STARember’s stylish manhua debut, an adaptation of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s Chinese webnovel, is more satisfying to look at than read. In a lush fantasy historical version of China reminiscent of wuxia movies, Prince Xie Lian achieves divinity as a reward for his heroic deeds. For as-yet-undisclosed reasons, however, he loses the favor of the gods. He’s banished back to the mortal world, where his repeated efforts to regain his heavenly status by humble deeds (busking on the streets, collecting trash) make him “the laughingstock of the three realms.” Subsequent serialized plots feature Xie Lian and other earthbound immortals recruited by the gods to deal with supernatural troubles plaguing humanity. In this opening volume, they investigate the mystery of a “ghost groom” who abducts brides from their wedding processions. The lavish painted art is rife with lithe figures in flowing silks surrounded by butterflies, blossoms, eerie lights, and dramatic shadows. The script, unfortunately, is mired in confusing info dumps and wonky asides on heavenly bureaucracy. Additionally, the action can be hard to follow visually, in part because the many attractive, elegant characters look so much alike. (At least the young man with disfiguring “human face disease” stands out.) This eye-catching confection lacks flavor. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Folk horror meets small-town noir in this chilling outing from Jordan (The Strange Talent of Luther Strode), Shehan (House of Slaughter), and House (Morning Star). Fresh out of prison, tough guy Harley Creed returns to his Appalachian hometown of Briar Falls to check on his estranged daughter, Maybelle, despite being warned, “Ain’t nothing here but death.” Briar Falls is a stronghold of dark folk magic, and the most powerful witching family in town, the Weavers, nurses an old grudge against Creed. When he’s hexed with the Black Bone Curse, which will kill him if he can’t kill the person who cast it first, he’s forced to unleash his own deadly mystical skills. If the story is sometimes too elliptical for its own good—the narrative almost reaches its end before sketching a clear picture of the feud’s stakes—the streaky, shadowy, and boldly colored art, reminiscent of classic Vertigo artists like Duncan Fegredo, sets the perfect eerie backwoods mood. In the book’s most effective recurring image, spectral faces hover behind Creed as a reminder of the secrets he carries. Horror fans will fall under this graphic novel’s spell. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

The informative and inspiring graphic nonfiction debut by Ukrainian researcher and podcaster Naiem assumes that most readers outside Ukraine know little of its history. In a framing device, a woman named Vika takes shelter from bomb blasts and finds solidarity with her fellow evacuees. From there, Naiem deftly synthesizes past and present as she tracks tensions from 10th-century Kyivan Rus, when a powerful, newly Christian Ukraine was closely tied to Byzantium, up through Russia’s recent and ongoing attempts to seize Ukrainian territory under the guise of “liberating” Russian speakers from fascism. Ukraine’s tradition of courageous resistance is well documented by Naiem, as is its long history of oppression at the hands of Russia. During the Holodomor (Great Famine) of 1932–1933, an estimated 3.3 million Ukrainians died because of Soviet theft of land and grain—but numerous peasant farmers fought back. This spirit continues in the pro-democracy Orange Revolution and recent grassroots fundraising to supply soldiers resisting Russian military attacks. Artists Vus and Kypibid’s delicately shaded, innovatively paneled pencil work makes room for just one color: orange—not only for accents, but for backgrounds, walls of flame, and entire crowd scenes. The effect suggests a people inseparable from their drive for freedom. This packs a punch. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Dwayne McDuffie award winner Daniels (Upgrade Soul) and debut artist Sucre delve into the hidden history of Florida bayou country in this satisfying brew of slasher and Southern gothic. Kirah, a young Black woman, works at the youth home where she grew up after surviving an attack by the Gator Man, a serial killer who has since passed into local legend. When the Gator Man resurfaces, Kirah’s old wounds are reopened, not least because she’s always believed the man behind the alligator mask was her estranged father. With the help of her colleague and friend Sedale and a Greek chorus of foster kids, Kirah sets out to solve the mystery once and for all. The mission takes the crew through swamps, to the bottom of a lake, and into the twisted history behind a local candy company. Along the way, they stir up old racial tensions and unresolved family traumas. Sucre’s funky character designs and simple but atmospheric settings, with bursts of yellow cutting through eerie gray ink wash, set an appropriately off-kilter vibe. Fans of elevated horror will enjoy wading into this unpredictable swampland noir. Agent: Chad Luibl, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

This unnerving Southwest horror by Fawkes (Batman: Eternal) and debut artist Rimanti pits a pessimistic ex-con against the residents of an outré desert town. When heavily tattooed toughie Kristine Woods is released in Tuscon following a 15-year prison stint, she finds that her mysterious father is missing but has left her a gassed-up sports car with money in the glove compartment. She buckles in for a search, and rolls into the sinister oasis of Promise, his last known address, on the night of a local festival that gives off Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery vibes. Cue the occult sacrifices, cryptic sightings of her dad, and an obstinate sheriff who’s intent on preventing him from escaping the town even if that means taking Kristine out of the picture. Meanwhile, the ceremonies summon Pallanna, a shape-shifting mother goddess who embraces and tries—it seems—to protect Kristine. The plot is unpretentious, and Fawkes’s use of a 24-hour timeline ups the dread, conjuring the fight-or-flee emotions of a horror flick. Rimanti’s semi-realistic character design recalls Steve McNiven or Frank Quitely, and makes the story’s supernatural elements even more disconcerting. Bright colors by Rifan Kartakusumah liven up the visuals. The result is a dark southwestern fantasy that will appeal to fans of writers like Margaret Killjoy and films such as Route 666. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 12/05/2025 | Details & Permalink

Love is a battlefield—albeit a cutesy one—in this adorable manga comedy about an invisible war for human hearts. When schoolgirl Koharu dies in a gruesome accident, she’s resurrected as a winged cupid, the outcome for all humans who die without falling in love. Cupids have the chance to earn karmic points, and someday return to life, by playing matchmaker. Bows and arrows are passé; Koharu’s comrades shoot love from guns and grenade launchers. Alongside supportive team leader Kanna, gleefully violent Chiyo (“Hitting two hearts with one bullet? Freaking awesome!”), and logical, bespectacled Ena, Koharu wields her armory for romance. Inee’s fine-lined art is relentlessly charming, and the premise delivers endless opportunities for slapstick: the cupids engage in friendly firefights over their preferred pairings, stray bullets cause bystanders to become smitten, and grenades set off heart-shaped explosions. A deliciously bittersweet sentimentality punctuates the action, as the cupids ache over the mysteries of love and deal with their own mortal pasts. Notably, the couples include same-sex pairings, which the cupids treat as no different from heterosexual relationships. For romantics with a refined sense of humor, this offbeat fantasy delights. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 12/05/2025 | Details & Permalink

Artist and animation director Luck’s multilayered graphic novel debut starts out as a straightforward horror story and develops into a dense and disturbing phantasmagoria. Misanthropic recluse Pearl Harlow dies, leaving behind a pig farm, a house full of junk, and the deed to mining property worth a fortune. Her nephew Roger arrives in search of her will, along with his harried wife Vanessa and rebellious stepdaughter Mary. The family is barely hanging together—Roger is fleeing embezzlement charges—but things take a turn for the far worse. Mary runs away following a heated fight with her stepfather, attempts to hide, and finds herself trapped in the abandoned mine tunnels with two goofball troglodytes, Tommy and Ed, both of whom want her for their bride. Mary keeps the simpleminded duo at bay with quick thinking and dark humor—“I can’t walk down the aisle and choose between two incels in crop tops”—but the more she learns about their situation, the more grotesque it becomes. The art, cramped and unlovely in the narrative passages, opens up into spectacles of horrific beauty when Luck delves into the characters’ inner lives. Dreams and memories are depicted as hallucinatory spectacles in Hieronymous Bosch–style tableaus. This tale of abusive legacies and isolation burrows under the reader’s skin. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/05/2025 | Details & Permalink

Outrageous queer socialite and boat racer Marion Barbara “Joe” Carstairs (1900–1993) roars to life in this fearless and seductive graphic biography from late Angouleme winner Hubert, creator of Darkly She Goes, and animator Augustin. “I came out of the womb queer,” proclaims Carstairs, who locks horns with her wealthy and dysfunctional English family. She’s delighted to be shipped off to America, where she’s inducted into the gay culture of 1920s New York City by Oscar Wilde’s niece, who also deflowers her. In the Big Apple, she indulges her passions for wild parties, fast vehicles, and beautiful women. (Her famous conquests include Tallulah Bankhead and Marlene Dietrich.) Though she presents so butch that her rare efforts to dress like a woman come off as drag, she doesn’t identify as a man because “pretending to be one is much more fun.” In an especially bizarre frenzy, she buys an island in the Bahamas and sets herself up as its benevolent dictator. Here, Carstairs’s charm tarnishes: her treatment of the islanders is racist and condescending, and she hosts the fascist Duke and Duchess of Windsor during WWII. Augustin’s stylish visual nods to Art Deco designers and early New Yorker cartoonists like Gluyas Williams give the account spot-on period vibes. This rollicking history captures the spirit of its subject, whose motto was “Life’s too short to be bored.” (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/05/2025 | Details & Permalink

Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi’s ramshackle 1980 musical comedy gets a good-natured graphic novel companion. It’s a family affair—Aykroyd’s daughter Stella and Belushi’s son Luke share writing duties with James Werner, with art by Brazilian cartoonist Felipe Sobrerio. The book wisely acts as if the unloved 1998 sequel never happened, opening in 1997 with Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues (now a priest) in prison for destroying most of the Chicago Police Department’s cars. Though he’s just days away from parole, Jake escapes. A couple proto–Blues Brothers—guitarist Wolfgang and Officer Ztdetelik, son of Jake’s jilted, flamethrower-wielding fiancé (played in the film by Carrie Fisher)—take part in the chase. This sets off a daisy chain of chaos involving a secret briefcase that could change music history, more vehicular mayhem, and set pieces like a run through the Art Institute of Chicago that reverently reference the original film. Unfortunately, without the actors, the graphic novel format can’t match the movie’s deadpan comic timing. Felipe Sobreiro’s cartoony art still mostly carries the energy forward, with flashbacks that have a nice, densely hatched R. Crumb quality. Back matter includes interviews with the authors about their fathers’ legacy, and Dan Aykroyd provides a sweet foreword. Dedicated fans will dig this, though they may prefer a rewatch. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this ambitious space opera from Sitterson (The Worst Dudes) and artist Dougherty (Savage Hearts), the leader of a rebellion gets abducted just after liberating the planet Lutheria from a violent, capitalist empire. Left behind are a ragtag crew of defenders known as the Freedom Guard. United in their goal to grant all Lutherians complete liberty, the Freedom Guard struggles to establish a sustainable society with no hierarchical restraints. When an off-planet terrorist is offered asylum on Lutheria, tensions ratchet up. The series opener mostly succeeds at flipping a beloved sci-fi trope on its head—rather than watching the rebels win, readers follow along as the complicated aftermath of rebellion unfolds. There are plenty of strong ideas at play, but the unrelenting pace sometimes sacrifices character depth, and plotlines can get murky. Sitterson layers in dense prose on crowded pages, which at times eclipses the sharp dialogue, though the weaving between exposition, soliloquy, and conversation is capably handled by letterer Taylor Esposito. Dougherty’s thick black lines animate action sequences and intimate moments alike, breathing life into characters ranging from military captains to mechanized scientists. Every page bursts with Vittorio Astone’s bold contrasting colors, lending the story an air of urgency. Dune fans will enjoy exploring this expansive new world. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 11/28/2025 | Details & Permalink