Crashing into an uncertain fall comes a heady mix of genres, including dystopian sci-fi from Roxane Gay and Sophie Yanow’s Eisner-winning work, plus innovatively retold classics. It’s a season for discoveries.
Top 10
Cheeky: A Head-to-Toe Memoir
Ariella Elovic. Bloomsbury, Dec. 8 ($26, ISBN 978-1-63557-452-4)
Based on Elovic’s blog, this debut memoir counters status quo shame with an explicit, celebratory tour of her body, embracing the messy, menstrual, and hairy—and learning to love it all.
The Contradictions
Sophie Yanow. Drawn & Quarterly, Sept. 8 ($24.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77046-407-0)
Yanow’s autofiction won an Eisner as a web comic, and now it comes to print. The book follows her life as a foreign student in Paris, where she meets Zena, an anarchist activist.
Chasin’ the Bird: Charlie Parker in California
David Chisholm. Z2, Sept. 8 ($29.99, ISBN 978-1-940878-38-6)
Chisholm (Instrumental), a jazz musician, portrays Parker’s 1945 residency in California with Dizzy Gillespie with rhythmic retro art. The book includes a flexi disc recording.
Dune, Vol. 1: Book 1
Frank Herbert et al. Abrams ComicArts, Oct. 27 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-3150-1)
Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, co-adapts the seminal sci-fi saga set on the desert planet Arrakis, drawn by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, promising scene-by-scene fidelity.
Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Graphic Novel
Cynthia Levinson, Sanford Levinson, and Ally Shwed. First Second, Sept. 22 ($28.99, ISBN 978-1-250-21161-3)
A constitutional law scholar, children’s author, and cartoonist team up on an accessible illustrated guide to why there’s been so much trouble interpreting the founders’ intentions since the Constitution was written in 1787. 75,000-copy announced first printing.
Maids
Katie Skelly. Fantagraphics, Oct. 15 ($19.99, ISBN 978-1-68396-368-4)
Skelly (My Pretty Vampire) applies her mod stylings and sly wit to a notorious 1930s murder case.
The Sacrifice of Darkness
Roxane Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver, and Rebecca Kirby. Archaia, Oct. 27 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-68415-624-5)
Adapted from one of Gay’s short stories, this poetic fantasy considers a world where a freak accident puts out the light of the sun.
Slaughterhouse-Five
Ryan North, Albert Monteys, and Kurt Vonnegut. Archaia, Sept. 15 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-68415-625-2)
Adapting Vonnegut for his first-ever graphic novel may seem like hubris, but in the hands of North, creator of a popular choose-your-own-adventure of Hamlet, the metafictional experiment is well worth seeing.
Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir
Bishakh Som. Street Noise, Aug. 4 ($18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-951491-03-1)
Som (Apsara Engine) draws herself as she wishes others could see her, in this incantatory, innovative memoir of life as a trans artist of color in New York City.
Welcome to the New World
Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan. Metropolitan, Sept. 8 ($21.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-30559-6)
Journalist Halpern and cartoonist Sloan spotlight an immigrant family caught in travel bans enacted by the Trump presidency, in this nonfiction portrait first serialized in the New York Times. 75,000-copy announced first printing.
Listings
Abrams Comicarts
Guantánamo Voices: True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous Prison by Sarah Mirk (Sept. 8, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-4690-1). Comics journalist Mirk collects interviews, illustrated by various artists, that reflect the perspectives of people who have been at Guantánamo Bay Prison, including the formerly incarcerated, lawyers, social workers, and military personnel.
Ahoy Comics
Billionaire Island by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh (Nov. 24, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-952090-02-8). In 2024, climate change has ravaged Earth, and the super-wealthy are targeted by murderous activists. Billionaires flock to a mobile island that promises to keep them safe and pampered—and meet a nasty surprise—in this satirical comic by Russell and Pugh (the Flintstones series).
Algonquin
We Saw Scenery: The Early Diaries of Merrill Markoe by Merrill Markoe (Oct. 20, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-61620-903-2). The comedian and TV writer revisits her girlhood diaries and illustrates them with drawings and mixed media, reconsidering her fixations, crushes (on unworthy schoolmates and John Lennon), and aspirations in light of the woman she became. 75,000-copy announced first printing.
Amistad
Infinitum by Tim Fielder (Jan. 19, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-06-296408-3). This Afrofuturist graphic epic by Fielder (Matty’s Rocket) follows an African king cursed by immortality, who wanders the earth across time, witnessing the devastation and legacy of the slave trade, up through the American civil rights movement, and far into a future where humans and aliens struggle to coexist.
Andrews McMeel
Fangs by Sarah Andersen (Sept. 1, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-5248-6067-7) departs from Anderson’s autobiographical Sarah’s Scribbles series in this fantasy escapade that pairs Vamp, a 300-year-old vampire, with a werewolf she meets in a bar, a scenario that demonstrates how finding love proves awkward even with centuries to prepare.
Archie Comic
Archie & Katy Keene by Mariko Tamaki, Kevin Panetta, and Laura Braga (Sept. 8, $12.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64576-948-4). Tamaki (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me) jumps into Riverdale with Panetta (Steven Universe) and Italian cartoonist Braga for this installment of the teen drama centered on a new girl in town, who is stealing attention away from Archie.
Arsenal Pulp
Kimiko Does Cancer: A Graphic Memoir by Kimiko Tobimatsu and Keet Geniza (Oct. 6, $16.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-55152-819-9). Tobimatsu was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 25, and as a young, queer, mixed-race woman, found her experience diverged from the dominant mainstream narratives of pink-ribbon wielding “warriors,” as she details in her graphic memoir.
Birdcage Bottom
Woods by Mike Freiheit (Sept. 12, $15 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-73315-091-0). After a disastrous presidential election in an alternate reality, Beth loses her mind. Her husband, Jason, hopes bringing her to a cabin deep in the woods will help her recover, as they shelter from a fractured world—but eerie and evil things seem to find them wherever they hide.
Boom! Studios
King of Nowhere by W. Maxwell Prince, Hilary Jenkins, and Tyler Jenkins (Sept. 22, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68415-613-9). Denis wakes up in Nowhere, a small town populated by misfits, unsure how he arrived (or if he’s on a bad trip) only to find that as his memories return, so does trouble, in a surreal tale by Prince (the Ice Cream Man series).
Canterbury Classics
The Prophet: A Graphic Novel by Kahlil Gibran and Pete Katz (Oct. 20, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-64517-242-0). Gibran’s classic philosophical poem is adapted by Katz (The Art of War: The Graphic Novel), who presents prophet Al Mustafa’s musings as illustrated scenes, contextualizing the work for contemporary readers. 50,000-copy announced first printing.
Celadon
A Wealth of Pigeons: A Cartoon Collection by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss (Nov. 17, $28, ISBN 978-1-250-26289-9). Legendary comedian Martin collaborates with New Yorker cartoonist Bliss on this collection of cartoon gags and strips, with Martin supplying the concepts and Bliss drawing them, including notes on how they worked together.
Dead Reckoning
Great Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century: Tsushima, Jutland, Midway by Jean-Yves Delitte and Giuseppe Baiguera (Oct. 21, $24.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68247-524-9) recounts three historic conflicts at sea, including Tsushima, 1905 (Japan vs. Russia); WWI’s Jutland, 1916 (England vs. Germany); and WWII’s Midway, 1942 (Japan vs. the U.S.).
Drawn & Quarterly
I Want You by Lisa Hanawalt (Aug. 18, $21.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77046-388-2). This collection of the Ignatz-award winning early mini-comics from Hanawalt, best known for her production design on the animated series Bojack Horseman, reveals her weirdo humor roots as she indulges in filthy jokes about “sex bugs” and scatology, and as always, her love of horses.
Nineteen by Ancco, trans. by Janet Hong (Oct. 6, $21.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77046-410-0). Ancco (Bad Friends) depicts teens on the cusp of coming-of-age in a gritty contemporary South Korea, such as a boy who has discovered he has HIV, and a young woman and her mother who both drink too much to get through their days.
Fantagraphics
The Eternaut 1969 by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Alberto Breccia, trans. by Erica Mena (Nov. 10, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-68396-352-3). When aliens invade South America, the resistance is led in Buenos Aires by Juan Salvo, who with his compatriots fights global domination by the “great powers” who have abandoned their country, in this surrealist and more overtly political reboot of Oesterheld’s seminal science fiction comic.
Please Don’t Step on My JNCO Jeans by Noah Van Sciver (Dec. 15, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68396-375-2). Van Sciver (Fante Bukowski) collects short comics that satirize daily life and ask pressing questions such as, when do you know you’re too old to trick-or-treat? Or, where do collected cereal box prizes belong in an adult’s home?
Vision by Julia Gfrörer (Aug. 25, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-68396-315-8). A spinster is in love with her mirror—or the seductive voice that speaks through it, and draws her into dark and sensual acts—as she cares for her madwoman sister-in-law, who just grows sicker and sicker, in this 19th-century erotic horror by Gfrörer (Black Is the Color).
IDW
Be Gay, Do Comics, edited by Matt Bors (Aug. 11, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68405-777-1). This collection of LGBTQ-themed comics from the website The Nib includes everything from autobiographical comics to gags and satire, featuring work by artists including Hazel Newlevant, Joey Alison Sayers, Maia Kobabe, Matt Lubchansky, Breena Nuñez, Sasha Velour, and Bianca Xunise.
Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, and Thibault Balahy (Sept. 22, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68405-714-6). The Native American rock band Redbone formed in the 1960s and recorded the hit song “Come and Get Your Love,” as members found their place in the American Indian movement. This graphic tribute is published simultaneously in a Spanish-language edition.
Image Comics
Little Bird: The Fight for Elder’s Hope by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram (Sept. 22, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-1694-2). Little Bird is a young warrior in a dystopian future battling the insidious American Empire in this epic-scope comics series from filmmaker Van Poelgeest and artist Bertram that combines elements of horror, adventure, and SF/fantasy.
On the Stump, Vol. 1 by Chuck Brown and Prenzy (Sept. 1, $9.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-1608-9). Brown (the Bitter Root series) imagines an alternate world in which the American presidency has been determined by a fistfight after a brawling campaign, ever since history diverged during a bloody debate-stage battle in 1868.
Iron Circus Comics
Patience & Esther: An Edwardian Romance by S.W. Searle (Nov. 17, $20, trade paper, ISBN 978-1-945820-70-0). Patience and Esther, two girls living in service in Edwardian England, are attic roommates who become lovers, and engage in erotic and political awakening in this romantic graphic novel set amid the upstairs/downstairs revolutions of the twilight of the gilded age.
Island
Thing: Inside the Struggle for Animal Personhood by Sam Machado, Cynthia S. Machado, and Steven Wise (Oct. 6, $26 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64283-085-9). Wise, lawyer and founder of the Nonhuman Rights Project, presents the case of Happy, an intelligent and emotionally aware elephant in the Bronx zoo, in his graphic novel that argues for animals to gain legal recognition of “personhood.”
Laurence King
Kusama: A Graphic Biography by Elisa Macellari (Oct. 20, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-78627-716-9). Conceptual artist Yayoi Kusama and her bold and graphic pop art are given the graphic biography treatment in this volume, which covers her time as a young artist in Japan and the 1960s New York City art milieu, as well as her contemporary projects and persona.
Life drawn
For Justice by Serge Klarsfeld et al., trans. by Nanette McGuinness (Jan. 27, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64337-524-3). Serge and Beate Klarsfeld—famous Nazi hunters who are married—have spent their lives investigating war criminals and bringing them to trial. Pascal Bresson and artist Sylvain Dorange illustrate the course of their activism and their love story.
MAGNETIC
Aster of Pan by Merwan, trans. by M.B. Valente (Nov. 18, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-942367-94-9). In 2068, a young woman named Aster lives in a dystopic society where adversarial settlements scavenge, and political conflicts are settled through “Celestial Mechanics,” aka killer dodge ball. Against all the odds, she’s chosen to represent her territory in the skirmish.
MCD
The Book of Darryl by the Goggles and Closer (Nov. 10, $27, ISBN 978-0-374-11531-9). Teenager Darryl lives in Nazareth under Roman occupation, and when Jay, a refugee, joins his heavy metal band, together they discover the transformative power of the head-banging music. Created by the Goggles (Welcome to Pine Point) and Closer (Shut Up Little Man!), the graphic novel ties to an app of GIF animations by artist Scorpion Dagger.
NBM
The Disney Bros: The Fabulous Story of Walt and Roy by Alex Nikolavitch and Felix Ruiz (Nov. 15, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-68112-266-3). Brothers Roy and Walt Disney merged their artistic and business talents to form their cartoon studio, which grew into an entertainment empire due to a certain mouse; this graphic non-fiction work charts both the business and conflicted family history.
Plutocracy by Abraham Martínez (Dec. 15, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-68112-268-7). An anonymous citizen sets out to uncover the truth about the Company, which dominates the world of 2051, in this dystopian science fiction graphic novel where capitalism is the rule of law and elections are governed by shareholder meetings.
New York Review Comics
Trots and Bonnie by Shary Flenniken, edited by Norman Hathaway (Sept. 15, $37.95, ISBN 978-1-68137-485-7). Flenniken’s strip from National Lampoon in the 1970s and ’80s starred a little girl and her dog, and confronted mores and raised eyebrows. Here the characters’ satirical adventures, drawn by one of few female contributors to the magazine’s funny pages, get collected in a first trade volume.
Norton
Bad Island by Stanley Donwood (Oct. 27, $18, ISBN 978-1-324-00185-0). Donwood (There Will Be No Quiet) slow-pans through an island wilderness in this wordless fable illustrated in a linocut style. Over time, civilization encounters the island, and the clash between mankind and the natural environment eventually will destroy both.
Oni
Titan, Vol. 1 by François Vigneault (Sept. 15, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-62010-779-9). Trouble is stirring at a mining colony on the moon Titan, as tempers spark between the huge genetically engineered Titan workers and Terran management, and João da Silva is sent to set things right.
Pantheon
Lon Chaney Speaks by Pat Dorian (Oct. 6, $25, ISBN 978-1-5247-4743-5). The life and career of silent-film actor Lon Chaney (1883–1930), who performed such ghostly leads as the Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame using innovative makeup techniques and acting methods, is played out in this graphic novel.
Plume
City Monster by Reza Farazmand (Nov. 17, $20 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-08779-4). Web cartoonist Farazmand’s debut features big city roommates and neighbors—a monster,
a ghost, and a vampire—who run into other ghouls as they kick around town in search of entertainment and libations, in a satire of modern urban life.
PM
Crossroads: I Live Where I Like: A Graphic History by Koni Benson et al., (Jan. 1, $20 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-62963-835-5). This history of women-led resistance to apartheid, from the defense of Crossroads, an African settlement in the 1970s, to ongoing struggles in contemporary South Africa, is drawn by the Trantraal brothers and Ashley Marais, and gathers over 60 individuals’ stories.
Scribner
The Times I Knew I Was Gay by Eleanor Crewes (Oct. 6, $25, ISBN 978-1-982147-10-5). Crewes’s debut graphic memoir of self-discovery traces her queer identity from youthful obsessions with Buffy the Vampire Slayer through uncomfortable dates with boys, and later girlfriends, as she comes to realize that coming out is a process more than a single point in time.
Secret Acres
Washington White by Adam Griffiths (Sept. 15, $24.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-73448-560-8). Griffith’s psychedelic satire finds the black owner of a tabloid threatening to expose the wrongdoings of his wealthy father, who is masterminding the gentrification of a parallel universe city somehow contained within a mind-control disease (which the president authorized the testing of in Washington, D.C.). And a punk drummer just wants to get the band back together.
Selfmadehero
Knock Out! The True Story of Emilie Griffith by Reinhard Kleist, trans. by Michael Waaler (Oct. 13, $22.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-910593-86-8). Boxing champion Emile Griffith (1938–2013), a bisexual African American athlete, fought in the ring and out against homophobia and racism. In 1962, one of his opponents threw a slur at him, then died 10 days later after being knocked out in the fight, leaving Griffith notorious.
When I Came Out by Anne Mette Kærulf Lorentzen, trans. by Charlotte Barslund (Sept. 1, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-910593-91-2). Lorentzen’s debut graphic novel, drawn with anthropomorphic animal characters, features Louise, who, in her 40s and married with four children, decides to come out as a lesbian.
Seven Seas
Unicorns Aren’t Horny, Vol. 1 by Semi Ikuta (Nov. 10, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64505-859-5). Emuko has never dated anyone and remained a steadfast celibate. Coincidentally, her roommate is a unicorn named Sea Urchin, and unicorns really dig virgins—but what if Emuko decides she wants to fall in love, after all?
Statix
Negalyod: The God Network by Vincent Perriot, trans. by Montana Kane (Oct. 6, $39.99, ISBN 978-1-78773-470-8). In this dystopian graphic novel, the twist is that dinosaurs once again roam the planet. They are protected by shepherds such as Jarri, who travels to one of the remaining cities controlled by a military regime after his herd is killed—and joins up with the rebels.
Street Noise
Come Home, Indio: A Memoir by Jim Terry (Sept. 8, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-951491-04-8). Terry grew up in the suburbs not deeply tied to his identity as Native American, but after moving to the city and a rocky period struggling with alcoholism, he found his way to Standing Rock and to his sense of a spiritual self.
Ten Speed
The Comic Book Story of Basketball: A Fast-Break History of Hoops by Fred Van Lente and Joe Cooper (Sept. 1, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-984856-18-0). The series that’s done graphic histories of baseball and wrestling contributes one on basketball, covering everything from the rules of street games to profiles of internationally popular players and coaches including Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Steph Curry.
Titan Comics
Adler by Lavie Tidhar and Paul McCaffrey (Aug. 11, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-78276-071-9). Irene Adler, the “only ever one woman” for Sherlock Holmes, sets out to take down Holmes’s longtime adversary, Moriarty, and is joined by a team of female scientists, literary figures, and other notables from history.
Top Shelf
The Book Tour by Andi Watson (Nov. 17, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60309-479-5). A midlist British author departs on his book tour—and everything falls apart. He’s wanted by police, and the trouble is only starting, in this humorous graphic novel about authorial anxiety by Watson (Glister).
Under-Earth by Chris Gooch (Oct. 20, $29.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60309-477-1). The maze of a massive prison system is buried underground beneath layers of trash and artifacts from the past. Gooch (Bottled) follows the stories of inmates bonding, attempting to escape, and seeking revenge.
Uncivilized Books
Ginseng Roots, Part One by Craig Thompson (Oct. 19, $34.95, ISBN 978-1-941250-43-3). Thompson (Blankets) worked on a Wisconsin ginseng farm along with his little brother starting when he was 10 years old; the root was sold for profit in China. This first volume of his memoir series ties together class issues, brotherly devotion, and international trade.
Viz Media
Remina by Junji Ito, trans. by Jocelyne Allen (Dec. 15, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-974717-47-7). Ito’s classic horror manga is released in English with this portrait of a scientist who discovers a new planet, names it after his daughter, Remina, and then watches as his daughter rises to fame while the planet careens through a destructive path toward Earth.
Yoe
Invisible Men: Black Artists of the Golden Age of Comics by Ken Quattro (Sept. 15, $34.99, ISBN 978-1-68405-586-9). Comics historian Quattro collects profiles of African American comic book artists in the 1930s–’50s golden age of the industry, who worked often behind the scenes, including E.C. Stoner, Owen, and Matt Baker, with historical examples of their work, including All-Negro Comics and Negro Heroes.
