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Top 34 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
August 2024
It’s been quite a while since the Polish-born, London-based artist-author Andrzej Klimowski released one of his haunting, visually-driven narratives, so his return with Edifice is a thrilling stand-out for me this month, not-to-be-missed.
Award-winning comics writer Loo Hui Phang and artist Hugues Micol probe Hollywood’s racial prejudices through their fictional and forgotten figure, a mixed-race actor of African, Latino, Asian, and Native American descent.
Meanwhile, Céline Wagner recovers a real but less celebrated Surrealist painter, harnessing the strengths of comics combined with Unica Zürn’s artworks to convey her mental states and psychological realms.
A rapidly rising star in Japanese comics, Keigo Shinzo offers here a single-volume compilation of fresh short stories from his formative years.
And one of Italy’s most progressive innovators in the medium, the late Guido Buzzelli, has more of his masterworks translated at long last. These and still more richly varied titles are featured below to intrigue and entice you!
The Adventures of The Mad Tsar
by Tarek & Lionel Choiun
Black Panel Press
$29.99
The publisher says:
It all starts in the capital: to be closer to his subjects, the Tsar of Russia, dressed in peasant clothes, strolls through the streets of St. Petersburg. Disaster strikes! The Tsar is captured by a group of conspirators wishing to use his uncanny “resemblance” to the Tsar (himself) for sinister ends. What fate awaits the true Tsar, now a simple peasant, in the hands of his enemies? And most importantly, what do they have in store for him next? A 146-page collection of three short stories that will see our protagonist resist a coup d’état, compete in feats of strength to decide the next Khan of the Caucasus, and run in his country’s very first election. A parody about the misadventures of a fictional Tsar of Russia, based on Peter the Great and other Tsars and historical figures of the Russian Empire. Written by Tarek Ben Yakhlef, a Tunisian-French historian and street artist. Re-listed from 2021. 144pgs colour hardcover.
Age 16
by Rosena Fung
Annick Press
$24.99 / $17.99
The publisher says:
Guandong, 1954 Sixteen-year-old Mei Laan longs for a future of freedom, and her beauty may be the key to getting it. Can an arranged marriage in Hong Kong be the answer to all her problems? Hong Kong, 1972 Sixteen-year-old Lydia wants nothing more than to dance and to gain approval from her mother, who is largely absent and sharply critical, especially about the way she looks. Maybe her way to happiness is starting over in Toronto? Toronto, 2000 Sixteen-year-old Roz is grappling with who she wants to be in the world. The only thing she is certain of is that if she were thinner, things would be better. How can she start living her life, instead of just photographing it? When Roz’s estranged ‘por por’ abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, three generations are now under one roof. Delicate relationships are suddenly upended, and long suppressed family secrets begin to surface. Award-winning creator of Living with Viola Rosena Fung pulls from her own family history in her YA debut to give us an emotional and poignant story about how every generation is affected by those that came before, and affect those that come after. Content Warning: body image, disordered eating. 312pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Alley: Junji Ito Story Collection
by Junji Ito
Viz Media
$25.00
The publisher says:
A collection full of grotesque imagination and surreal urban legends. Every night, a young man hears children playing outside his boarding house—but the alley below his window is fenced off from the world. Then, when a young woman’s family starts acting strangely at the same time she begins having bizarre dreams, she decides to stay with her aunt, but the town she heads for has neither addresses nor roads… Also, an all-you-can-eat ice cream bus that’s more sinister than sweet! Legendary horror author Junji Ito presents ten bloodcurdling short stories. 344pgs B&W hardcover.
Betrayal of the Mind: The Surreal Life of Unica Zürn
by Céline Wagner
Humanoids / Life Drawn
$22.99
The publisher says:
A rare English-language work tracing the life and fate of noted surrealist Unica Zürn, born 1916 in Berlin-Grunewald to a middle-class family, a young woman in Hiter’s Germany. She worked at Universum Film AG as a creator and screenwriter of commercials and as an artist who belonged to the Surrealist movement, was Hans Bellmer’s partner. A childhood devastated by rape, the absence of an idealised father, a strict moral mother, and a passion for art shaped Unica Zürn. One of the only prominent female figures of the Surrealist movement, Zürn was tormented by inner demons that she shared through her automatic drawings and anagram poems. She longed for and rejected intimacy at once, seeking her so-called Man of Jasmine, an idealised male figure, throughout her life while living as the partner of Hans Bellmer, noted artist and photographer. As her schizophrenia began to overtake her, she longed to make the woman she once was disappear into the nameless pronoun She. In they eyes of Unica Zürn, madness is the only way to be in the world. Céline Wagner retraces the fate of Unica Zürn in this rare English-language portrait of the surrealist, which includes a number of reproductions of Zürn’s work. 144pgs colour paperback.
Black Mary 1: The Departed
by Rodolphe & Florence Magnin
Cinebook
£8.99
The publisher says:
The peace of Mordwick, a small coastal village, is shattered by the news that mysterious individuals have come ashore to dig up the recently departed. They looked like pirates, and rumours swell that the infamous captain Black Mary, a legendary, freedom-loving marauder desperately wanted by the Royal Navy, is involved. Could she be the cause of a wave of spectral apparitions sweeping through the kingdom - including that of the ghost of the recently departed king himself? Also published this month, Black Mary 2: Passage to the Hereafter. 48pgs colour paperback.
Brittle Joints
by Maria Sweeney
Street Noise Books
$20.99
The publisher says:
An evocative and heartfelt graphic memoir about the challenges of living with a progressive disability. When Maria Sweeney was young, she kept count of her broken bones. As she grew older, she stopped. Living with Bruck syndrome, a rare progressive condition that gives her very brittle bones and joint abnormalities, meant that those numbers climbed and climbed. Today, she struggles every day, living in an often-inaccessible world. As an ambulatory wheelchair user, ordinary actions like entering a building, sitting at a café, or holding a cup of tea can be drastically different for her than for others. With lush illustrations, Maria tells the story of her lifelong struggle to obtain care in an increasingly complicated and disinterested US healthcare system. But for every step that presents a struggle, there’s also beauty, friendship, art, and growth. She documents the relief she’s found in alternative therapies, particularly medical marijuana; in loving community and chosen family; and in nature and her creative practice. A powerfully understated critique of our modern world, Brittle Joints offers a generous, expansive look at how to live and love amidst the challenges of survival. Maria Sweeney is a queer artist who was born in Moldova and grew up in New Jersey. She got her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design. She lives outside of Philadelphia, and when she’s not reading or sketching comics, she’s snuggling with her tiny dog, Bambi. This is her debut graphic novel. 160pgs colour paperback.
Craig Thompson, author of Blankets, says:
“A flowing journey alighting rage, heartbreak, subtlety, and transcendence that will grow your heart towards anyone suffering a health crisis.”
Cursed Pirate Girl: Malodious Mutiny
by Jeremy A. Bastien
Boom! Studios
$29.99 / $19.99
The publisher says:
The beloved cult pirate series finally returns in the long awaited second collections with new, never before seen extras. More than a decade in the making, the hotly anticipated, beloved swashbuckling saga featuring the unique and unparalleled art and storytelling of Jeremy Bastian is finally here. The fiery Cursed Pirate Girl’s journey continues as she and the young Apollonia search for the pirate girl’s father, one of the captains of the dreaded Omerta Seas. The adventure continues as Cursed Pirate Girl’s loyal companion Pepper Dice reveals that there’s still time to bring back her father, the Dread Pirate Captain Douglas! If she can escape the Sea King’s Palace with The Bright Star, will she be bold enough to enter The Devil’s Cave in the hope of bringing her father back? Or will the Devil Jonah and his minions stop her? The classic fantasy by Jeremy Bastian combines a keen sense of story and the unique art style reminiscent of 15th century engravings, making this a book not to miss. Collects Cursed Pirate Girl 2015 Annual and Cursed Pirate Girl: The Devil’s Cave #1. 128pgs B&W hardcover / paperback.
Cutting Season
by Bhanu Pratap
Fantagraphics Underground
$29.99
The publisher says:
Cutting Season features sixteen short stories that collectively showcase the singular style and vision of New Delhi cartoonist Bhanu Pratap. Seamlessly blending sex, body horror, isolation, and violence with humour, colour, and a seductive sense of design and composition (or, as the artist puts it, “love, gags, shit, holes, crashes, and bodies”), Cutting Season is a tour-de-force of distorted romantic abstraction: an unnerving and sustained howl, in comics form, that demands attention like a raw, exposed nerve. Bhanu Pratap is a comic artist, painter, and animator from New Delhi. 96pgs colour hardcover.
Dick Turpin: Tales of Heroism on the King’s Highways from The Fleetway Comics Archives
by Cecil Doughty, Hugh McNeill, Derek Eyles, H.M. Brock, Edgar Spenceley, Eric Parker, Eric Bradbury, Jesus Blasco & Geoff Campion
The Book Palace
£40.00 / $54.99
The publisher says:
The complete Dick Turpin comic strips from Sun, Comet and Thriller Picture Library comics from the 1950s. This collection comprises the cream of Dick Turpin strips published during the halcyon days of the Amalgamated Press. Within its pages the work of such masters of their craft as Derek Eyles, Hugh McNeill, Eric Parker, H. M. Brock, Jesus Blasco, Eric Bradbury and Cecil Doughty. Also released this month in this series of Deluxe Limited Collectors’ edition of 500 copies are reprints of: Billy Bunter, the very best of his dramatic strips in Comet; Robin Hood, the very best complete comic strips from Knockout, Sun, Robin Hood Annual and Thriller Picture Library comics from the 1950s; and Sea Wolves, piracy comic strips from Film Fun, Knockout and Lion comics between 1959 and 1962. 264 B&W hardcover.
Disciples of the Soil
by B. Mure
Avery Hill
$12.95
The publisher says:
When the Prime Minister announces a new rail line in Ismyre, there are protests: from the wizards, who are concerned about the country’s magic, from the naturalists, who fear the damage to the soil, plants, and animals, and from the Sisters of Our Lady Who Slumbers Under the Earth, who would prefer their giant serpent deity to rest peacefully. As the railway proceeds, the worries of the wizards and the naturalists come to pass… and the earth has begun to shake… A new book in the creative, fantastical Ismyre series drawn in pencil and watercolour by Nottingham-based creator B. Mure who continues to expand the Ismyre universe, this time with a story of industry and ecology. 88pgs B&W paperback.
Don’t Let Go
by Michel Bussi, Frederic Duval & Dider Cassegrain
Magnetic Press
$29.99
The publisher says:
Reunion Island is a runaway paradise for rich vacationers and a faraway hideout for those who wish to disappear. When a young mother disappears without a trace from the upscale Hotel Alamanda, an investigation uncovers a wealth of unanswerable questions, with all suspicions leading to her husband. When that suspect then disappears with their daughter in tow, the chase begins to save the girl and locate the wife. But this suspect has a lot more historical knowledge of this island than anyone is aware of… Based on the best-selling mystery thriller by novelist Michel Bussi, this taught tale adapted by artist Didier Cassegrain and writer Fred Duval will keep the reader guessing as they piece together an intricate tale of passion and revenge. 136pgs colour hardcover.
EC Fan-Addict Fanzine 6
by various, edited by Roger Hill & Grant Geissman
Fantagraphics Underground
$16.00
The publisher says:
This new 136 page, full-colour issue is loaded with even more vintage E.C. lore and rare artwork by E.C. artists. Front and back covers by George Evans. With articles on the recently discovered 1954 Williamson/Torres/Frazetta/Krenkel cover to Buster Crabbe No. 5, Jack Davis’s early 1950s digest-sized Lucky Star comic, a previously unpublished 1967 interview with Dr. Fredric Wertham from the Alan Burke TV show, more Jack Davis and Coca-Cola, a conversation with Graham Ingels featuring—for the first time—all four large and ten smaller-sized Old Witch paintings by Ingels, a feature on Marie Severin’s charming illustrations done for the Financial Follies between 1959 and 1962, a portfolio of Marie Severin’s signed and numbered E.C. cover colourings issued by Russ Cochran, the final instalment on the creation of the legendary E.C. fanzine Squa Tront, and much more. This issue is simply a “must have” for all E.C. fans! 136pgs colour paperback.
Edifice
by Andrzej Klimowski
SelfMadeHero
£16.99 / $19.99
The publisher says:
At the heart of the dream city of Engelstadt stand the tall storeys of an ancient apartment block, home to a nightmare labyrinth of corridors and secrets. Christmas is coming, but the mysterious disappearance of one of its tenants causes a cast of characters (or suspects?) to be assembled before us. An elderly aristocratic widow plays the piano; a young mother disciplines her hallucinating son; a photographer pursues creative experiments under the magnetic spell of the moon. And meanwhile, as a dark cloud threatens to envelop the city, and caped crusaders (or marauders) wander its park, there is a film screening to attend. The eccentric Professor will surely solve the enigma on Christmas Eve… Or will he? A pan-European Pandora’s Box of narrative Russian dolls and Chinese boxes, Edifice builds into an Expressionist graphic vision of our archetypal, metamorphic Shadows. Whether or not “an allegory of some sort” (as one of these characters claims), Andrzej Klimowski’s masterpiece of symbolic form is certainly one of the strangest Christmas stories you will ever read. “If you look carefully, you will see it.” 296pgs B&W paperback
Emilie’s Inheritance Vol. 1 (of 5): The Hatcliff Estate
by Florence Magnin
Cinebook
$12.95
The publisher says:
Ireland, 1801. Two men are walking across the moors when they chance upon an unearthly mausoleum lost in the mists. 122 years later, Emilie Bertin, a cabaret singer going through difficult times, is contacted by a lawyer, who explains that she is the only heir to a man who vanished in mysterious circumstances, and now stands to inherit a castle and estate… in Ireland. Thus begins for Emilie the most fantastic of journeys. Even before starting her career as an illustrator, Florence Magnin’s head was always full of fairy tales and fantastic stories. She drew book covers, card decks, roleplaying games, board games… Her universe of ghosts, sprites and unicorns lives side by side with a sort of oneiric science-fiction. In 1990 she went into comics, creating with Rodolphe L’autre Monde and Black Mary (translated by Cinebook), before venturing into solo work with Emilie’s Inheritance. 48pgs colour paperback.
Erased: A Black Actor’s Journey through the Glory Days of Hollywood
by Loo Hui Phang & Hugues Micol
NBM
$24.99
The publisher says:
Maximus Wyld had his heyday in 1940s-50s Hollywood. Of mixed-race black, Chinese and Amerindian descent, he was ‘the actor with a thousand faces’, essentially interpreting ethnic roles: Indian chief, Mexican revolutionary, oriental dandy… A veritable reinterpretation of the myth of American cinema through the prism of minorities, Erased reveals the political and social dimension of Hollywood productions. Maximus Ohanzee Wildhorse, renamed ‘Maximus Wyld’ by Hollywood, was a talented, prized, admired comedian. His filmography is an anthology of cinema: Vertigo, The Maltese Falcon, Sunset Boulevard, The Prisoner of the Desert, Rebecca... Copper-faced and with unprecedented beauty and animal presence, he paved the way for coloured stars in a segregationist climate. After him, Sydney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Yul Brynner, were able to reach the rank of stars. His charisma ignited white cinema and shamelessly swayed its racial hegemony. Maximus Wyld was a pioneer. However, no credits mention his name. On celluloid there is no imprint of his face. Maximus the precursor rests in the graveyard of Hollywood amnesia. What event pushed him into limbo? What occult and superior force has stored his career in a cinematic Bermuda Triangle? 200pgs colour hardcover.
Faceless
by Matt Lesniewski
Oni Press
$29.99
The publisher says:
From the magnificently distorted imagination of Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Matt Lesniewski (Mind MGMT Bootleg, Crimson Flower) comes a new milestone in comic book storytelling that must be seen to be believed: Faceless and the Family. On the broken and warped world known as the Hand Planet, the wanderer simply called Faceless ekes out existence on the margins to escape the shame that cost him his name and his identity. Exiled for his crimes, Faceless now calls the wastelands his home―until the good fortune of fate delivers him a mismatched band of fellow travellers who will soon become family… if they can survive a suicidal mission into the Hand Planet’s class-segregated Finger Cities to restore what lies beneath Faceless’s helmet and, with it, his hope in humanity. Matt Lesniewski is an Eisner-nominated writer and artist. His graphic novel, The Freak from Adhouse books, was nominated for the Best Single Issue Eisner Award. He’s also worked for Dark Horse Comics on titles like Crimson Flower, MIND MGMT Bootleg with writer Matt Kindt, and Static, his second graphic novel. 132pgs B&W hardcover.
Freedom Shall Prevail
by Sean Michael Wilson & Keko
PM Press
$29.95 / $19.95
The publisher says:
Freedom Shall Prevail is the first graphic novel exploring the life and struggle of Abdullah Öcalan, affectionately known as “Apo.” Highly regarded around the world, Öcalan led the Kurdish freedom struggle as the head of the PKK from its foundation in 1978 until his abduction by the Turkish state in 1999. He has, so far, spent twenty-five years in captivity. In this graphic novel we learn, in his own words, what Öcalan’s childhood was like in the partially Kurdish areas of Eastern Turkey and how his political awareness and commitment grew as a student in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through the personal struggle of Öcalan we also see the terrible devastation that Kurdish people have suffered and learn about the tumultuous and dramatic history of the relationship between the Kurds and the Turkish state. The book also dives into the theories developed by Öcalan that continue to influence the ongoing struggle today. Expanding on these, the second part of the book gives us a wider consideration of the issues and policies around women’s freedom, democratic confederalism and paints an inspiring picture of one of the most impressive attempts to build a genuinely grassroots democratic system anywhere in the world. The struggle going on in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava, is one that is directly combating gender and racial discrimination and the abuses of the capitalist economic system—in truly interconnected ways. This wonderfully illustrated graphic novel is a collaboration between award-winning Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson and Kurdish artist Keko, with backing and research help from Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and the International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in Kurdistan,” groups with long term and impassioned commitment to the cause of Öcalan and the Kurdish people’s freedom. 160pgs B&W hardcover / paperback.
Frontier
by Guillaume Singelin
Magnetic Press
$34.99 / $24.99
The publisher says:
It was inevitable. Our ravenous hunger for resources eventually stripped the Earth dry. Fortunately, our ambitious technology reached the point where we could turn our sights to the stars, which were full of materials to exploit. A New Frontier for a new gold rush. In this rustic future, three souls eke out a living: Ji-Soo, a scientist with a passion for discovery, Camina, a feisty, battle-scarred mercenary, and Alex, an asteroid miner who has never been to Earth. Through their exhausting daily lives, they each dream individual dreams, following their own road toward that horizon. But when those paths cross, those dreams change trajectory, taking them all in a direction they couldn’t have imagined. What will become of humanity when it is completely disconnected from its cradle, the Earth? Created by artist and author Guillaume Singelin, Frontier is a feature-length snapshot of life in the age of space exploration. Built on a foundation of plausible technology and scientific advancement, Frontier explores the new, daily challenges of life in space: from the mundane task of farming to the political strife of corporate trademark and territory claims. Life in space isn’t easy… but where else can you go? Told in a breathtaking visual mashup of cartoony characters within hyper-detailed and expansive environments, Frontier is unlike anything you’ve seen before. Described as “ The Expanse or Firefly populated by chibi manga characters,” this premium 200-page graphic novel builds a sprawling new universe that may one day come true. 200pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Future
by Tommi Musturi
Fantagraphics
$39.99
The publisher says:
Tommi Musturi’s Future traps the reader into a web of stories happening in different time spaces, providing perspectives on the possible futures of mankind through imaginary future worlds, current events, historical references, utopias, and ideals. Future is a mash-up of the familiar and the terribly alien: quotidian existence, sci-fi spectacle, utopian fantasy, AI dystopia, and other worst-case scenarios. Richly philosophical and allegorical, Musturi chronicles alcoholic magicians, guerrilla art squads, mutant reality television hosts, and incel archaeologist-astronauts, among many others. Weaving between a variety of styles in illustration and narration that transform and reflect our constantly changing reality, Future is an impassioned graphic novel for our times that renews the medium of comics – a vital and multifaceted work of art. Known as a stylistic chameleon who often deals with existential themes that twirl around the ideal of “freedom,” Musturi has crafted his masterpiece, an attention-grabbing, bravura showcase of a rich visual imagination with a deeply moral centre. Born in 1975, Tommi Musturi is a Finnish cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, and artist. In addition to his current ongoing series Walking with Samuel and The Books of Hope, Musturi contributes to the studio Kutikuti based out of Helsinki, which creates, publishes, and teaches comic art. Seeing that there was an unmet demand, Musturi co-founded Huuda Huuda in 2006 to translate international comics into Finnish, publish local comic artists, and get the word out about the vibrant Finnish scene by anthologising the work in English. Musturi currently resides in Tampere, Finland. 288pgs colour paperback.
Gamerville
by Johnny Christmas
Harper Alley
$24.99 / $15.99
The publisher says:
A video gamer’s championship aspirations are dashed when his parents send him to Camp Reset, where electronics are forbidden and you’re forced to socialise, eat healthy, and spend time outside. Gamerville is a timely and vulnerable exploration of the importance of human connection and what it means to run in a pack, brought to you by award-winning author Johnnie Christmas. Max Lightning is howling at the moon—he’s finally qualified for Gamerville, a championship where players compete to be top dog in the multiplayer video game Lone Wolf of Calamity Bay. But his dreams of domination are doomed when his parents send him to Camp Reset. Gone are the long nights of downing energy drinks and getting copious amounts of screen time. They’ve been replaced with fresh air and group activities under the hot sun—a shock to the system for a lone wolf like Max. Can Max escape Camp Reset and level up at Gamerville, or has he finally played his last match? 256pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Heretic
by Robbie Morrison & Charlie Adlard
Image
$24.99
The publisher says:
Sherlock Holmes meets The Name of the Rose in an original graphic novel by artist extraordinaire and former Comics Laureate Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), and award-winning crime novelist Robbie Morrison (Edge of the Grave). Belgium, 1529: The city of Antwerp is ravaged by a macabre series of killings. Forced to investigate by the all-powerful Inquisition, knight, doctor, lawyer and reputed black magician Cornelius Agrippa and his young pupil Johan Weyer are plunged into a maelstrom of murder, madness and magic. 120pgs B&W hardcover.
Holiday Junction
by Keigo Shinzo
Denpa Books
$13.95
The publisher says:
Holiday Junction is a collection of shorts that are timeless as most memories are. The tales are also as fleeting as a weekend or a vacation. Whether recalling a reunion with an old friend or following along with a first date, the scenes in this anthology reveal the sensitive moments people share when their time is spent together. Shinzo Keigo is currently one of the hottest new authors in Japan. An alumni of the Fine Arts school in Tokyo Zokei University, he was given the New Face Award in the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival for his work on the book Our Volcano Festival, He is also known for Moriyamachuu Driving School and Hirayasumi both published by Shogakukan. Moriyamachu Driving School was made into a movie in 2016 and Tokyo Alien Bros adapted to a live-action TV series in 2018. 192pgs B&W paperback.
Holler
by Jeremy Massie
Dark Horse
$29.99
The publisher says:
Mark lives in a tiny town in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia in the early 1990s. He doesn’t fit in and feels out of sync with his family and the mostly-conservative crowd there. Lucky for him, he finds an escape—the grunge band he forms with his best friend, Jay. As the lead guitarist in Magnesium Mama, Mark and his bandmates make their time in their hometown bearable. Between gigs, there are a lot of ups and downs, and, luckily, Mark can remember most of them. At a unique 7.5-inch by 9-inch size, this complete Holler collection gathers together issues #1 to #8 of Jeremy Massie’s original story of grunge, rebellion, and friendship. The book will also include a brand-new cover, an original issue cover gallery with bonus pinup pages, and a new four-page afterword comic. 288pgs colour paperback. 168pgs B&W paperback.
HP: Buzzelli Collected Works Vol. 2
by Guido Buzzelli, translated by Jamie Richard
Floating World Comics
$27.99
The publisher says:
The second of three volumes collecting Guido Buzzelli’s stories in English for the first time. Includes HP, considered to be Buzzelli’s masterpiece, and the sci-fi fantasy Morganna. These fantastic and grotesque stories demonstrate why Buzzelli was called “the Goya of comics”. One of Europe’s most praised comics auteurs, Buzzelli Collected Works are the perfect introduction to his masterful skill and subversive art. Guido Buzzelli (1927-1992) was an Italian cartoonist, writer, illustrator and painter. His career started at age 19, and his comics were published in the Daily Mirror, Métal Hurlant, and Charlie Hebdo. In 1973 he received the Yellow Kid Award as best illustrator and author in Italy, and in 1979 won the Crayon d’Or in France. Trained as a classic illustrator, he is considered one of the masters of European comics and inventor of the Italian graphic novel. 168pgs B&W paperback.
I’m A Mess: The Guide for a Messy Life
by Einat Tsarfati
Maverick / Mad Cave Studios
$14.99
The publisher says:
This charming guide to living a messy life is here to help sort through the clutter of the messiness of people’s lives. I’m A Mess is a funny and deep exploration of messiness in people’s lives. It invites readers into a world where messiness is not a flaw but a feature. It humorously examines the characteristics and behaviours associated with different kinds of messy types and discusses the unexpected advantages that messy individuals may possess, such as enhanced visual memory. The book also includes a section that provides practical advice on managing and organizing clutter in a non-traditional way. It reminds us that, within the chaos, lies creativity and resourcefulness. 224pgs colour paperback.
Life is a Dream
by Calderón De La Barca, adapted by Ricado Vilbor, Alberto Sanz & Mario Ceballos
Ablaze
$19.99
The publisher says:
The classical allegory by Calderón de la Barca now a full colour graphic novel. Focusing on Sigismond, Prince of Poland, the central argument is the conflict between free will and fate. Sigismond has been imprisoned in a tower since the day he was born by his father, King Basilio, following a grim prophecy that the prince would bring disaster to the country and death to the King. While King Basilio has doubts, he finally frees his son. But, with his newfound liberation, the prince goes on a rampage, behaving like a wild animal as was prophesied. Captured and imprisoned once more, Basilio is able to convince Sigismond that his experiences of freedom were but a dream. The citizens of the kingdom, however, remember the truth. Now viewing their king as monstrous for his actions against his son, a rebellion ensues. Life is a Dream is Calderón’s best-known and most studied work. The adaptation contains bonus material: the full text of the classic work as well as a study and discussion guide. 152pgs colour paperback.
Mandrake the Magician - The Complete Newspaper Dailies Vol. 1: 1934-1936
by Lee Falk & Phil Davis
Hermes Press
$60.00
The publisher says:
From the creative mind of Lee Falk comes Mandrake the Magician! Created in 1934 with the story “The Cobra.” Comics historian Don Markstein wrote, “Some people say Mandrake the Magician, who started in 1934, was comics’ first superhero.” Hermes Press is proud to continue their legacy of complete Lee Falk comic reprints, starting with the very first years of Mandrake. This first volume includes five stories, “The Cobra” (June 11, 1934 – Nov 24 1934), “The Hawk (Mandrake Meets Narda)” (Nov 26, 1934 – Feb 23, 1935), “The Monster of Tanov Pass” (Feb 25, 1935 – June 15 1935), “Saki, the Clay Camel” (June 17, 1935 – Nov 2 1935), and “The Werewolf” (Nov 4 1935 – Feb 1936). Strips from this issue are taken directly from King Feature’s proofs. Included in the volume is a comprehensive essay and documentary materials. 320pgs B&W hardcover.
Mothballs
by Sole Otero, translated by Andrea Rosenberg
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
In this moving family saga, a teenage woman uncovers the hushed history of sexual violence that shattered her grandmother’s life. Buenos Aires, 2001. When Vilma passes away, few friends and relatives care to attend her funeral. This conspicuous absence sparks the curiosity of her 19-year-old granddaughter, Rocio, who moves into the house her grandmother has left her. In this home haunted by memories, she delves into Vilma’s life and uncovers a family history shrouded in tragedy. Moving seamlessly between Italy at the beginning of the 20th century and Argentina at the beginning of the 21st century, Mothballs draws a poetic comparison between the lives of grandmother and granddaughter. Both women are strong-willed and ambitious, eager to forge their own way, but face pressure from family and society to conform to the paths set for them. At a crossroads in her own life, knowing well the isolation her grandmother felt, Rocio seeks to break free from the chain of history. Mothballs chronicles fraught family dynamics with rare nuance and sensitivity, sprinkling in moments of tenderness, vulnerability, and whimsy amidst the pain, a showcase of tour de force cartooning that marks Sole Otero as a major talent in the global comics scene. Born in 1985 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she is a comic artist, children’s illustrator, and textile designer. She has published the graphic novels Poncho Fue, Intensa, and most recently Naftalina (Mothballs), which won the FNAC-Salamandra Graphic Novel Award in 2019 and the Audience Award from the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2023. 336pgs colour paperback.
The Nancy Show: Celebrating the Art of Ernie Bushmiller
by Ernie Bushmiller & various
Sunday Press Comics / Fantagraphics
$22.99
The publisher says:
A companion catalogue of original art, memorabilia, and more from The Nancy Show, a 2024 exhibition honouring Ernie Bushmiller at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. This book includes reproductions from the museum show, including over 100 pieces of original artwork, with special bonus material including a biography by exhibition curator Brian Walker. Ernie Bushmiller stated that his Nancy was created for “the gum chewers” and not the “caviar eaters.” He might be surprised to find his work honoured in an important art exhibition. Nancy herself would believe she deserves nothing less! By scholars, collectors, and fans, the importance of Ernie Bushmiller’s work has been acknowledged in recent years as he takes his place among the great classic cartoonists. A collector’s story by Tom Gammil gives insights on Nancy artwork and displays a gallery of dolls, toys, and other merchandise. The Nancy Show also features contributions by authors Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden (How To Read Nancy), as well as notes from Bill Griffith, Patrick McDonnell, Ivan Brunetti, and others. The book also features a collection of the best Nancy Sunday pages from over the decades, meticulously restored and printed in near full-size, most never been reprinted in colour before. This book gives comic lovers an opportunity to experience The Nancy Show exhibition long after it leaves the museum. It’s a volume no Nancy fan should be without! Special bonus gift: this book includes a sheet of exclusive Nancy gift-wrapping paper, suitable for wrapping the book itself or anything else one might give to a Nancy lover. 152pgs colour flexibound.
Oba Electroplating Factory
by Yoshiharu Tsuge, translated by Ryan Holmberg
Drawn & Quarterly
$29.95
The publisher says:
An alt-manga legend strikes out on his own, creating some of his most revealing and personal works. Oba Electroplating Factory is a startlingly bleak but nonetheless captivating portrait of mid-century Japan in its most unglamorous iteration. Glimpses of the artist reflecting upon his life, his work, and his contemporaries pepper the narrative landscape: a wife teases her husband about a former fling on a trip to the hot springs, a young cartoonist is aghast at the cavalier conduct of his supposed betters, and imperfect men must grapple with the discomfort of their own honesty. Tsuge’s stories are studies in staging nature, working to evoke stillness and movement in such a way that renders his chosen setting a character all on its own. Following the breakthrough success of Nejishiki, Yoshiharu Tsuge forges a path for autofiction in manga and changes the cultural landscape of comics forever. Some of his most revealing and personal works were published between 1973 to 1974. As much as it is a testament to the author’s predilection for addressing sensitive and mature themes in response to his culture, this volume also collects works from the only period in which Tsuge tries his hand at writing for a mainstream audience in earnest. This fourth volume in the complete works of a legendary manga-ka is an indispensable addition to the literary comics canon and shining example of world literature at its most human. 272pgs B&W hardcover.
Our Beautiful Darkness
by Ondjaki & António Jorge Gonçalves, translated by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Abrams Books / Unruly-Enchanted Lion
$16.95
The publisher says:
A blackout leads two teens to discover the intimacy and vulnerability that can only be shared in darkness in Our Beautiful Darkness, a fully illustrated YA novella from celebrated Angolan author Ondjaki and illustrator António Jorge Gonçalves. The light goes out suddenly. And in this absence of light, a pair of teenagers bare their souls. Into the warm silence of the night, they share a conversation filled with their stories and dreams… and maybe even a first kiss. Set against the backdrop of the civil war that ravaged Angola in the 1990s, this book weaves the country’s history with a teenage boy’s family stories. But when a power outage shrouds the neighbourhood in darkness, everyday realities fade away… As the boy and a girl sit talking in the backyard, memory gives way to imagination and vulnerability, and the space between them becomes charged with emotional electricity. Their resulting conversation is both a meditation on the storytelling impulse and a gripping narrative of first love that, through its particulars, ascends to the universal. 126pgs B&W hardcover.
Putty Pygmalion
by Lonnie Garcia
Silver Sprocket
$15.99
The publisher says:
Derryl, a lonely radish, attempts to create a boyfriend out of a defunct and now illegal children’s product. His creation, Peter, springs to life ready to make a child happy, and instead finds a suffocating and cloistered existence catering to Derryl’s needs. When Peter sneaks out to a party one night and meets Derryl’s friends, he discovers there’s even more to his creator’s intentions than he thought. A queer complication on the Pygmalion myth, brought to life through Lonnie Garcia’s emotional, multimedia comic art. Lonnie Garcia is a full time trans illustrator and cartoonist, hailing from the coast and hills of Northern California and currently residing in Portland, OR. He has done work for various indie presses, such as Evil Hat, Fortuna Media, and Wigglebird Mailing Club, and specialises in vibrant, charmingly cluttered, (and sometimes lurid) artwork. When not drawing, he is watching camp movies and taking care of his pet bugs. 72pgs colour paperback.
What We Wished For
by Ilias Kyriazis
Humanoids
$22.99
The publisher says:
On the night a mysterious comet passes overhead, a group of kids encounter a supernatural being who promises to grant them one wish each, but they take too long and the comet passes. 35 years later, the comet returns…and their wishes begin to come true. What We Wished For is an extraordinary exploration of the sweeping concerns of our time—gender and sexuality, isolation, technology, power, polarisation—filtered through a funhouse mirror of magical realism and experienced through deeply relatable characters whose desires, foibles, and failings are nothing compared to their heart-wrenching humanity. Ilias Kyriazis is a comics creator based in Athens, Greece. Between 2001 and 2008, he worked predominantly in Greece where he won critical acclaim, including Greek Comic Awards for Best Artist, Best Writer, and Best Comic numerous times. Since then he’s been working mainly for American publishers. Some of his most notable English language works include Collapser (DC Comics), Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (IDW), Secret Identities (Image Comics), G.I.Joe/M.A.S.K. (IDW), Falling For Lionheart (IDW), Melody (DC comics), Elysium Online (self-published), The Crow: Lethe (IDW), and Humanoids’ very own Chronophage with Tim Seeley. 136pgs colour paperback.
Wrath of the Gods & The Ghost World: The Best of Boys’ World
by Willie Patterson, Harry Harrison, Frank Bellemy, Ron Embleton & John M. Burns
The Book Palace
$101.99
The publisher says:
The long-awaited reprint of the complete Wrath of the Gods by Ron Embleton and John M. Burns and Frank Bellamy’s Ghost World in one huge volume. For the first time ever, the three greatest British comic artists in one unique deluxe hardcover full-colour book. This is the first time since their first publication in Boys’ World in 1958 that these incredible comic strips have been reprinted. The stories have been professionally scanned and colour adjusted to create the feel of the original artwork in this deluxe collectors volume. All the Embleton and Burns double-page spreads will be printed as deluxe fold-outs in this monster full-colour volume. 124pgs colour oversized hardcover.
