“Who will remember them, if not us?” asks Dranger (Miss Remarkable and Her Career) in this meticulous chronicle of her Jewish family’s history of disruption and dislocation. When Dranger was growing up, her grandparents deflected her questions about relatives who “disappeared” in WWII. Dranger details her yearslong quest to fill in this untold ancestry, and how she connects with long-lost living family members. She follows her great-grandfather Aron and his family, who fled pogroms in Russian-occupied Bialystok in the early 1900s, from their arrival in Sweden through the Nazi occupation of neighboring states. Among those profiled are Dranger’s great-uncle, who ran a successful textile factory, and relatives who join a kibbutz. Even in purportedly neutral Sweden, other relatives are forced to separate and relocate to avoid Nazi threats. In one particularly moving section, Dranger discovers a previously unknown cousin from Belarus who seemingly died in the camps as a baby and adds his name to a memorial in a Stockholm synagogue. The storytelling unfolds in a collage of archival photos and documents, which helps anchor the evocative black-and-white drawings. Dranger is dedicated to memorializing those murdered but also empathizes with her elders: “What parent would want to instill such an incomprehensible terror in their children?” It’s a weighty and well-constructed addition to the graphic literature of the Holocaust. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 04/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

Psycho-Pass screenwriter Yoshigami and artist Ogino debut with a fast-paced but lackluster crime-thriller manga. In an alternate Japan, the deregulation of narcotics wreaks havoc on society. A new drug called Icarus causes addicts to develop supernatural powers, and the corrupted superhumans become known as “dopemen.” While rogue factions seed chaos and crime, the government establishes a dopeman-led D-Unit to maintain order. This opening volume focuses on an unconventional D-unit duo: rough and tumble Tojima, who claims he’ll “kill every dopeman,” and straitlaced Matrix, whose superpower is that she can “produce any medicine,” including toxins she spews forth in battle. After an obligatory rapid-fire opening fight scene, the script flashes back to Matrix’s origins, as she wakes from a 10-year coma chained to the bed as a human experiment. Once freed, she hooks up with Tojiman, and the narratives cliff-hanger ending hinges on the question of how these two will get along. The art flaunts savvy character designs and dynamic action sequences, and the arc follows a dystopian, battle-shonen formula. Though the plot is driven by the female lead, aspects of her characterization (like how she “births medicine”) feel cringey (“Period Matrix!” she shouts over images of swirling liquid). This retread of a familiar conceit lacks wow factor. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

Fialka, a history professor at Middle Tennessee State University, teams up with artist Carman (Fear Hunters) for this urgent if overstuffed graphic history of guerrilla warfare in Civil War–era Missouri. Pro-slavery “Bushwhackers” clashed in bloody skirmishes and covert terror operations with the occupying forces of the Union Army. Civilians are depicted both as murdered bystanders and perpetrators of violence. Fialka makes the case that this is not atypical in war, noting that “state and non-state actors” regularly break official rules of combat. The carnage depicted shocks the conscience, as in a bravura sequence that dramatizes the ambush of U.S. soldiers by William “Bloody Bill” Anderson’s guerrilla band. Carman employs tight panel layouts, capturing both the tactical sweep and the zeal of men on the hunt, with close-ups of scalping and other gore. Fialka offers in-depth sourcing and context for every word and image, which illuminates the history. But in a long section involving the trial of a murderous representative of the Union Army, which demonstrates war crimes committed by both sides, the dense blocks of text diminish the drama. Later, the swirl of atrocities in the art juxtaposes sharply with scholarly minutia. The result is a comprehensive treatment of a potent topic that occasionally gets too bogged down in details. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

An ex-con must come to terms with his past before it destroys him in this haunting graphic novel from Conrad (the Nightwing series) and newcomer Ooten. After nearly two decades in prison, Corey Harrison reflects upon his lost years, the result of a convenience store holdup he committed alongside his brother, James, and his friend, Shawn, that left two people dead and multiple families shattered. His return to society is bittersweet; Shawn’s ghost is already talking to him (Corey doesn’t mind, it’s “less lonely that way”) when he learns that his brother has died under mysterious circumstances while working at Neptune Farms. The nightmarish, Kafkaesque slaughterhouse is also the only employer willing to take a chance on Corey. At the bleak farm, a tortured journey through reflection, self-discovery, and questioning the brutal capitalist motives of his employer leads Corey to uncover an intricate plot surrounding his brother’s demise. Conrad scripts a brooding saga of a man caught up in a maelstrom of conspiracy, but it’s the inspired, hallucinatory artwork of Ooten, which mixes a cut-paper look in punky character designs with brash graffiti vibes in the background, that makes this stand out. It’s a gripping tale of regrets, revenge, and redemption. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

New Yorker cartoonist Bliss (A Wealth of Pigeons) lets it all hang out in this poignant, generously illustrated graphic memoir, which combines prose and comics in mordantly funny and moving vignettes. Confiding at the outset that “intimacy is my intention,” Bliss delves into the death of his beloved dog Penny, and springboards from that grief to all manner of life events and transitions. He grew up in a fractious household, and then as an adult had to manage his highly difficult parents as they got older (“My genuine fear is that Mom will burn the house down”). Bliss describes seeking solace in romantic partners, who harbor him from “the kind of sorrow that comes from living with family dysfunction marinated in narcissism.” Lighter anecdotes share stories about old jobs and friends, including notables like occasional collaborator Steve Martin and fellow New Yorker artist Edward Koren. Bliss frequently returns to Penny, comparing his human anxieties with her blissful, oblivious contentment—and how he’s “still discovering what I learned from loving her.” Bliss’s candor is easy company, bolstered with his cartoons and sketches—he’s adept at realism as well as a skilled caricaturist. Readers won’t need to be dog lovers to appreciate Bliss’s wit and insights. Agent: Esther Newberg, CAA. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

The socially inept, perpetually uncomfortable protagonist of this wicked dark comedy from indie cartoonist Pettinger (Werewolf Jones & Sons) shuffles his way through a series of awkward and disturbing scenarios. Depicted as a feckless man-child, Tedward navigates a world of hustlers, lovers, malcontents, and weirdos, all of whom see untapped potential in their ineffectual friend. When he’s dumped by his girlfriend, for example, Tedward doesn’t mourn long—because he gets recruited by a mysterious stranger for a prestigious job power-washing upper-class patrons of Eyes Wide Shut–style sex parties. But Tedward doesn’t fit in with high society—or anywhere, for that matter. His cluelessness and inability to read social cues lead to a series of romantic and other misadventures, such as an ill-fated gig as a television salesman. Throughout, Pettinger highlights ill-advised fashion choices, the tension between Tedward and his elderly mother, and random violence. The hapless-yet-chipper oddball and his milieu are brought to life through crisp yet creepy art reminiscent of Dan Clowes’s early Eightball comics and Gilbert Hernandez’s idiosyncratic sci-fi tales in Love and Rockets. Fans of such gonzo cartooning will revel in the absurdism of this grotesque saga. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

This pulpy yet pious crime drama from Hazan (Nottingham) and Kivelä (Abbott) pits a pair of renegade “Kosher Nostra” against the rising tide of Nazism in pre-WWII America. When Howard Berkowicz, reluctant bookkeeper for the Jewish mob, raises the alarm about Hitler to mob boss Moishe Levinson, hit man Ephraim Gold is sent to “retire” Berkowicz for threatening the uneasy truce between the German and Jewish syndicates. Instead, Berkowicz and Gold form a rocky partnership to expose the American Nazis. The script parcels out graphic violence and religious contemplation in equal measure, most of the latter in banter between the uneasy allies, whose sharp dialogue embodies Jewish didactic argument in method and persuasion. Gold champions the ease that assimilation has brought the syndicate; Berkowicz asks “if all we’re doing is becoming more like the goyim that want us dead, what is it we’re preserving?” A standout extended scene juxtaposes the readings of Yom Kippur against brutal fistfights and bloody shoot-outs. Kivelä’s artwork is reminiscent of Joe Kubert in both facial expression and punch-throwing, resulting in an action comic with heart—and some genuinely clever twists. This gritty period piece recalls Road to Perdition and A History of Violence. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Rainey follows Why Don’t You Love Me? with another mordantly funny, reality-bending graphic novel featuring malcontents obsessing over the minor frustrations of their humdrum lives. Mousy adult fanboy Cliff (handmade Dalek replica and all) longs for the affections of his roommate Kelly, an anxiety-rattled office drone who self-medicates by binging on yogurt. Rounding out the core cast is Cliff’s friend Barry, a noxious 30-something pop culture collector and porn addict. Rainey plays out their otherwise lowkey interpersonal dramas through an extraordinary development: not only does time travel exist in this world, but visitors and updates regularly beam in from the future. This creates challenges and opportunities ranging from discovering the date and manner of one’s death to opening up new avenues of media consumption (hooking up to “the ultranet” allows advance viewing of Dr. Who; “It’s only from next week so, legally, it’s already been made,” Barry reassures Cliff). Flash-forwards depict the characters in various time continuums, from Barry’s late-in-life regrets in a rest home to Kelly’s adventures, in which people “coast” across time and planets like present-day backpackers. Rainey’s blocky drawing style is simple but admirably attuned to complex concerns about aging, ethics, and such paradoxes as a relationship ending after a lover “started seeing a younger version of his ex-wife.” Fans of existential science fiction should dive in. Agent: Timothy Travaglini, Transatlantic Agency. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this introspective graphic memoir debut, biology professor Gormally uses loose lined drawings and a straightforward panel grid to explore a complex topic: trauma. As a self-described “badass,” Gormally is accustomed to pushing toward defined achievements. They run miles every morning, ignoring worsening muscle pain, and spend their days overworking themself in their university lab (“Gotta double down”). But when they receive a social media friend request from the man who assaulted them years ago, it unleashes a tidal wave of flashbacks and panic. Gormally seeks out a new therapist, who suggests EMDR, a treatment that uses rapid eye movement to reprocess traumatic memories. At first, “healing feels like a full-time job,” but over time Gormally learns to let go of self-blame, interrogate homophobia and “meta-shame,” and explore the survival mechanisms they developed during childhood, when they were rejected by their parents after coming out as queer. Gormally’s comics seamlessly employ symbols to break up the simple character drawings, as when blue tidal waves crash onto the black-and-white panel grid when Gormally feels like they’re drowning. Elsewhere, Gormally breaks the fourth wall to remind readers of the nuances that make trauma so difficult to grapple with (“Writing this is hard”). It’s a cathartic deep dive into an all-too-common experience that will appeal to readers of graphic medicine like Our Little Secret and Couch Fiction. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

An action-packed journey through the Underworld centers grief and personal transformation in this fantasy adventure debut. Twelve-year-old Senka spends her days assisting Charon, the Ferryer of the Underworld, in guiding souls to their afterlives. When Poppy, a Living girl, arrives in search of her dead younger brother Joey, Senka decides to prove herself capable of doing the job on her own by leading Poppy back to the realm of the Living, or else risk Poppy’s losing her memories and life force. Before Senka can begin her task, however, both girls become lost in the wilderness of the Underworld, known as the Underwild. There, they must navigate memory-stealing kakodaimons, imprisoned gods, and a terrifying dragon chimaera that seems to be stalking Senka. The deeper they travel, the more secrets Senka uncovers—including some being kept from her by Charon himself. Targosz’s inventive setting proves a fertile backdrop for nuanced depictions of how loss can guide actions and shape memory. Employing a memorable cast that includes a cheerful psychopomp and a nonbinary shape-shifting fox child, Targosz touches on themes of friendship, loyalty, and love, making for an exciting and promising series launch. Ages 8–12. Agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/07/2025 | Details & Permalink