Teen comics this season embrace and remix genre tropes in tales starring ghosts, demons, and one bloodthirsty mermaid alongside more serious-minded coming-of-age memoirs.
Top 10
Danger and Other Unknown Risks
Ryan North and Erica Henderson. Penguin Workshop, Apr. 4 ($24.99, ISBN 978-0-593-22482-3)
The raucous, Eisner Award–winning Unbeatable Squirrel Girl team reunite for a futuristic-fantastical roller-coaster tale about a girl and a dog who just might save the world. Ages 12–18.
Daughters of Snow and Cinders
Núria Tamarit, trans. by Jenna Allen. Fantagraphics, May 9 ($29.99, ISBN 978-1-68396-756-9)
Tamarit follows up Giantess (an “instant classic” per PW’s star review) with a solo venture featuring a young heroine who braves a mystical frozen landscape. Ages 14–18.
Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam
Thien Pham. First Second, June 20 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-80972-8)
Flavors of homestyle recipes guide the storytelling in this delectable-looking family memoir from Pham (Sumo), a culinary comics contributor at Eater SF. Ages 14–18.
Frontera
Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo. HarperAlley, June 6 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-305494-3)
Anta (the Home series) again mixes the supernatural with social commentary in this chronicle of a young traveler who crosses the Sonoran Desert with the help of a handsome ghost. Ages 13 and up.
In Limbo: A Graphic Memoir
Deb Jj Lee. First Second, Mar. 7 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-25266-1)
Breathtaking cover art promises something special in the debut graphic memoir from Lee (The Invisible Boy), about growing up between two cultures in a Korean American family. Ages 14–18.
Knee Deep
Joe Flood. Oni, May 30 ($21.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-62010-938-0)
A gritty, grimy sci-fi adventure from kid-comics veteran Flood pulls readers into a puzzle-like system of subterranean tunnels, where a teen girl searches for her lost parents. Ages 13 and up.
Paper Planes
Jennie Woods and Dozerdraws. Maverick, May 16 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-952303-54-8)
Woods, whose Flutter was an Advocate and B&N best book, teams up with Lumberjanes alum Dozerdraws for a graphic novel about two besties who are exiled to a summer camp for troubled teens, where they unpack their past transgressions. Ages 14 and up.
The Sea in You
Jessi Sheron. Iron Circus, March 14 ($15 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63899-111-3)
A mermaid with a taste for human flesh becomes smitten with a human girl with a bad boyfriend in this graphic novel collecting the popular webtoon. Ages 13–18.
Sunshine
Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Graphix, Apr. 18 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-338-35631-1)
National Book Award finalist Krosoczka’s sequel to Hey, Kiddo recalls a transformative summer spent as a counselor at a camp for seriously ill kids. Ages 12 and up.
The Watcher’s Test (DeadEndia #1)
Hamish Steele. Union Square Kids, May 2 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-4549-4895-7)
Eisner Newcomer Award winner Steele sets a transgender first love story in a demon-infested amusement park (where a pet pug’s the first possessed). Ages 14–18.
Young Adult Comics & Graphic Novels Listings
Aftershock
The Darkness We Brought Back by Alex Segura, Rex Ogle, and Joe Eisma (May 30, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-956731-27-9). After a group of teens drops through a portal into another dimension, they return to the real world altered forever—and at risk of losing their souls. Ages 13 and up.
Archaia
Flavor Girls by Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky (Mar. 21, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-68415-889-8). A trio of super-girls, possessing fruit-flavored powers, act as guardians of Earth. Now, they’re considering a new member hoping to join their sweet-saviors mélange. Ages 14 and up.
Archie
Going Viral (Bite-Sized Archie #2) by Ron Cacace and Vincent Lovallo (May 16, $12.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64576-877-7) collects the updated webcomic series in which those familiar Riverdale teens grapple with conundrums in the social media–saturated present. Ages 15 and up.
Clarion
83 Days in Mariupol: A War Diary by Don Brown (May 16, $18.99, ISBN 978-0-06-331156-5). Sibert Honor winner Brown draws a war resistance portrait of the people of the Ukrainian city Mariupol, which met with terrible destruction as an early target in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ages 14 and up.
Project Nought by Chelsey Furedi (Feb. 21, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-358-38169-3). This sci-fi and time-travel adventure scoops up high schooler Ren from the 1990s and transports him to 2122, where he meets a figure from his “past” current life, and crushes on a kid who only exists in this future he’ll never remember. Ages 13 and up.
Dark Horse
Basil and Oregano by Melissa Capriglione (May 9, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-2870-4). A magical cooking academy is the backdrop for a meet-cute between two aspiring student chefs in this queer romance. Ages 10 and up.
Break Out by Zack Kaplan, Wilton Santos, and Jason Wordie (Apr. 18, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-2989-3). In the future, kidnappings of teenagers by fly-by spaceships have become status quo, but Liam isn’t putting up with it when his little brother gets nabbed—and he and his crew determine to break into the floating Cube prison. Ages 12 and up.
Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories by Amanda Diebert et al. (May 16, ISBN 978-1-5067-3286-2) launches a new anthology series of side adventures from the time of resistance back to the era of the high republic in the world of Star Wars, featuring various comics scriptwriters and artists including Cecil Castelluci and Lucas Marangon. Ages 10 and up.
Fairsquare
A Boy Named Rose by Gaelle Geniller (June 20, $29.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-9859278-6-3). Rose is a presumed boy who grows up in a 1920s cabaret hall and longs to dance onstage in beautiful costumes. Ages 16 and up.
First Second
Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa (Mar. 21, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-78412-4). Three girls between whom crushes ricochet form the center of this jocks vs. nerds queer romance, when shy smarty pants Belle offers to tutor the sporty girlfriend of her cheerleader crush. Ages 14–18.
Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying (Apr. 25, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-250-76699-1) delves into the complex relationships of a teen who struggles with an eating disorder, and how family, friends, and cultural context interact with self-image, pathology, and recovery from anorexia. Ages 14–18.
Legendary Legends of Legendarious Achievery (Books of Clash #1) by Gene Luen Yang, Les McClaine, and Alison Acton (May 30, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-81626-9). Eisner and Printz award winner Yang adapts the mobile games Clash of Clans and Clash Royale into a fantasty-adventure battle series. Ages 14–18.
Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer (June 27, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-26880-8). Myer’s debut graphic memoir recalls how cosplay and comics art helped her escape the isolation and anger she felt growing up and getting bullied as a Korean American adoptee in a white family and a dominantly white rural community. Ages 14–18.
Graphix
Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game by Colin Kaepernick, Eve L. Ewing, and Orlando Caicedo (Mar. 7, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-338-78965-2). The athlete and activist sets his debut graphic memoir in the pivotal years of high school, when he’s being scouted by colleges and the major leagues for baseball, but thinks football could be his calling. Ages 12 and up.
HarperAlley
Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo (June 6, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-300738-3) finds a young ranch hand falling for the son of his boss—but there’s more than just class differences to get over in this blossoming queer romance. Ages 13 and up.
Helvetiq
Big Bangs and Black Holes: A Graphic Novel Guide to the Universe by Jérémie Francfort and Herji, trans. by Jeffrey K. Butt (May 16, $24.99, ISBN 978-3-907293-75-1), spins readers on a comics tour of the universe and the principles of physics, drafting in Newton, Einstein, and other scientific minds, and diving into black holes and gravitational waves. Ages 12–18.
Highwater
The Rez Doctor by Gitz Crazyboy et al. (May 2 $22.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-55379-924-5), based on a true story, walks the circuitous path of a Blackfoot boy who is inspired to go to medical school. Ages 15 and up.
Visions of the Crow (Dreams #1) by Wanda John-Kehewin and Nicole Marie Burton. Damon’s a high school senior with a rough home life who is just trying to keep his head down and finish school, until a mysterious crow and a waking dream pull him into revelations of his ancestry. Ages 15 and up
Inhabit Media
Ahiahia the Orphan by Levi Illuitok and Nate Wells (Apr. 11, $19.95 ISBN 978-1-77227-443-1) retells a traditional Kugaaruk tale, in which a boy raised by elders after his parents were killed must find a way to escape the same fate, relying on a dog and an amulet to help. Ages 12 and up.
Hyperion
Fairest of All (Villians #1) by Serena Valentino and Fiona Marchbank (May 2, $21.99, ISBN 978-1-368-06817-8) adapts into a graphic novel series Valentino’s bestselling series that reflects back a more nuanced vision of the royal stepmother peering into the mirror of Snow White’s fairy tale, and whether the mirror itself harbored the evil intentions. Ages 12–18.
IDW
A Fire Among the Clouds (Codex Black #1) by Camilo Moncada Lozano (Apr. 4, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68405-959-1) introduces a Zapotec heroine in 15th-century Mesoamerica who, along with a flying warrior, searches for her father and battles monsters in this folkloric fantasy adventure. Ages 13 and up.
Image
Kaya by Wes Craig (Mar. 28, $9.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-2482-4). Kaya’s a brave big sister with magical powers who is determined to keep her little brother safe as they flee from evil across a land filled with monsters and other dangers. Ages 13 and up.
Reborn (Ava’s Demon #1) by Michelle Fus (May 30, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-2438-1). A royal alien called Wraitha poses as a demon inside Ava, and together they must raise an army from the demons hiding in other ordinary folks to fight the evil Titan. Ages 13 and up.
Iron Circus
Mage and the Endless Unknown by SJ Miller (June 10, $15, ISBN 978-1-63899-119-9) pulls readers into a grim dimension alongside a young mage who steps into an otherworldly landscape of dangers and may or may not find a way back home. Ages 15 and up.
Legendary
The Witches of Silverlake by Simon Curtis (July 11, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68116-084-9). After Elliot moves to L.A. and attends a snobby private school, he’s glad to have found some friends, even if they’re a bit weird. As it turns out, they’re witches, and the spells they cast threaten more than just social status destruction. Ages 15 and up.
Little, Brown
Lost in Taiwan by Mark Crilley (May 23, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-368-04099-0). It’s a junior version of Lost in Translation when Paul, a teen American tourist, loses track of his brother in a crowded Taiwan shop and ventures nervously through the unfamiliar city to find him. Ages 14–18.
Mad Cave
Nature’s Labrynth by Zac Thompson and Bayleigh Underwood (July 19, 2023, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-952303-50-0). In a gamified island setting, criminals fight to the death to win a grand prize of cash and clearance of their records. But this round, someone unexpected is part of the game. Ages 13 and up.
Oni
Punch Up by Zachary Sterling (June 6, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63715-217-1). Pitch, growing up without a family, is spoiling to fight in a big tournament alongside his hero pugilist—who might be more to Pitch than just an admirable bruiser. Ages 12 and up.
UTown by Caroline Breault (July 3, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63715-220-1). Creative types and other oddballs live in a neighborhood that up until now has stayed low-key, but money’s moving in—and Samuel, a laid-back clerk and wannabe artist, has to quit dawdling and learn to deal. Ages 16 and up.
Plough
By Water: The Felix Manz Story by Jason Landsel and Sankha Banerjee (Mar. 21, $19.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63608-053-6) continues the Christian inspirational Heroes of the Radical Reformation series with a graphic biography of Felix Manz, a Swiss non-
violent revolutionist religious leader persecuted in 16th
century Europe. Ages 13–17.
Random House Graphic
Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott (Mar. 14, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-984896-04-9) explains the utilities running behind walls, under streets, and zipping through the internet. Ages 12–18.
Street Noise
Unaccompanied: Stories of Brave Teenagers Seeking Asylum by Tracy White (Mar. 28, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-951491-20-8) draws portraits of resilience based on interviews with teenage refugees from countries including El Salvador and Honduras, as well as the lawyers and activists who support them in the sometimes-hostile U.S. system. Ages 16 and up.
Titan Comics
Countdown (Astroneer #1) by Dave Dwonch et al. (Mar. 28, $13.99, ISBN 978-1-78773-990-1). Seven, an Astroneer exploring planet Boreas, pockets a crystal from the surface and accidentally rips open the fabric of the universe in this comic series based on a video game. Ages 10–17.
Endless Space 2 Stories by Jeff Spock et al. (Feb. 7, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-78774-013-6). This comics anthology plays out original new stories set in the postapocalyptic universe of the video game Endless Space 2, where gods called the Endless once ruled and left behind a landscape of ruins. Ages 12 and up.
A Wave Blue World
The Color of Always: An LGBTQIA+ Love Anthology, edited by Brent Fisher and Michele Abounader (June 6, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-949518-24-5), pulls together an array of queer love and romance memoir shorts from various comics creators. Ages 16 and up.
