DC Comics’ new Absolute Universe follows Marvel’s Ultimate Universe formula of the early 2000s in creating an ongoing parallel universe with drastically different interpretations of their characters. Unlike the pinnacle of gritty realism that was the original Ultimate Universe, this new Absolute Universe makes no attempt to emulate the real world. This new world asks the question, “What would the heroes of the DC Universe become in a world where the villains have already won?” Each title makes foundational changes to each and every character. Batman’s not rich; Wonder Woman is a witch and Superman didn’t arrive on Earth until his teens. This might be the biggest departure from the original characters since this new universe was created. Traditionally, J’onn J’onzz is a Green Martian from the planet Mars. He is a shapeshifter, telepath, and enjoyer of Chocos cookies. His civilian identity is a private investigator named John Jones. None of that is the case in this new title.
Written by Deniz Camp with art by Javier Rodriguez and lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Absolute Martian Manhunter follows F.B.I. agent John Jones as he goes back to work following being injured by an explosion while on duty. His body has healed but something has hitched a ride in his brain. An alien consciousness going by “the Martian” despite explicitly not being from Mars, has integrated its alien perception of reality with Jones’. John must now reconcile his everyday concerns and anxieties of being a husband and father with the human and alien threats exposed to him with help from “the Martian”.
This series swept at the 2026 Eisner Awards. It was nominated for eight awards and won four. The writer Deniz Camp won an Eisner for this title as well as his own comic creation published through Image Comics, Assorted Crisis Events. Deniz Camp has quickly risen to a household name among comics fans. Along with his success with Absolute Martian Manhunter and Assorted Crisis Events, Camp just wrapped up three celebrated volumes of The Ultimates for Marvel Comics and another original creation partnered with Image in the form of 20th Century Men.
All of this success is warranted. His writing range is never more apparent than in titles like Martian Manhunter. His writing combines a detective story with not-entirely-comprehensible extra-dimensional forces like a technicolor True Detective. The voice Camp and Otsmane-Elhaou give “the Martian” really highlights its other-worldly intelligence. The combination of the script and Otsman-Elhaou’s manipulation of the text give its voice a clear alien presence when presented with other characters’ speech bubbles or text boxes on the page next to it.
Javier Rodriguez’s art is a delight. He takes the opportunity of an alien perception of reality to explore the boundaries of visual storytelling on the page. He uses retro styling combined with more abstract designs. “The Martian” itself was actually designed as a model out of clay when Rodriguez was making concept art. This detail really separates “the Martian” ‘s character design from the Earthlings of this world.
Absolute Martian Manhunter Vol. 1 Martian Vision collects issues 1-6 of the limited series with Vol. 2 The Agency collecting the remaining six issues. For librarians looking to add something like this to their collection, my only reservation would be that now since the series is over, DC may publish the entire series in one binding rather than two. It may be helpful to wait if that is preferable for you or your audience. For prospective readers and catalogers, this title has the traditional content warnings for a superhero title: violence, blood, death, limited gore as well as domestic abuse, substance abuse and a mass shooting event. DC’s age rating is 15+ which seems appropriate.
Absolute Martian Manhunter Vol.1 Martian Vision Writer: Deniz Camp Artist: Javier Rodriguez Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou DC Comics, 2025 ISBN: 9781799505211
Absolute Martian Manhunter Vol. 1 Martian Vision By Deniz Camp Art by Javier Rodriguez DC, 2025 ISBN: 9781799505211
Company Age Rating: 15+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: Filipino-American, Spanish,
In The Last Time We Spoke, the author opens with an encounter. A woman on the train resembles his mother so much that he starts to believe it is her – except that his mother cannot be there. She died when he was 14, and when she was just 49. This is the power of grief – the way memories of a lost loved one can strike at any time and be strong enough to envision them there.
Mechanic describes the time before his mother’s death as a time filled with doctors and experimental treatments – something he says was like “flailing while standing still, screaming on mute.” But there are times of joy amid the hardest times, too. The author chases geckos with his sister while in the Bahamas- looking for all the world like a family on vacation when really they are there for another special treatment. Soon the moment is shattered, though, as his father breaks the news that there are no treatments left to do and the family has to come to terms with impending loss. As the book moves back and forth in time, it touches on the anticipatory grief of watching cancer consume his mother before returning to a present day marked by her absence. In between, in the aftermath of his mother’s death, the author also receives a diagnosis of ADHD and OCD.
Structured unlike a typical graphic novel, the words and images blend here. Sometimes, the font is large, and images make their way inside of it. Other times, the images stand up next to a block of text to complement it.
While the ground covered isn’t necessarily new ground in the discussion of grief or mental illness, Mechanic’s experience is both his own and relatable. Readers who have experienced the death of a parent or loved one will recognize themselves in his journey, and in statements like “it doesn’t take long to realize all you took for granted.” This book may be for you if you gravitate to adult graphic novel memoirs like Tyler Feder’s Dancing At The Pity Party or It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood.
The Last Time We Spoke Vol. By Jesse Mechanic Street Noise Books, 2025 ISBN: 9781951491420
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Classic Fantastic is our series of features on the classics of the format—please check out our other picks for the most important titles, in terms of appeal, innovation, and storytelling, that every library should own.
What’s it about?
This Southern Gothic fairy tale features Emmy, who lives with her Pa on his farm, enjoying a fairly idyllic existence, this despite the surrounding woods being home to all sorts of haints that don’t want to stay dead and monsters who don’t mind a little human in their diets. What lurks in these woods becomes front and center in Emmy’s thoughts when, on her 18th birthday, she discovers her connection to Hester Beck, a witch who tormented the people of Harrow County until the people finally had enough and murdered her. Upon discovering the truth about Hester Beck and the people of Harrow County, Emmy goes on a dark journey of self-discovery.
As the series progresses, Emmy must learn more about the supernatural world she’s discovered and the powers she’s inherited, while also ultimately deciding who she is. As the resident “witch,” Emmy becomes the one Harrow County’s human inhabitants go to when they’re plagued by dark forces and often she is also a mediator between the humans with whom she lives and the various spirits and supernatural creatures that respect her power. Luckily, Emmy has some help in protecting Harrow County from the things going more than bump in the night. There’s Bernice, her best friend who throughout the series becomes a formidable magic user; Priscilla, a goblin who helps Emmy in her interactions with monsters, and a skinless boy whose helpfulness extends beyond being both a skinless boy and an empty sack of talking skin. Throughout this series, Emmy grows in her powers while discovering more about her heritage, including her true “family,” a group of supernatural beings that, like Hester, considers Harrow County’s citizens expendable.
Revealing Emmy’s complete character arc, The Complete Harrow County Compendium truly lives up to the name by offering a plethora of extras. Not only does the book have the complete Harrow County story, but it also includes shorter comics, intros that were created for the library editions, sketchbooks used by artist Tyler Crook, scripts written by author Cullen Bunn, and more.
Notable Notes
While much of this book leans heavily on an idea of the early American South infested with haints, this universe offers many different kinds of tropes and stories. While there are some side stories that feel like “Monsters of the Week” tales where Emmy simply finds and then banishes a pesky monster or haint, the main story is Emmy’s coming of age story. Like many tales featuring fantasy protagonists, Emmy fights a constant battle between using her powers responsibly and letting them corrupt her, especially as her antagonists learn how to strike Emmy where it will cause the most physical and emotional pain. Along with Emmy’s story, the land of Harrow County and its strange, rich mythology is expanded upon throughout the series.
Bunn might be familiar to fans of mainstream superhero comics, having written for titles such as Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe and Green Lantern: the Lost Army. Bunn, however, also has quite a portfolio of horror comics series he created, including The Damned, a 2007 tale of crime families warring for souls, supernatural western series The Sixth Gun from 2011, and the monster horror revenge tale Basilisk in 2021. Harrow County, which was first published in 2015, is considered his most well-known horror work, if not his best.
Collaborating with Bunn while illustrating most of Bunn’s world of ghosts and monsters inspired by Appalachian folklore is artist Tyler Crook, who gave the book its signature look thanks to his use of watercolors, which makes each page look like they belong in the Saturday Evening Post or on a postcard purchased from a general store. However, just because this series’ aesthetic might remind people of a romanticized rustic life in early 20th century America, there are more than enough graphic depictions of violence to turn the most modern stomachs. Like any good historical horror, this book threads the needle between historical authenticity and skin-crawling horror.
Significance
Many readers think of EC Comics like Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt when they think of horror comics, but there are also horror comics that construct richly textured worlds and deeply complex characters like Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and Joe Hill’s Locke & Key. Harrow County deserved to be mentioned alongside these seminal horror comics containing longer story arcs. Not only is this world gorgeously rendered in this book, Bunn and Crook’s universe has also led to spin-off series like Tales from Harrow County, which allows them to explore the backstories of the book’s secondary characters, meaning this book can be a spectacular jumping off point for those who love this fictional universe and Southern Gothic horror.
While many other creators like Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder helped define how to depict horror in a comic book format, Bunn and Crook also deserve their props for creating in Harrow County a book that’s nostalgic, terrifying, and heartfelt. And Harrow County isn’t just a flash in the creative pan for both men. Bunn has created several different horror graphic novels for Oni Press, Dark Horse, and Boom! Studios, and Crook has worked in both video games and in graphic novels like BRPD. Much like chocolate and peanut butter, when the two combine their talents, much like they did for , they create graphic storytelling magic. Harrow County can be seen as a book where Bunn and Crook were continuing to cut their individual creative teeth, but it also represents Bunn and Crook at what many will say is the height of their creative prowess. In a world where graphic novels can be optioned into movies and series, it may only be a matter of time before we see Emmy played by Anna Taylor Joy interacting with a CGI-rendered Priscilla.
Appeal
Fans of horror comics will love the gore that Crook renders in watercolor as well as his imaginatively rendered monsters. Those who love historical fantasy stories will want to visit Harrow County, walk through the town’s dusty streets, and be aware of the setting sun at their backs and what the darkness could bring. While not necessarily a book for the squeamish, and its depictions of blood and guts in watercolored reds might make it too bloody for a library’s teen section, Emmy’s story, despite taking place in a very significant period in American history, is still a timeless one about how a young person grows up and decides, through missteps and heroics, who they are.
Why should you own this?
Many dark fantasy shows like “Supernatural” utilize the trope of protagonists discovering a world lying just underneath the one that normal people take for granted, and that this underworld has very sharp teeth. Like Sam or Dean Winchester in Supernatural, Emmy must not only protect Harrow County from the encroaching darkness, but often has to make some difficult decisions to do so. Its setting offers up a slice of Southern Gothic Americana, its magical elements draw on a delightful mix of dark fantasy tropes, and its characters will, for many readers, feel like old friends who sadly will leave them once the book is closed. An important work of horror in the graphic novel medium, this should be a top choice if you’re a librarian building an adult graph novel collection for patrons who also love horror.
The Complete Harrow County Compendium By Cullen Bunn Art by Tyler Crook Dark Horse, 2025 ISBN: 9781506745091
Most of us have eaten some kind of instant noodle, whether that’s ramen, microwaveable mac and cheese, or something else. Some of us have modified instant noodles with other ingredients: adding veggies or an egg, for instance. Robin Ha’s book is here for people who want to get fancier and more adventurous, all with the starting point of a humble noodle package.
Instant Noodles and Beyond begins with a comic book guide to ramyeon (the Korean word for ramen). It briefly covers the history of instant ramyeon, how it’s made, and its nutritional profile before shifting into cookbook mode: after a few pages of recommendations for staple ingredients to have on hand, the book dives into its many clearly and cheerfully illustrated recipes. There is a section for ramyeon soups, one for brothless ramyeon (like stir-fried noodle dishes), and one for cold ramyeon recipes. Then there’s Think Outside the Bowl, with instructions for using instant ramyeon in dishes ranging from popcorn to puffed rice treats to scallion pancakes. This section also includes some recipes using boxed macaroni and cheese.
The recipes – most of which make one or two servings as written – are inspired by cuisines from all over the world, with everything from Shrimp Alfredo Ramyeon to Pad Thai Ramyeon to Elote Mac and Cheese. Occasionally, there will be a short comic about the historical or cultural background for a specific recipe. Scattered through the book are a few longer comics (usually still just a page or two) that tell fun personal stories, like one about the author’s friend who hosts ramyeon parties.
The comics that illustrate the recipes are drawn in a realistic style, which makes them useful and informative: they include pictures of the packages of recommended brands of ramyeon for each recipe, and they clearly show how to prepare the meat, veggies, and other ingredients. The comics at the beginning of the book get a little more whimsical, with talking ramyeon packs, a cartoon cat cooking, and more.
As a cookbook, this has a fun and novel premise: make your instant noodles fancy! Of course, two major appeal factors of instant noodles are that they are fast and easy to make, and that situation changes somewhat once you have a recipe that requires adding a bunch of other ingredients, which often have to be diced or otherwise prepared. But many of the recipes are still fairly simple, with peppy and straightforward instructions that make them feel accessible, and those other ingredients can add significant nutritional value as well as flavor and texture. Hand this cookbook to inexperienced cooks looking to expand their recipe rotation, or to anyone who likes noodles and wants to try something new.
Instant Noodles and Beyond A Comic Book with Recipes for Souped-Up Ramen, Mac & Cheese, and More By Robin Ha William Morrow / Harvest, 2026 ISBN: 9780063437142
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: Korean,
It’s a common enough joke that we’ve heard it in a bunch of movies and series (television or streaming), but this was a new way for me to get hooked. Apparently, an FBI agent is barred from resignation or retirement if there is a threat to national security.
So begins the mystery of No Man’s Land.
Set in 1963, FBI Agent Collins – on the day he decided to deliver his resignation letter – is called by the director to assist in solving a strange case. The body of a woman is found in the middle of an ice bridge that connects the USA and Russia (the Diomede Islands); no clear jurisdiction has been established. The bridge lasts for about three months of the year, and Agent Collins is suddenly forced to solve a murder mystery. Can he and KGB agent Fiodrow work together to tie up loose ends? The clock is ticking. Not just because the ice bridge will soon melt, but also from the tense and fragile relationship between two nuclear superpowers.
This is an excellent, almost noir-y kind of book and it’s just the first one! The illustrations are lifelike and gritty with minimal color and a smart use of inkblots, perhaps to evoke bureaucratic paperwork or blood stains (or both). The writing lives in the dramatic close ups of the eyes and faces of the characters, evocative and emotional. The images as a whole are very painterly with many opportunities for dramatic lighting and sunbursts. The author/illustrator even put in some cover variations that pay homage to many famous movie posters, so that was a fun bonus at the end of the read.
Like a lot of thrillers, the story is dense, but I feel that’s warranted by the narrative. The reader can do their best to follow along and sort out the facts in a way that makes sense, or just keep reading forward with anticipation to see what comes next.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I hear there’s a movie deal in the works. This is not a book for young children, certainly. Though there is nothing particularly graphic depicted in this installment of the series, there are a few corpses and war and violence continue in the background.
Folks who enjoy True Detective, the Fargo series, and The Terror will likely enjoy this as well.
No Man’s Land By Szymon Kudranski Image, 2025 ISBN: 9781534333604
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Polish, Character Representation: Russian,
A murderous cowboy, monstrous bugs, characters and places that may or may not exist—all this and more waits within the pages of this strange and unsettling anthology collection.
Created by Dustin Weaver and with the additional talents of Jeremy Barlow and D.J. Bryant, The Juniper Lodge collects 5 stories from Weaver’s anthology series PAKLIS, also released by Image Comics. Though tonally similar, each episode stands entirely on its own, making this a perfectly viable entry point for any reader not familiar with Weaver’s work.
Though “the Juniper Lodge” story sits at the heart of the collection, the first entry brings readers back to the wild west, where a gun demands sacrifice and a man facing execution finds that his hopes of salvation may come drenched in blood. Each new narrative delivers a surreal mix of body horror and monsters alongside mystery, fractured realities, and unraveling psychological uncertainty among characters struggling to separate the real from the fantastic. The stories embrace their own ambiguity, leaving a great deal unresolved by each finale and stranding the reader amidst the grotesqueries of each new world. With all three writers taking the lead at various points, some stories offer shades of Kafka while others play out with more noir tones. There are flashes of superhero lore, and visual elements of scifi and cyberpunk woven throughout. But even with all the strangeness unfolding across each page, the core themes remain close to characters in crisis, each reckoning with a world that is not what they once believed it to be.
While the writing rotates hands, Weaver creates the visuals across each new chapter. The realism of the art shifts between stories, with some more polished and others feeling more textured on the page. Further capturing the tone of the volume, Weaver plays with color palates and perspectives to sometimes change and sometimes distort the reader’s experience. One scene may appear normal; a few panels later, we’re confronted with bulging eyes, twisting hallways, a floating grin that lingers where a stranger once crouched. Weaver’s art establishes the familiar and then breaks it, luring the reader into the horrors. The volume also ends with some bonus content, exploring the comics industry and what it takes to make the leap from big superhero titles to a book like this, providing insights into Weaver’s artistic journey.
Image gives The Juniper Lodge a Mature rating. There’s violence and death, graphic nudity, sexual content, and horror imagery aplenty over the course of the five stories, so this one is more suited for adults. This collection offers a fascinating trip through a series of vivid worlds and distinct characters. As is sometimes the case with anthology comics, the pieces of Juniper Lodge may feel undeveloped, leaving readers searching for a coherent whole. The stories do not resolve neatly, and some feel cluttered with too many moving pieces and big ideas to follow as effectively as I would have liked for myself. But for any reader who wants the blend of science fiction, mystery, and horror wrapped up in nightmare landscapes where nothing is certain, The Juniper Lodge will provide a memorable ride. It will likely have the most appeal to readers who have enjoyed Prince’s Ice Cream Man or Walsh’s The Silver Coin—and possibly some of Junji Ito’s shorter works alongside.
In the end, The Juniper Lodge was a bit too abstract for my tastes, but no one can accuse the volume of being boring. For the right reader, I expect these five stories could be exactly the sort of portal they’re looking for.
The Juniper Lodge By Dustin Weaver, Jeremy Barlow, and D.J. Bryant Art by Dustin Weaver Image, 2026 ISBN: 9781534331020
One click and this new dimension opens. A panel is the threshold to a dimension of gutters and splash pages. A dimension made of ink and Kirby Krackles. A world where a madman writes of comics and graphic novels. You are about to enter No Flying No Tights.
News From The Fallout is a macabre delight. Any fans of the Twilight Zone or old school creature features looking for a fast paced adventure might find their fix with this mini-series. From the creators Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine) and Jeffrey Alan Love (The Thousand Demon Tree), News From The Fallout is a nonstop sprint of a story. This miniseries is set in 1960s Nevada and follows a private in the U.S. Army named Otis Fallows, after a nuclear bomb test goes horribly wrong.
Now, with no disrespect to Chris Condon and the script, this series is carried by Jeffrey Alan Love’s art work. It really is something to behold. It exists as some sort of combination of CRT TV static and shadowpuppetry mixed with pages of background lore. Love conveys just enough detail for your brain to fill in the rest of the horrific details. He’ll show the row of fangs in shadow and the reader can imagine what else it’s hiding. There’s a narrative focus on ash and he takes that opportunity to make every scene feel shrouded in ash as well as emulate the 50s and 60s television technology with a grayscale color palette. It really sets the mood for a Cold War era monster thriller, a haunted nuclear nightmare.
While Love’s artwork is probably the best selling point, Chris Condon’s script is no slouch. Given the limitations of a narrative in six issues, Condon makes every word count. He gives each of Love’s silhouetted characters a distinct voice, making up for the lack of clarity in Love’s chosen style. Along with tight and efficient characterization, Condon created a story propelled by its own moment. Each scene crashes into the next, usually with a great amount of violence. At the beginning and ending of every issue there is background information in the form of within-universe media like menus or redacted military orders. Condon uses these glimpses into the goings on in Atomic Alley to ground the story in some form of reality.
For any librarians looking to expand their adult graphic fiction or science fiction selection, this isn’t a terrible pick. This would be right at home in a read-alikes display with Ray Bradbury or Harlan Ellison. Image comics gives no listed age rating, but I would recommend this to mainly adults based on the horror and violent elements of the entire series.
News From the Fallout By Chris Condon Art by Jeffrey Alan Love Image Comics, 2026 ISBN: 9781534335745
Ross’s Murray’s Bedford Street is an often bleak, sometimes funny, but quietly compelling look at the lives, loves, and losses of a group of characters united by their proximity to a single street.
Opening with a short sequence aptly titled Roadkill, Bedford Street immediately sets its somewhat grim tone which is nevertheless run through with bursts of dark humor. From there, the book transitions to the first full story of the collection—that of an alcoholic father entrusted with taking care of his teenage son for the weekend. He sips drinks and searches for shared interests as his son unleashes rage issues on a battered grill in the yard. Much of this opening story is told in visuals, but Ross works a great deal of character and connection into the way father and son move through their shared space—each unsure exactly how to exist on their own or communicate with the other. It’s an effectively human story, full of relatable uncertainty and capped with bittersweet moments of love and connection.
Each story that follows shares similar threads of deeply flawed people trying their best, through moments of strength and often moments of failure. A nurse debating whether to intervene in a domestic disturbance, two brothers navigating life after an accident, a man trying to restart life after release from prison—the stories are quiet, but they are earnest and honest in capturing all the rough edges of their subjects as the lives of the Bedford Street residents continue to unfold.
Ross brings a deft hand to each vignette, crafting a compelling character arc, and blending natural dialogue with powerful visuals to capture the heart of each short story. Like any collection, some are likely to land with a reader more than others, but the range of characters feels united by the tone of the overall book. In each, it feels as though Ross is looking to understand the central characters and bringing the reader along on the experience. Some make terrible mistakes that upend their lives and the lives of those around them. Others are caught in difficulty through no fault of their own. Regardless, Ross’s delivery doesn’t feel as though it seeks to pass judgment on this collage of lives. They are simply complicated, and through the choices they make, they will be forced to face the consequences, whatever those may be.
Matching this writing, the art has a simple realism to it. There are plenty of details to take in, but Ross’s visual style strips away the noise to focus on scenes—on expressions and quiet moment as they occur. Different colors dominate the palate depending on the nature of the sequence, but the subdued shades interplay with light and shadow to build panels that feel worn and lived in, but which also hold the eye as these characters pass their days.
Fantagraphics rates Bedford Street for 16+. The stories are all thematically mature, but some are more acceptable for teenage readers than others. While certain of the mature elements occur infrequently, the book does include strong language, death, suicide, injury to humans and animals, substance use, strong sexual content, and graphic nudity among its content concerns. Between this and the overall subject matter, it will have strongest appeal with adults. Overall, for readers who like more literary works, Bedford Street is a generally quiet examination of complex characters and a range of themes. There isn’t a strong narrative tissue connecting the stories to each other, but a definite emotional arc runs across the collection and these characters who ultimately seem to (mostly) be doing the best they can with a myriad of imperfect situations. It’s a striking book that deserves a place on any shelf where it will be appreciated.
Bedford Street By Ross Murray Fantagraphics, 2026 ISBN: 9798875002625
The monsters in horror fiction, whether those monsters are ghosts, vampires, or zombies, always seem to represent something beyond the natural fear a person would have against something with fangs and claws. Many times, these monsters are symbolic of a more universal fear involving a person’s space in society or in the universe at large (at least according to critics). Ghosts, for example, are often connected to humanity’s universal fear of death. Zombies are often symbols of death as well as disease. Author and illustrator Jon Claytor, however, presents an interesting idea in his book Nowhere, the world of zombies, vampires, and aliens represents the very modern fear of growing up.
Nowhere takes place in Beauséjour. Beauséjour, a small town in Canada and it’s where teenage Joel ends up, along with his morose mother, his verbally abusive but generally useless stepfather, and various animals. When the family’s car breaks down in Beauséjour, they stay at a roadside motel and slowly become accustomed to what makes Beauséjour different from other towns. Those differences include vampires that talk to therapists, ghosts that look like sheets and who actively engage with the living, and a massive cube that sits on the edge of town. And don’t forget about the zombies that wander around at night.
People might look at Claytor’s story and think of shows that run on late 20th century nostalgia like Stranger Things, especially when Joel finds a group of his friends close to his own age to hang out with. However, these friends don’t battle the various monsters that show up in town; they simply accept them as part of living in Beauséjour. In fact, no one within this book expresses any emotions other than melancholy, even when more apocalyptic elements start happening. Many have likely read action/adventure stories with a coming-of-age element that has the protagonist learns more about who they are and who they’re going to be due to the events in the book, but if Joel comes of age within Nowhere’s pages, Joel grows to realize that banality is the norm, which is perhaps the most terrifying thing to realize.
Banality could be used to describe the book’s artwork, which, in any other book, would be a critique, but the banality fits into the book’s overall tone. Claytor uses a deceptively simplistic art style that nevertheless depicts realistic human faces that are struggling to emote within a muted black and white world. Colors are also used sparingly, such as the blood on the vampire’s teeth when he talks with his therapist, and only provide a speck of brightness in Claytor’s universe. Even the aliens, typical grays with bulbous eyes and small mouths, approach their job of manipulation with the enthusiasm of security guards who’d much rather watch the clock tick toward the end of their shift, which is not surprising considering the universe they inhabit.
While lacking the excitement of Stranger Things, this book does share some DNA with an intellectual property well-known for weirdness. “Welcome to Night Vale,” a novel and podcast created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, features a supernatural town where residents accept the supernatural to an absurd degree. Fans of that book/series will want to visit Beauséjour, as well as fans of shows like “X-Files” and “Supernatural,” particularly of their sillier episodes.
Nowhere By John Claytor Goose Lane Editions, 2026 ISBN: 9781773104584
Company Age Rating: 14 Years and Up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
This graphic novel adaptation of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s romance novel is about sisters, Hester and Rachel, who grew up in poverty and learned how to fight for justice. The original novel was released in 1925 and was based on Ethel’s own experiences in a mill, but was not well received at the time of release. Now Scarlett and Sophie Rickard have adapted the novel into a new format during a time when the world could use reminding that human rights and dignity are inherent, not earned.
The sisters work in a Lancashire textile factory where their mother and grandmother worked. Rachel is full of energy and willing to confront the men in her town telling her she’s worthless, but Hester has a fragility that doesn’t allow for that type of action. Instead, Hester chooses to take a marriage offer from a wealthy mill owner in order to try and better her situation in life while her sister becomes an activist.
Normally, I would not pick up a story like this one as my personal preference leans toward fantasy or escapism from reality. This historical account hits home on many levels of commentary that address the issues of the time but are relatable today to a modern audience. Although this is not a word-to-word adaptation, the creators made sure to include aspects of the original (e.g. accents and colloquialisms). Likewise, the illustrator took care to represent the time period through the clothing and architecture renditions. The color helps distinguish characters, mood, and poverty level by using darker, neutral tones to make everything dark and dirty and saving the brighter and lighter colors for the upper class and their frivolity.
This book is best suited for academic libraries with strong English literature programs or adult collections with patrons interested in historical (or romance) graphic novels. Although this book addresses prostitution, there is no on-page sex. Just a little kissing. Both a foreword and author’s note explain that the slavery indicated by the title is not referring to the horrific trans-Atlantic slavery that is most often acknowledged by history but instead refers to the powerlessness of women and laborers.
This Slavery By Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, Sophie Rickard Art by Scarlett Rickard SelfMadeHero, 2025 ISBN: 9781914224355
Not a Martian, Not a man. Absolutely insane.
In 
in terms of appeal, innovation, and storytelling, that every library should 
A murderous cowboy, monstrous bugs, characters and places that may or may not exist—all this and more waits within the pages of this strange and unsettling anthology collection.
One click and this new dimension opens. A panel is the threshold to a dimension of gutters and splash pages. A dimension made of ink and Kirby Krackles. A world where a madman writes of comics and graphic novels. You are about to enter No Flying No Tights.
look at the lives, loves, and losses of a group of characters united by their proximity to a single street.
always seem to represent something beyond the natural fear a person would have against something with fangs and claws. Many times, these monsters are symbolic of a more universal fear involving a person’s space in society or in the universe at large (at least according to critics). Ghosts, for example, are often connected to humanity’s universal fear of death. Zombies are often symbols of death as well as disease. Author and illustrator Jon Claytor, however, presents an interesting idea in his book Nowhere, the world of zombies, vampires, and aliens represents the very modern fear of growing up.
This graphic novel adaptation of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s romance novel is about sisters, Hester and Rachel, who grew up in poverty and learned how to fight for justice. The original novel was released in 1925 and was based on Ethel’s own experiences in a mill, but was not well received at the time of release. Now Scarlett and Sophie Rickard have adapted the novel into a new format during a time when the world could use reminding that human rights and dignity are inherent, not earned. 
