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Biker mice from Mars, a mysterious manuscript that can control the world, and a space-traveling samurai rabbit all play out in the creatively vibrant pages of graphic works this season, filling collections with innovation and engagement. 

Stan Sakai is the creator of “Usagi Yojimbo,” a graphic novel series featuring a samurai rabbit named Miyamoto Usagi living in 17th-century Japan; the new installment, Space Usagi: White Star Rising, is due out from Dark Horse in May. LJ talks with Sakai about samurai warriors, blending genres, and his enduring career.

Eight meaningful, whimsical, philosophical, historical, and fantastical works that are a joy for both reading and viewing.

Graphic novels have enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity in the last five years. Since 2019, sales of graphic novels have risen over 100 percent. While that growth has leveled off, graphic novels are now the third best-selling genre (35 million books sold) in the U.S. and Canada, behind only general fiction and romance. 

Collecting one of the most popular, beloved, and influential comic strips ever created, this volume and the four preceding it are essential purchases for all libraries.

Illustration, design, color, and text combine to create multisensory reading experiences in these extraordinary titles.

Emil Ferris grew up during the turbulent 1960s in Chicago, where she still lives, and is consequently a devotee of all things monstrous and horrific. She has an MFA in creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Comics play to their strengths this season, stressing layout and mood while also supporting reader interests in works of horror and adaptation.

New graphic novel series include a fantastic space opera, an intriguing sci-fi adventure, and an occasionally shocking, sometimes nightmarish, completely unpredictable satire of modern masculinity.

Comics seem uniquely equipped to educate about health and medicine, as these stories of sickness and medicine demonstrate.

Impactful illustrations complement poignant, thought-provoking tales and memoirs in these unforgettable best graphic novels of 2023.

These three graphic novels offer meditations on and chronicles of transgender experiences.

Cartoonist, illustrator, and screenwriter Clowes has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards and has been nominated for an Oscar. Perhaps most famous for the graphic novel Ghost World, he is also known for Wilson and Patience. His newest title, Monica, comes out in October. He talks with LJ about his creative process and the making of his newest work.

Excellent visual reads.

In these graphic biographies, the life of legendary Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz is depicted in the form of a newspaper comic strip, and the career of Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee is plotted through a succession of tightly crafted scenes, none more than a single page long.

LJ's graphic novel preview highlights the titles to know, read, and share this upcoming season. The leading trend? Expect horror to be big. 

Masterful visual storytelling and atmospheric illustration accompany memoirs and inventive tales in the best graphic novels of 2022.

Thousands of comics adapt books, short stories, epic poems, plays, musical productions, political documents, TV shows, essays—even podcasts. The graphic novel adaptations here offer readers a different, wonderfully illustrated path into stories. 

Graphic novel sales keep increasing as stories explore a growing range of personal identities, life experiences, and subject matter. Pioneering narratives by diverse artists draw audiences eager to see these stories told in the graphic novel format.

Graphic novelist Talia Dutton drew the cover art for our April issue and will release her debut this June. She talks with LJ about art, influences, and M Is for Monster.

LJ’s annual look into the art, ideas, and subjects of the graphic novel format spotlights several trends to note: web comics are bringing new readers and new voices into the field; nonfiction dominates and will continue to do so; and, within fiction genres, horror is predominant, and nostalgia for classic characters and concepts is on the rise.

Including fiction, nonfiction, and reference, these 20 graphic works focus on Black lives and voices.

Chill-inducing, black-and-white manga; stunning, full-color web-toons debuting in print; and delicate illustrations are showcased in the best graphic novels of 2021.

Even after Pride month, it’s important to ensure that your library’s collection includes titles that feature LGBTQ characters. Additionally, as manga’s popularity skyrockets and demand increases, so too will the need for inclusive books in the genre. Here are six manga that star characters of diverse sexualities.

Build your collection of manga in translation, with this list of recent and backlist manga titles in a variety of genres that will be of interest to adult audiences.

For LJ’s annual graphic novel and manga preview, our special investigation into the trends and current state of the format, we asked publishers what trends and concepts they’re seeing in the genre. The findings? The industry is expanding in new and exciting ways, from beloved webcomics finally being featured in print, to changes in ebook sales and new influences from other forms of media.

We talked to Mariko Tamaki about Surely Books, her new line of graphic novels with Abrams ComicArts. The fall 2021 Surely Books titles are previewed in LJ’s April 2021 graphic novels preview. 

Kent State, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse, a loving look at a comics icon. The best graphic novels published in 2020.

The Contradictions, Sophie Yanow's Eisner-winning webcomic, now a full-length graphic novel, chronicles a youthful examination of conscience through the story of a young woman trying to live her convictions in a complicated world. Here, Yanow shares her influences and the process of creating this sharply observed, precisely penned work.

Jack Black and Kyle Gass, aka Tenacious D, discuss their latest project, previously released as an animated film and music album. The ribald rock opera Post-Apocalypto finds the pair wandering a postapocalyptic world ruled by monsters, robots, and hate-mongers.

Even the villainy of COVID-19 couldn’t dash the hopes of comics and pop culture fans expecting to attend the annual San Diego Comic-Con, canceled this year for the first time since its inception in 1970. Rising to fill the programming void was the virtual convention, Comic-Con@Home, held July 22–26, offering more than 400 hours of online events freely available to the public.

Emotionally complex dramas from the powerhouse creative team of Brubaker/Phillips; this first volume in an ongoing horror series is a memorable standout; Fitzgerald’s incisive exposé of the shallow excesses of the elite feels startlingly fresh; Pulido packs enough twists and turns to fill a door-stopping epic into 18 brilliantly concise chapters

At this year's American Library Association (ALA) Virtual Conference, the well-attended panel “Breaking the Rules of Graphic Novels" touched on topics of defying taboos and how owning one's story can make familiar ideas feel utterly new.  

Essential titles reviewed in our June 2020 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, graphic novels, fiction, social sciences, and more.

Unshackled from its humble five-cent ­origins, the comic book has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon, inspiring innovative content across multiple media steeped in both decades-old properties and freshly conceived concepts.

Scott Chantler, creator of the Eisner-nominated family memoir Two Generals and the epic frontier adventure Northwest Passage, offers the new biography Bix, about famed Jazz Age icon Bix Beiderbecke.

It’s a Golden Age for graphic novels. Readers, creators, and publishers are enjoying a burst of energy as the new decade begins. The expanding graphic novel universe now covers all subjects, reaches all audiences, and erases all boundaries.

Essential titles reviewed in our February 2020 print issue, spanning fiction, graphic novels, and mystery/suspense.

With Making Comics, Lynda Barry brings four decades of cartooning experience to her delightfully unorthodox pedagogy. In a recent phone interview with LJ, the ­newly minted MacArthur Fellow revealed a few of the secrets of her creative recipes. Here’s what she had to say. 

Boost your displays with these 20 diverse graphic works across genres. 

Visual storytelling at the higest level. The best graphic novels published in 2019.

Essential titles reviewed in our October 2019 print issue, spanning fiction, nonfiction, and media.

Kim Deitch began his career scripting comics in the pages of the East Village Other in 1967. Often regarded as a "cartoonist’s cartoonist," he won an Eisner Award for Stuff of Dreams in 2003 and an Inkpot Award in 2008.

These 36 editors' picks for fall include political action, injustices fought, identities formed, invisible friends, kids bursting into flames, and much more. 

Essential titles reviewed in our August 2019 print issue, spanning fiction, nonfiction, and media.

Comics have long been a part of the fabric of the library, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that they really started booming, said Robin Brenner, teen librarian, Brookline, P.L., MA, addressing a rapt audience at the very first “Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table (GNCRT) President’s Program—State of the Comics Union: Past, Present, Future,” held June 23 at the ALA Annual conference in Washington, DC.

In the 1970s, the celebrated cartoonist and tireless comics advocate Will Eisner (1917–2005) stood before the Library of Congress and asked that comics be shelved in the library, believing its acceptance of the medium would lead libraries across America to follow suit. Some 20 years later, in 1997, DC Comics became the first comics publisher to exhibit at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual conference.

Comics continue redefining boundaries, tackling complex social issues, and educating readers, even as they entertain.

Like W.E.B. Du Bois’s fictional megascope—an instrument that allows users to see forgotten aspects of history—John Jennings’s new Megascope line, launching this fall as a subimprint of Abrams’s ComicArts, will delve into the past and future, reviving classic stories primarily by creators of color.

Exploring the history, future, and philosophy of comics, the inaugural graphic novels panel, “The Graphic Format: Picture the Possibilities,” featured two giants of comics publishing: DC Comics and Fantagraphics Books.

Titles targeting YA readers flourish in the graphic novel form and can also have strong adult appeal, with a huge variety of works across multiple genres available.

Seth is the author of several books, including It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken and Clyde Fans, which follows the slow decline of two brothers charged with keeping the electric fan company started by their father afloat over several decades. 

Enjoyed best by dyed-in-the-wool comics fans, but the industry drama might also entice neophytes to the four-color world; an appealing entry point for middle schoolers through adults to Darwin’s larger story; a vibrant, no-holds-barred look at one of the most prominent artists of the 1980s

 In this true story, a spirited young woman's brilliant mind is caught in the grip of mental illness, known as bipolar disorder.

Meet the new standard for sequential art adaptations of literature—in no way a replacement for Atwood’s singular work but an ideal introduction and gateway text; for comprehensive horror collections; transforms rock horror imagery into a superhero escapade

Readers unwilling to engage with disagreeable or unlikable characters need not apply; a ­moving noir that reminds us that no one who draws breath has nothing left to lose; breakneck action, mystery, magic, and thoughtful sf collide in this omnibus collection; this one is sure to become a favorite among history buffs and war fiction fans; this type of weird horror is where Hine excels; 300 fans looking for something with a similarly propulsive narrative may be disappointed; the first truly essential graphic novel to tackle American life since 2016

This information-rich account of one of the world’s most important scientists is best suited for anyone seeking a close examination of Hawking’s life; readers looking for an extremely funny metacomic will enjoy this work, as will those wanting a taste of 1970s New York City

Now in its 45th year and based in ­Hollywood, CA, graphic novels publisher Humanoids is once again poised to lead the industry into the future.

This highly enjoyable adventure has something for everyone, and readers will be eager to find out what happens; since “Plunderer” has been picked up for an anime series, libraries may want to consider; good for readers seeking a new kind of graphic novel that explores an author’s philosophy through the medium of sequential art

An excellent choice for Gaiman fans; adults and older teens nostalgic for the administrative partnership of President 44 and his veep will love this imaginative collection; this exciting, swashbuckling adventure revisits the enthralling world of Schwab’s best-selling fantasy series

Too-often-shameful chapters of Indigenous and Canadian history; Bunn and Torres slowly freeze readers’ fears; Carroll turns in a bold tale of adult gothic terror; captures the descent from idealism to frozen despair; fine fodder for adults and teens via book clubs, classrooms, and late-night debates among friends

Profoundly personal, this collection is one readers will return to time and again; this mesmerizing work of graphic fiction delivers sublime art as well; this title might appeal to those looking for artistically abstract graphic novels

The Stones make a dandy transition to sequential art in this fine primer on the legendary group and why they likely won’t stop until they drop, literally; Chabouté’s exceptional adaptation would pair well with the actual prose story; these comics will touch a nerve with avid readers who’ll find they share many of Tung’s quirks

Chisholm’s honest yet lighthearted approach to being just OK and not hating herself is likely to induce empathy and self-recognition without scaring off fellow sufferers; one of the strengths of this volume is its inclusion of lesser-known, up-and-comers—a worthy addition to any library

A beautiful tribute to one of the giants of 20th-century sequential art; a satisfying bridge between the animated series and future Dark Horse installments; an account of one of the more shameful skeletons in America’s closet; art reaches out to heal damaged lives and provide needed treatment