Abbott
BOOM! Studios
Saladin Ahmed, Sami Kivela, Jason Wordie
Being a female reporter in Detroit in the 1970s is tough enough. It doesn’t help that Elena Abbott has been rattling cages investigating police brutality and corruption in the Motor City. But when she turns her attention to a series of grisly murders that the police have ignored, she uncovers a conspiracy: a secret society of the cities elite using dark occult forces to maintain their power. The same occult forces that killed her husband. Forces she has sworn to destroy.
ETERNAL
Black Mask Studios
Ryan Lindsay, Eric Zawadzki, Dee Cunniffe
The women of the village of Hvallatr have been left alone as their men fight in an unnamed war. A village with no men has attracted the unwanted attention on neighboring tribes who see them as weak and undefended. But Vif, a Viking shieldmaiden is far from defenseless. She rallies the other women in the town to bring the fight to Bjarte, a local tribal leader and mage. But due to Bjarte’s dark magics, Vif finds herself haunted by her violent past — both figuratively and literally. Eternal works as a beautiful testament to the wounds that war and violence can leave, long after the fighting is over.
Girl Town
Top Shelf
Carolyn Nowak
“Diana got hurt — a lot — and she’s decided to deal with this fact by purchasing a life-sized robot boyfriend. Mary and La-La host a podcast about a movie no one’s ever seen. Kelly has dragged her friend Beth out of her comfort zone — and into a day at the fantasy market that neither of them will forget.” Girl Town is something of an anomaly on the list. Instead of a graphic novel, it’s a graphic short-story collection, collecting Carolyn Nowak’s (Lumberjanes) Ignatz Award-winning stories “Radishes” and “Diana’s Electric Tongue” together with other mini-comics and anthology submissions. Whether the settings are surreal or down-to-earth, the all have something to say about how women deal with the trials of young adulthood in the modern age.
Hedy Lamarr: An Incredible Life
Humanoids
William Roy, Sylvain Dorange
Biographical graphic novels are easy to overlook. Biographies of ordinary people seem ill-suited to adaptation in a dynamic visual medium. But Hedy Lamarr is one of the most fascinating people that ever lived. Dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world,” Lamarr was not only a Hollywood icon, but also a brilliant inventor. At a time of rampant sexism when women were discouraged from even attending college, Lamarr lived a double life — helping Howard Hughes develop amazing planes, and inventing a secret communications system to give the Allies an edge over the Nazis during World War II — all while being judged almost exclusively on her appearance.
Infidel
Image Comics
Pornsak Pichetshote, Aaron Campbell, Jose Villarrubia, Jeff Powell
I am sure that someone is writing a their doctoral thesis on why the experience of being a minority in America translates so well to the genre of horror. In my imagination this thesis is both depressing and absolutely spot on. When that thesis is written, I hope that the author has read the superlative Infidel, the debut graphic novel by Pornsak Pichetshote. An American Muslim woman finds herself trapped in a building haunted by entities that both encourage and feed off of xenophobia. It’s a heady mix of Get Out and The Haunting of Hill House that has already been optioned for a movie.
Monstress (vol. 3)
Image Comics
Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda
It’s hard to find enough words to praise the dark and beautiful Monstress. No other ongoing title has engaged in world-building with this much skill and effectiveness except perhaps Saga. And although Saga has aliens, ghosts and royal robots, with its blend of Asian culture and dark fantasy, Monstress somehow feels even more strange and wondrous. Volume three of the series finds the shapeshifting Arcanic Maika, a protagonist born of war and violence, in an unfamiliar position as she finds she needs to make friends to survive. Although she has appearance of a young woman, will Maika finally be able to learn what it means to be human?
My Boyfriend Is a Bear
Oni Press
Pamela Ribon, Cat Farris
Nora has has bad luck with men. When she meets a real live bear on a nature walk, she realizes that he is the perfect romantic partner. He’s considerate. He’s sweet and he takes care of her. But her friends and family are skeptical — because he’s a bear. And winter is coming. Can she wait while he hibernates. Every relationship has problems. It’s time for Nora to discover if interspecies romance is too difficult, or if true love really does conquer all.
The New World
Image Comics
Ales Kot, Tradd Moore, Tom Muller, Heather Moore
Ales Kot continues his hot streak as one of the best writers in comics with the poppy, surreal The New World. Half Mad Max, half Romeo and Juliet — The New World tells the story of a orderly vegan hacker and a chaotic police officer who is the star of an always-on reality show that fall in love. Can the star-crossed lovers survive the United States of America after the second Civil War when it seems like the entire state of New California is after them?
On A Sunbeam
First Second
Tillie Walden
Indie comics creator Tillie Walden continues to impress with her latest graphic novel, On A Sunbeam, which deftly interweaves two timelines: two girls meet at boarding school, fall in love and learn to deal with loss and a ragtag crew explores the depths of space and rebuilding beautiful structures to uncover their past. Originally published as a webcomic, Walden’s artwork was unconstrained by the limitations of a 22-page comic format, so we have beautiful, sprawling illustrations of the vastness of space showing off her impeccable line work.
Prism Stalker
Image Comics
Sloane Leone
The first thing you’ll notice about Prism Stalker is the color. It’s bold, in-your-face, fluorescent palette combined with the psychedelic organic imagery of a wild alien planet makes the entire book feel like it was designed to be read by blacklight. Leong gives us the story of Vep, a slavegirl tasked with recovering precious eggs on a hostile planet in a future dominated by biotech. And while the setting is bizarre, the story is grounded in the very human emotions of loss, exploration and wonder.
Saga (vol. 9)
Image Comics
Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples
What is there left to say about Saga that has not already been said? The book is consistently excellent. The only reason that it ever falls off of anyone’s “Best of” list is that reviewers have simply run out of praise to heap upon the sci-fi epic, or they want to give someone else a turn for a change of pace. The truth is that Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples story of star-crossed lovers from opposite factions of a brutal war will likely deserve to be on every list until it finally finishes its grand tale. The book is on hiatus at the moment, so this is an excellent time to catch up if you’re behind, or even start at the very beginning, if you’ve never read a page.
Young Frances
Ad House Books
Hartley Lin
Young Frances tracks some of the characters from Hartley Lin’s award winning comic Popehats. Insomniac law clerk Frances Scarland has been tapped for advancement by a senior partner in her firm with a reputation that makes her wish she hadn’t gotten the promotion. To add insult to injury, her best friend Vickie movies to the other side of the country to pursue an acting role, leaving Frances alone and vulnerable. Lin expertly explores the difficulties of long-distance friendship and working life in the millennial age.
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