This February, get ready for a whole new selection of graphic novels, small press books, indie showcases, and long running series available within the Previews Catalog. It’s the Best of the Rest!
1. Le Guin, Jr.
Blue Delliquanti, the creator of “Meal” and “O Human Star,” comes with a literal star-crossed queer love story. Expect the emotions to be strong; the art to be cool, voluminous, and filled with impeccable design; and the themes to speak to our modern times. Everything a good science fiction comic ought to contain.
Across a Field of Starlight
Written and Illustrated by Blue Delliquanti
Published by Random House GraphicWhen they were kids, Fassen’s fighter spaceship crash-landed on a planet that Lu’s survey force was exploring. It was a forbidden meeting between a kid from a war-focused resistance movement and a kid whose community and planet are dedicated to peace and secrecy. Lu and Fassen are from different worlds and separate solar systems. But their friendship keeps them in each other’s orbit as they grow up. As the galactic empire begins an attack against Fassen’s people-and discovers Lu’s in the process-the two of them have the chance to reunite at last. They finally are able to be together, but at what cost?
2. Maybe It’ll Finally End This Time
I have no idea if this comic is doing the thing BOOM! did with “Buffy,” where they basically have the creators reboot the original series or if it’s wiping out the current comic canon to start a new one, Star Wars style. Either way, fans of this dead-on-arrival series are sure to be ready to grab up copies of this latest attempt to make that Cowboy Bebop-knockoff relevant again.
All-New Firefly #1
Written by David M. Booher
Illustrated by Jordi Perez
Published by BOOM! StudiosThe new creative team of rising star writer David M. Booher (Canto) and artist Jordi Pérez (Queen of Bad Dreams) kickoff an all-new, shiny direction for the crew of the Serenity!
Captain Kaylee leads the crew on a heist that proves too much for their moral code, but when mercenaries steal the relics anyway, it turns into a recovery mission.
Meanwhile, unexpected revelations about Jayne’s family and past further complicate things.
But how will Jayne’s past collide with the crew’s desperate present, especially when it leads them to steal from… not the thieves den they had in mind…
3. Layered and Layered and Layered
I’m not sure if a comic like this — one that uses elaborate collage techniques, one that builds up new images from so many other pictures — can even be about anything. This is more of an aesthetic, an experience, a feeling. It’s a way for us to see what the medium is capable of communicating. It might be a massie comic essay, it might be more akin to a collection of short stories, it might be something else altogether. At the very least, it’ll be enthralling.
Carpet Sweeper Tales
Written and Illustrated by Julie Doucet
Published by Drawn & QuarterlyJulie Doucet is an artist who has mastered many voices and styles, from her groundbreaking early comic-book series, Dirty Plotte, and the classic graphic novel My New York Diary, to her linocut and collage work, to her impeccable ‘zines, prints, and other ephemera. In Carpet Sweeper Tales, we see this multi-faceted artist combine her many talents into one genre-defying masterwork. Here she revisits the comics form, pulling images from 1970s Italian fumetti, or photonovels, to create her own collage comics, dwelling on femininity and the modern world.
4. Mr. Frida Kahlo
Although he was far less talented than his wife, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera reshaped and redefined art, especially social art. Francisco De La Mora and Jose Luis Pescador have created a comic biography for the revered painter, rendered in gorgeous watercolors. Rivera’s story is wild and imaginative and this might be the best medium to properly showcase his achievements.
Continued belowDiego Rivera
Written by Francisco De La Mora
Illustrated by Jose Luis Pescador
Published by SelfMadeHeroDiego Rivera was a revolutionary painter in more ways than one. Attending art school at 11, by his twenties he was counted among the most influential figures of the Parisian art scene of the early 20th century. Rivera’s murals, both in his native Mexico and the United States, reflect the contradictory turbulence of his character and times. He met Lenin in Paris, Stalin in Moscow, and offered refuge to Trotsky during his Mexican exile. Meanwhile, his work was commissioned by giants of capitalism: Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller. This tells the story of the extraordinary life and times of an artist for whom myth and reality fused.
5. Bridge Over Enlightenment River
In these interconnected stories, characters search for meaning. Steve Barnes and Dr. Charles Johnson take an afrofuturist approach to their journeys, Bryan Christopher Moss, a Columbus artist, delivers this his transcendent and vibrant style. There’s so many ideas crammed into this comic, they’re bursting off the page.
The Eightfold Path
Written by Steve Barnes & Dr. Charles Johnson
Illustrated by Bryan Christopher Moss
Published by Abram Comicarts — MegascopeFrom award-winning authors Charles Johnson and Steven Barnes comes a graphic novel anthology of interconnected Afrofuturistic parables inspired by the teachings of Buddha. Eight strangers looking for enlightenment from an ancient spiritual teacher are trapped in a cave high in the mountains on their way to his temple. One of his acolytes directs them to each tell a story that the group can learn from as they wait out the horrible snowstorm that rages outside the cave’s entrance. Each story is a spoke on the symbolic Dharma wheel, and each interlocking tale gets the travelers closer to their true destiny-unveiling the future of the entire human race.
6. Close the Rift
From its very first issue, “Kaijumax” has been something else. The pages are filled with esoteric art, distinct characters, charged commentary, and a deep knowledge of monster movies. It has consistently been the best comic book on the stands, albeit overlooked and underrated. After all this time, Zander Cannon’s epic prison drama is coming to a close. The world it leaves behind will be decimated, the pain radiating from the ashes of a broken system.
Kaijumax Season 6 #6
Written and Illustrated by Zander Cannon
Published by OniTHE FINAL SEASON! THE FINAL ISSUE!! THE FINAL BATTLE!!! As the duplicitousness of the Earth government is laid bare, monsters, robots, aliens, space superheroes, and figments of the imagination all come together to even the scales and clean up the mess. Join your old friends Electrogor, Torgax, Whoofy, Jeong, Chisato, Gogla, Dokkeunbi, Daniel, Mechazon, Matsumoto, Go-Go Space Baby, and many more one last time as they sort their lives out from the wreckage. Also: Absurd assignments! Crushing counterattacks! And…the Protector of Pago Pago??
7. Legacies, Etc.
I hope this book turns out chaotic and wild. Even for a YA title, there’s ample opportunity for exploration and high energy. The concept certainly lends itself toward that.
Mamo
Written and Illustrated by Sas Milledge
Published by BOOM! StudiosWhich does a young witch choose, her own dreams, or the destiny laid out by her dead grandmother?
Cartoonist Sas Milledge (The Lost Carnival: A Dick Grayson Graphic Novel) makes her astonishing debut in her first original title that answers the question of how we all reconcile our responsibilities with our dreams for our own future.
Orla O’Reilly, the youngest in a long line of hedge witches, is compelled to return home after the death of her grandmother, Mamo. In the wake of her Mamo’s passing, seas are impossible to fish, crops have soured, and even Jo Manalo’s attic is taken over by a poltergeist! And to make matters worse, it appears that the cause is Mamo, or her mislaid bones, that is.
Can Orla shoulder the responsibility of quieting her Mamo’s spirit, and saving her hometown? And will she have to step up as the new witch of Haresden like Mamo always wanted?
8. Hasta La Raiz
Edo Brenes’s work features a classic Eurocomics aesthetic, infused with a Latin energy. His minimal color choices evoke a memory while his character designs are expressive and so real, so familiar in their abstraction. This book is an achievement.
Continued belowMemories from Limón
Written and Illustrated by Edo Brenes
Published by NobrowA wholesome snapshot of reconnecting with generations of one’s family history, Costa Rican illustrator Edo Brenes unearths a trove of stories, recounting tales of everything from affairs to adventurous escapades, all while taking time to share a laugh over life’s messier moments. Ramiro leaves the British drizzle and his beloved fiancé Yoss to investigate his family history back home in Costa Rica. What starts as an innocent fascination with an old family photo album leads to conversations with the older generations and revelations he is not prepared for. Love and life is a struggle in paradise, welcome to Limón.
9. Back Together
In this second installment in Bastien Vivès, Florent Ruppert, and Jérome Mulot’s cat burglar series, the “most notorious trio of cat burglars of the 21st century” aim to nab “Olympia.” It’s a classic caper, evocative of the genre classics (we’re talking Rififi, Topkapi, The Hot Rock) with its cool aesthetic, memorable characters, and intense hijinks. If you missed “Grande Odalisque,” make sure to check that out before giving yourself over to this latest adventure.
Olympia
Written by Bastien Vivès and Florent Ruppert
Illustrated by Jérome Mulot
Published by FantagraphicsMeet Alex, Carole, and Sam: the most notorious trio of cat burglars of the 21st century, starring in this graphic novel sequel.
Alex, Carole, and Sam use technology, know-how, and some serious chutzpah bordering on hubris to reinvent a profession that has lost much of its fun and insolence since the early 20th century. After successfully stealing La Grande Odalisque by Ingrés from the Louvre (in Fantagraphics’ acclaimed 2021 graphic novel of the same name), the art thieves have a new mission: nab Édouard Manet’s Olympia – plus two other masterpieces – from the Petit Palais in Paris. Naturally, complications ensue, and not just from the fact that Carole is nine months pregnant at the time of the heist! Forming a trio as formidable as their protagonists, Bastien Vivès, Jérome Mulot, and Florent Ruppert deliver an explosive, grand symphony of adventure, as well as a very touching and funny character study in this eagerly anticipated sequel to The Grande Odalisque.
10. Magna Save!
Oftentimes, the histories of these games are as fascinating, compelling, and melodramatic as the best tragedies. It sounds like Jon Chad’s taking a Miracle on 34th Street approach with this story, which I, for one, am interested in seeing if it all comes together. Or goes straight down the gobble hole.
Pinball: A Graphic History of the Silver Ball
Written and Illustrated by Jon Chad
Published by First SecondFor fans of Brian “Box” Brown’s Tetris and the cult-hit documentary King of Kong, Jon Chad illustrates the little-known story of pinball-how it works and why it all matters in an age of special effects and on-screen gaming. In 1976, champion player Roger Sharpe stepped up to a pinball machine in a Manhattan courtroom. He was there to challenge the citywide ban on pinball by proving this was a game of skill, not chance. Sharpe pulled back the plunger and released, and the fate of this industry and artform hung in the balance. Thus opens Jon Chad’s comprehensive graphic guide to the history of the captivating, capricious-and at times infuriating!-game of pinball.
That was fun. Make sure to leave your picks in the comments below.
