The Author Immortal Vol.1: Death of the Author

by | Jul 8, 2026

Like a filmmaker having a soft spot for movies about movies, I am a sucker for a book or comic on the importance of stories. The Author Immortal is for anyone who has a soft spot for the stories that made you.

The plot follows a writer named Hector Ramirez when he is given the opportunity to reboot a classic young adult fantasy series. The opportunity comes with a cost and what’s worse is that his loved ones may pay the price. By the time he learns that the original author was sucked into his own fiction, it is too late. He and his nonbinary teen, Al, are whisked away to a fantasy land corrupted by dark magic and ink that runs like blood. There, they meet the very characters of this story, but something is wrong. Monsters run rampant and the heroes have changed into something wilder and more dangerous. We follow Al and their father as they navigate the corrupted land of The Mage’s Apprentice, a fantasy series with a strong influence from C.S.Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Even the title is a nod to The Magician’s Nephew, the first and often forgotten book in the series. What follows is an exploration of identity, the role stories play in our lives and the things you are willing to do for the ones you love. 

This queer fantasy is a love letter to the stories we got lost in. Childhood hours spent lost in the pages of a book, going on adventures in a world far from ours. This new world of magic and monsters is from the new creative duo: Frank J. Barbiere (he/him) and Morgan Beem (she/her). Both creators have worked in the industry for years, but this is their first collaboration. Barbiere has written on titles like Violent Love and Lobo, meanwhile Beem has drawn for titles like Swamp Thing and You Belong Here. This debuting duo complement each other’s styles marvelously.

Barbiere’s biting script full of emotion is elevated to eleven through Beem’s expressive art. Her watercolor illustrations create a world not bound by limitations similar to how her paints are not bound to the pencilling on the page. Her color palette contrasts itself to match the changing tone of the scenes within the comic. The pair really knocked it out of the park with this one.

There is no publisher’s age rating but the violent and horror elements are geared towards older audiences.This new and terrifying world is not for the faint of heart. Vol. 1: Death of the Author collects issues #1-5. There is currently no release date for issue number 6. Image comics would be remiss if they do not continue this run to a conclusion. The story does not strike me as one made for an ongoing series, but a satisfying ending is for sure a possibility if allowed to run its course.

The Author Immortal Vol.1: Death of the Author
By Frank Barbiere
Art by Morgan Beem
Image, 2026
ISBN: 9781534334786

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)

Character Representation: Queer, Nonbinary,

You Belong Here

by | Feb 20, 2025

On the first day of senior year, Essie Rosen has it all figured out. She has plans for college, supportive friends, and she’s dating the boy next door. But as the school year unfolds, her perfect life starts to fall apart. Her boyfriend breaks up with her, her best friend has stopped responding to her texts, and her college dreams are on the rocks, all while under the scrutiny of her perfectionist mother. Things get even more complicated when she meets Christopher, an alluring junior, whose older brother set her own brother, Gabe, down the path to drug addiction. Essie just wants to know where she belongs, but everyone around her wants to tell her how to live her life.

You Belong Here, written by debut author Sara Phoebe Miller and illustrated by Morgan Beem, is a coming of age teen drama that explores family and personal relationships, sex, and mental health while navigating the end of high school in a small town. Miller’s story is relatable and engaging. Even though familiar tropes show up, like enemies-to-lovers, there are twists and turns in the narrative that keep things fresh. It’s hard to see how things will turn out for Essie as she zooms through her senior year, but her character development is satisfying. Beem’s beautiful ink and watercolors make the world feel lively, even when there are minimal backgrounds. Beem is particularly talented at expressing characters’ emotions through their facial expressions and movements and every page is visually captivating.

There’s a great deal of diversity among the characters, positively representing several different cultural identities. A discussion between Essie, who is Jewish, and Christopher, who is Chinese American, hints at racism in their small, suburban town, but racial tensions are largely left out of the narrative. This quick reference might have had more impact if it had been explored more deeply, but feels more like an afterthought than a feature of Essie’s world.

One of the most refreshing things about this book is that Essie is drawn fat. Her story, however, has almost nothing to do with her weight. She brings up her size once as a reason she’s been discriminated against in acting roles, but she gets to be a typical teenager, she gets to attract boys and pursue sex, she gets to wear what she wants and be who she is. And no one, not even her mother, who nitpicks every other aspect of her life, tells her to change her body. In a world full of stories about fatness being a problem to be fixed, this is a breath of fresh air.

The publisher gives an age range of 14 to 18, but some content readers may wish to know about include mentions of drugs, addiction, and rehabilitation, depression, underage drinking and smoking, language, and an attempted sexual assault on Essie by an older male stranger. There is no overt nudity, but two teenagers do attempt to have sex. Even with all these tough issues, Essie’s story of drama and romance is a fun read and would be a good addition to a teen graphic novel collection.

You Belong Here 
By Sara Phoebe Miller
Art by Morgan Beem
Macmillan, 2025
ISBN: 9781250822307

Company Age Rating: 14 – 18

NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
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Character Representation: Jewish ,