ambition with her personal life.
In her early thirties, Claudia is fast becoming a sensation on the culinary scene. While putting her chic London restaurant, Alley, on the map, she decides to enter the upcoming Chef of the Year competition. All this, as she is also attempting to make a name for herself beyond the shadow of her famous chef father. As the day of the competition nears, tensions simmer as the pressures of ambition, business, family, and friendship threaten to throw her world awry.
In The Pass, NYT-reviewed British comic artist Katriona Chapman brings to life the fast-paced, high-pressure atmosphere of restaurant life, with a lived-in cast of characters including chef Claudia, her best friend and sous chef Lisa, and barman Ben. Chapman delves into themes of identity, the pains of expectation and success, and the allure of running from the life you’ve built. A sensitive and affecting slice of life, rendered in soft digital coloring.
Leo Rising: Queer Spaces, Sexuality, and Fame
Author: Archie Bongiovanni
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Release Date: Jan. 20
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover
From the artist behind the hit A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns, Archie Bongiovanni, an examination of the intersection of fame, identity, and sexuality in their latest audacious and genuine LGBTQIA+ graphic novel, Leo Rising
Lesbian influencer. Lifelong Alaskan. Part-time owl researcher. Leo Rising follows self-proclaimed “celesbian” Laura on a hilarious and heart-wrenching exploration of queer spaces, sexuality, and fame. After years of struggling for acceptance, Laura knows exactly who she is—or does she?
By day, Laura thrives as the Internet’s lesbian bestie, a role model for thousands of followers worldwide, while working part-time at the Alaska Bird Observatory. But when an old friend returns to town and introduces Laura to queer parties and sex apps she’s never experienced, she starts questioning her gender and sexuality simultaneously.
Seeking answers, Laura creates Leo, a secret trans identity. As Leo’s encounters become more and more steamy, Laura’s divergent identities collapse with real-world consequences.
White Shadows
Writer: Antoine Ozanam
Artist: Antoine Carrion
Publisher: Magnetic Press
Release Date: Jan. 20
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover
Deception can be a deadly thing . . .
A kidnapped prince may be the key to a kingdom in conflict. But the beast who took the boy may pose more threat than the hushed fairy tales suggest . . .
One of Antoine Carrion’s first published works, White Shadows is medieval intrigue in the fine tradition of George R.R. Martin, full of hidden political agendas woven between a wide cast of players who are individually deadset on occupying the throne. With hints of the supernatural underlying everyone’s fears, this tale by writer Antoine Ozanam will have you imagining what else might be at work. And given Antoine Carrion’s beautiful scenery, your imagination will be well fed.
Fustuk
Author: Robert Mgrdich Apelian
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Release Date: Jan. 20
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover / $17.99 Paperback
Inspired by Armenian and Persian mythology, this delectable YA graphic novel follows the youngest of three dysfunctional siblings who strike a magical deal to save their mother’s life.
Seventeen-year-old Katah Fustukian has always felt like the odd one out in his family of chefs. Unlike his older siblings, he is useless in the kitchen, and too young to have known their late father—a legendary Hye chef who’d made a name for himself in the Pars Empire.
But with his mom’s illness worsening, Katah hopes that his vision-like dreams are a sign of magic stirring within him—especially after they lead him to Az, a powerful div with some mysterious connection to his family. In an attempt to save their mom’s life, he and his siblings strike a deal: Az’s help in exchange for a dish that rivals their father’s.
But after the siblings clash over what to cook, Katah will have to make sense of his magic and family history—and wager far more than a single meal to meet Az’s demands…
A Brief History of a Long War: Ukraine’s Fight Against Russian Domination
Writer: Mariam Naiem
Artists: Yulia Vus, Ivan Kypibida
Publisher: Ten Speed Graphic
Release Date: Jan. 27
List Price: $19.99 Hardcover
A beautifully illustrated and comprehensive graphic history of Ukraine’s centuries-long struggle against Russian domination, from the Middle Ages to today’s devastating war, by an award-winning journalist and Ukrainian cultural historian
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine began long before the 2014 war that led to the Russia’s invasion in 2022. The Ukrainian people have been subjected to systematic persecution and mass atrocities by Russian and Soviet authorities across centuries—from the linguicide of the Ukrainian language and censorship of literature in the 1860s to the Holomodor famine of the 1930s, and more.
In A Brief History of a Long War, distinguished Ukrainian scholar, activist, and journalist Mariam Naiem presents a panoramic overview of the major moments in this longstanding conflict. Alongside gripping accounts of the historical foundation of the modern Ukrainian state as we know it today, Naiem seamlessly incorporates current narratives about the harrowing realities of war and the lengths citizens must go to survive.
The Demon of Beausoleil
Author: Mari Costa
Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: Jan. 27
List Price: $24.99 Paperback
A half-demon socialite-turned-exorcist and his disgruntled bodyguard have no trouble facing down the hordes of darkness—but facing their feelings for each other? Well now, that’s a whole different story . . .
Helianthes is a Cambion—a child born touched by demons. Horned, clawed, and tailed, Helianthes—Hell for short—is a devil-may-care exorcist whose devil-may-care attitude has succeeded in alienating those closest to him—all save for his long-suffering bodyguard, Elias, who sees him as less a strange, mythical being and more just a . . . nuisance.
Together, the two venture into the streets of this psuedo-remix of Victorian London to exorcise demons (and maybe cause a little mischief on the way). But as Hell becomes increasingly drawn to his enigmatic bodyguard—and as Elias becomes increasingly aware of his feelings for his trouble of a charge—the two find themselves faced with a growing, chaotic dark that might threaten everything they’ve been working toward . . .
A world of half-demons and the boys who love them await in this epic queer romance by writer/artist Mari Costa!
Wake Now in the Fire: A Graphic Novel
Writer: Jarrett Dapier
Artist: AJ Dungo
Publisher: Ten Speed Graphic
Release Date: Feb. 3
List Price: $38.00 Hardcover / $24.99 Paperback
In this “thoughtful, personal, and deeply relevant” (Booklist, starred review) graphic novel based on a true story, a group of high schoolers in Chicago work to overturn the system-wide ban of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.
It starts as an update at one Chicago high school: copies of a certain book are no longer allowed in the classrooms or the library. But it’s not just one high school—it’s all Chicago public schools. Not even the principals know why this is happening; they just know they must comply with the order. One thing is clear: The book, which tells a story of oppression, survival, and resistance against authoritarian power, is seen as a threat, dangerous enough to ban. One other thing is clear: Some of the students aren’t going to let this go without resistance of their own.
As the extent of the ban becomes known, the students rise up. They organize a school-wide walkout and library sit-in. They publicize the banning in every forum they can: social media, the press, classes, clubs, the school paper. And most of all, they get everyone they know to read the book: Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi.
Told from multiple perspectives, based on extensive interviews with the real-life students and teachers who were affected, and written by the librarian who exposed key information about the Chicago Public Schools censorship decision, Wake Now in the Fire is a fictionalized account of a true event that galvanized a community. With illustrations by Alex Award-winner AJ Dungo that perfectly capture the everyday joys, heartbreak, and stresses of high school, this graphic novel is an inspiring portrayal of student activism taking on one of the most urgent issues of our time, and a passionate reminder of why protecting the books we love matters.
Steam
Writer: Shaenon K. Garrity
Artist: Emily Holden
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Release Date: Feb. 3
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover / $14.99 Paperback
A genius humanoid escapes the university lab where she was made and gets a job at a local coffee shop in this “hilarious…excellent” (School Library Journal, starred review) young adult graphic novel perfect for fans of Giant Days and Heartstopper.
Ruby is a genius humanoid who was grown in a secret lab at the local university, created to solve science’s greatest problems. But Ruby suspects she can’t fulfill her function while trapped inside, so she breaks out.
Now living among humans, Ruby attempts to lie low and fit in as a barista at the university coffeehouse, Inkcap. Working there gives her plenty of opportunity to figure out what problems people need solving. And as far as she can tell, most humans’ biggest problem is struggling to find happiness. And what makes them happy? Love! So, Ruby uses her superpowered brain to play cupid.
As Ruby sets to work pairing up the staff and regulars at Inkcap, she feels more and more human herself: she’s got a community now, maybe even a crush. But the lab believes she’s dangerous, and it wants her back. When pursuing her own happiness leads Ruby straight into a trap, she’ll need her new motley crew of coffeehouse friends to save her from the scientist who only want to use her.
Mama Came Callin’: A Graphic Novel
Writer: Ezra Claytan Daniels
Artist: Camilla Sucre
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Release Date: Feb. 3
List Price: $25.99 Paperback
A gripping graphic horror novel set in the Florida bayou, following a young biracial woman as she uncovers her estranged father’s role in a grisly hate crime.
Kirah was born from an improbable interracial relationship that, in central Florida’s infamous Asurupa County, defied all the odds. But her idyllic childhood was shattered by an urban legend come to life. The “Gatorman” was a nightmare on the lips of kids and grown-ups alike all the way back to Jim Crow: a monster with the body of a man, the head of an alligator—and a taste for Black children. That’s who crawled into Kirah’s window when Kirah was just five years old. According to the police, it was Kirah’s own father who put on that gator mask and tried to kill her.
Twenty years later, Kirah works hard to build a life unburdened by the traumatic events of her childhood. Just when it seems like she’s managed to find her stride, her dad, fresh out of prison, crashes back into her world with a chilling message: “He’s coming for you.”
Finally forced to face the hideous family history she’s been avoiding, Kirah sets off to discover where, and who, she truly came from. And the more she learns, the more disturbing the whole picture becomes. Turns out there’s a lot more to the Gatorman than Kirah thought, and even worse: he isn’t through with her just yet.
Chicken Heart
Author: Morgan Boecher
Publisher: Street Noise Books
Release Date: Feb. 3
List Price: $23.99 Paperback
One standup comedian goes on a journey of self-discovery and explores the pitfalls and power of choosing one’s own queer narrative.
Jackie Locklear is a stand-up comedian who is trans and doesn’t know how to confront that part of himself. His Aunt Sheila’s death spurs Jackie to take a trip to the refuge Sheila built for trans folks, the Chicken Heart Love Commune. The people there represent a range of backgrounds, in contrast with the world where Jackie was raised. But as a city kid still coming to terms with his trans identity, and struggling to process his grief, the bucolic place and its residents don’t make him feel like he fits in. Through the power of humor and acceptance, Jackie is able to make space for himself.
An emotional, powerful story about finding one’s heart and opening up to people who are willing and able to love.
Keywords/Keyimages in Graphic Medicine
Editors: Lisa Diedrich, Briana Martino
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Release Date: Feb. 3
List Price: $32.99 Paperback
his book invites readers to explore the field of graphic medicine through a new concept: “keywords/keyimages.” Coined by the editors to reflect the unique combination of words and images in comics, this term offers a fresh way to understand how graphic narratives communicate experiences of health and illness. Rather than defining the field, the book aims to demonstrate its range and complexity, offering a visual and verbal resource that reveals the methods, concepts, and politics shaping graphic medicine today.
The collection brings together thirty-six contributions from comics artists, scholars, healthcare professionals, and patients, each focused on a single keyword/keyimage. Organized into five thematic sections―practice, pedagogy, process, personal/autobiographical, and politics―the book guides readers through the formal elements of comics, teaching strategies, creative processes, personal storytelling, and the broader health politics at work in the field. With visual examples alongside critical analysis, the volume encourages a “both/and” approach to reading: seeing words and images as interdependent, working simultaneously and sequentially to convey meaning.
Designed as a resource for classroom teaching and independent study, Keywords/Keyimages in Graphic Medicine offers students, scholars, and practitioners a dynamic introduction to the study of health narratives in comics. It invites interdisciplinary exploration while providing practical tools for analyzing, teaching, and creating graphic medicine texts, making it a valuable contribution to courses in comics studies, visual culture, health humanities, and beyond.
First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth
Writer: Angélique Roché
Artists: Alvin Epps, Millicent Monroe, Bex Glendining
Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: Feb. 10
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover / $19.99 Paperback
The incredible journey of activist Opal Lee—known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth—is brought to life in this biographical graphic novel that not only explores Opal’s remarkable path, but the history of the holiday of Juneteenth itself.
From the 1860s to Ms. Opal’s childhood home, from her years as a teacher to the White House, First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth seeks to give readers an insight into the history behind one of the central figures in the creation of America’s newest federal holiday, Juneteenth.
Born in 1926, Opal Lee grew up in a racially divided America and dedicated her life to overcoming the obstacles presented therein. A lifelong educator, Ms. Opal has been a community activist all her life, and would take on the movement to celebrate and commemorate Juneteenth not just as a holiday, but as a symbol of comprehensive freedom for all people.
Ms. Opal’s life personifies the fight for everyday freedom that leads to lasting change. As the Grandmother of Juneteenth says, “There is so much more to do.”
Joe the Pirate
Writer: Hubert
Artist: Virginie Augustin
Publisher: Iron Circus Comics
Release Date: Feb. 17
List Price: $18 Paperback
Marion Barbara Carstairs—”Joe” to her friends—began a life of adventure soon after her birth in 1900, when a camel accident gave her the spark of inspiration to change her name to Tuffy.
Joe was an adrenaline junkie who drove an ambulance in the First World War, piloted speedboats into history as “the fastest woman on water,” flew an airplane through a hurricane, and battled crocodiles. Her love life was no less whirlwind. “I came out of the womb queer,” she said, preferring suits and ties over dresses, and enjoying affairs with Gwen Farrar, Dolly Wilde, Marlene Dietrich, and Tallulah Bankhead among countless other women. Her longest acquaintance was Tod Wadley, a doll who was her muse, companion, and reflection. With him, she governed the Caribbean island of Big Whale Cay for forty years, living her extraordinary windswept life of romance and speed through every twist and turn of the 20th century.
Joe the Pirate brings these thrilling episodes of history to life with vivid artwork and a wryly subversive critique of the jet set; a tale of adventure, danger, and passion for our time.
Just Between Us: A Graphic Novel
Author: Adeline Kon
Publisher: Dial Books
Release Date: Feb. 24
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover / $17.99 Paperback
In this gorgeous debut graphic novel, Lydia tries to fall back in love with figure skating without falling for her competition
Lydia Chen knows how good she is on the ice. Technically perfect, she’s been the one to beat since her debut years ago.
Except now, something is missing in her performances—a spark that’s been gone for a while. Between the constant training, appealing to sponsors to fund her, and the pressure to perform, Lydia’s passion for skating has disappeared.
When her rival Elaine Yee starts training at the same rink, Lydia’s struck by the emotion in Elaine’s routines and unwillingly finds herself getting closer to her as they compete for a spot in the Olympics.
As the tension between them comes to a head, Lydia’s about to find out how a competitor can become an ally and figure out how to feel alive on the ice again.
All the Living
Author: Roman Muradov
Publisher: Fantagraphics Underground
Release Date: Feb. 24
List Price: $29.99 Paperback
A captivating mediation on existence by acclaimed artist and graphic novelist Roman Muradov.
Waking up in Purgatory, a young woman is forced to take part in a lottery, which she wins. Unfortunately for her, since she has had enough of life, the prize is to return to the world of the living and continue her life from where she had left it, with one significant difference: this time, she can see and communicate with ghosts―her own included. Her dull, monotonous life carries on, though her profound solitude is now mitigated by the presence of the ghosts of the dead, most notably her own. She discovers that living with her ghost has its advantages, until this relationship suddenly turns into a spectral triangle…
By turns compassionate and cruel, All the Living is a quiet, melancholy story full of delicate details, and unexpected humor. It’s a slow and subtle meditation on loneliness, rendered in Muradov’s shifting style, full of finesse and sensuality. A parable ― at the same time gentle, penetrating, and occasionally profane ― that marks the return of a master of the modern graphic novel.
Before We Wake
Author: Sophia Glock
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Release Date: Feb. 24
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover / $18.99 Paperback
With the dreaminess of Lore Olympus and the magic of The Girl from the Sea, here is an ethereal, paranormal romance that plays out between a waking life that feels muted and a world of lucid dreams that sparkles in full color.
Haunted by a recurring dream, Alicia borrows a book about lucid dreaming, and soon learns to take control of her sleeping life. She welcomes the arrival of her best friend’s boyfriend in her dreamworld, and soon sparks start to fly. But then he admits, when they are both awake, that he remembers everything that happened while they were asleep. Suddenly, Alicia’s dream life has become as complicated as her waking one.
In this electrifying graphic novel, Glock whisks readers on a head‑spinning romantic dream odyssey, exploring the ways in which we hold ourselves back—and what it will take to let our wildest dreams come true.
MARCH
Cave Grave: Wild West Tales
Author: Shawn Kuruneru
Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: Mar. 3
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover
In Cave Grave, the art of double-crossing is taken to a new extreme as three struggling thieves attempt to pull off the heist of a lifetime—only to realize they’ve stolen more than they bargained for.
In Poor Moon, a cowboy searching for purpose turns to bounty hunting. Catch, return, reward—it’s simple, until he picks up a bounty that’ll change his life forever. Until the hunter becomes the hunted . . .
Metadoggoz
Author: Bérénice Motais de Narbonne
Translator: Montana Kane
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Mar. 3
List Price: $24.95 Paperback
A wise-cracking, dystopian visual feast
Gael Kaldera is a self-styled “junkyard dog” who runs with his crew the Metadoggoz: a squad of teenage dirtbags living in the techno-megalopolis, the Metastation. With no place to crash after losing his friend’s guitar, he drops a tab of “metadoggo” at a late night rave with his friends and everything goes sideways. Strobing lights, teeming dance floors and endless skyscrapers form an eerie, futuristic backdrop for this daring, imaginative exploration of race, class, and belonging through the lens of youth culture and science-fiction.
In Metadoggoz, Franco-Vietnamese cartoonist Bérénice Motais de Narbonne constructs an uncomfortably familiar dystopia in which Gael and his friends slip in and out of our “real” world in search of something better. Each shepherded by a guiding spirit, they navigate the indignities of daily life: homelessness, mental illness, violence, and yearning.
Translated by Eisner Award winner Montana Kane, Metadoggoz reinvents the cyberpunk fairy tale in the vein of Tank Girl, Blade Runner, and Love & Rockets.
A Better World Is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis
Writer: Meera Subramanian
Artist: Danica Novgorodoff
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: Mar. 3
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover / $17.99 Paperback
A Better World Is Possible is a comprehensive and graphic novel guide on climate change and what you can do about it.
As climate change quickens―bringing with it extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and humanitarian crises―four teens help organize the world’s largest climate protest. Hundreds of thousands join them, taking to the streets of New York City and demanding answers. How did climate change get this bad? Who’s to blame? And most importantly: What can we do about it?
In their stunning graphic novel, New York Times best-selling illustrator Danica Novgorodoff and award-winning environmental journalist Meera Subramanian share experiences from their lives and those of the four youth activists. Through their stories, we learn the science behind our changing planet and explore solutions at hand. They show us that anyone can make meaningful change, because a better world is possible―and together, we can create it!
Unconditional: Stories of Women and the Animals They Love
Author: Cat Willett
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Release Date: Mar. 3
List Price: $24.95 Paperback
An intimate and moving collection of stories about women and their life-changing relationships with animals, told in vivid graphic novel style.
In Unconditional, popular illustrator and writer Cat Willett explores the deep, sometimes transcendent relationship between women and their animal companions. The animals she’s shared her life with have pulled her through difficult times, accompanied her through growth and transition, and taught her a great deal about pain and loss. Using rich, full-color illustrations, she shares illuminating stories of different women and their pets, including:
Terra and her parrot, Pooja, grieved together when Terra’s mother passed away from pancreatic cancer.
Tuck and Liza, two cats adopted in Ukraine and Poland, helped Brianne cope with the challenge of waiting for her journalist husband to return from an assignment in a war zone.
Hyesu adopted her dog, Dutch, from a shelter and found calm and support for her anxiety.
Finn, Pam’s rabbit, helped her redefine the meaning of family while providing companionship and support living in a big city far from home.
With these honest, pure retellings, as well as her own stories, Willett reveals the mutual bond that grows when animals are invited into our sphere and how meaningful those relationships can be.
Punk Like Me
Writer: JD Glass
Artist: Kris Dresen
Publisher: Street Noise Books
Release Date: Mar. 3
List Price: $24.99 Paperback
A queer coming-of-age story, about best friends, first love, family conflicts, and following your heart
It’s the 1980s and punk rock is blowing up in New York City. Young people from all five boroughs flock to CBGBs in Greenwich Village to see the latest band and be a part of the scene. On Staten Island, just a ferry ride away, sixteen-year-old Nina Boyd is into punk rock and comic books. She plays guitar, is a straight-A student, a champion swimmer, and is in love with her best friend.
But her best friend Kerri is a girl, and Nina knows her family would never approve. They’ve sent her to a conservative Catholic high school and they’re already suspicious of any of her friends who aren’t straight enough. As Nina’s crush grows stronger, she must choose between her family’s dreams for her and her own.
A powerful, emotional queer graphic novel about navigating rejection from family while figuring out your dreams.
Shin Zero Book 1
Writer: Mathieu Bablet
Artist: Guillaume Singelin
Publisher: Magnetic Press
Release Date: Mar. 3 (Comics Shops) / Mar. 4 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99 Paperback
Twenty years ago, the last Kaiju, a giant monster from the sea, was defeated by the Sentai, a group of colorful vigilantes. Today, Sentai are mere shadows of their former selves, relegated to low-paying odd jobs. Warren, Nikki, Heloise, Satoshi, and Sofia are part of a new generation of rent-a-hero trying to find their place in this disillusioned world where heroes have disappeared…
Benjamin
Writer: Ben H. Winters
Artist: Leomacs
Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: Mar. 10
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover
IN ONE L.A. MOTEL ROOM, A COSMIC QUEST IS ABOUT TO BEGIN . . .
More than just a writer, more than just a science-fiction icon, Benjamin J. Carp was a cultural revolutionary. Over the course of 44 novels and hundreds of short stories—including the counterculture classic The Man They Couldn’t Erase—Carp pushed the boundaries of literary respectability for the sci-fi genre and his readers’ perception of reality itself . . . until decades of amphetamine abuse and Southern California excess finally ended a mind-bending career that always just escaped mainstream success. He died in 1982.
Until 2025 . . . when Benjamin J. Carp awakens, alive, in a burned-out motel on the fringes of Los Angeles. He remembers dying. He knows he shouldn’t exist. Is he a dream? A robot? A ghost? A clone? A simulation? In his own time, Carp pondered all of these scenarios through his fiction—and now, as he treks from Studio City to Venice Beach and onward into the paranoid sprawl of 21st-century Los Angeles, he will be called to investigate his greatest mystery yet: himself.
RE: Trailer Trash Vol. 1
Author: Webtoon
Adapted By: Alyssa Villaire, Natalie Wong
Artist: Yishan Li
Publisher: Vault Comics
Release Date: Mar. 10
List Price: $19.99 Paperback
DO OVER. DO BETTER.
Tabitha Moore has lived a miserable life of regret and being treated as “Trailer Trash Tabitha.” But, after a mishap with an MRI, her mind is sent back to 1998 and into her 16-year-old body. With her life now in front of her, maybe this is the chance to redo her life!
But is it so easy to change what you already lived through?
From the bestselling Webtoon Original, RE: Trailer Trash!
Bad Kid: My Life as a “Troubled Teen”
Author: Sofia Szamosi
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Release Date: Mar. 10
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover / $18.99 Paperback
A searing personal account of the so-called troubled teen industry, this graphic memoir exposes and humanizes the harrowing experience of so many young people in behavioral correction facilities.
When she was just thirteen years old, Sofia was taken—by two people she had never seen before—to a “therapeutic wilderness program” three states away. Her own mother, terrified that Sofia was spiraling out of control, had enrolled her in an institution for “troubled teens.” But instead of finding healing, Sofia found herself trapped. Trapped inside an unregulated industry that used promises of intervention and reform to prey upon panicking parents and kids with court orders.
Over the next two years, Sofia would cycle through four different residential programs. In these places, school hours were a privilege, not a right. Contact with the outside world, including her mother, was strictly monitored. Teenage inmates were encouraged to call one another out. Still a child—ripped from her home, stripped of basic freedoms, and severed from her family and friends—Sofia struggled to understand who she really was beneath the crushing weight of the label BAD KID.
A darkly funny and intimate coming-of-age tale, this graphic memoir exposes the harrowing realities of adolescence in and out of the “troubled teen” industry of the early 2000s. And in doing so, Bad Kid explores the lasting impact of the labels we’re given—and how making art can help transmute them.
David Dastmalchian’s Through
Writer: David Dastmalchian
Artist: Cat Staggs
Editor: Jasminne Saravia
Publisher: Z2 Comics
Release Date: Mar. 10
List Price: $34.99 Hardcover
For fans of dark fantasy and psychological thrillers, a graphic novel about a perfectionist caught between reality and a crumbling dream realm where saving the world means first facing herself.
From the mind of David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil, Suicide Squad), Alix is a young woman, orphaned as a child, and isolated by perfectionism as an adult, who falls into an enchanted realm. A secret place created to serve as her sanctuary. It’s a realm under siege, transformed into a perilous land of nightmares and shadow. Now, with carnage closing in, she must piece together the clues to understand the true nature of this realm in order to save it… and herself.
The Lost Daughter of Sparta
Writer: Felicia Day
Artist: Rowan MacColl
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: Mar. 17
List Price: $28.00 Hardcover
Felicia Day, actress and instant New York Times bestselling author of the “engaging and often hilarious” (USA TODAY) You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), returns with a feminist graphic novel about the lost mythical character of Philonoe—Helen of Troy’s sister.
Helen of Troy. Clytemnestra. Timandra.
Three sisters, infamously cursed by the goddess Aphrodite to betray their husbands, are known the world over. But few know about the fourth sister: Philonoe. Lost to historical record, all we know from ancient texts is that she avoided the curse placed on her family, and was granted immortality by the goddess Artemis. But why and how did this happen?
Now, Felicia Day is determined to bring Philonoe to vivid life and fill in the missing pieces with this graphic novel retelling. Her story is a traditional hero’s journey with a feminist twist. Born as both a Spartan princess and with a wine-stain birthmark on her face, Philonoe is destined for a different fate than her sisters. Her remarkable but overlooked life is finally revealed in this clever and engaging graphic novel that is perfect for fans of The Palace of Eros and Lore Olympus.
Animan
Author: Anouk Ricard
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Mar. 17
List Price: $21.95 Hardcover
Pet therapist by day, animal-morphing pet detective by night―fear not, Animan’s on the case!
Inspired by the 1980s TV series Manimal, award-winning cartoonist Anouk Ricard pairs her unique brand of absurd storytelling and impeccable comedic timing to deliver the riotously funny adventures of Animan, superhero pet detective.
A radioactive mosquito bite as a baby gives Francis the superpower of morphing into any animal at will. Learning to keep his powers secret from an early age, Francis takes up pet therapy as his day job, the perfect cover for his secret identity as Animan.
Francis uses his fantastical gift to treat his animal patients, go undercover to solve murders, and battle it out with his nemesis, Objecto, a man capable of transforming into any and every possible object. And to top it all off, in his free time Francis is an avid watercolorist, who enjoys drawing landscapes and risqué portraits of his frog girlfriend, Fabienne.
Winner of the 2025 Grand Prix at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, veteran cartoonist Ricard delivers a fresh take on the superhero genre, imbued with her signature slapstick sensibility, preposterous scenarios, and off-the-wall punchlines.
The Shadower
Authors: Maria Hoey, Peter Hoey
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Release Date: Mar. 24
List Price: $19.99 Paperback
Readers will lose themselves in this surreal spy thriller…and may find it impossible to find themselves again.
Nadia is a quiet drama student in a country divided by a brutal civil war. Amid the steady tension of armed men, checkpoints, and random violence, the theater is her one escape. One evening, after an Ibsen performance, she is given an opportunity to serve her people. Nadia bears a strong resemblance to a waitress in the next district whose café is frequented by enemy agents. Would she be willing to take her place for a week and plant recording devices? It’s a dangerous mission that will take all her acting skills to disappear into this role…but she knows that she has no choice. As Nadia settles into the other woman’s apartment and life, she becomes more immersed in this character than she ever imagined. And as one week drags into two, she realizes this isn’t going to end the way she hoped…
In The Shadower, award-winning sibling duo Peter and Maria Hoey present a haunting, ice-cold story of identity, espionage, and betrayal.
Was That Normal?
Author: Alex Potts
Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing
Release Date: Apr. 1 (Comics Shops) / Mar. 26 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99 Paperback
“It was like he’d missed the main part of the story and arrived between the big climax and the end credits. A new order had established itself and everyone, apart from him, was living happily ever after. Nothing interesting could possibly happen between now and the ending.”
Philip is searching.
For meaning. For connection. For someone to share a moment with.
By day, he works from a rented room. By night, he drifts through cafés and bars, dodging awkward chats with his landlady and hoping for something more. When he meets Gina, a local musician, things begin to shift. But relationships are messy, and Philip’s discomfort grows as he stumbles through miscommunications, emotional misfires, and the looming presence of Gina’s intense ex.
Add in a crumbling tower, gong baths (whatever they are), and the quiet ache of modern life, and you have a story that’s tender, funny, and deeply human.
A beautifully observed graphic novel about connection, confusion, and the spaces in between.
The Girl Who Draws on Whales
Author: Ariela Kristantina
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: Mar. 31
List Price: $17.99 Paperback
Reminiscent of stories like Moana, Princess Mononoke, The Never-Ending Story, Frozen, and Snow Angels, The Girl Who Draws on Whales is an epic YA grahic novel adventure about two siblings struggling for survival, who must use their art to save their world.
The Girl Who Draws on Whales is set in a fantasy world, several centuries after “The Great Flood.” Sister Wangi and younger brother Banyu live in a sea-village. Wangi has a special bond with the Great Whales that visit their sea-village and they allow Wangi to draw on their backs. Sometimes they return with new drawings on them. Wangi believes that there are other sea-villages or island settlements scattered around and that they are sending her messages but, none of the elders listen to her.
One day, a new whale arrives in the village alone, wounded, and dying—this whale has a new drawing on her back that doesn’t look like the previous drawings. Inspired by this mystery, Wangi vows to investigate. Although forbidden by her parents and the village elders, Wangi—along with a stowaway, who happens to be her brother Banyu—embark on a wondrous journey to investigate where the drawings are coming from only to find much more than they were expecting.
Runescape: Untold Tales of the God Wars
Writer: Ryan O’Sullivan
Artist: Sid Kotian, Daniel Bayliss
Publisher: Titan Comics
Release Date: Mar. 31
List Price: $17.99 Paperback
The debut graphic novel explores Gielinor, the setting for the seminal medieval fantasy MMORPGs RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, expanding on the fan-favorite God Wars Dungeon questline in a never-before-seen epic.
Also featuring an exclusive game code to unlock an in-game pet of skull protagonist Maro!
Filled with vibrant characters, daring adventure, and mysterious magicks, this debut graphic novel is one you won’t want to miss!
Delve into the Temple of Lost Ancients during the catastrophic and iconic God Wars, as four warring armies fight for control of the Godsword: the only weapon capable of killing a deity. Trapped in the center of the conflict is the undead Maro, who dreams of breaking free of his master’s clutches. But escaping from the necromancer leads to a twisting, thrilling journey for Maro when he finds allies – and enemies – across the front lines.
Darren Aronofsky’s Human Nature Book 1: A Satirical Science Fiction Graphic Novel
Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Jeff Welch
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Mar. 25 (Comics Shops) / Mar. 31 (Bookstores)
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover
From Academy Award–winning filmmaker Darren Aronofsky comes the first volume of his spectacular sci-fi trilogy, Human Nature
The visionary minds behind Black Swan and The Whale, Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel, team up with writer Jeff Welch and acclaimed artist Martín Morazzo (Ice Cream Man) for Human Nature, a razor-sharp social-satire trilogy about ambition, power, and humanity’s desperate quest for immortality.
Meet Duke: once just an ordinary nobody, now an ego-driven billionaire chicken magnate with nearly limitless wealth and power. But even endless fortune has limits―and Duke is obsessed with breaking the final barrier: death itself. Can he buy the key to defy death, or has his unchecked ambition finally gone too far?
Overflowing with twisted humor, surreal adventures, and dazzling visuals, Human Nature hurtles readers into a bizarre yet unsettlingly familiar future, confronting unimaginable obstacles at every turn.
It’s a gripping, audacious ride that only Aronofsky could conjure―one that races forward at breathtaking speed, promising even greater thrills as the trilogy unfolds.
The Undertaker Volume 1: The Gold Eater & Dance of the Vultures
Writer: Xavier Dorison
Artist: Ralph Meyer
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Mar. 25 (Comics Shops) / Mar. 31 (Bookstores)
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover
Jonas Crow is not your average mortician. Tall, lean, and accompanied by a carrion-eating vulture, he travels the Old West in a black hearse, providing final rites for those who can afford them. But Jonas is a man with a past as dark as the clothes he wears―and his newest client is about to make life very difficult for the living.
When the wealthy and hated mining tycoon Joe Cusco summons Crow, it’s for a peculiar request: Cusco knows he’s dying, and he plans to take his vast fortune with him. By swallowing his hoard of gold nuggets before drawing his last breath, he turns his own body into a literal treasure chest.
Now Jonas Crow must transport the gold-filled corpse across a desert crawling with outlaws, desperate miners, and Cusco’s own vengeful former employees. With a straight-laced English governess and a mysterious woman named Rose by his side, Crow must navigate a trail of greed where the line between the “good guys” and the vultures is razor-thin.
The Court Charade: A Graphic Novel
Author: Kerascoët
Adapted By: Flore Vesco
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Mar. 25 (Comics Shops) / Mar. 31 (Bookstores)
List Price: $22.99 Hardcover
From the New York Times bestselling illustrators of Beauty and Beautiful Darkness comes a fleet, tongue-in-cheek adult fairy tale graphic novel where love is found in the least likely places and nothing is quite what it seems . . .
This lighthearted, sharply witty adult fairy tale is a delightful and quirky take on toxic workplaces, with a dash of Puss in Boots–style antics and a little romance thrown in for good measure.
Serine is a poor but plucky daughter of a sickly nobleman who must make her way in the royal court to avoid being married off once her father dies. Although she is illiterate and owns only one dress, she manages to charm her way into the fickle queen’s good graces―but the royal court is not a kind place for a country bumpkin.
Silly, sweet Serine must smarten up if she wants to survive the queen’s fits of pique, the court ladies’ gossip, and the royal advisor’s evil schemes.
With nothing but her wits and the help of the friendly, handsome torturer’s apprentice, can she find a way to save her job, save the kingdom, and find true love along the way? Or will she be forced to play the fool?
Mrs. Orwell
Writer: Andrea Chalupa
Artist: Brahm Revel
Publisher: 23rd Street
Release Date: Mar. 31
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover
Eileen Blair, wife and partner of George Orwell, is brought out of her husband’s shadow in this riveting graphic novel, which follows the couples’ tireless campaign to expose difficult political truths through art.
The Roaring Twenties are over, fascism is on the rise across Europe, and the dream of a workers’ paradise is all but dead. But in the midst of these turbulent times, a love story unfolds―one that will forever reshape our political language and how we view the future.
Mrs. Orwell follows poet Eileen Blair and her husband, George Orwell, as they forge the professional and romantic partnership that will eventually bring us Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. From a honeymoon fighting in the Spanish Civil War to narrow escapes from Stalin’s agents and the London Blitz, the Blairs’ campaign against fascism brings them face-to-face with some of the greatest threats of the 1930s. But while George struggles to make his voice heard despite political censorship, Eileen must fight to preserve her own voice within a marriage that threatens to consume her.
This sweeping account of Eileen Blair’s brief but dazzling life casts a light on a long-overlooked figure and her persistent defense of that most beloved, most vulnerable principle: the power of the pen.
How to Survive the End of the World: A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction
Author: Katy Doughty
Publisher: MITeen Press
Release Date: Mar. 31
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover / $14.99 Paperback
In a full-color debut, a graphic novelist takes an engrossing, gleefully existential deep dive into the many ways that humanity could—and almost did—meet its end.
Since 99.9 percent of all species that have lived are extinct, it’s bound to be our turn eventually, right? So what’s most likely to kill us? A well-timed asteroid? Some new robot overlords? With wit and dry humor, debut graphic novelist Katy Doughty blends science and history to explore our chances of surviving disasters such as plagues, global warming, and alien invasion. Drawing on interviews with experts in fields like infectious diseases, AI, and interplanetary exploration, she combines cutting-edge research with compelling visuals: mugshots of the deadliest microbes, graphs of the winners and losers of mass extinction events, and a whole lot of dinosaur drawings. For apocalypse aficionados, the morbidly curious, and the just plain curious, this is your antidote to existential dread—a timely, imaginative, and ultimately hopeful take on humankind’s ability to survive the odds.
Creased Comics
Author: Brad Neely
Publisher: New York Review Comics
Release Date: Mar. 31
List Price: $24.95 Paperback
Hungry bridge trolls, limousine werewolves, and other absurd characters populate these delightfully irreverent gag cartoons from the golden days of webcomics.
Beginning at the dawn of the new millennium, the animator Brad Neely materialized as one of the funnier voices on the internet. Youtube hits like the foul-mouthed George Washington, his demented audiobook retelling of Harry Potter in Wizard People, Dear Readers, and the alarmingly prescient Adult Swim TV show China, IL (starring the voices of both Greta Gerwig and Hulk Hogan) all reveal how Neely captured a kind of freewheeling online spirit that is fading fast.
During this ascent, Neely was also quietly mastering another form, the webcomic, where he spliced together historical figures, fairy tales, wildlife, and absurd gag setups into truly laugh-out-loud cartoons: hungry bridge trolls ready to devour local “chappies”; Caesar’s real killer (Jeffrey); the Boo-Boo Maker; limousine werewolves; superheroes trying and failing to rescue Christ; and more eye-blasting thrills.
Gathered here for the first time along with Neely’s reflections about his work, Creased Comics is a portal into a truly individual creative mind, and a snapshot of some of the best days for webcomics.
APRIL
All the Cameras in My Room
Author: Michael DeForge
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Apr. 7
List Price: $24.95 Hardcover
Michael DeForge has been dissecting the comics visual language for more than a decade and continues his creative winning streak with his tenth book for D&Q and second collection of short stories, All the Cameras in My Room.
The prolific cartoonist’s hilarious and horny approach to comics fiction never disappoints. In “Figure Skating,” a star athlete’s impossible feats captivate the world, turning a simple skater’s rotation into a catalyst for national paralysis. While in “Holiday Special,” a narrator tells us about his favorite Christian holiday special that bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain bald-headed-boy-and-his-dog classic. No matter the conceit, characters in All the Cameras in My Room stretch and flatten and spiral around each other and burrow deep into the folds of a reader’s brain.
DeForge’s stories break down how we consume pop culture, interrogate our relationship to star power and recontextualize our nostalgia into a shared mythology, cementing his place as the most consistent and beguiling cartoonist working today.
Post Malone’s Big Rig Vol. 1
Created By: Post Malone
Writer: Adrian Wassel
Artist: Nathan C. Gooden
Editor: Der-shing Helmer
Publisher: Vault Comics
Release Date: Apr. 8 (Comics Shops) / Apr. 7 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99 Paperback
Evil Dead meets Mad Max: Fury Road in Post Malone’s BIG RIG, a “batsh*t, sulfur-soaked, pedal-to-the-metal gorefest” (Matt Dinniman, Dungeon Crawler Carl) set in medieval Europe, where the only thing standing in the way of the horde of demons infesting the continent is a mysterious armored 18-wheeler seemingly sent from the heavens.
The Dark Ages… Demon hordes plague Europe as Hell invades Earth. The Six Petals, a secret sect of The Knights Templar, pray for a holy weapon to drive back the scourge. What crashes to earth instead is The Rig, a fully loaded tractor trailer. In the aftermath of its arrival, the only man left standing is an enigmatic former priest. He will become Trucker and lead the fight against Hell—with 25 tons and 18 wheels of demon-slaying machine.
Punk’n Heads
Writer: Dave Baker
Artist: Nicole Goux
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Release Date: Apr. 7
List Price: $19.99 Paperback
This band plays together, lives together…and unfortunately two of them are sleeping together. Whatever, I’m sure it’s fine. Now put on your punk’n mask and let’s rock!
Hannah Lipsky isn’t sure what’s happening. She dreamed of becoming a fine art painter, but after breaking up with her girlfriend, she’s suddenly dropped out of art school, moved into a flophouse, and gotten roped into singing in a campy horror-punk band. With costumes. To make things even more complicated, she might be hooking up with her housemate/bandmate/high school crush, Jerry. Wherever this is leading, it’s going to be messy.
Critically acclaimed, Eisner-nominated creators Nicole Goux (Forest Hills Bootleg Society, Pet Peeves) and Dave Baker (Everyone Is Tulip, Mary Tyler MooreHawk) join forces for a raucous and revealing new graphic novel about making music, making mistakes, facing your past, and choosing your future.
Tiodora’s Letters: An Enslaved Woman’s Fight for Family and Freedom
Author: Marcelo D’Salete
Translator: Andrea Rosenberg
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Apr. 7
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover
Inspired by the powerful true story of Tiodora da Cunha Dias, Eisner Award-winner D’Salete reconstructs a forgotten part of Brazil’s dark history of slavery.
In the mid-19th century, millions of Africans were enslaved and brought to Brazil. Among them was the real-life Teodora who, separated from her husband and her son, worked in the home of a priest in São Paulo. Wishing to reconstruct the family ties lost during the journey from Africa to Brazil and to achieve emancipation for herself and her family, she gave Claro, a Black man who could read and write, money to help her write letters: some addressed to her husband and her son, whereabouts unknown, in the hopes that the letters would find them and that they could achieve this quest together; and some addressed to enslavers, intended to either help locate her family or to persuade them to let her buy her freedom.
Inspired by this correspondence, Tiodora’s Letters is a rigorously researched historical work, a compelling narrative based on her letters, and masterfully drawn by D’Salete, who graphically recreates her struggle. In the 1860s, Benê, a fictional Black young man who likes Tiodora because she was kind to him, takes it upon himself to seek Tiô’s family and deliver the letters. He embarks on a dangerous and world-building journey into the interior of Brazil and to the coffee plantations where they might be. There are many wordless passages of heartbreaking horror, character beats, breathtaking drawings of nature, and much more.
In Tiodora’s Letters, D’Salete reconstructs a forgotten part of Brazil’s dark history of slavery and pays tribute to the strength of a woman who fought for her rights single-handedly. Includes educational and contextual material.
Comic Therapy: Meditations for Reflection
Author: Kay Medaglia
Publisher: SelfMadeHero
Release Date: Apr. 7
List Price: $18.99 Hardcover
From the creator of One Year Wiser, this unique collection of short comic strips is designed to offer moments of calm well-being and thoughtful reflection while lifting readers’ spirits with lighthearted humor
In Comic Therapy, readers will find a range of comic strips that blend heartwarming messages and gentle wit, creating a space where readers can unwind, laugh, and feel inspired—all within a few panels. The charm of this collection of homely homilies lies in its ability to address real-life challenges with a sense of optimism, focusing on themes like self-compassion, resilience, and mindfulness. Each of its beautifully imagined sequences serves as a temporary retreat from the pressures and anxieties of daily life, with each page offering a blend of encouragement and humor. By using visual storytelling, Comic Therapy engages readers in a nonintrusive yet impactful way inviting them to pause, smile, and reconnect with their inner calm. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone looking for a momentary escape, a laugh in tough times, or a much-needed boost of positivity. Whether read all at once or savored a little at a time, Comic Therapy builds into a tool kit of emotional wellness, and a perfect go-to for personal reflection or to share with a friend in need of a cheerful lift. Into a world filled with noise, Comic Therapy sends a quiet voice of compelling reassurance, reminding us that it’s always OK to pause, reflect, and enjoy a lighthearted moment.
Let’s Make Cocktails!: A Comic Book Cocktail Book
Author: Sarah Becan
Publisher: Ten Speed Graphic
Release Date: Apr. 7
List Price: $22.00 Paperback
A fun and approachable comic book introduction to the wonderful world of cocktails, with tips for stocking your home bar and 60 recipes for classic drinks, from the co-author and illustrator of Let’s Make Ramen! and Let’s Make Dumplings!
Sarah Becan invites readers to wet their whistles in Let’s Make Cocktails! Featuring her colorful, engaging illustrations that have become a series favorite, the book opens with insight on the proper tools, glassware, and staple ingredients such as juices, sodas, homemade syrups, and garnishes to always have in stock. With vivid, easy-to-follow graphics, Becan guides readers through basic techniques such as shaking, stirring, muddling, and more. The book explores the origins, traditions, and popular legends surrounding foundational cocktails, including fun tidbits on drink accompaniments and occasions.
With chapters organized by spirit for easy access, readers will delight in the panelized step-by-step comic instructions for crafting a proper Gin or Vodka Martini, a refreshing Mojito, an eye-opening Bloody Mary, and more. For those who prefer non-alcoholic drinks, she also includes delicious spirit-free options such as the perfect Arnold Palmer, Fruit and Vinegar Shrub, and Lemon, Lime & Bitters. With recipes ranging from venerated standards such as the Manhattan and Last Word to popular modern classics like the Paper Plane and Oaxaca Old Fashioned, this Let’s Make Cocktails! is an accessible guide to bringing the Craft Cocktail Renaissance into your own home.
Hotel Limbo (Book 1)
Author: Ben Harel
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Release Date: Apr. 14
List Price: $19.99 Paperback
Welcome to the afterlife…may we take your bags? Hijinks and heartbreak await as this fan-favorite online comic becomes a gorgeous graphic novel!
After awakening in the middle of nowhere, a young man is forcefully inducted into the Hotel Limbo as its new bellboy (“BB” for short). Faced with magical masks, giant cats, a mysterious staff, and a hotel that just won’t sit still, BB will soon learn that helping with “baggage” means something very different when all the guests are dead.
The Extended Universe: How Disney Killed the Movies and Took Over the World
Author: Vicky Osterweil
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Release Date: Apr. 14
List Price: $26.95 Hardcover
A provocative history of Disney’s rise to cultural dominance, pulling skeletons from the corporate closet to decode the political messages hidden in all of your favorite childhood movies.
In The Extended Universe, Vicky Osterweil takes us on a quest to discover how Disney’s “imagineers” have made it impossible to reflect on the wonders of growing up without thinking of Disney’s movies, amusement parks, and merchandising. Drawing on extensive interviews with filmmakers, screenwriters, union organizers, and Disney “adults” alike, Osterweil unearths reactionary political commitments and maleficent legal maneuvers so cartoonishly evil they would make one of Walt’s own animated villains blush.
Along the way, Osterweil braids together corporate skullduggery with a not entirely unsympathetic analysis of some of Disney’s most famous movies. The result is an entertaining and convincing case that Disney’s entire business model has been built upon a ruthless and fanatical insistence on intellectual property rights―from Steamboat Willie to Avengers: Infinity War and beyond!
Twin Lotuses
Author: Zhang Xiaoyu
Publisher: Magnetic Press
Release Date: Apr. 14
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover
Love is never lost . . .
Fan is a young Chinese engineer who lost his wife in a Japanese bombing raid in 1937. Mingfeng was a popular performer at the local opera, and he is devastated by the loss. Distraught, he builds an extraordinary automaton that replaces her at the theater. Meanwhile, war rages throughout the city, and orphaned children run wild under the direction of local potentates in an attempt to thrive and survive. When those potentates take notice of the mysterious beauty, suspicions and desires start to grow. Mix in an American airman and the tensions of war, and things build to an explosive finale.
Masterfully mixing a snapshot of war-torn China with the philosophical sci-fi questions of a Philip K Dick novel, Twin Lotuses is a beautifully illustrated story capturing an ugly time and the flicker of hope, love, and ambition that shone through it all.
Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here): Comics on Pregnancy and Parenthood
Author: Julia Wertz
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
Release Date: Apr. 14
List Price: $32.00 Hardcover
Raw, honest, and hilarious, Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here) chronicles the joy and horror of becoming a mother during challenging times.
In this follow-up to the acclaimed memoir Impossible People—a book about getting sober and becoming a professional artist in New York City—cartoonist Julia Wertz returns home to Northern California where she reunites with her family and rekindles a relationship with an ex-boyfriend. After a surprise pregnancy and a marriage proposal, Julia settles (somewhat reluctantly) into a quiet life in a small town. But as 2020 approaches, her world, and the world at large, takes a sharp turn toward unexpected chaos. Through comic vignettes, essays, and diary doodles, Julia recounts the events of her pregnancy and its attendant body horror, a miscarriage, family trauma, marriage, a life-altering accident, and the joy and surprises of parenthood as it all unfolds against the backdrop of local wildfires and a global pandemic. The result of this unconventional collection is a heart-wrenching and hilarious story of adversity, resilience, and, ultimately, love.
Karl Lagerfeld: An Illustrated Biography
Writer: Alfons Kaiser
Artist: Simon Schwartz
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Apr. 14
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover
Karl Lagerfeld—a larger-than-life fashion icon who changed the industry and a living brand—comes to life in this all–new graphic novel biography that looks at the man behind the logo
“It starts with me and it ends with me.”—Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld stylized himself into a living logo and a myth of the fashion world. As a brand, his name is synonymous with luxury, and as a designer, he worked for and influenced almost every major luxury brand since the beginning of his career, from his apprenticeship with Balmain to Fendi, whose logo he designed, to his renowned tenure at Chanel from 1982–2000.
Now, FAZ editor Alfons Kaiser, who knew Lagerfeld personally, tells the story of the charismatic fashion designer in this new graphic novel biography. Using many previously unknown sources, Karl Lagerfeld explores every aspect of his colorful career. From a youthful outsider in the northern German plains to an urbane genius in Paris competing to make a name for himself against designers such as Yves Saint-Laurent, this personal look at Lagerfeld’s life paints a picture of a peerless designer, a tireless illustrator, an avid photographer, a passionate book collector, and a peerless workaholic.
But most of all, Kaiser tells the story of the man behind the larger-than-life figure: the precocious boy who preferred drawing in the attic to playing with his peers; the son who argued with his parents but never got away from them; Saint-Laurent’s greatest rival; a brother, uncle, friend—and the partner of Jacques de Bascher, the great love of his life.
Names and Faces: A Graphic Memoir
Author: Leise Hook
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release Date: Apr. 14
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover
A graphic memoir-in-essays examining the in-betweenness of being mixed-race and the cultural confrontations inherent to forging one’s identity
Who are you? What are you? And how does it feel to be you? Leise Hook was asked these intrusive questions so many times growing up that they haunted her like ghosts. Born to a Chinese mother and white American father, and growing up in Michigan, Tokyo, and Virginia, Leise Hook was never sure where she fit in. More white passing than her Chinese friends and family, but with the Mandarin skills of a native speaker, she was constantly exceeding some expectations while failing to meet others. From moving to Beijing, to dying her hair blonde, to exploring self portraiture, Hook struggles to figure out who she is and where she belongs.
In the vein of Cathy Park Hong and Gene Luen Yang, Hook’s graphic memoir-in-essays rendered via her signature, award-winning style, explores what it means to come of age as a mixed-race woman, forging a singular identity in a world intent on putting her into ill-fitting boxes.
Death to Pachuco
Writer: Henry Barajas
Artist: Rachel Merrill, Lee Loughridge
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: Mar. 18 (Comics Shops) / Apr. 14 (Bookstores)
List Price: $16.99 Paperback
A Chicano noir retelling of the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial and the Zoot Suit Riots during 1943 wartime Los Angeles, Death to Pachuco is an untold story lost from the American history books.
During the summer of 1943, Los Angeles became a hotbed of tension and conflict as a series of fierce clashes erupted between U.S. Navy members and Mexican American youth stemming from the murder of Carlos Urbano. Private eye Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez needs to find the Sleep Lagoon Killer before the racist mob kills him in the Zoot Suit Riots.
The clock is ticking—and it’s a bad time to be a Mexican.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Latinx Top Cow series La Voz De M.A.Y.O, and Helm Greycastle returns with a thrilling graphic novel, perfect for fans of true crime noir.
Poem Strip: Including an Explanation of the Afterlife
Writer: Dino Buzzati
Artist: Marina Harss
Publisher: New York Review Comics
Release Date: Apr. 14
List Price: $22.95 Paperback
There’s a certain street—via Saterna—in the middle of Milan that just doesn’t show up on maps of the city. Orfi, a wildly successful young singer, lives there, and it’s there that one night he sees his gorgeous girlfriend Eura disappear, “like a spirit,” through a little door in the high wall that surrounds a mysterious mansion across the way. Where has Eura gone? Orfi will have to venture with his guitar across the borders of life and death to find out.
Featuring the Ashen Princess, the Line Inspector, trainloads of Devils, Trudy, Valentina, and the Talking Jacket, Poem Strip—a pathbreaking graphic novel from the 1960s—is a dark and alluring investigation into mysteries of love, lust, sex, and death by Dino Buzzati, a master of the Italian avant-garde.
Oracles
Author: Olivia Sullivan
Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing
Release Date: Apr. 16
List Price: $16.99 Paperback
When the everyday becomes overwhelming, our protagonist begins to travel through the world to find wonder and a true escape―and to discover more about themself.
As they navigate through the forest, the ocean, the desert, and the mountains in a trip of peace, turmoil and reflection, the narrator encounters mushrooms, sage creatures, whirlpools and learns more about themselves in the process.
With gorgeous art and lyrical, contemplative text, this graphic novel is a passage from uncertainty to joy and understanding.
Infantoms
Author: Jim Bishop
Publisher: Magnetic Press
Release Date: Apr. 21
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover
In a world built on conformity, there’s no room for dreamers . .
At school, “Pizza Face” doesn’t exactly shine with his report card. On the contrary, he’s one of the worst dunces in school. He dreams of opening a video game store, but that’s about the extent of his ambition. He’s summoned into the guidance counselor’s office, along with a rebellious girl named Mims. Mims loves manga and doesn’t care about the system. But both of their futures are at stake this decisive year. . . If they fail, their parents are authorized to literally kill them! The pressure of this strange new policy begins to weigh on the teenagers’ shoulders, and their parents begin to slowly mutate into monsters. Can their parents really kill them if they fail classes? Pizza Face and Mims bond to face this existential threat, but soon the situation spirals out of control. . . Their race for merit becomes a race for survival, a downward spiral in a conformist world that leaves little room for imagination . . .
A modern tale with a horrific twist, Infantoms is part of a thematic trilogy by author Jim Bishop centered around childhood and the transition to adulthood. With this work, Bishop demonstrates his creative prowess following Lost Letters and My Dear Pierrot. A tribute to manga as well as a nod to our inner child, this intimate graphic novel highlights the difficulties of social integration, the excesses of society, and the value of self-confidence and friendship. A gripping album that will haunt you long after the last page
Birth Story
Author: Elisabeth Belliveau
Publisher: Conundrum Press
Release Date: Apr. 21
List Price: $20.00 Paperback
Birth Story is a graphic memoir about pregnancy, birth, postpartum depression, and new motherhood as an artist. It explores the physical and psychologically altering birth process: pain, transformation, trauma, healing, and the window of time around the birthing body. Struggling to find representations of birth and postpartum depression in popular culture and art, the author interweaves other’s stories, friendship, and travel to help make sense of it all. This personal birth story is an effort to remember and contribute to sharing strength in all women’s voices.
Someday Perfect
Author: Kat Schneider
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Release Date: Apr. 21
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover / $17.99 Paperback
In this beautiful graphic novel, a teen is tested when she falls for another camper at a Christian sleepaway camp, sparking feelings she was taught to suppress. As she grapples with the rigid expectations of her faith, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that challenges her deepest beliefs.
Summer camp is supposed to be a place to find yourself, but when you’re sent to a Christian sleepaway camp, that can be hard to do. Hemmed in by how she presents herself at school, and the expectations of her pastor father, Meg finds it hard to know just how she feels about herself… let alone how others feel about her.
When Meg runs into Danny, a soft and charming boy who also comes to the camp every summer, her feelings start to flourish. Unfortunately, with these feelings come questions. How is she supposed to fulfill the role she is supposed to play when her heart and her faith are both questioning?
This gorgeously illustrated graphic novel speaks to complexity of faith, while also exploring the power of first loves and the complicated feelings they can bring.
Anxietyland
Author: Gemma Correll
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: Apr. 28
List Price: $33.00 Hardcover
In the tradition of Allie Brosh and Roz Chast, award-winning popular cartoonist, writer, and illustrator Gemma Correll’s humorous and poignant graphic memoir about her lifelong struggle with severe anxiety.
Gemma brings readers into the surreal world of Anxietyland, an amusement park in her own mind. In pages packed with humor and pathos she captures the experience of mental illness—including severe anxiety, agoraphobia, depression, panic attacks, and disassociation—which can take her to a frightening and darkly funny world that “feels like a place apart from ‘real’ life.”
With humor that is both gentle and precise, and accompanied by her trademark illustrations, Gemma approaches mental illness in a uniquely imaginative and approachable way. And in the ultimate sleight of hand, she’s written a charming and moving book about anxiety that won’t make you feel anxious.
Everything in Color: A Love Story
Author: Stephanie Stalvey
Publisher: 23rd Street
Release Date: Apr. 28
List Price: $29.99 Hardcover
Interrogating her own upbringing in an evangelical community, Stephanie Stalvey weaves a story of faith, alienation, romance and acceptance, in this beautifully painted graphic memoir.
Stephanie grew up in an evangelical community where love and obedience were overlapping themes. In this world, sin was inevitable, her body was a temptation, and desire was dangerous. Her own thoughts could not be trusted, because she was only saved if she believed the “right things” about God.
But as she grew, built a life of her own, and fell in love with a young seminarian named James, the complexities of the human experience became impossible to ignore. Was God truly so exacting and judgmental? Could faith exist beyond these rigid borders? Could love be both passionate and pure? Her connection to James―honest, caring and sensual―became a safe place for her worldview to expand. And when their son was born, she understood love in a whole new way… suddenly, everything was sacred, everything was in color.
Through striking prose and beautiful mixed media illustrations, Stalvey takes us on an emotional journey of faith, romance, motherhood and loss. With tenderness and honesty, she unravels the fear and guilt woven into her past, reclaims her sense of self, and shows us how to embrace a love that is healing, transformative, and wholly one’s own.
Martyr Loser King
Writer: Saul Williams
Artist: Morgan Sorne
Publisher: 23rd Street
Release Date: Apr. 28
List Price: $34.99 Hardcover
Incisive questions about capitalism, colonialism, and the future of technology abound in this cyberpunk fable from visionary poet, performer, and director Saul Williams.
Can you name the ghost in your machine? The precious ore coltan can be found in every cell phone and computer on earth. And in a small East African country, both the Black population and the land are exploited for this precious resource―the people as a source of cheap, expendable labor; the land as a mining site and international dumping ground for defunct technology.
Yet from the rubble, creativity and rebellion rise. An encounter between a miner and an otherworldly stranger named Neptune results in the birth of a hacker named MartyrLoserKing, and the launch of a global cyberattack. Their plan will rock the world to its foundations, upend centuries of institutional abuse, and, perhaps, usher in a new age of understanding.
Steeped in mythology and history and inspired by present-day events, this cyberpunk fable from visionary poet, musician, and director Saul Williams is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful vision of the future.
Closing Act
Author: Chris W. Kim
Publisher: Conundrum Press
Release Date: Apr. 28
List Price: $30.00 Paperback
Lea walks her usual route through the city when a young man steals her bag. She chases him into an alley but quickly loses her bearings—each alley leads into yet another alley, the sounds of the city fade away, and the thief is nowhere to be seen. Hopelessly searching for an exit, she eventually encounters Dee, one of the alleyfolk who obsessively makes maps of his surroundings and is convinced that the alleys have been gradually narrowing over time. The more of these alleyfolk Lea gets to know, the more she sees that they agree: the labyrinth they inhabit is shifting, creating a state of deep uncertainty. When the presence of the thief becomes a subject of contention, Lea finds herself entangled in the affairs of a world fated to end soon. Closing Act examines the complex networks that make up a city and finds a strange, shifting environment within it, one where its inhabitants face a looming existential threat.
Soviet Land: A Tragicomic Thriller Graphic Novel
Author: Pierre-Henry Gomont
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Apr. 28
List Price: $34.99 Hardcover
A must-read thriller at turns madcap and melancholy, about a down-on-their-luck duo of swindlers looting their way through the decaying remains of the USSR
1990s. Russia. The USSR has ceased to exist. Its dimly remembered promises of utopia have dried up, and amongst the rubble, scavengers and looters abound.
Amongst the vast Russian tundra and decaying Soviet buildings, two such scavengers engage in a rather dubious pastime—getting their hands on all sorts of trinkets that might interest wealthy investors(Opens in a new browser tab).
Slava, once a promising young painter, has abandoned his career and ideals to scrounge around with a pal from his school days, the consummate conman Lavrin. The future is up for grabs, and in this anything-goes, dog-eat-dog new world order, Lavrin assures Slava anything and everything can be bought and sold.
If you enjoyed this list of 61 anticipated YA and adult graphic novels for winter 2026, check out The Beat’s list of anticipated manga for winter 2026!
