Hollywood director Coppola collaborates with veteran comic creators Ryall (Zombies Vs. Robots) and Phillips (That Texas Blood) on a melodramatic graphic novel adaptation of his 2024 film that falls short of its grand ambitions. Cesar Catilina, a revered and reviled architect and inventor from an elite clan, holds fast to a utopian vision of reshaping the allegorical city of New Rome with his revolutionary material “Megalon.” His foil, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, is the pragmatic protector of the status quo, champion of casino revenue and “traditional values.” Complicating this otherwise straightforward battle of ideals are Cesar’s conniving relatives, his love affair with the mayor’s daughter, his apparent ability to stop time, and a power-hungry television reporter. Coppola personally directed the effort to reimagine the script, and the backstory of his reaching out to Ryall about his ideas is itself fascinating material. But the task of adapting here seems to diminish the intended spectacle, as scenes, sequences, and soliloquies that might be impactful on the big screen get crammed into close panels, overly dense dialogue, and often stiff character art. On-the-nose visual gags (like a Make Rome Great Again hat) don’t help matters. Coppola completists may find something of interest, but as a standalone comic this falls flat. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/24/2025 | Details & Permalink

Todd (Buttertubs) infuses this cryptic yet cutesy modern feminist folktale with an outsider-art vibe. Urfi, a “witchcat” drawn with big eyes like Garfield, defies magical law and summons Urbina, a birdlike angel, to help her have a child. The two fall in love and produce eggs, though Urbina warns her, “If you break my heart, the world will end.” The pressures of impending motherhood turn Urbina neurotic, insane, and destructive, forcing Urfi to flee and raise their three magically gifted daughters alone. The girls secretly befriend the Worm King, a child born of Urbina’s madness and vengeance, but even these family bonds dissolve as an apocalyptic conflict brews. Some readers may find the narrative leaps confusing, but those willing to set aside logic will happily follow along as Todd creates an original mythos out of historical magical practices, patchwork scraps of fairy tales, and dreamlike visions. The naive art is sometimes awkward but other times disarmingly beautiful, especially in page layouts inspired by illuminated manuscripts. Like Junko Mizuno, Todd is fond of visual symbols (rainbows, mushrooms, cats, etc.) that signify both psychedelic mysticism and dolled-up femininity. Rough around the edges and impenetrable to its core, this will appeal to lovers of esoteric cartoonists like Ron Regé Jr. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/24/2025 | Details & Permalink

This rousing celebration of Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (1938–1997)—Afrobeat star, truth-teller, commune leader, and frequent “rascal”—blends brisk biographical storytelling with urgent cultural and political history, gorgeous evocations of the power of music and dance, and bursts of bloody violence both factual and fantastical. Nigerian Canadian debut artist Fagbamiye and writer McCreery (Kill Shakespeare) mix documentary realism with a touch of the mystic even in staple music bio scenes of Fela playing to empty clubs in his early days or alienating key collaborators. More showstopping scenes capture Fela’s reclamation of funk as an African expression when booing Nigerian crowds would have preferred to hear James Brown; his late 1960s radicalization in L.A., inspired by the Black Power movement and a lover; and his denunciations of corrupt Nigerian politicians from the stage of his polygamous commune in Lagos—which the Nigerian army eventually invades in a scene of nightmarish violence. Between the colorful escapades unfolds a layered exploration of cultural exchange between people of the African diaspora, and a robust portrayal of a charismatic yet flawed artist whose revolution kept dozens of “Queens” on a planned “sex schedule.” Fagbamiye’s Fela is a force for Pan-African unity and an all-too-human icon. The result is a graphic biography as outraged, outrageous, and swaggering as its subject. Agent: Tanya McKinnon, McKinnon Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/24/2025 | Details & Permalink

Superb hardboiled storytelling and killer mid-century design power this noir from Eisner nominees Cantwell (Plastic Man No More) and Crook (Harrow County). The twists and betrayals start with the eponymous escape in 1962, as three felons bust free from the infamous prison in San Francisco Bay, though only two seem to survive the harrowing raft trip to Marin County. The fugitives—cold schemer Frank Morris and shattered, childlike Clarence Anglin—make their way to Modesto to meet up with their contact, a young Black woman who often passes as white and quickly loses her cool as she tries to shepherd the escapees to a Canadian work camp. On their trail are an FBI agent and a U.S. Marshal whose heated argument over jurisdiction is cover for their clandestine queer romance. The fugitives kill recklessly yet also feel conflicted about bloodshed (in one bitter dilemma, a local rancher, IDing them as on the run, demands they murder his wife) as they evade the law and a surprise pursuer. Cantwell’s script is sharp, both in its thriller jolts and surprising empathy. Bleakly gorgeous art by Crook evokes Alfred Hitchcock, Edward Hopper, Badlands, American Graffiti, and vintage crime paperbacks. The effect brilliantly imbues wide-open West Coast vistas with grim beauty and, in the end, a touch of welcome warmth. This will certainly win over noir fans—and may make new ones. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/24/2025 | Details & Permalink

Novelist Kraus (The Autumnal) and artist Dani (The Low, Low Wood) serve up a provocative and unsettling superhero horror story. For generations, the Molson family has tended Athanasia Cemetery, resting place for fallen members of the Dynamic Guild, Venture City’s protectors. After her younger sister’s death in a grim boneyard accident, Forrest Molson has dropped out of high school, developed a pill addiction, and upset her father with rants about the family’s exploitation by would-be gods. Forrest gets a taste of power when she discovers—and, in squirm-inducing and psychedelic-styled panels, ingests—a green goo oozing up from the graves. Her new super-abilities are unpredictable, the goo is addictive, and her efforts to right the everyday wrongs the guild ignores prove harrowing. The narrative holds to Forest’s angsty street-level perspective as she alienates family, friends, and crushes but connects with creepy goo-fed bird pets. Kraus finds fresh angles on grief, vigilantism, and comic-book science, while Dani’s art—inky black-and-white with splashes of green—conjures dread among spare streets and snowed-over tombstones, even if some of the gothic grimness wears thin. Still, horror fans will find this smart and unpredictable. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

The Rickard sisters (No Surrender) adapt Holdsworth’s 1925 novel, a rediscovered socialist and feminist classic, into a lavishly illustrated period epic with incendiary political fervor. Sisters Rachel and Hester Martin toil in a Lancashire textile factory, struggling to survive like their mother and grandmother before them: “Four women who’ve slaved since childhood, for nowt,” Rachel notes. Hester is forced to break off her relationship with the loving but poor Jack Baines and marry wealthy yarn merchant Mr. Sanderson, while Rachel becomes a union organizer and human rights crusader. Throughout their changes in fortune—which include mill fires, strikes, police brutality, a diphtheria epidemic, and shocking family secrets—both sisters remain dedicated to freedom. Rachel reads Marx and declares, “I can feel my mind expanding... as fast as my stomach shrinks,” while Hester rails against the subordinate position of women: “So long as we go on breeding.... We are the slaves of the slaves, or the slaves of the bosses.” In jewel-like tones, the Rickards bring the early 20th-century setting to life, from grimy factories and back alleys to the lavish Arts and Crafts décor of Sanderson’s mansion. Both a thrilling historical drama and a timeless call for social justice, this spirited volume surges with revolutionary passion. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

Drawing connections between abortion, forced sterilization, colonization, and assisted reproductive techniques across the globe and dating back to antiquity, this nimble debut from journalist Casillas and illustrator Garay makes a strong case that restricting abortion access has little to do with the rights of the unborn, and everything to do with control and eugenics. The account opens with representations of abortion in pop culture then breaks down medical terms and procedures before tracing the history of abortion restrictions. Among other insights, the authors note that women have long used medicinal plants to end unwanted pregnancies, that the colonial era ushered in new regulations on abortion as governments legislated in favor of increasing the population, and that enslaved women in early 19th-century America had lower birth rates than free women, which concerned those exploiting them. Relatively unrestricted and affordable access to abortion is, the authors argue, a painfully precarious phenomenon. Three “A Brief History of Abortion” chapters provide global context, explaining, for example, that abortion on demand was decriminalized in North Korea in 1950, whereas New Zealand didn’t allow unrestricted abortion until 2020. The authors convey a vast breadth of information with impressive clarity, utilizing bold black-and-white line drawings of representative characters with splashes of a pink spray-paint effect, nodding to the guerilla nature of grassroots action. This cogent and persuasive graphic primer hits home. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

Eisner nominee Flogny debuts with a striking blend of queer romance and hard-nosed crime drama. Jules Tivoli, a savvy young Italian immigrant, rises from underpaid shop flunky in 1938 Chicago to respected mob operator via his secret romance with Adam, a hunky but ruthless kingpin. After things go terribly awry with their Midwest organization, the pair hastily relocate to New York City. There, Adam’s machinations enable Jules to infiltrate a powerful East Coast mob family. “Adam had faith in me, and I had faith in us,” Jules recalls. But Jules’s friendship with charismatic fellow enforcer Eufrasio eventually leads to suspicions and deadly betrayals, putting everyone’s life at risk. Despite their love for one another, the calculating Jules and hard-hearted Adam remain largely unsympathetic antiheroes-in-lust (Jules, for example, is brisk and businesslike about inflicting damage on business owners who are tardy with their weekly protection payments). Flogny’s elegant artwork, though, goes down smooth as silk. She evokes the 1930s and ’40s in choice background details and tailored dress, while tastefully suggesting violence rather than depicting graphic bloodshed (though she never soft-pedals her characters’ dark deeds). Her figures move gracefully through the chaos. Fans of crime and romance will enjoy this lavender-hued riff on Goodfellas. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

This artful and thought-provoking graphic biography from Evans (Threads) stitches a postcolonial layer into the narrative by examining the fabrics worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries. Inspired by a patchwork coverlet that Jane “meticulously folded and painstakingly stitched,” the title also alludes to the “threadbare” letters and manuscripts from which historians reconstruct her life. The seventh child in a family clinging precariously to the upper class, Jane bounces between boarding schools while attempting to nurture her creative impulses, which her father supports. Her mother relocates the family to Bath in hopes of landing husbands for Jane and her younger sister, Cassandra. Though Jane remains unmarried, “her spirits soar” (Evans implies she had at least one secret romance). But “there are other voices in these fabrics, if we choose to hear them”—so begins the “Interlude,” which visits the fabrics’ origins. In colonial India, impoverished women weave fine Dhaka muslin; cotton is picked by enslaved Black Americans and spun by children in the north of England working 14 hours a day. The voices of these workers live on in song lyrics that adorn pages illustrated by intricate embroidery woven between colorful, caricature-filled comics art. The question “Where is the line between imagination and reality, when a legal fiction can... condemn people to be properties?” echoes through the final biography section, as Jane’s fate rests on the whims of male family members. Evans pointedly and beautifully illuminates the seams of this quilted narrative. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/10/2025 | Details & Permalink

British cartoonist Sparks’s twisty debut makes up for shaky art with an offbeat puzzle plot that blends science, history, and English folklore. Lorelei, a geology student, travels to the eccentric village of Chorksbury to work on her thesis on “palindenites,” a rare and little-studied star-shaped fossil. With her roommate, Eddie, and their cat, Raisin, in tow, she learns that 19th-century polymath Havius Corus, the last prominent palindenite researcher, believed that the fossils contained the secrets of the universe and left clues to his work hidden around town. “God, I hope it’s not like The Da Vinci Code,” Lorelei groans, but she and Eddie soon throw themselves into the game, exploring village landmarks to uncover cryptic carvings and mosaics, a secret tunnel revealed Indiana Jones–style, a circle of standing stones, and more. They’re pursued by Dr. Lowena Marley, an architecture expert who threatens to beat them to a breakthrough. The simplistic black-and-white art, with snarky dialogue in an intrusive typed font, has quirky immediacy but falls short of capturing the wonders of Chorksbury. Still, readers who enjoy scientific mysteries will gladly overlook the rough edges of this unpolished gem. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/10/2025 | Details & Permalink