Anzuelo

Ríos (Pretty Deadly) pits a group of teens against a changed world in a bid to survive in this stunningly rendered postapocalyptic eco-horror graphic novel. After a tsunami devastates civilization, brown-skinned Nubero, blue-haired Lucio, and olive-skinned Izma are abducted and dropped on a desolate shore by the Criers, giant creatures rising from the deep for reasons unknown. There, Nubero transforms into a flock of birds, Lucio manifests gills, and Izma discovers she can shift between cormorant and human form, which she uses to hunt fish and leave behind dead animals for other survivors to subsist on, a self-imposed duty that haunts her as the number of inhabitants grows. Over time, more people develop sea creature–like mutations that help them adapt to the inexplicable, dangerous, and ever-changing environment. Ríos employs a limited palette to contrast the commonplace from the strange, as when bright orange seaweed slowly consumes the legs of a corpse, rendered in diluted neutral tones. Watercolor paint techniques lend a diaphanous cast of light and shadow to the characters’ muddied, waterlogged existence in this eerie and brutal world populated by merciful and loving characters who never abandon their humanity. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)