Marquez (the Uncanny X-Men series) kicks off an original fantasy series with this wildly imaginative twist on the trope of a young hero learning an arcane craft. The opening sets the tone: young Aida lies on her back in a crater, which she created while trying to defend her mom from attackers, uttering a (scribbled-out) curse word. Her frequent cussing contrasts with the sage counsel of Brother Alex Reilly, chief instructor at the Tower, a school for “understanding the gift,” where words have mystical power. Hopeless at her studies, Aida’s main goal is to escape the Tower to search for her mother. Marquez parcels out the lore, introducing readers to opposing institutions in a global network of magical schools, and sends Aida ping-ponging between conflicting fealties. The first volume follows this spunky heroine through a mystical power struggle, and builds to a climax where she must furiously select and direct her own destiny. Whether she makes the right choice remains to be seen, but it’s an exciting opening gambit. Marquez’s artwork mixes realistic character designs with wide-eyed, open-mouthed expressions that are exaggerated for effect. Colorist Marissa Louise (Black Manta) imbues the proceedings with blasts of bright energy and subtle woodland tones. Fantasy readers ready to graduate from Hogwarts and Narnia can apply for a more grown-up fandom here. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

In this soft-spoken fable from Ignatz-nominated cartoonist Muradov (Vanishing Act), the afterlife looks suspiciously everyday. An opening sequence set in a quasi-purgatory introduces the premise of a lottery (like bingo, but mandatory) for a return to life. The unnamed young woman who wins doesn’t actually want to go back, but the matter isn’t up for discussion. She’s returned to the lonely apartment, indifferent commuter crowds, and uninspiring job she’d left behind, with one added wrinkle: she now shares her apartment with her own ghost (“I guess I did die for a bit”). The pair settle into a cozy domestic routine—evening meals of soup, reading—and a fondness develops. Outside the apartment, the woman discovers ghosts everywhere, finding kinship in their shared isolation. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve lived a continuous past tense,” she confesses to one, who responds, “If I were you, I’d do a bit more living.” Muradov’s minimalist illustrations underpin the story’s minor-key modernism with diaphanous pencil strokes and muted tones, echoing the work of Øyvind Torseter and Ludwig Bemelmans. Gradually, the clever story of a woman haunted by herself gives way to a subtle meditation on inhabiting loneliness—and perhaps sharing it. Fans of the melancholic whimsy of Kore-eda, Ali Smith, and Tove Jansson will be pleased. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Coin-Op comics’ Hoey siblings (In Perpetuity) serve up an unsettling postmodern espionage thriller with undertones of Hitchcockian suspense and Kafkaesque absurdity. In an unnamed city reminiscent of Cold War–era Eastern Europe, Nadia, a drama student, is enlisted by one of many warring political factions to spy on another. She’s trained to pose as an unassuming cafe waitress named Miriam and serve coffee to a man called O’Brien—the dialogue acknowledges the reference to Orwell’s 1984—from a bugged samovar. Nadia draws on the acting technique developed by her late father, a drama scholar and author of “The Methodology of Disappearing” who advised, “Leave no trace of yourself; only the role will remain.” As Nadia pries into the past of the woman she’s portraying, she begins to transform into Miriam, her performance becoming too complete. The style is typical of the Hoeys: crisp, diagrammatic, and strongly influenced by Chris Ware. The geometric layouts seem to observe Nadia dispassionately, much like the surveillance state, and the flat color and doll-like figures give her world an artificial, staged look. Despite these distancing effects, a sense of paranoia is palpable—disappearances and deaths fill daily life, strangers seem inexplicably hostile, and spotlights appear out of nowhere. Crafted with mousetrap precision, this claustrophobic tale of identity and performance haunts. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

German artist Kuhlendahl’s graceful debut adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel illuminates its insight that “often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness.” Kuhlendahl depicts Woolf at her desk creating her hero(ine), who starts out as a young Elizabethan nobleman. Over the course of centuries, Orlando ages at a glacial pace, as do England’s opinions on gender roles. After living in Constantinople as an ambassador and getting married, he slips into a “trance“ and awakens as a woman. At first Orlando lives as an androgynous “gypsy,” but upon returning to Queen Anne’s England, she realizes the “penalties and privileges of womanhood,” noting that “nothing is more heavenly than to resist and to yield” to her suitors. Kuhlendahl’s whimsical drawings offer gently progressive touches, such as when Orlando is serenaded by a trio of trumpeters drawn as ranging from femme to butch. Kuhlendahl depicts Orlando nude with female body parts, but the character’s primary concern is not with those new parts, but rather how a dress impacts her reception, compared to breeches and a tricornered hat. Ultimately, Orlando is most free when toggling between genders—both how she presents and whom she loves. It’s a fittingly innovative and playful take on the original. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

The non-player characters in a role-playing world strike back against the heroes in this clever, raunchy, and self-aware send-up of isekai portal fantasy from Sayman (The Voynich Hotel). Two sardonic young women, Aine and Nacht, are unceremoniously crushed by a falling satellite and reborn as custodial staff in a labyrinthine fantasy dungeon world. They befriend the resident monsters and grow to hate the adventuring parties that barge in and create messes for them to clean up. To discourage such incursions, they attempt everything in their power to make dungeon-crawling an unpleasant experience. Soon, heroes warn one another against the destination and its “certain malevolence, like it’s driven to kill.” The story revels in the tropes of RPGs: Aine and Nacht die over and over but always come back to life in their staff quarters, meet ridiculous versions of seemingly every creature in the D&D Monster Manual (the kobolds that look like pugs are particularly appealing), and endure a socially awkward run-in with a hero from their original world. The humor pushes the envelope into adult territory, with cartoon gore and jokes about the girls snorting powdered mandrake (“Yeah, that’s primo shit”) and fishing for a shark-man with used menstrual pads. Sayman’s simple, angular artwork stands out, particularly the leads’ hilariously deadpan expressions. Rife with nerdy pop-culture references, this is catnip for otaku and fantasy devotees. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Heyum and Winter’s sturdy manhua debut, which adapts an online light novel by G.M., offers a simple but relatable fantasy: appreciation for a job well done. Pollyanna, the unwanted daughter of a minor noble family, is sent to die in a war, but she refuses to play into her own sacrifice and throws herself into military training. “Survive, no matter what,” her gruff, bearded mentor instructs her, because “that’s the best revenge you can get on your parents.” Pollyanna’s superiors don’t appreciate her fighting skills or her genius for strategy, but Luxos I, the ambitious young king of rival country Acrea, becomes curious about the soldier who’s been predicting his moves. After he convinces Pollyanna to defect to his side, they set out together to defeat all rival forces and unite the continent. With this intriguing setup established, the opening volume settles into formulaic RPG-style plotting, as Pollyanna works her way up through the ranks, racks up experience, and overcomes the skepticism and sexism of her new comrades. The brightly colored artwork is more efficient than elegant, but that’s appropriate for a rational, no-nonsense heroine who eschews luxuries. Pollyanna’s butch-styled character design nicely contrast to King Luxos’s golden-haired bishōnen prettiness. Though this offers few surprises, it’s comforting fare for romantasy fans. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

This enjoyably frantic manga prequel to the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners by Sztybor (The Witcher series) and Asano (BNA: Brand New Animal) bombards the reader with relentless action, foul-mouthed wit, and anarchic excess. In futuristic, crime-ridden Night City, gleefully violent Becca and her luckless brother, Pilar, struggle to prove themselves on the mean streets. They hope to become edgerunners like their father, who raised them on nuggets of wisdom like “This city’s a goddamn warzone! And wars aren’t won by cuddling dogs!” The volume doesn’t slow down long enough to unpack exactly what an edgerunner is or does, with little space for exposition as the siblings fight weirdo gangs, attempt heists, race through motorcycle chases and gunfights, and even, to Becca’s delight, rescue the occasional cuddly dog. The rampage is too frenzied for them to realize that the mysterious, mild-mannered fellow they’ve recruited into their gang is more dangerous than he first appears. The clean, cartoony art splays out on the page like an ultraviolent version of children’s manga, as if the human characters from Pokémon went on a crime spree. It’s a full-throttle sci-fi joyride. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

A billionaire gets humbled in this phantasmagoric series launch from filmmaker Aronofsky, his Black Swan collaborator Ari Handel, screenwriter Jeff Welch, and Eisner-nominated Argentinian cartoonist Martín Morazzo (the Ice Cream Man series). On a surreal hillside, a group of teenagers are lectured by grizzled Uncle Duke about the “good, bad, and ugly” of their weird world. In the magical land of Omaha, he tells them, he became rich by monopolizing the chicken processing industry. When he got cancer, he simply bought a cryogenics firm. It returned him to life years later, but as a captive in an apparent outer space prison within an electrified force field. His fellow detainees schooled him in how to avoid punishment from the alien eyes that surveilled them from above—and that the eyes enjoyed a good performance; his Elvis impersonation proved useful. Based on an unproduced script by Welch, the writing leans heavy on the cornpone narration (“Them raindrops falling on my noggin gave me a fresh idea”), and often strains for laughs, though some of the grim referential humor lands: the Talking Heads song “Once in a Lifetime” plays inside the force field–protected pen; “Rod Serling was here... Vonnegut too,” reads a carving on a tree. By the close of the first volume, Duke’s gone to battle with one alien eye—but where the teens all fit in is yet to be revealed. The detailed, angular art by Morazzo skillfully grounds this trippy tale. Readers with a taste for edgy satire will want to tune in to this mash-up of The Prisoner and The Matrix. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Conrad (the Wonder Woman series) and Ringo winner Chisholm (Miles Davis) riff on haunted house tropes in this twisty supernatural thriller about the pervasiveness of violence. Ghost hunter and social media personality Del heads a haunted-house exorcism team comprising Jacob, a devout young minister, and Holland, a snarky, nonbinary professional debunker. Del believes that sites of violence need to be spiritually cleansed: “These places are wounded,” he warns. “They lash out.” But after the trio encounters real ghosts, a bloody pattern emerges—someone connected to each site they cleanse ends up murdered. Del becomes obsessed with cleansing California’s Salton Sea, which he believes to be particularly cursed. As the exorcists’ lives and mental states unravel, buried secrets are unearthed. Chisholm’s figures and faces are often stiff, but he excels at drawing scenes of horror, from a squirm-inducing masked serial killer to glowing ghosts and a hallucinatory image of a house coming to life. The boldly contrasting color schemes add to the sense of disorientation. This chiller offers more than enough shocks to make horror fans feel at home. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Beneath its pastel-pretty surface, this print debut from writers Chi pa rang and Mitchu with art by R.PPOBI offers a feverish take on gothic pulp fiction. Servaine Noxirel, the scion of a wealthy family in a fantasy world reminiscent of 19th-century Europe, is bedridden with physical and mental ailments inherited through her troubled bloodline. Her father, who’s desperate to entertain her, gives Servaine an alluring captured merman named Mel—and her infatuation swiftly turns obsessive and controlling. “He is mine and only mine,” she sneers, and only after near-disaster does she begin to understand the cruelty of her behavior. Flash forward years into the future, when a relative also named Servaine Noxirel sets out to claim her inheritance, only to find a man who looks like Mel standing in her way. Is the merman back? And if so, does he seek romance or revenge? The delicate, decorative art is reminiscent of a Victorian valentine, all pastels, flowers, silks, washes of light and art nouveau compositions framing attractive leads in elegant poses. But the plot is rife with murder, melodrama, and other gothic tropes, up to and including madwomen not quite in attics. The momentum sometimes pauses too long for tormented inner monologues, and the time jumps between the two Servaines can be confusing. Even so, devotees of all things gothic will want to dive in. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink