A plucky protagonist triumphs over pompous palace society in this playful graphic novel from Beautiful Darkness creator Kerascoët (a shared pseudonym for Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset), which adapts Vesco’s 2015 French novel De Cape et de Mots. The imaginative Serine, eldest daughter of a destitute noble family, heads to the royal court to seek her fortune as a lady-in-waiting. At court, Serine dodges enemies—like the king’s handsy secretary—and gains allies, such as Leon, the lowly torturer’s apprentice, whose cheerful prisoners declare that “a little agony from time to time breaks up the monotony.... It keeps one in shape!” Serine transforms into a court jester to hide her true identity, mocking the milieu while she escapes trickster-like from dangers ranging from wardrobe malfunctions to being thrown out of a window and nearly drowned. Along the way, she wins her freedom, her family’s stability, and even a new beau. Vesco’s world resembles a fairy tale version of 18th-century France, where ignorance and cruelty hold little power against cleverness and kindness. Kerascoët’s charming, lightly cartoony art and evocative character designs brim with energy, practically leaping off the page. The result is a delightful adventure ideal for fans of Jules Feiffer. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/27/2026 | Details & Permalink

Fine artist and graphic novelist Belliveau (One Year in America) blends evocative ink wash illustrations and poetic text into a harrowing account of her traumatic childbirth experience and its emotional aftermath. When Belliveau gets pregnant during the Covid lockdown, at first things go well. Observing the fetus on ultrasound, she reflects wryly that it looks “like a piece of melted cheese but with my nose.” But when her birth is induced, it proceeds too fast, her birth plan is ignored, and she suffers extensive tearing. Her baby emerges “one big purple bruise.” Afterward, suffering from postpartum depression and continued physical pain, she becomes emotionally numb, resenting the treatment of her body as a milking machine and ruminating, “I am invisible, but also in the way.” She slowly resurfaces by reconnecting with art, both by commiserating with fellow mother-artists and through depictions in literature and painting of childbirth—she takes inspiration from the “bored Madonnas” she views on a trip to Italy. Belliveau’s delicate, observant black-and-white drawings capture striking impressions—labor pains appear as a screaming reptile—and small details like bottles of breast milk, piles of prescription drugs, and goldfish crackers. She also draws angelically beautiful babies. This honest and lyrical account of discovering “how strong and weak bodies could be” stands out from the crowd of feel-good pregnancy stories. It’s a valuable, affirming counternarrative for parents with similar experiences. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/27/2026 | Details & Permalink

Historian Denoël (Vatican Spies) and artist Java dramatize Russian president Vladimir Putin’s shrewd accumulation of wealth and power in this uneven graphic narrative. Moving rapidly from the fall of the Soviet Union through roughly 2023, Denoël tracks Putin’s rise from East Germany, where he was a KGB officer stationed with the Stasi, to local government in St. Petersburg, then through his ascent in Moscow to head of state, cataloging along the way how he neutralized his perceived enemies. The focus is less on Putin’s character and more squarely on the mechanics of state-sanctioned corruption, the global companies that were willing to play along, and the oligarchs who backed Putin, many of whom were later burned by him. Denoël’s detail-packed exposition via dialogue dominates (he eschews other narration), with characters on occasion sounding like monologuing supervillains (“In the meantime, since we’re affected by sanctions, we’ll compensate ourselves by buying up the assets of western companies leaving the Russian market at bargain prices and distribute them to our friends!”). It’s also tricky to keep straight who’s who among Russia’s complex web of scheming elite. Java’s art is stylish and distinctive, with a strong command of color, but it can’t transcend the static and didactic scenarios Denoël has scripted for Putin and his cronies. As far as takedowns go, it’s a bit of a slog. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Fighting monsters becomes just a nine-to-five in this slyly funny, unexpectedly affecting slipstream dramedy from Bablet (Carbon & Silicon) and Singelin (Frontier). In an alternate universe, sentai hero squads in Power Rangers–like costumes protect civilians, but all major kaiju threats have been wiped out, so they’re relegated to mall security jobs and unglamorous gig work. There’s even a “Sentai-cam” service, where patrons can buy private time with their faves. Rebellious Eloise, eager to get out of her parents’ house, moves into an all-hero apartment building and joins a sentai team along with her wary friend Warren. Gung-ho fellow crew member Satoshi believes the killer monsters of the past will return, but more immediate danger arises from the neglected remnants of old government kaiju-fighting projects. The worldbuilding grows deeper and denser as the story progresses, revealing an alternate history sprinkled with kaiju, mecha, and superheroes. Singelin’s art, a lively mix of European and Japanese influences, recalls Geof Darrow, Taiyō Matsumoto, and Katsuhiro Otomo, with sweeping multicultural cityscapes and urban detritus. His characters’ rubbery, often hangdog expressions show touches of Naoki Urasawa. This charmer is at once an in-the-know parody and a loving expansion of the fantasy genres it references. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Angoulême Grand Prix winner Ricard (Anna & Froga) riffs on the 1983 TV show Manimal in this insouciant, absurdist take on superheroes. Francis, an unassuming fellow with a bald spot and prominent mustache, is “a man just like any other,” except he can transform into any animal. Not even his wife, a frog named Fabienne, knows his secret identity as Animan—though he reveals it to the animals he treats in his day job as a pet therapist. Animan primarily employs his power for casual fun, like turning into a fish to enjoy a swim at the beach. But he also leaps into action to solve mysteries or stop his arch-nemesis, Objecto, who can change into inanimate objects. In a shuffle of comedic vignettes, Ricard combines adult sensibilities—all this transforming includes male nudity—with guileless, lively artwork, nonsensical jokes, potty humor, and gross-out moments. Animan, for example, turns into a termite to interview the maggots chowing down on a murder victim. His showdowns with the snotty, resentful Objecto read like kids playing make-believe: “A turtle, really? That’s the best you can do?” Perpetually shape-shifting between silly and sophisticated, the story reinvents the idea of a superhero comic from first principles. It’s not for kids, but the young at heart will be delighted. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Cosmic in scope, these contemplative sci-fi shorts by Canadian cartoonist Roy (the Prophet series) build a vast universe in a distant future with a critical eye toward humanity’s effect on alien worlds. Each tale spotlights bizarre new environments and their strange fauna and flora, such as “Hale-Bopp,” told from the puzzled point of view of a mutated elephant encountering humans for the first time. In “The Anchoress,” a student searches for the secret behind a mysteriously self-sustaining convent, while “A Portrait of the Artist as Hive Parasite” finds a human disastrously opening his mind to the history and travails of a Martian race. Parasites are a recurring theme that lends the collection a sinister, enigmatic air. The tales are bookended by a humorous, self-referential introduction and epilogue that places Roy in his own fictional postapocalyptic world. His worn-down characters, desolate environments, and grungy civilizations are reminiscent of the bande dessinée of Moebius and Grzegorz Rosiński, and are enlivened by the coloring in pastel shades and earth tones contributed by Sergei Nazarov and Drew Shields. The extensive worldbuilding and dark morals on offer here will appeal to fans of 2000 AD and Heavy Metal. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Xianzhe’s lavish manhua debut combines Chinese fighting fantasy tropes with the visual dynamism of ninja and samurai manga. Dao Ma, a roguish bounty hunter, travels the lawless outer territories of a medieval Chinese empire with his chipper young son, Xiao Qi. He tries to avoid bloodshed by cutting underhanded deals—or just makes sure his son’s eyes are covered against the worst gore. Most enemies are bandits and crime lords, but supernatural menaces include rakshasas, a desert monster of Hindu folklore. Trustworthy friends—such as Ayuya, a tough woman who carries a torch for Dao Ma—are few and far between. The figure of a lone assassin traveling with child owes obvious debt to Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub series; Xu’s excellent, visceral, and thickly inked art likewise recalls historical action manga from the 1970s and ’80s. Heads fly from bodies in sprays of blood, men in broad-brimmed hats ride into Arab villages like the antiheroes in a spaghetti western, and Dao Ma gets into a nude hot-spring fight worthy of Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. Fans longing for the throwback thrills of classic action manga will find plenty to pump their fists about. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

With humor, heart, and simple strokes of the pen, cartoonist and physician Farris (Mom Milestones) ushers readers through the tragicomic realities of medical school. In a frame narrative, Farris arrives at Beth Israel in Boston to give birth and remarks, “This is new: I’ve never been a patient here... so infantilizing when the nurse calls me ‘Mom’!” The story then flashes back to when she’s 14 and volunteers at a hospital. As a med student at Brown, she goes through a gauntlet of rotations in different specialties (tying surgical knots reminds her of friendship bracelets). Hurdles include braving protestors to shadow an abortion provider, dealing with the challenging but endearing patients at a psychiatric facility, and the first death of a patient. In the background, she meets, dates, and marries her spouse, wryly depicting their first date as a checkup. Farris’s brightly hued art is wiggly but welcoming, with gag panels sprinkled throughout (in the language of hospital flowers, lilies mean “We hope you get better, but it seems like you might not?”). She’s blunt regarding the sexism and racism endemic in medicine, and the struggles faced by clinics that serve the poor and uninsured. But she’s also passionate about the people and ideals that made the field her calling. This candid memoir belongs on every doctor’s shelf, and it’ll have laypeople in stitches, too. Agent: Mel Flashman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Meyer and Dorison’s gritty Old West action series, long-running in France, gets its English-language debut in a story chock-full of rugged desert vistas, whiskery ne’er-do-wells, shotgun showdowns, and desperate horseback escapades. As the title suggests, its antihero has literally made death his business. This first volume peaks early in a mostly silent page, in which undertaker Jonas Crow plies his trade with practiced solemnity in tight, detailed, gas-lit panels. That welcome attention to the weight of mortality grounds an increasingly wild story of mine owner Cusco’s efforts to horde his riches after his demise, by burying the gold along with his body. Charged with hauling the corpse of “old fat-cat” Cusco across the desert, Crow and a pair of hard-edged women, including Rose, who worked for the tycoon, are relentlessly pursued by aggrieved miners who want a crack at Cusco’s fortune. The bristling and uncertain connection between Crow and Rose, with revelations about their past and intimations for their future, are the storytelling highlight. Other sections indulge in repetitive scenes of nearly identical shoot-outs. Still, the moody western realism should charm fans nostalgic for films like The Good the Bad and the Ugly. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

The witty web-to-print debut from Yeon is a reverse-makeover comedy about finding oneself under layers of foundation. Plain-Jane photography major Yeseul was always told she’d blossom in college, but instead “everyone glowed up except me.... Did they all take lessons or something?!” Seeking professional help turns into a disaster when even the cosmetologist disses her looks, but Yeseul catches the eye of Yuseong, a genius makeup artist who wants a perfectly blank slate for his canvas. Together they enter a reality competition show called “face-off Cinderella,” where Yeseul serves looks against her hottie influencer friend Heewon. The manhwa is aware of the silliness of its premise and often pushes the proceedings to comic extremes: Heewon exposes a creeper via her color-changing anti-roofie nail polish; Yuseong is so dedicated to his craft that colleagues whisper no one has ever seen his bare face. But it’s serious about makeup, with tips included on palettes for different skin tones and the many uses of petroleum jelly. Yeseul learns not just what to apply to meet beauty standards, but how to come out of her shell. The cute, upbeat art, if not showstopping, does a nice job rendering the transformations of characters under different makeup treatments. Yeon’s message about the importance of self-love is sure to put a smile on readers’ faces. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/06/2026 | Details & Permalink