With major players including Kate Leth, Meg Medina, Neal Shusterman, and Gene Luen Yang delivering comics across genres from horror to romance to history, this season has something for every teen to check out.
Top 10
Be That Way
Hope Larson. Holiday/Ferguson, Oct. 3 ($22.99, ISBN 978-0-8234-4761-9)
Eisner winner Larson returns with a mid-’90s-set tale of a teen who vows it’s her year to get popular. Ages 14 and up.
Brooms
Jasmine Walls and Teo Duvall. Levine Querido, Oct. 10 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-64614-267-5)
Magic is forbidden in 1930s Missouri, but that doesn’t stop a diverse coven of activist witches from rising up to race their brooms against oppression. Ages 12 and up.
Confetti Realms
Nadia Shammas and Karnessa. Maverick, Sept. 26 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-952303-33-3)
Teens are sent on a morbid mission by an otherworldly puppet in this comedy-horror from Harvey winner Shammas. Ages 13 and up.
Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust
Neal Shusterman and Andrés Vera Martínez. Graphix, Oct. 31 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-545-31348-3)
National Book Award winner Shusterman’s graphic novel about the Holocaust is told through threaded vignettes that draw on Jewish mythologies and history. Ages 12 and up.
Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy
Faith Erin Hicks. First Second, Oct. 3 ($25.99, ISBN 978-1-250-83873-5; $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-83872-8)
A feisty hockey player and a mild-mannered drama kid make an unlikely pair in bestseller Hicks’s friendship-to-romance tale. Ages 14 and up.
If You’ll Have Me
Eunnie. Penguin Teen, Oct. 17 ($24.99, ISBN 978-0-593-40322-8)
The flirtation between shy Momo and raffish PG quickly flourishes into something more in this queer love story from Instagram favorite Eunnie. Ages 14 and up.
Lunar New Year Love Story
Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham. First Second, Jan. 9 ($25.99, ISBN 978-1-62672-810-3; $17.99 paper, ISBN 978-1-250-90826-1)
In the first collaboration between two of comics’ top names, the spirit of Saint Valentine visits a Lunar New Year celebration to uncover family secrets for lovelorn Val. Ages 12 and up.
Mall Goth
Kate Leth. Simon & Schuster, Sept. 26 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5344-7694-3)
This early aughts throwback to shopping malls and goth culture from bestselling Lumberjanes series co-creator Leth seems right on trend. Ages 12 and up.
Night and Dana
Anya Davidson. Graphic Universe, Sept. 5 ($18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-72843-036-2)
High school filmmakers attempting to pull off an eco-horror flick meet up with a real-life water witch in this oddball coming-of-age comic. Ages 13 and up.
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass: The Graphic Novel
Meg Medina and Mel Valentine Vargas. Candlewick, Sept. 5 ($19.99, ISBN 978-1-5362-2477-1; $12.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5362-3473-2)
Newbery Medalist Medina’s portrait of social strife and bullying in a clique of Latina teens gets adapted into a graphic novel. Ages 14 and up.
Young Adult Comics & Graphic Novels
Andrews McMeel
Unfamiliar #2 by Haley Newsome (Oct. 17, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5248-8236-5) collects more antics of Planchette and her witchy BFFs from Newsome’s popular webcomic as they encounter a nefarious fairy and a ghost bride. Ages 13 and up.
Archie
Archie Horror Presents: Chilling Adventures by Cullen Bunn et al. (Sept. 12, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64576-859-3). Weird and downright spooky stuff is coming up for the Riverdale teens in this anthology of horror comics from Bunn, Robert Hack, Sina Grace, Liana Kangas, and other cartoonists. Ages 15 and up.
Atheneum
Enlightened by Sachi Ediriweera (Sept. 26, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-66590-310-3) presents a graphic novel biography of Siddhartha, the prince turned monk who sought to understand human suffering and the meaning of life and became the founder of Buddhism. Ages 12 and up.
Candlewick
One in a Million by Claire Lordon (Oct. 10, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5362-1367-6). Lordon’s debut graphic memoir delves into the struggles of dealing with illness as a teenager, tracking how she and her family navigated the complex medical system to diagnose and treat her brain tumor. Ages 14 and up.
Clarion
Run and Hide: How Jewish Youth Escaped the Holocaust by Don Brown (Oct. 10, $22.99, ISBN 978-0-358-53816-5). Sibert Honor and YALSA Award winner Brown (The Unwanted) documents stories of the tragically few Jewish children who were able to flee or hide from the Nazis and survive WWII. Ages 13 and up.
Dark Horse
The Hundredth Voice by Caitlin Like (Oct. 24, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-50673-133-9). Uriel is a legacy enrollment at the elite but accursed Aisling Academy where his family all were singers, but he’s not sure he can keep a tune or break the spell of horrible happenings. Ages 10 and up.
Lost Boy by Jay Martin (Aug. 1, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-3831-4). A car crash in the wilds of Wyoming leaves a young boy as the sole survivor in this comics debut by music video director Martin. Ages 10–17.
Rise of Agoo (Planeta Blue #1) by Tem Blessed and Michael LaRiccia (Nov. 7, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-50673-728-7). Rapper Blessed spins an Afrofuturist tale of urban young people who are granted the power to speak to animals—and find out they’re revolting against humans to save the planet. Ages 14 and up.
DC Comics
The Harvests of Youth (Superman #1) by Sina Grace (Oct. 3, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77951-105-8). GLAAD Media Award nominee Grace explores the human side of Superman in this story about teen Clark Kent dealing with the death of a classmate in Smallville. Ages 13–17.
Up All Night (Static #1) by Lamar Giles and Paris Alleyne (Nov. 7, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77951-051-8). DC’s first teen comic from the Milestone Media Black superheroes universe features electrified Static as he tries to get over a bad breakup while dodging supervillains. Ages 13–17.
Delacorte
The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flame #1) by Michael Scott and Chris Chalik (Aug. 29, $23.99, ISBN 978-0-593-30467-9) adapts the bestselling series into a graphic novel. A sister and brother search for an immortal figure’s fabled book of secrets. Ages 12 and up.
Dial
Huda F Cares by Huda Fahmy (Oct. 10, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-593-53279-9). Fahmy follows up Huda F Are You? with a family trip to Disney World, where the Muslim American crew learns they stand out much more in Florida than in their close-knit Michigan neighborhood. 12 and up.
First Second
Layers: A Memoir by Pénélope Bagieu, trans. by Montana Kane (Sept. 19, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-250-87373-6). Eisner Award winner Bagieu draws comics based on her own teen diaries in these snapshots that touch on friendship, loss, and other coming-of-age moments. Ages 14 and up.
Look on the Bright Side by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann (Oct. 10, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-83410-2). The creators of the Eisner-shortlisted Go with the Flow return to the school setting of that book to delve into such thorny territories as romance with close friends, burgeoning queer identity, and jealousy. Ages 10–14.
Messenger: The Legend of Muhammad Ali by Marc Bernardin and Ron Salas (Aug. 15, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-59643-971-9; $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-250-88163-2) follows the young pugilist on his way to becoming the heavyweight champion of the world and an Olympian. Ages 14 and up.
Graphic Universe
The Bodyguard Unit: Edith Garrud, Women’s Suffrage, and Jujitsu by Clément Xavier and Lisa Lugrin, trans. by Edward Gauvin (Aug. 1, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-7656-0747-3) spotlights the security force made up of British suffragists trained by women’s self-defense expert Garrud to (literally) fight for those standing up for the right to vote. Ages 13 and up.
GraphiX
Stars in Their Eyes: A Graphic Novel by Jessica Walton and Aska (Aug. 1, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-338-81880-2). Love blooms at a fan convention where Maisie, who has a lower-leg amputation, has come to see an actor with the same disability as her—and instead matches up with a volunteer who brings up new feelings in her. Ages 12 and up.
Helvetiq
Smash the Patriarchy: A Graphic Novel by Marta Breen and Jenny Jordahl (Oct. 3, $19.99, ISBN 978-3-03964-018-8) takes aim at the sexism underlying the patriarchal ideologies of male thinkers over the ages, including Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Freud. Ages 12 and up.
IDW
The Beginner’s Guide to Culinary Combat (Cooking with Monsters #1) by Jordan Alsaqa and Vivian Truong (Sept. 5, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68405-983-6). Students are taught monster hunting and monster-meat meal prep at the Gourmand Academy of Culinary Combat, where love affairs and rivalries are the order of the day. Ages 13 and up.
Levine Querido
The Boy from Clearwater by Yu Pei-Yun and Zhou Jian-Xin, trans. by Lin King (Sept. 19, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-64614-279-8) tells the true story of a young boy in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, from his 1930s childhood through the WWII occupation and his imprisonment for reading banned books as a teenager. Ages 12 and up.
How Do I Draw These Memories? by Jonell Joshua (Nov. 14, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-64614-271-2). This memoir in collage and comics looks at faith, memory, and childhood trauma as Joshua recounts growing up between the American South and the East Coast with a mother struggling with mental illness. Ages 12 and up.
Maverick
Voyage de Gourmet by Paul Tobin and Jem Milton (Dec. 12, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-952303-56-2). A reality cooking show that takes contestants around the globe is the vehicle for a story about two teens trying to reheat a friendship gone cold. Ages 12 and up.
Oni Press
Lights by Brenna Thummler (Sept. 5, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-637-15231-7) brings to a close the trilogy that began with Sheets, as Marjorie and her paranormal enthusiast friend Eliza help the ghost that haunts her family’s laundromat finally put away the past. Ages 10 and up.
Malcolm Kid and the Perfect Song by Austin Paramore and Sarah Bollinger (Aug. 1, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-637-15223-2) centers on a young man who becomes obsessed with finding the perfect song after discovering a keyboard that holds the soul of a jazz musician. Ages 12 and up.
Philomel
Begin Again: The Story of How We Got Here and Where We Might Go by Oliver Jeffers (Oct. 3, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-593-62155-4). The bestselling cocreator of The Day the Crayons Quit and other picture books draws his first story for younger (and older) adults, addressing nothing less than the history of humanity and what the future could hold. Ages 18 and up.
Quill Tree
The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu (Aug. 29, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-295576-0). An aspiring inventor takes a job on Mars, where she’s paired with a humanoid powered by artificial intelligence. When she finds herself falling in love, it raises philosophical questions—and sparks her desire to protect and free him. Ages 13 and up.
Razorbill
The Glass Scientists by S.H. Cotugno (Oct. 3, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-593-52442-8). Dr. Jekyll establishes the London-based Society for Arcane Sciences so that he (along with Mr. Hyde, of course) and other “mad” scientists can have a home base—but a newcomer threatens the order. Ages 12 and up.
Scout
The Quarry by Mike Salisbury and Marvin Luna (Dec. 5, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63969-189-0). A family in chilly Michigan grieving a recent tragedy prepares for Christmas and the moment of picking out the tree. Ages 12 and up.
Simon & Schuster
The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl by Emily Riesbeck and NJ Barna (Aug. 8, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5344-8775-8). An unexpected romance sparks between two women, one very fragile—she’s literally been turned to porcelain after a foolish wish for beauty—and the other a disgraced pirate captain. Ages 12 and up.
SKYBOUND
Black Wave (Sea Serpent’s Heir #2) by Mairghread Scott (Sept. 12, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-9993-8). The daughter of a seafaring adventuress takes sail with her mother’s old crew to learn the truth about her family. Ages 12-17.
Clementine #2 by Tillie Walden (Oct. 10, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5343-2519-7) continues the Eisner winner’s story of a young girl living in the Walking Dead series universe as she and her traveling companions find shelter on a remote island. Ages 13 and up.
Top Shelf
Attack of the Snack (Lisa Cheese and Ghost Guitar # 1) by Kevin Alvir (Sept. 12, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60309-528-0). Musician Alvir debuts with a comic about a cyborg unicorn girl who wants to be a folk singer but gets stuck at a fast-food gig. When it turns out the restaurant is run by evildoers, she’s called to perform to save her life. Ages 13 and up.
In Utero by Chris Gooch (Jan. 16, $24.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60309-534-1). An old creepy mall doesn’t seem like the best place for Hailey’s mom to drop her for camp—especially when monsters are called up from the depths of the shopping center. Ages 13 and up.
What If We Were #2 by Axelle Lenoir (Oct. 24, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60309-530-3). Best friends Nathalie and Marie—and their new buddy, Jane—love to play pretend, but when a what-if scenario they imagine comes true, it leads them on a quest battling black magic. Ages 13 and up.
Versify
Ghost Roast by Shawneé and Shawnelle Gibbs, and Emily Cannon (Jan. 2, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-358-14181-5). Chelsea’s dad is a real-life ghostbuster in New Orleans, but while he chases after sightings with janky tools, Chelsea actually connects with the spirits—and one winsome departed boy in particular, whom she hopes to save from being exorcized from the mansion he haunts. Ages 13 and up.
Walker Books US
How to Love: An Uncommon Guide to Feelings & Relationships by Alex Norris (Nov. 14, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-5362-1788-9). The creator of Webcomic Name offers a queer-friendly guide for teens who are just trying out dating, combining frank discussions with cartoon vignettes. Ages 14 and up.
