Stories offer us the consolation of other lives lived, of community and purpose. And while the world is a much scarier, darker place this summer, the stories told in these 75 graphic novels for summer 2022 provide comfort, empathy, inspiration, escape, and a lifeline in which to anchor ourselves from the mind-numbing craziness around us.
Rachel Smythe returns with the sequel to her wildly popular LORE OLYMPUS. Nick Drnaso’s ACTING CLASS explores how a charismatic leader can blur the lines between moral and immoral for the social misfits who fall under his spell. Noah Van Sciver (FANTE BUKOWSKI) reflects on how art touches on some of life’s bigger questions while Mark Crilley (AKIKO), and Kate Galvino (LAST NIGHT’S READING) provides sage advice on the creative process and on breaking into the book industry. Takaji Fujimoto’s acclaimed one-shot web manga tackles the subject of mass murder on a college campus and the challenges presented in its aftermath. Kate Beaton gives readers a peak into the life of those working in the Canadian oil sands, where trauma is a persistent threat. The husband and wife duo of Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due team with illustrator Marco Finnegan on a supernatural classic of horror that addresses the harsh realities that Black American face. And there is so much more, from the light escapism of rom-coms to epic stories about courage and hope triumphing over death and destruction.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the 75 graphic novels for summer 2022!
JULY
Sprawl: A Graphic Novel
Writer: Felix Cheong
Artist: Arif Rahman
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Editions
Release Date: Jul. 1
List Price: $19.95
A hardboiled detective. His knuckleheaded partner. And a bar girl with a mysterious past. Their lives intersect in the most unlikely of places – a murder scene, where a minister who killed himself 20 years ago, is found dead again. In the tradition of noir comics like Sin City, SPRAWL is gritty and laced with dark humour. Innovative and surprising in its blend of poetry and art, SPRAWL is the first in a new graphic novel series by Felix Cheong and Arif Rafhan.
Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Adventure
Cartoonist: Lewis Hancox
Publisher: Graphix
Release Date: Jun. 8 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 / Jun. 7 (Bookstores)
List Price: $27.99 Hardcover / $14.99 Paperback
A groundbreaking memoir about being a trans teen, in the vein of Fun Home and Flamer… and at the same time entirely its own. Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she’s confused about who to snog. He knows she’s really a he and will ultimately realize this… but she’s going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point. Lewis is trying to tell her this… but she’s refusing to listen. In WELCOME TO ST. HELL, author-illustrator Lewis Hancox takes readers on the hilarious, heartbreaking, and healing path he took to make it past trauma, confusion, hurt, and dubious fashion choices in order to become the man he was meant to be. It’s a remarkable, groundbreaking graphic memoir from an unmistakably bold new voice in comics.
Wash Day Diaries
Writer: Jamila Rowser
Artist: Robyn Smityh
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Release Date: Jun. 15 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 5 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.95
Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith originally kickstarted their critically acclaimed, award-winning slice of life mini comic, Wash Day, inspired by Rowser’s own wash day ritual and their shared desire to see more comics featuring the daily lived experiences of young Black women. WASH DAY DIARIES includes an updated, full color version of this original comic—which follows Kim, a 26-year-old woman living in the Bronx—as the book’s first chapter and expands into a graphic novel with short stories about these vibrant and relatable new characters. In expanding the story of Kim and her friends, the authors pay tribute to Black sisterhood through portraits of shared, yet deeply personal experiences of Black hair care. From self-care to spilling the tea at an hours-long salon appointment to healing family rifts, the stories are brought to life through beautifully drawn characters and different color palettes reflecting the mood in each story. At times touching, quiet, triumphant, and laugh out loud funny, the stories of WASH DAY DIARIES pay a loving tribute to Black joy and the resilience of Black women.
The Dark Room
Cartoonist: Gerry Duggan
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Scott Buoncristiano, Tamra Bonvillain
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: Jun. 29 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 5 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
The hunt for a camera containing an undeveloped photo of the face of true evil threatens to wipe out New York City one chilly autumn evening. Doune Mahoney is the curator of a private collection of extremely dangerous cursed objects, and her night’s about to go to hell. Werewolves, secret societies, blessed animals, cursed objects, and more in a fantasy horror comedy from X-Men and Deadpool writer Gerry Duggan, your new favorite artist Scott Buoncristiano, and color artist extraordinaire Tamra Bonvillain. Take a deep dive into THE DARK ROOM, a world the creators will be returning to for many years. Includes the first appearance of your new favorite characters, including Walt, the dancing bones of Times Square, and his blessed boom box.
Taproot: A Story About A Gardener and A Ghost
Cartoonist: Keezy Young
Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: Jun. 29 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 5 (Bookstores)
List Price: $15.99
Blue is having a hard time moving on. He’s in love with his best friend. He’s also dead. Luckily, Hamal can see ghosts, leaving Blue free to haunt him to his heart’s content. But something eerie is happening in town, leaving the local afterlife unsettled, and when Blue realizes Hamal’s strange ability may be putting him in danger, Blue has to find a way to protect him, even if it means . . . leaving him.
Lore Olympus Volume Two
Cartoonist: Rachel Smythe
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Release Date: Jul. 6 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 5 (Bookstores)
List Price: $27.99 Hardcover / $21.00 Paperback
Persephone was ready to start a new life when she left the mortal realm for Olympus. However, she quickly discovered the dark side of her glamorous new home—from the relatively minor gossip threatening her reputation to a realm-shattering violation of her safety by the conceited Apollo—and she’s struggling to find her footing in the fast-moving realm of the gods. Hades is also off-balance, fighting against his burgeoning feelings for the young goddess of spring while maintaining his lonely rule of the Underworld. As the pair are drawn ever closer, they must untangle the twisted webs of their past and present to build toward a new future. This edition of Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated webcomic LORE OLYMPUS brings Greek mythology into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.
The Elusive Samurai Vol. 1
Cartoonist: Yusei Matsui
Publisher: Viz Media
Release Date: Jul. 6 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 5 (Bookstores)
List Price: $9.99
In medieval Japan, eight-year-old Hojo Tokiyuki is the heir to the Kamakura shogunate. But the Hojo clan is in decline, and Tokiyuki’s peaceful days of playing hide-and-seek with his teachers come to an abrupt end when his clan is betrayed from within. The lone survivor of his family, Tokiyuki is the rightful heir to the throne, but to take it back, he’ll have to do what he does best—run away! After the massacre of his family by the traitor Ashikaga Takauji, Tokiyuki flees with the help of a handful of loyal retainers who have also survived the purge. One of them is Suwa Yorishige, an ally of the Hojo clan and lord of Suwa province. The slightly odd Yorishige also claims to be clairvoyant and foretells that Tokiyuki will one day become the ruler of Japan. But for the moment, escaping from enemy territory is the priority!
Wait For Me Yesterday In the Spring (Light Novel)
Writer: Mei Hachimoku
Artist: Kukka
Publisher: Airship
Release Date: Jul. 13 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 12 (Bookstores)
List Price: $14.99
Two years ago, high schooler Kanae left his small island community of Sodeshima to pursue his academic dreams in Tokyo. When that life falls short of his expectations, he runs away from home to return to Sodeshima as and his childhood friend, Akari. But before they can rekindle their old feelings for each other, the clock strikes six and Kanae finds himself inexplicably thrust forward four days into the future. Worse, he learns that Akito, Akari’s older brother—and Kanae’s childhood hero—is dead. Except death might not be the end for Akito. As Kanae tries to fill in the four-day gap of his memories, Akari explains: he’s about to relive those four days in reverse order in a phenomenon known as “Rollback.” Kanae himself explained it to her…in a past he hasn’t yet experienced. Armed with this new knowledge, Kanae is determined to leverage Rollback however he can to save Akito’s life—and Akari’s heart.
Talk To My Back
Cartoonist: Yamada Murasaki
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Jul. 13 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 12 (Bookstores)
List Price: $29.95
“Now that we’ve woken from the dream, what are we going to do?” Chiharu thinks to herself, rubbing her husband’s head affectionately. Set in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Tokyo, Murasaki Yamada’s TALK TO MY BACK (1981–84) explores the fraying of Japan’s suburban middle-class dreams through a woman’s relationship with her two daughters as they mature and assert their independence, and with her husband, who works late and sees his wife as little more than a domestic servant. While engaging frankly with the compromises of marriage and motherhood, Yamada remains generous with the characters who fetter her protagonist. When her husband has an affair, Chiharu feels that she, too, has broken the marital contract by straying from the template of the happy housewife. Yamada saves her harshest criticisms for society at large, particularly its false promises of eternal satisfaction within the nuclear family—as fears of having been “thrown away inside that empty vessel called the household” gnaw at Chiharu’s soul. Yamada was the first cartoonist in Japan to use the expressive freedoms of alt-manga to address domesticity and womanhood in a realistic, critical, and sustained way. A watershed work of literary manga, TALK TO MY BACK was serialized in the influential magazine Garo in the early 1980s, and is translated by Eisner-nominated Ryan Holmberg.
Keeping Two
Cartoonist: Jordan Crane
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Jul. 13 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 12 (Bookstores)
List Price: $29.99
20 years in the making, the long-awaited graphic novel masterpiece from acclaimed cartoonist Jordan Crane. A young couple is stuck in traffic, reading a book aloud to each other to pass the time. The relationship is already strained, but between the encroaching road rage, and a novel that hits way too close to home, tensions are running especially high by the time they arrive back at their apartment. When one of them leaves to get takeout and a movie, each of the young lovers is individually forced to confront loss, grief, fear, and insecurities in unexpected and shocking ways. Crane’s formal use of the comics medium — threading several timelines and the interior and exterior lives of its protagonists together to create an increasing, almost Hitchcockian sense of dread and paranoia — is masterful. But as the title hints, there are dualities at its core that make it one of the most exciting works of graphic literary fiction in recent memory, a brilliant adult drama that showcases a deep empathy and compassion for its characters as well as a visually arresting showcase of Crane’s considerable talents. KEEPING TWO is ostensibly a story about loss, but by the end, it just might also be about finding something along the way — something that had seemed irredeemable up to that point. In that way, it’s also a deeply romantic book.
Paris
Writer: Andi Watson
Artist: Simon Gane
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: Jul. 6 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 12 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
Juliet, a penniless American art student, travels to the City of Light to study painting. To pay her way she paints portraits of wealthy debutantes. One of her subjects is Deborah, a young English woman suffocated by the narrow expectations of her aristocratic family. Juliet is equally confined by the rigid academic structure of her art education and finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Deborah. Juliet and Deborah’s love for art bring them together, even as their friends and family try to drive them apart. A fairy tale romance where the old and new worlds collide drawn by Simon Gane, the artist behind the Eisner nominated Ghost Tree and They’re Not Like Us and written by Andi Watson, author of The Book Tour, Kerry And The Knight Of The Forest and the forthcoming PUNYCORN.
The Unofficial Studio Ghibli Cookbook
Cartoonist: Jessica Yun
Publisher: Ulysses Press
Release Date: Aug. 3 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 12 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.95
Bring some magic into your kitchen with this unofficial collection of Japanese recipes inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s most beloved films. Perfect for fans of Japanese anime, manga, and comfort food cooking!
Space Story
Cartoonist: Fiona Ostby
Publisher: West Margin Press
Release Date: Jun. 8 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 12 (Bookstores)
List Price: $28.99 Hardcover / $16.99 Paperback
A quietly powerful graphic novel of hope, separation, and perseverance in the journey to reunite with those you love. Two women fall in love and start a family on a dying Earth. Only one escapes to space. Her family is still on the planet. They won’t give up until they find each other again. From debut author Fiona Ostby, SPACE STORY weaves an interstellar tale of discovering love and finding strength, courage, and hope–even in the darkest moments.
Enter the Blue
Cartoonist: Dave Chisholm
Publisher: Z2 Comics
Release Date: Jun. 29 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 12 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
For decades, seasoned players on the scene have spoken in whispered tones about The Blue: a mysterious meeting place for jazz history – a place where ghosts from this music’s storied past spring to life for those courageous enough to enter. When Jessie Choi’s mentor Jimmy Hightower collapses at a gig and loses consciousness, she finds herself reluctantly pulled back into the jazz scene she abandoned years earlier. In investigating the music and mystery behind Jimmy’s comatose state, every thread leads to the same question: is Jimmy somehow trapped in this enigma known as The Blue? In her search to save her teacher, Jessie rubs shoulders with legends, uncovers the secret history of Blue Note Records, and faces her own deepest fears.
Young Men In Love: A Queer Romance Anthology
Editor: Joe Glass, Matt Miner
Publisher: A Wave Blue World Inc
Release Date: Jul. 6 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
Haphazard pirates, wayward ghosts, dashing knights, rampaging kaiju (and down-to-earth regular joes ) are all assembled here to amaze and delight you in a wildly unique anthology celebrating love between men, from an astounding array of comics creators who know exactly how it feels. Featuring stories and art from Sina Grace, Ned Barnett, Anthony Oliveira, Charles Pulliam-Moore, Nick Robles, Ian Mcginty, and many more, YOUNG MEN IN LOVE is a heartwarming, uplifting, and vibrant return to the glory days of romance comics.
The Realist: The Last Day on Earth
Cartoonist: Asaf Hanuka
Publisher: Archaia
Release Date: Jul. 13 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
The long-awaited third collection of the Eisner Award-winning series of New York Times bestselling cartoonist Asaf Hanuka’s one-page autobiographical weekly comics returns to captivate, inspire, and challenge readers. Through scenes both real and imagined, the acclaimed Israeli cartoonist examines the joys (and pitfalls) of parenting in a politically divisive world and the ongoing struggle to manifest art even as real life humor and pathos keeps getting in the way. The internationally acclaimed and Hugo Award-nominated cartoonist’s beautifully drawn stories about self, family, society, and everything in between conjure a deeply rich and unforgettable reading experience.
Barely Human
Cartoonist: Johnny Ryan
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Ju.. 20 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 (Bookstores)
List Price: $49.99
The cartoons that keep getting Johnny Ryan banned from Instagram, collected for the first time as one big ol’ exquisitely gross picture book! Johnny Ryan’s compulsion to flout any and all accepted standards of decency in his humor and cartoons have not only garnered him a tremendous following — Instagram has banned him multiple times with hundreds of posts scrubbed from those accounts. (He can be found, currently, at @johnnyryanjohnnyryan1). Guess what? We’ve got ’em! Over 500 of the grossest, crudest, most surrealistic, scatological, and of course hilarious cartoons you’ll ever see, presented with loving care in this gorgeous, oversized collection with fine art paper. They may not meet with your approval, but you will laugh. Crafted throughout the pandemic and posted daily, these cartoons helped keep both the author and hundreds of thousands of others sane during the past two years. From conventional gag cartoons to pieces decidedly unconventional and almost Dadaist in their humor, these are some of the most visually imaginative — and comedically brilliant — single-panel cartoons ever conceived, whether in the service of boner jokes or sheer visual absurdism.
Blackwater
Writer: Jeannette Arroyo
Artist: Ren Graham
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Release Date: Jul. 20 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 (Bookstores)
List Price: $25.99 Hardcover / $17.99 Paperback
Riverdale meets Stranger Things in this debut queer YA graphic novel, developed from a hit webcomic. Set in the haunted town of Blackwater, Maine, two boys fall for each other as they dig for clues to a paranormal mystery. Tony Price is a popular high school track star and occasional delinquent aching for his dad’s attention and approval. Eli Hirsch is a quiet boy with a chronic autoimmune disorder that has ravaged his health and social life. What happens when these two become unlikely friends (and a whole lot more . . .) in the spooky town of Blackwater, Maine? Werewolf curses, unsavory interactions with the quarterback of the football team, a ghostly fisherman haunting the harbor, and tons of high school drama.
Killing Stalking: Deluxe Edition Vol 1
Cartoonist: Koogi
Publisher: Seven Seas
Release Date: Jun. 22 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 (Bookstores)
List Price: $27.99
The Mature-rated Boys’ Love horror webtoon from Lezhin that became a global manhwa hit! Get this chilling and thrilling tale in a deluxe, full-color paperback in English for the very first time. Yoon Bum, a scrawny and quiet man, has a crush on one of the most popular and handsome guys in his college: Sangwoo. After the two cross paths again, Yoon Bum’s feelings grow in intensity until they become an obsession–and he breaks into Sangwoo’s home. But what he sees inside is not the Sangwoo of his fantasies; his dreams of this alluring man abruptly turn into a nightmare. This wildly popular BL horror manhwa webtoon is the grand prize winner of the 2nd Lezhin Comics World Comic Contest, and has been published in numerous languages since its 2016 debut, winning critical praise across the globe. Now readers can own this full-color, deluxe paperback edition in English for the first time, with a special fold-out insert included in every volume!
Goblin Slayer Tabletop Roleplaying Game
Writer: Kumo Kagyu
Artist: Noboru Kannatuki
Publisher: Yen On
Release Date: Jul. 20 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 (Bookstores)
List Price: $20.00
The Four-Cornered World from the famous GOBLIN SLAYER series springs to life like never before in this tabletop role-playing game. This book contains all the information you’ll need to create characters like Dwarf Shaman, High Elf Archer, or Lizard Priest and embark on thrilling quests for the Adventurers Guild. It also includes two premade scenarios for game masters to run with their players right away. With plenty of skills and spells for every adventuring persuasion and tons of new lore, there’s something for all soon-to-be heroes within these pages!
Sleeping While Standing
Cartoonist: Taki Soma
Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing
Release Date: Jul. 27 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 21 (Bookstores)
List Price: $16.95
A series of short autobiographical strips, dropping in at important events throughout her life that shaped who she is today, told in a compelling and humorous authorial voice. We are led by Taki through her early childhood in Japan in the early 80s, to moving to Minnesota, the separation of her parents, childhood trauma, teenage angst, death, drugs, comics, health issues, love, fertility, pets and zombies; all of life is here in this book It’s a picture of a highly regarded creator, with an unflinching look at some particularly harrowing moments, but threaded through with levity and love..
As A Cartoonist
Cartoonist: Noah Van Sciver
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Jul. 27 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 26 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
A series of comic strips joined together by the theme of the author’s chosen profession — cartooning — reveals a funny and often poignant reflection on the human condition and the lives we choose to live. Acclaimed cartoonist Noah Van Sciver puts to use all the creative arrows in his quiver in this captivating collection of fiction, biography, memoir, and more. Van Sciver juxtaposes fictional stories about what life as a “19th Century Cartoonist” might have looked like with a series of autobiographical strips about life as a contemporary cartoonist, along with pieces about his father and childhood that inform the path in life he has chosen. The resultant effect is a routinely funny (Van Sciver never takes himself too seriously unless it is intended for comedic effect) but also deeply relatable book that touches on some of life’s big questions, whether about the ways we measure happiness or success, the ways we often define ourselves by our careers, or ways we can sometimes lose sight of the most important things. Van Sciver displays a love of the history and form of cartooning that recalls Art Spiegelman, a Lynda Barryesque thirst to unpack ideas of what creativity really means, and a Harvey Pekar-like way of just trying to stay alive in the face of despair.
The Liminal Zone
Cartoonist: Junji Ito
Publisher: Viz Media
Release Date: Jul. 27 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 26 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
Three-time Eisner Award winner Junji Ito presents brand-new nightmares! What destiny awaits them after the screaming? After abruptly departing from a train in a small town, a couple encounters a “weeping woman”—a professional mourner—sobbing inconsolably at a funeral. Mako changes afterward—she can’t stop crying! In another tale, having decided to die together, a couple enters Aokigahara, the infamous suicide forest. What is the shocking otherworldly torrent that they discover there? One of horror’s greatest talents, Junji Ito beckons readers to join him in an experience of ultimate terror with four transcendently terrifying tales.
The Comic Book Lesson: A Graphic Novel That Shows You How to Make Comics
Cartoonist: Mark Crilley
Publisher: Watson-Guptill
Release Date: Jul. 6 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 26 (Bookstores)
List Price: $18.99
Acclaimed illustrator and graphic novelist Mark Crilley returns with a new approach to learning the essential elements of making comics. His easy-to-follow instruction about comic book art, design, and storytelling provides aspiring creators a one-of-a-kind how-to experience. In THE COMIC BOOK LESSON, you’ll meet Emily—an enthusiastic young comics fan who has a story she needs to tell. On her quest to turn that story into a comic book, Emily meets three helpful mentors who share their knowledge. Trudy, a high school student who works at the local comics shop, teaches Emily how to create expressive characters and how art can convey action and suspense. Madeline, a self-published manga artist, teaches Emily how to use panel composition and layout to tell a story visually and how to develop a comic from script to sketch to finished pages. Sophie, a professional graphic novelist, guides Emily through fine-tuning the details of dialogue, sequence, and pacing to lead readers through the story. Page by page, you’ll discover more about the events that drive Emily to create her comic book as her mentors teach her (and you!) about the fundamentals of visual narrative and comic book art. Each lesson builds on the previous one, guiding you through the steps of planning and creating your comic, with accompanying exercises you can try for yourself. Are you ready to start your comic book lesson today?
One Beautiful Spring Day
Cartoonist: Jim Woodring
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Jul. 27 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 26 (Bookstores)
List Price: $49.99
Jim Woodring has been chronicling the adventures of his cartoon Everyman, Frank, for almost 30 years. These stories are a singular rarity in the comics form — both bone-chillingly physical in their depictions of Frank’s travails and profoundly metaphysical at the same time. Not since George Herriman’s Krazy Kat has the comics language been so exquisitely distilled into pure, revelatory aesthetic expression. Designed as a luxe paperback with vellum jacket, One Beautiful Spring Day combines three previously published volumes —Congress of the Animals, where Frank embarked upon a life-changing voyage of discovery, Fran, where he learned, then forgot, that things are not always what they seem, and Poochytown in which Frank demonstrated his dizzying capacity for both nobility and ignominy — along with 100 dazzling new pages conceived and drawn by the author. The result is a seamless, 400 page graphic narrative that forges a new and even more poignantly realized single story that takes readers deep into the hidden meanings of the previous stories and offers the most full, complete, astonishing exposition of Frank and his supercharged world to date.?
AUGUST
Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Luca Casalanguida
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Release Date: Aug. 24 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 16 (Bookstores)
List Price: $17.99
Where is Lee Harvey Oswald’s body? The Kennedy assassination is a rat’s nest of conspiracy theories: mafia involvement, the second gunman, government cover-up… but the most important one may just be the theory that the body in Oswald’s grave is not actually Lee Harvey. Meet the ragtag group of “useful idiots,” unwittingly brought together to clean up the crime of the century – a wannabe cowboy from Wisconsin, a Buddy Holly-idolizing (former) car thief, a world-weary Civil Rights activist ready for revolution, and a failed G-Man who still acts the part – and specifically, regarding the matter of Oswald’s body. Eisner Award-nominated writer, producer, and director Christopher Cantwell (Iron Man, The United States of Captain America) and artist Luca Casalanguida (Lost Soldiers, Scout’s Honor) deliver an off-kilter crime thriller set in the shadows of history’s greatest conspiracy. Collecting REGARDING THE MATTER OF OSWALD’S BODY #1-5.
Birds of Maine
Cartoonist: Michael DeForge
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Aug. 3 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 2 (Bookstores)
List Price: $34.95
Long after the demise of humankind, birds roam freely around a new earth complete with fruitful trees, sophisticated fungal networks, and an enviable socialist order. The universal worm feeds all, there are no weekends, and economics is as fantastical a study as unicorn psychology. No concept of money or wealth plagues the thoughts of these free-minded birds. Instead, there are angsty teens who form bands to show off their best bird song and other youngsters who yearn to become clothing designers even though clothes are only necessary during war. (The truly honorable professions for most birds are historian or librarian.) These birds are free to crush on hot pelicans and live their best lives until a crash-landed human from the moon threatens to change everything. Michael DeForge’s post-apocalyptic reality brings together the author’s quintessential deadpan humor, surrealist imagination, and undeniable sociopolitical insight. Appearing originally as a webcomic, BIRDS OF MAINE follows DeForge’s prolific trajectory of astounding graphic novels that reimagine and question the world as we know it. His latest comic captures the optimistic glow of utopian imagination with a late-capitalism sting of irony.
A Career In Books: A Novel about Friends, Money, and the Occasional Duck Bun
Cartoonist: Kate Gavino
Publisher: Plume
Release Date: Aug. 2 (Bookstores)
List Price: $20.00
Shirin, Nina, and Silvia have just gotten their first jobs in publishing, at a University Press, a traditional publisher, and a trust-fund kid’s “indie” publisher, respectively. And it’s . . . great? ¯_(ツ)_/¯ They know they’re paying their dues and the challenges they meet (Shirin’s boss just assumes she knows Cantonese, Nina cannot get promoted by sheer force of will, and Silvia has to deal with daily microaggressions) are just part of “a career in books.” When they meet their elderly neighbor, Veronica Vo, and discover she’s a Booker Prize winner dubbed the “Tampax Tolstoy” by the press, each woman finds a thread of inspiration from Veronica’s life to carry on her own path. And the result is full of twists and revelations that surprise not only the reader but the women themselves. Charming, wry, and with fantastic black-and-white illustrations, A Career in Books is a modern ode to Rona Jaffe’s The Best of Everything, and perfect for fans of Good Talk, Younger, and The Bold Type, as readers chart the paths of three Asian-American women trying to break through the world of books with hilarious, incisive, and heartbreaking results.
The Bend of Luck
Cartoonist: Peter Hoey, Maria Hoey
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Release Date: Aug. 3 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 2 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
Imagine a world where Luck, the most ephemeral of ideas, has a physical form. Precious stones of luck, mined like gold, are worn as bringers of fortune. But luck breaks both ways. While the blue gems may grant advantage to those who wear them, their blessing is fickle and unpredictable. In the blink of an eye, good luck can turn to bad. We follow the life of a man who comes into possession of some powerful stones — but the success enjoyed by the father goes awry when he tries to pass this luck onto his son. In alternating scenes between the two generations, THE BEND OF LUCK follows felicity’s course, like an arrow, through a family’s destiny.
Tower of the Sun (Light Novel)
Writer: Tomihiko Monmi
Publisher: Yen On
Release Date: Aug. 3 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 2 (Bookstores)
List Price: $20.00
One young man’s boring college life changes forever when he shares a budding romance with a girl named Mizuo. And it all comes tumbling down when she of all people has the gall to dump him! Now with only his enormous (some might say delusional) imagination to his name, he starts tearing through the streets of Kyoto! A Japanese fantasy novel for every man who’s been let down by love, and everyone planning on doing so.
Guillem March’s Laura and Other Stories
Cartoonist: Guillem March
Publisher: Ablaze
Release Date: Jul. 27 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 5 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
Suffering from the ever-painful experience of unrequited love, twenty- year-old Laura takes a look at her life. Is the fact that the boy she has feelings for is in love with someone else mean there is something wrong with her? Or is that just how young love goes? And what will happen when she tries to get past the hurt and move on with her life? LAURA is an exploration into the mind of a young woman who has experienced something most people have, but in an honest and beautiful way that only Guillem March can bring us.
Hendrix: Electric Requiem
Writer: Mattia Colombara
Artist: Gianluca Maconi
Publisher: Ablaze
Release Date: Aug. 17 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 9 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
HENDRIX: ELECTRIC REQUIEM explores the life, career and music of a true rock n’ roll god–Grammy-award winning musician Jimi Hendrix—who Rolling Stone ranked #1 on their Greatest Guitarists of All Time! A compelling trip into the mind and world of Jimi Hendrix. ELECTRIC REQUIEM is an exhilarating ride, from Jimi’s difficult beginnings in the South, plagued by racism, through his global stardom and triumph at Woodstock, and the excessive lifestyle of a rockstar. A rockstar who, even with all his experiences, never forgot where he came from. Skillfully illustrated by artist Gianluca Maconi, this gripping tale of music, personal demons and thirst for glory is a must-have for any Jimi Hendrix fan. Includes bonus material on Hendrix’s life.
Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins — Yasha Nydoorin
Created By: Ashley Johnson
Writer: Cecil Castellucci
Artist: William Kirkby
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: Aug. 3 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 9 (Bookstores)
List Price: $17.99
Celebrated writer Cecil Castellucci joins artist William Kirkby, with Matthew Mercer and Ashley Johnson of Critical Role, to draw back the curtain on the tumultuous past of the Mighty Nein’s Yasha Nydoorin in this stand-alone graphic novel in the Critical Role series! For Yasha, there has always been a storm on the horizon. Maybe it formed with her adoption by the Dolorov people in the harsh lands of Xhorhas. Or perhaps when she fell for her first love, Zuala. Or still later, when grief and madness drove her from her village and out into—somewhere else. Maybe, on the other hand, Yasha IS the storm.
World Record Holders
Cartoonist: Guy Delisle
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Aug. 10 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 9 (Bookstores)
List Price: $21.95
Universally beloved cartoonist Guy Delisle showcases a career-spanning collection of his work with a sly sense of humor and warm characterization. Before Delisle became an international superstar with his globe-hopping travelogues, he was an animator experimenting with the comics form. Always aware of the elasticity of the human form and honing his keen observer’s eye, young Delisle created hilarious set pieces. WORLD RECORD HOLDERS ranges from wistful childhood nostalgia to chagrined post-fame encounters, touching on formally ambitious visual puns and gut-busting what-ifs. Delisle again and again shows how life is both exhilarating and embarrassing. Delisle visits an exhibition of his work in another country and is confronted by an angry spouse who blames him for destroying her marriage. A juvenile game of Bows and Arrows turns menacing as arrows shot straight up in the air turn into barely visible missiles of death. A coded message from space creates different reactions from different people—debates, dance festivals, gallery shows. Translated by Helge Dascher.
Below Ambition (Megg, Mogg, and Owl)
Cartoonist: Simon Hanselmann
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Oct. 26 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 9 (Bookstores)
List Price: $29.99
Following Simon Hanselmann’s 2021 smash hit graphic novel Crisis Zone — which captured the zeitgeist of life under Covid and the New York Times Book Review called “the first great work of pandemic fiction” — things settle down, and Megg the Witch and Werewolf Jones get the band back together. Megg and Werewolf Jones are Horse Mania. Horse Mania is a test of the audience’s patience, proudly the “worst band in town,” without any ambition to make it. Join the musicians as they battle through shoddy, distracted practice sessions, a squalid house show, and a doomed interstate tour. Watch as they drunkenly flail through their sets amidst toothaches, nervous breakdowns, suicide attempts, mounting hatred, and a galaxy of benzos. This is music and performance in its most primal, multifaceted, and pure form. Feel the tension. See the dirty looks. Taste the pain. Smell the depravity. Hear the veiled beauty. Horse Mania wants you to lose your mind. BELOW AMBITION is a meditation on youth, performance, and memory as only Simon Hanselmann, the best comedic writer in comics, is capable of. The book will also include a flexidisc single by Horse Mania, “Stick It In for the Ambient”, which will be bound into the book with a perforated edge for easy removal and play.
The Mythology Class: Where Philippine Legends Become Reality
Cartoonist: Arnold Arre
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Release Date: Aug. 9 (Bookstores)
List Price: $18.99
This Philippine National Book Award winner fuses traditional myth and magic with contemporary action. Borrowing elements from The Lord of the Rings and The Phantom Tollbooth, author and creator Arnold Arre reinvents age-old Filipino fables, constructing a rich world of fantasy and adventure for a new generation. The Mythology Class follows Nicole Lacson, an anthropology student at the University of the Philippines. When she is summoned to a secret meeting by the mysterious Madame Enkanta, Nicole finds herself face-to-face with living creatures from mythology and folklore that she never imagined existed in real life Tikblangs, kapres and a range of engkantos–fantasy figures from her grandfather’s bedtime stories–challenge her previously-held notions of reality. Nicole embarks on a quest through the streets of metropolitan Manila with a ragtag crew of college students. With guest appearances from legendary Filipino heroes like Sulayman, Kubin and Lamang, Nicole’s class must face down and repel an ancient evil.
Be Kind, My Neighbor
Cartoonist: Yugo Limbo
Publisher: Silver Sprocket
Release Date: Aug. 10 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 10 (Bookstores)
List Price: $39.99
It’s 1973, the town of Baths, cozy middle-of-nowhere American heartland. Traveling musician Wegg rolls in, content to busk for a beat and be on his merry way once more. That is, until he meets Mr. Neighbor, the disarmingly sweet man made of cloth who offers him company and a place to stay. As the two grow closer, they click together just right, each harmonizing with the other’s most secret self. Yet their growing romance is haunted by uncertainty and mystery…There’s the town itself, plagued by repeated, ritualistic murders by the elusive Baths Heartbreaker. Then there’s Neighbor, whose cheerful demeanor never falters, but who disappears like clockwork every month. And Wegg, who lives as though he’s on borrowed time–what exactly is he afraid will catch up to him? A twisting graphic novel of love and deceit, all threaded together with lush psychedelia, folk horror, and a heaping helping of mirth. Turns out, sometimes the best way to conquer your past is to find a future.
WWE: The New Day: Power of Positivity
Writer: Evan Narcisse, Daniel Bayliss
Artist: Austin Walker
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Release Date: Aug.10 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 16 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
It’s THE NEW DAY graphic novel, yes it is! WWE Superstars Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E debuted as a team called The New Day…and changed the WWE Universe forever! Everyone knows The New Day are six-time Tag Team Champions – including the longest reign in WWE history – but now, for the first time, discover the true origins of this unforgettable trio. Follow young Kofi, Xavier, and Big E as they learn about the world of wrestling, take on opponents big and small, and battle their egos – and those around them – as they struggle to find success in solo careers. But when they realize they’re stronger together than apart, the New Day is born – and set on a collision course against their greatest rivals to determine if they’ll have a place in WWE history!
Always Never
Writer: Jordi Lafebre
Artists: Jordi Lafebre, Clémence Sapin
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: Aug. 31 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 16 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
After forty years of being madly in love, Ana and Zeno are finally retiring and giving their romance a chance to bloom while they both still have time left. A unique but relatable love story told in reverse, with each chapter stepping further back through the decades of touch and go courting, showing both the heartbreaking moments that kept the two lovers apart and the beautiful moments that kept their flame alive. This isn’t a tale of missed connections and regret but rather a story celebrating the complexities of family, responsibility, destiny, and how love persists across time with complete disregard for all of that.
Acting Class
Cartoonist: Nick Drnaso
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Aug. 17 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 16 (Bookstores)
List Price: $29.95
From the acclaimed author of Sabrina, Nick Drnaso’s ACTING CLASS creates a tapestry of disconnect, distrust, and manipulation. Ten strangers are brought together under the tutelage of John Smith, a mysterious and morally questionable leader. The group of social misfits and restless searchers have one thing in common: they are out of step with their surroundings and desperate for change. A husband and wife, four years into their marriage and simmering in boredom. A single mother, her young son showing disturbing signs of mental instability. A peculiar woman with few if any friends and only her menial job keeping her grounded. A figure model, comfortable in his body and ready for a creative challenge. A worried grandmother and her adult granddaughter; a hulking laborer and gym nut; a physical therapist; an ex-con. With thrumming unease, the class sinks deeper into their lessons as the process demands increasing devotion. When the line between real life and imagination begins to blur, the group’s deepest fears and desires are laid bare. Exploring the tension between who we are and how we present, Drnaso cracks open his characters’ masks and takes us through an unsettling American journey.
The Art and Making of Luck
Cartoonist: Noela Hueso
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: Aug. 16 (Bookstores)
List Price: $50.00
THE ART AND MAKING OF LUCK showcases, in beautifully illustrated detail, the concept art behind the story of the unluckiest girl in the world: Sam Greenfield. When Sam stumbles into the never-before-seen world of good and bad luck, she sets out on a quest to find good luck for her best friend Hazel, so that she can find a forever family. Journey with Sam as she follows a lucky penny into the Land of Luck, and meets magical creatures including Bob, a lucky black cat, and The Dragon, the CEO of the Land of Good Luck. From Skydance Animation and Apple Original Films, Luck is a charming animated comedy for both adults and kids alike. Any animation buff would be lucky to have this coffee table hardback that explodes with creativity; filled with intricate sketches, vivid concept designs, storyboards, production art, and rendered 3D models for the animated film, alongside insight from the artists, filmmakers and director into the original fictional world of Luck.
Halina Filipina: A New Yorker In Manila
Cartoonist: Arnold Arre
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Release Date: Aug. 16 (Bookstores)
List Price: $14.99
Halina Mitchell is half-Filipino, half-American. She’s also a native New Yorker–sophisticated, beautiful and confident. On her first visit to the Philippines, she arrives in Manila to reconnect with relatives only to encounter a world of surprises that turn all her assumptions on their head. With the intrepid film critic Cris as her guide, she discovers a Manila that few others get to see. Cris’s wry takes on bad movies offer Halina a new lens on the modern world as he whisks her through his hometown at breakneck speed–including a crash course in Manila street life and the thrills and perils of midnight driving. In turn, Halina gives the struggling writer a newfound appreciation for his city. Perfect for fans of opposites attract romances like Fangs and The Prince and the Dressmaker, this book offers a rom-com take on modern life and a touching story of friendship, love and crosscultural (mis)understanding from a renowned graphic novel pioneer. Captured in Arre’s distinctive style, HALINA FILIPINA is about finding one’s place in the world–or in two worlds at once.
Macanudo: Welcome to Elsewhere
Cartoonist: Liniers
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: Aug. 17 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 23 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
Fantagraphics is proud to present Argentine cartoonist Liniers’ internationally-acclaimed newspaper comic strip in a new English-language collection. In the spirit of Calvin & Hobbes, Mutts, and Krazy Kat, Liniers (Ricardo Siri) uses a shifting cast of children, talking animals, imaginary monsters, sensitive robots, occasional elves, and anthropomorphized objects to perform gags, philosophize, muse on nature, and engage in surreal, artistic flights of fancy. With delicate, calligraphic pen work and understated watercolors, the comic skips lightly from style to style and subject to subject, as Liniers allows his imagination and observational humor free reign. Jokes about domestic life, imagined scenarios of historical figures, Cthulu showing up to Tinder dates, characters simply enjoying a pastoral sunset, the puncturing of pop-culture stalwarts: MACANUDO is a boundless canvas for its author’s humane and delightfully off-kilter view of the world, in a way few comic strips have ever even attempted. Beginning in 2002 in Buenos Aires, MACANUDO steadily gained popularity around the world, appearing in US newspapers since 2018. Welcome to Elsewhere is the first of a series of volumes collecting Liniers’ groundbreaking strip.
See You Tomorrow At the Food Court
Cartoonist: Shinichiro Nariie
Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: Aug. 24 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 23 (Bookstores)
List Price: $13.00
Wada is an honor student who keeps to herself and has an air of mystery around her. Yamamoto is an intimidating fashionista with dyed blond hair and shortened skirt. Though this unlikely duo seems to have nothing in common, it’s only during their daily meetings at the food court that they can be themselves!
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
Created By: Seiko Tanabe
Artist: Nao Emoto
Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: Aug. 24 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 23 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.00
Josee has been in a wheelchair since she was a child, and has lived her life through pictures, books, and her imagination. One day, she meets Tsuneo, a college student, and while they clash at first, the two soon grow closer than expected. She takes this chance to venture outside with Tsuneo to experience a new world where surprises await.
Kali
Writer: Daniel Freedman
Artist: Robert Sammelin
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: Aug. 17 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 30 (Bookstores)
List Price: $29.99
From Daniel Freedman (Raiders) and Mondo and DICE artist Robert Sammelin comes an original graphic novel that’s a nonstop, high-octane existential action spectacle that perfect for Mad Max: Fury Road fans. Stabbed in the back, poisoned, and left for dead by her own biker gang; Kali sets off on a one-way road of vengeance across a war-torn desert battlefield. With impending death coursing through her veins and a fascist army hot on her tail, Kali will stop at nothing to get her revenge, even if it’s the last thing she ever does.
Supper Club
Cartoonist: Jackie Morrow
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: Aug. 24 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 30 (Bookstores)
List Price: $14.99
Nora, Lili, and Iris are seniors at Seaside High. Their differing schedules and mounting extracurriculars inspire the girls to form a secret club where they can hang without sacrificing their future aspirations. Enter Supper Club, the delicious solution to their problems. When life starts to crumble like a cookie under the girls’ feet, they rely on comfort food to hold it together. Can Supper Club endure life’s most challenging recipes without burning to a crisp? SUPPER CLUB is The Baby-Sitters Club meets Relish in this foodie fusion of feel-good friendship and coming-of-age drama perfect for Raina Telgemeier readers.
In the Shadow of the Throne
Writer: Kate Sheridan
Artist: Gaia Cardinali
Publisher: Maverick
Release Date: Aug. 19 (Comics Shops) / Aug. 30 (Bookstores)
List Price: $14.99
When his younger siblings and parents begin to irritate him on vacation, Jordan tries to get some space. But instead of wandering around the museum, he finds himself dropped in a fantasy world of magic where he can finally have some fun and train to become a knight. Except Prince Astel and Sir Griffith are about to uncover a sinister secret kept hidden by the queen that’ll thrust Jordan in the middle of a magical battle he never could have anticipated!
SEPTEMBER
Fantastic Four: Full Circle
Cartoonist: Alex Ross
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Sep. 7 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 6 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
It’s a rainy night in Manhattan and not a creature is stirring except for . . . Ben Grimm. When an intruder suddenly appears inside the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four—Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm)—find themselves surrounded by a swarm of invading parasites. These carrion creatures composed of Negative Energy come to Earth using a human host as a delivery system. But for what purpose? And who is behind this untimely invasion? The Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter, risking not just their own lives but the fate of the cosmos! Fantastic Four: Full Circle is the first longform work written and illustrated by acclaimed artist Alex Ross, who revisits a classic Stan Lee–Jack Kirby story from the 1960s and introduces the storyline for a new generation of readers. With bold, vivid colors and his trademark visual storytelling, Ross takes Marvel’s first team of super heroes to places only he can illustrate. The book also features a special poster jacket, with the front flap unfolding to reveal an all-new fully painted origin story of the Fantastic Four.
The Prometheite
Cartoonist: Ari S. Mulch
Publisher: Uncivilized Books
Release Date: Sep. 6 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.95
PROMETHEITE reimagines Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a lesbian romantic tragedy. Two young women, Aveline and Violet, meet at the University of Ingolstadt and quickly bond over their interest in anatomy, the occult, and one another. But, before their love can fully bloom, Aveline dies. Violet resorts to dark sciences to keep the forbidden romance alive and resurrects Aveline. But all is not well. Aveline suspects something unnatural about her life as Violet struggles to keep the resurrection a secret. Will toying with the forces of nature doom their forbidden relationship?
Everything Is OK
Cartoonist: Debbie Tung
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date: Sep. 6 (Bookstores)
List Price: $16.99
EVERYTHING IS OK is the story of Debbie Tung’s struggle with anxiety and her experience with depression. She shares what it’s like navigating life, overthinking every possible worst-case scenario, and constantly feeling like all hope is lost. The book explores her journey to understanding the importance of mental health in her day-to-day life and how she learns to embrace the highs and lows when things feel out of control. Debbie opens up about deeply personal issues and the winding road to recovery, discovers the value of self-love, and rebuilds a more mindful relationship with her mental health. In this graphic memoir, Debbie aims to provide positive and comforting messages to anyone who is facing similar difficulties or is just trying to get through a tough time in life. She hopes to encourage readers to be kinder to themselves, to know that they are not alone, and that it’s okay to be vulnerable because they are not defined by their mental health struggles. The dark clouds won’t be there forever. Everything will turn out all right.
Cryptid Club
Cartoonist: Sarah Andersen
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date: Sep. 6 (Bookstores)
List Price: $16.99
The latest from New York Times bestselling, Goodread’s Choice Award-winning, Eisner Award-nominated and Ringo Award-winning author Sarah Andersen is a delightful peek into the secret social lives of some of the world’s most fascinating, monstrous, and mysterious creatures. Do you hate social gatherings? Dodge cameras? Enjoy staying up just a little too late at night? You might have more in common with your local cryptid than you think! Enter the world of CRYPTID CLUB, a look inside the adventures of elusive creatures ranging from Mothman to the Loch Ness Monster. This humorous new series celebrates the unique qualities that make cryptids so desperately sought after by mankind (to no avail). After all, it’s what makes us different that also makes us beautiful.
Virtually Yours
Writer: Jeremy Holt
Artist: Elizabeth Beals
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: Sep. 7 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 6 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
Shouldn’t finding a life partner be more challenging than ordering a pizza? Welcome to Virtually Yours, a virtual dating app that provides all the proof of being in a relationship without actually being in one. With her career front of mind, Eva Estrella joins VIRTUALLY YOURS, after a nudge from her sister, to alleviate some family pressure as she continues to look for her dream job in journalism. While Max Kittridge, a former child star in the middle of a divorce, takes a gig at VIRTUALLY YOURS servicing multiple clients as a fake boyfriend. As they navigate their current circumstances, both Eva and Max find that sometimes what you’re looking for is right in front of you.
Nowhere Girl
Cartoonist: Magali Le Huche
Publisher: Nobrow
Release Date: Sep. 6 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
The story of a young Parisian girl lost in the gulf between childhood and adulthood, navigating depression… and discovering the Beatles. This is the story of a girl growing up in the 1990s – a middle-schooler who finds herself lost in the gulf between childhood and adolescence, developing paralyzing fears of failure, school, other people, and her own changing body. Along the way, she becomes obsessed with the Beatles… which might be just what she needs to find her way back to being okay. Yeah yeah yeah!
Marvel Studios: Black Panther: Dreams of Wakanda: Creators, Writers, and Comics Legends on the Impact of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther
Writer: Various
Artist: Mateus Manhanini
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Release Date: Sep. 6 (Bookstores)
List Price: $25.00
Marvel Studios’ Black Panther has become more than just a movie—it has shaped conversations about art, culture, science fiction, representation, justice, fashion, comics, creativity, and so much more. Celebrate the legacy of the film with this collection of all-new personal essays and reflections that shed light on its monumental impact, including firsthand stories from artists involved in the film, cultural analysis from journalists and academics, and thoughtful insights from writers and comics legends. Each contributor brings their unique expertise and experience to explore the film’s genesis and significance from every angle. Complete with gorgeous original illustrations, DREAMS OF WAKANDA brings together a wide array of diverse and multifaceted perspectives that exemplify the many ways the film has impacted cinema, culture, and society.
Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis
Cartoonist: Tom Humberstone
Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing
Release Date: Sep. 8 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.95
One of the greatest tennis players the world has ever seen was a woman few even remember. A championship player by the age of fifteen in a Europe overshadowed by impending war, Suzanne Lenglen broke records for ticket sales and match winning streaks, scandalised and entranced the public with her playing outfits, and became a pioneer, making friends and enemies throughout restrictive tennis society in the trailblazing jazz age. With stunning art and an astute eye, SUZANNE explores how a figure both enormously influential and too-often overlooked battled her father’s ambition, bias in sporting journalism, and her own divisive personality, to forge a new path — and to change sport forever.
Red Lightning
Writer: Mario B. Bucci
Artist: Riccardo Atzeni
Publisher: Ablaze
Release Date: Aug. 31 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 13 (Bookstores)
List Price: $34.99
It is the morning of January 10, 2016, and thirty-year-old Samuel is ready to leave the house and live another day of his ordinary existence. As soon as he arrives on the street, he learns about David Bowie’s death. The news strikes him so hard that he is stunned, and his are not moments of bewilderment, but hours, days, years, and centuries…he finds himself catapulted across space and time. He awakens hundreds of thousands of years later, in a society of the future-in the year 200016-not so different from his own, although he is surrounded by people dressed as dinosaurs, integrated biological technologies, and there is a global well-being. Is it perhaps the utopia of the future? Samuel will have to try to find out and find his own dimension in the process, without losing himself.
Phenomena: The Golden City of the Eye
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: André Lima Araújo
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Sep. 13 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
PHENOMENA is the story of a young boy named Bolden and his warrior friend Spike—survivors of a phenomena that took over Earth years ago. Not an apocalypse . . . something far more interesting. We follow Bolden and Spike as they are forced to team up with another lost orphan of the world, Matilde. The trio of heroes go on a globetrotting adventure that takes them to a magical, mysterious place called the Golden City of Eyes. As they quest across this epically crazy new world looking for answers and purpose, they face off against dark forces big and small, changing the world better along the way. In each book in the series, our heroes travel to different parts of the magical world of Phenomena by various modes of transportation, each more and more fantastical than the mode that preceded it. Each journey is personal, and every chapter takes the trio toward a different, visually iconic destination, and each location, character, and chapter reveals clues to the shape of the world and how they got there—and, ultimately, their purpose. With PHENOMENA, Brian Michael Bendis and André Lima Araújo deliver a universe chock full of unforgettable characters, full-tilt action, and stunning imagination and world-building that is perfect for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Ducks: Two Years In The Oil Sands
Cartoonist: Kate Beaton
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Sep. 14 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 13 (Bookstores)
List Price: $39.95
Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark! A Vagrant, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beaton, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush—part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed. Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
Shonen Note Boy Soprano 1
Cartoonist: Yukhi Kamatani
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: Aug. 31 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 13 (Bookstores)
List Price: $12.99
A poignant coming-of-age series that’s moving and musical from the creator of Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare! Yutaka is a boy treasured by his choir for his beautiful, soprano voice. But what will he do when the inevitable arrives, and his voice starts to deepen? Perfect for fans of Kageki Shojo!!, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, Blue Period, and Boys Run the Riot. Yutaka Aoi is sweet, sensitive, and loves singing…so much so that he can’t help but be brought to tears whenever he listens to beautiful music. He also has a talent few boys have: he can sing soprano. So when Yutaka overhears his middle school’s choir group perform, he can’t resist joining in. Inspired by the angelic sound of Yutaka’s voice, the choir eagerly accepts him into their ranks. But when Yutaka’s voice begins to change as he enters puberty, the journey ahead will be one of self-discovery and reflection for not only himself, but also for those around him.
Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master: Pong, Atari, and the Dawn of the Video Game
Writer: David Kushner
Artist: Koren Shadmi
Publisher: Bold Type Books
Release Date: Sep. 13 (Bookstores)
List Price: $16.99
A deep, nostalgic dive into the advent of gaming, EASY TO LEARN, DIFFICULT TO MASTER returns us to the emerging culture of Silicon Valley. At the center of this graphic history, dynamically drawn in colors inspired by old computer screens, is the epic feud that raged between Atari founder Nolan Bushnell and inventor Ralph Baer for the title of “father of the video game.” While Baer, a Jewish immigrant whose family fled Germany for America, developed the first TV video-game console and ping-pong game in the 1960s, Bushnell, a self-taught whiz kid from Utah, put out Atari’s pioneering table-tennis arcade game, Pong, in 1972. Thus, a prolonged battle began over who truly spearheaded the multibillion-dollar gaming industry, and around it a sweeping narrative about invention, inspiration, and the seeds of digital revolution.
Yesterday: Diary Comix
Cartoonist: Brother Malcolm
Publisher: Birdcage Bottom Books
Release Date: Sep. 17 (Bookstores)
List Price: $15.00
When Brother Malcolm’s older sibling expressed trepidation about becoming a Vlogger, Malcolm advised him to just “go for it, dive right in, and worry about the details later.” Realizing he should take his own advice; Malcolm began drawing diary comics. These were originally self-published as 12-page minicomics, and are now collected in YESTERDAY: DIARY COMIX, a 348-page trade paperback. Although much of the work contained within YESTERDAY focuses on Malcolm’s personal life, there are frequent detours to explore death row inmates, tarot readings, astrology, dreams, and overheard anecdotes.
Sensory: Life on the Spectrum: An Autistic Comics Anthology
Editor: Rebecca Ollerton
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date: Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
From artist and curator Bex Ollerton comes an anthology featuring comics from thirty autistic creators about their experiences of living in a world that doesn’t always understand or accept them. SENSORY: LIFE ON THE SPECTRUM contains illustrated explorations of everything from life pre-diagnosis to tips on how to explain autism to someone who doesn’t have it, to suggestions for how to soothe yourself when you’re feeling overstimulated. With unique, vibrant comic-style illustrations and the emotional depth and vulnerability of memoir, this book depicts these varied experiences with the kind of insight that only those who have lived them can have.
The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives
Cartoonist: Kelcey Ervick
Publisher: Avery
Release Date: Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $25.00
Growing up playing on a top national soccer team in the 1980s, Kelcey Ervick and her teammates didn’t understand the change they represented. Title IX was enacted in 1972 with little fanfare, but to seismic effect; between then and now, girls’ participation in organized sports has exploded more than 1,000 percent. Braiding together personal narrative, pop culture, literature, and history, Ervick tells the story of how her adolescence was shaped by this boom. Ervick also explores her role as a goalkeeper—a position marked by outsider status and observation—and reveals it has drawn some of the most famed writers of our time. With wit and poignant storytelling, THE KEEPER brings to life forgotten figures who understood the importance of athletics to help women step into their confidence and power—and push for equality. Full of 1980s nostalgia and heart, THE KEEPER is a celebration of how far we have come and a reminder of how far we have to go.
It’s So Magic
Cartoonist: Lynda Barry
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: Sep. 7 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $21.95
Maybonne Mullen is “riding on a bummer” according to her little sister Marlys. As much as teenage Maybonne prays and tries she just can’t connect to the magic of living. How can she when there’s so much upheaval at home and school, not to mention the world at large? And yet Marlys always seems able to tap into it. In IT’S SO MAGIC, the Mullen family dynamics are in flux. Uncle John makes a brief return to town to the delight of the girls. Freddy is finally reunited with his sisters. Marlys falls in love for the first time. And after they finally settle into a routine at their grandmother’s the Mullen siblings’ mother might be ready to take them back in. With war in the background and precarious parental support, the siblings long for peace, finding it in the small things like grocery store turkey drawing contests and fishing trips.
Look Again
Cartoonist: Elizabeth Trembley
Publisher: Street Noise
Release Date: Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $20.99
Trauma can make truth hard to find. Have you ever experienced a terror, grief, or confusion so great that when you try to share it you can only find shattered images floating in darkness? You try over and over, but can’t tell the story, to yourself or to anyone else. LOOK AGAIN presents us with six variations of the same event, seen through the different lenses caused by other life revelations. It explores the fragmenting nature of trauma by tracing the convoluted evolution of the author’s story, a process often experienced by trauma sufferers and their loved ones.
It Won’t Always Be Like This
Cartoonist: Malaka Gharib
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Release Date: Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
It’s hard enough to figure out boys, beauty, and being cool when you’re young, but even harder when you’re in a country where you don’t understand the language, culture, or social norms. Nine-year-old Malaka Gharib arrives in Egypt for her annual summer vacation abroad and assumes it’ll be just like every other vacation she’s spent at her dad’s place in Cairo. But her father shares news that changes everything: He has remarried. Over the next fifteen years, as she visits her father’s growing family summer after summer, Malaka must reevaluate her place in his life. All that on top of maintaining her coolness! Malaka doesn’t feel like she fits in when she visits her dad–she sticks out in Egypt and doesn’t look anything like her fair-haired half siblings. But she adapts. She learns that Nirvana isn’t as cool as Nancy Ajram, that there’s nothing better than a Fanta and a melon-mint hookah, and that her new stepmother, Hala, isn’t so different from Malaka herself. IT WON’T ALWAYS BE LIKE THIS is a touching time capsule of Gharib’s childhood memories—each summer a fleeting moment in time—and a powerful reflection on identity, relationships, values, family, and what happens when it all collides.
Doughnuts and Doom
Cartoonist: Balazs Lorinczi
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Release Date: Sep. 21 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $14.99
When Margot meets Elena, emotions run high, magic is in the air, and doughnuts…float? One is a stressed-out witch trying to get her potions business off the ground, the other is a struggling rock musician whose band is going nowhere. Neither of them are having a good time! No wonder things quickly escalate from words to literal sparks flying when they first meet. Could this be the start of a delicious new relationship…or is a bad-luck curse leading them to certain doom?
Look Back
Cartoonist: Takaji Fujimoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Release Date: Sep. 21 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $12.99
A heart-wrenching single-volume story about the struggles of being an artist, from the creator of Chainsaw Man. The overly confident Fujino and the shut-in Kyomoto couldn’t be more different, but a love of drawing manga brings these two small-town girls together. A poignant story of growing up and moving forward that only Tatsuki Fujimoto, the creator of Chainsaw Man, could have crafted. Two young artists from a small town inspire each other to improve their art and become manga creators. But as they grow up, a terrible tragedy will change their lives forever.
The Last Book You’ll Ever Read: The Complete Series
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Leila Leiz (Illustrator), Vlad Popov (Colorist)
Editor: Adrian F. Wassel
Publisher: Vault Comics
Release Date: Sep. 20 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
A supernatural horror thriller for readers of Chuck Palahniuk (Lullaby and Haunted: A Novel), Marisha Pessl,(Night Film), and Scarlett Thomas (The End of Mr. Y), The Last Book You’ll Ever Read tells the terrifying story of a woman who knows the horrific truth about the past – and future – of humankind, and, when captured in her book SATYR, it becomes the catalyst for worldwide, mind-numbing violence.
The Keeper
Writer: Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes
Artist: Marco Finnegan
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: Sep. 27 (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99
Aisha has suffered a devastating loss. Her parents were killed in a car crash, and now she must move to decrepit and derelict Detroit to live with her ailing grandmother. However, shortly after moving in, Aisha’s grandmother’s health rapidly deteriorates. With her dying breath, she summons the dark spirit that has protected their family for generations to watch over Aisha. At first it seems that this spirit, whom Aisha refers to as the Keeper, is truly doing as her grandmother asked, caring for Aisha and keeping her safe; however, it soon becomes clear that this being can only sustain itself by stealing life from others. As the Keeper begins to prey on the apartment building’s other residents, Aisha and her friends must come together to destroy it . . . or die trying. Written by masters of horror Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes and illustrated by Marco Finnegan, THE KEEPER reflects on the horror Black Americans face every day, while still staying true to the genre.
War and Peace: The Graphic Novel
Created By: Leo Tolstoy
Writer: Alexandr Poltorak
Artist: Dmitry Chukhrai
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date: Sep. 27 (Bookstores)
List Price: $19.99
In this beautifully rendered graphic adaptation, both fans and newcomers alike will be immersed in the world of WAR AND PEACE, one of the most celebrated novels of all time, about the misadventures of about the misadventures of Pierre Bezúkhov, Natásha and Ilyá Rostóv, and company during the Napoleonic era of Russia. With richly detailed settings re-creating the villas and ballrooms of the 19th century, character design based on the real-life inspirations for the figures in the book, and visual depictions of elements from the original text, WAR AND PEACE: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL brings Tolstoy’s masterpiece to life as never before. Including forewords from Russian literature experts from the Leo Tolstoy library, this graphic adaptation distills the major plotlines and characters of the sprawling epic for readers to experience this classic novel in a whole new way.
Steam Reverie In Amber
Cartoonist: Kuroimori
Publisher: Seven Seas
Release Date: Sep. 28 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 27 (Bookstores)
List Price: $29.99
A full-color steampunk artbook & manga collection hardcover–includes all 22 Major Arcana as removable tarot cards! Don’t miss this beautiful release from an award-winning Japanese artist who contributed to Final Fantasy art. In a world wedged somewhere between past and future, an airship drifts gently among pillow-soft clouds. This is the Tomeship–purveyor of used books and fresh coffee across the skies. It can only be seen by those who bear the Gearform Scar on their hearts. Are you one such soul? Immerse yourself in a gorgeously illustrated magical realm and find out!
Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe, Vol. 1
Cartoonist: Hirohiko Araki
Publisher: Viz Media
Release Date: Sep. 28 (Comics Shops) / Sep. 27 (Bookstores)
List Price: $17.99
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a groundbreaking manga famous for its outlandish characters, wild humor, and frenetic battles, and this spin-off featuring the popular Rohan Kishibe continues the tradition! Debuting in the same deluxe hardcover format as the hit JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga is a standalone series featuring everyone’s favorite manga artist, Rohan Kishibe! Rohan has freed himself of Josuke Higashikata, but that doesn’t mean his life is going to be easy! No, now the supernatural has come knocking, and Rohan must contend with an all-new level of bizarre adventure…
Crumbs
Cartoonist: Danie Stirling
Publisher: Clarion Books
Release Date: Jul. 20 (Comics Shops) / Jul. 19 (Hardcover) / $14.99 (Papeback) (Bookstores)
List Price: $24.99 Hardcover / $17.99 Paperback
Falling in love just got sweeter in this charming, romantic YA graphic novel from WEBTOON, the #1 digital comic platform. Ray, a young seer struggling with her powers, discovers first love and friendship in her town’s magic bakery. In a very special town, there’s an even more unusual bakery with a selection of baked treats hand-crafted to help your dreams come true. For Ray, a quiet young woman with special powers of her own, the order is always the same: a hot tea with a delicious side of romance. When Ray meets Laurie, the kind barista who aspires to be a professional musician, she gets a real taste of love for the first time. But even with a spark of magic, romance isn’t so simple. Both Ray and Laurie are chasing their own dreams and even when Ray starts to see the future, she can’t predict her fate with Laurie. Based on the beloved webcomic from WEBTOON, this sweet coming-of-age story of friendship and first love comes to life in graphic novel format with gorgeous illustrations and exclusive content.
Looking for more great reads? Check out The Beat’s list of anticipated kids graphic novels for summer 2022!
Should mention there’s another Animorphs out soon
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