Our picks include Hope Larson’s latest book, a toy crossover from IDW, and more. Hello and welcome to Multiversity’s look at the “Best of the Rest,” where we try to summarize what’s coming your way this May 2020. We’ve already looked at DC, Marvel, Image, and some manga options. Now let’s check out what else the Previews Catalog has in store for the rainiest month of the year.
Get your pull lists ready because May flowers.
10. The Dark of Equestria
I’m not surprised this miniseries featuring two huge IDW toy-inspired licenses exists. I find it more surprising that it took this long to get here. Call it akin to taking all the toys in the house and banging them together.
Transformers/My Little Pony: Friendship in Disguise!
Written by James Asmus & Ian Flynn
Illustrated by Jack Lawrence & Tony Fleecs
Published by IDWWhen Queen Chrysalis casts a spell looking for more changelings, she accidentally interferes with a malfunctioning Spacebridge! What’s this mean for our favorite fillies? There are suddenly a bunch of Autobots and Decepticons in Equestria! And as the dust settles, Rarity and Arcee find themselves teaming up against a hostile Decepticon force….
9. A Pixin Collection
Drawn & Quarterly has always had a strong track record for bringing collections of international cartoonists to our shelves. Here we have stories by Singaporean cartoonist Weng Pixin. Her mixed media art may border on the surreal, but it most definitely embraces its unorthodox beauty.
Sweet Time & Other Stories
Written and Illustrated by Weng Pixin
Published by Drawn & QuarterlySweet Time is an intimate rumination on love, empathy, and confidence. Singaporean cartoonist Weng Pixin delicately explores strained relationships with a kind of hopefulness while acknowledging the inevitable collapse. Her stories are like a series of snapshots in a photo album or the brightest highlights from an Instagram profile. Weng combines colorful realism with a gentle wit and introspection, crafting infinitely relatable stories of everyday life and love now.
8. They Are No Birds, No Nets Ensnare Them
Moody. Melodramatic. Deeply cynical. Completely misunderstood. The Brontës sisters have written some of literature’s most famous romances — even though those romances are often fused with abuse and chaos and harm and deeply unpleasant people. Craig Hurd McKenney and Rick Geary send the sisters on an alternate world-hopping adventure which maybe helps explain how their world got as dreary as a moor.
The Brontës: Infernal Angria
Written by Craig Hurd-McKenny
Illustrated by Rick Geary
Published by Northwest PressLiving in the isolation of the Parsonage house in Haworth Village, the four Bront children make a startling discovery: a doorway to another world! What seems like paradise soon reveals itself to be just as dark as the real world. Can the siblings resist the allure of Angria, or will they be seduced-and destroyed-by it? Either way, their spirits, their beliefs and their family bond will be tested to the limit!
7. Ape, Condemned to Be Free
Spanish cartoonist Pau sends us on this all ages revenge epic. There’s something enduring about these types of stories featuring anthropomorphized characters and Pau has the kinetic linework to make it stretch.
Baboon!
Written and Illustrated by Pau
Published by Dark HorseA baboon fights its way back to its rightful spot in the animal kingdom in this wonderfully illustrated, wordless graphic novel by revered Spanish writer and artist Pau, author of Atlas and Axis!
After the death of its adopted leopard mother, an orphaned baboon wanders the wild in search of companionship and a sense of identity. Stumbling upon the troop of baboons from which it was originally stolen, the baboon falls in love with the troop’s head female. Initially rejected, beaten, and discarded by the alpha baboon of the troop, the orphaned baboon trains to fight and earn its respect in the animal kingdom!
6. People, Places, and Pieces
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Part art-book, part puzzle book, part comic, this comic by Henry McCausland unravels along an uncanny path. Sure to be filled with details and jokes and nuances you’ll miss the first few times through, this is one of those things that looks like it wants to challenge the idea of a comic book. Of course, it’s from Fantagraphics, so no surprise there.
Eight-Lane Runaways
Written and Illustrated by Henry McCausland
Published by Fantagraphics BooksEight-Lane Runaways is unlike any graphic novel you’ve ever read. It is a fantastical world of endless tracks where one runner relies on her poncho to give her direction, another deals with a suddenly missing appendage. There’s also algebra dogs, a juice institute, and a helping network that consists of miles of string that proves that no matter how far apart, the friends you can rely on are the ones you met while pacing life’s twisty-turny trails.
5. Final Repose
It’s like a queer version of an X-Files case. And I, for one, am hoping for a trip.
One Million Tiny Fires
Written and Illustrated by Ashley Robin Franklin
Published by Silver SprocketFusing sexual intimacy with cosmic dread, this queer horror tale follows Briana and Cassie, a couple in an isolated Texas farmhouse, whose rural fantasy has soured into a tense nightmare. After discovering an unknown object that had crash landed from the sky, Briana begins to suspect that something uncanny is happening to her partner.
4. All Them Baby Gays
More like heart-melting. Alice Oseman’s sweet webcomic finds a print edition through Scholastic. It’s PG gay boy fare. It’s very cute and the characters are enduring. Inevitably, it will mean a lot to some kid trying to figure themselves out (if it hasn’t already).
Heartstopper Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Alice Oseman
Published by GraphixBoy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. A sweet and charming coming-of-age story that explores friendship, love, and coming out. Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn’t think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works. Available in softcover and hardcover editions.
3. Book Love in the Pandemonium
Iron Circus offers a pertinent memoir comic from Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hyung-Jo, and Ryan Estrada. Young Kim Hyun Sook attends college during South Korea’s Fifth Republic. And while her mind expands by the annals of Western literature, the world around her is falling apart. How fast reading a book can become a symbol of rebellion.
Banned Book Club
Written by Kim Hyun Sook
Illustrated by Ko Hyung-Ju & Ryan Estrada
Published by Iron Circus ComicsWhen Kim Hyun Sook started college in 1983 she was ready for her world to open up. After acing her exams and sort-of convincing her traditional mother that it was a good idea for a woman to go to college, she looked forward to soaking up the ideas of Western Literature. But this was during South Korea’s Fifth Republic, a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protesters. In this charged political climate, Hyun Sook sought refuge in the comfort of books. And as she soon discovered, in a totalitarian regime, the delights of discovering great works of illicit literature are quickly overshadowed by fear and violence as the walls close in.
2. Upon Your Feet You Have 10 Toes and They Look Just Like Potatoes!
Any new work from Jeff Smith is worth a look. “Bone Adventures” embraces the youngest of his audience, the kids who might not quite be ready for either the Scholastic version or the original version of “Bone” (the greatest comic book of all time). These sound like enjoyable larks, akin to Carl Barks’s 10-page cartoons. And, even at his silliest, Smith is a cartoonist who towers over his contemporaries.
Continued belowBone Adventures Vol. 1: Finders Keepers
Written and Illustrated by Jeff Smith
Published by GraphixFor the youngest fans of the bestselling graphic novel series Bone, Jeff Smith has created two hilarious tales to delight beginning readers. the Bone cousins find a coin — finders keepers! — but the boys can’t agree on how to spend it. Fone Bone wants an apple and bananas they can share. Smiley Bone wants an ice cream cone with a pickle on top. And Phoney Bone wants to build a giant statue… of himself! Whose idea will win out? Then, Smiley Bone walks through the woods on a beautiful morning. During his journey, he meets a flock of friendly and playful birds. Smiley is having such a good time that he must find a fantastical way to keep up with his new friends as they soar into the big, blue sky. Available in softcover and hardcover editions.
1. Sail the Ship, Chop the Tree, Skip the Rope, Look at Me
It’s Hope Larson’s latest book. Of course it was going to top this list. This is a sequel to “All Summer Long,” so fans of this book will undoubtedly be happy to revisit some of their favorite characters again.
All Together Now
Written and Illustrated by Hope Larson
Published by Farrar, Straus & GirouxFrom the award-winning and New York Times-bestselling graphic novelist Hope Larson comes a standalone sequel to All Summer Long about friends, first crushes, and being your bravest rockstar self. Middle-schooler Bina is having the best time playing in her new band with her friends, Darcy and Enzo. But both the band and her friendships begin to crumble when Darcy and Enzo start dating, effectively relegating Bina to third-wheel status. To make matters worse, Bina’s best friend, Austin, starts developing a crush on her . . . one she is not sure she reciprocates. Now Bina must follow her heart. Can she navigate its twists and turns before the lights come up and the music starts playing? Available in softcover and hardcover editions.
Well that was fun! Feel free to let us know what you’re excited for!
