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
When we are young the world can seem magical and full of untold possibilities. It’s when we get older and more perceptive, if not wiser, that the magic can fade and reality becomes more apparent. This transition from childhood to adulthood is a rite of passage for all of us and a time that can define who we become as people.
Comet Clubis set in present day China, and follows the lives of Li Yu and his friend Yang Kuaikuai as they find themselves on that same precipice between childhood and adolescence. As their time in middle school nears an end they are at a crossroads. Li Yu, the troublemaker of the two, is stuck in the pair’s small mountain town while Yang Kuaikuai, the more studious one, is trying to decide if he will stay in town with his father or move to the ‘big city’ with his mother, who left him and his father when he was very young. With their time potentially running out, Li Yu wants to make the most of what time they do have and drags the more skeptical Yang Kuaikuai to the Comet Club, a group of students that discuss UFO sightings and the possibility of extraterrestrial life visiting their mountain town. The club is led by the handsome, charming, and very intelligent Qi Ming, who beat out Yang Kuaikuai for first place in their school’s math competition. For this reason and out of morbid curiosity, he agrees to hear the club members out and join. Soon strange lights in the mountains bring the club members out of their comfortable homes in the town and up in the harsh winter wilderness above. And it is in that bleak landscape that the kids shed their childlike naivete and see things for what they truly are. Comet Club is a coming of age story very similar to such hallmarks of the genre as Stand by Me, showcasing the bonds of childhood friendship that hold a group of characters together and the cracks that form as time and circumstance begin to take their effects on who those kids are developing into. Through the characters’ parental figures the reader is given insight into what shaped the characters into who they are and insight into the choices the characters are making to distance themselves from their parents and their expectations or to seek out and meet those expectations. Li Yu’s drunken father set no expectations whatsoever leading him to take things less seriously and become a class clown. Yang Kuaikuai’s mother leaving when he was so young creates a need to prove that he is good enough to be worthy of her withheld love. Qi Ming’s father is working overseas in Japan and sends him letters and gifts such as a telescope, encouraging him to literally and figuratively reach for the stars, while at the same time hiding a dark secret of his own that also will play into his son’s future. Creator Li Yang imbues the story with a realistic sense of angst, uncertainty, and youthful idealism. Her artwork lies somewhere between realism and fantastical which really drives home the story’s place in the transitional period between the main characters’ childhood perspectives and the burgeoning reality slowly descending upon them. Regardless of their circumstances or in what country the reader was born, the plotline is universally relatable making it a great read for teenagers going through many of the same things.
Comet Club By Yi Yang Fantagraphics, 2026 ISBN: 9798875002564
Company Age Rating: Teen
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11) Creator Representation: Chinese, Character Representation: Chinese,
Note: This is a review of the ARC, which is 200 pages long and not the complete manuscript.
What should have been a normal trip to the local flea market for Tâm and her older brother Dennis becomes the start of a deadly mystery when Tâm helps a desperate girl, Hoa Bin, in a car. That chance encounter embroils Tâm and Dennis in a matter of life or death – as if navigating life as teenagers wasn’t difficult enough…
Nirvana is Here, drawn by Mikael Ross and translated from German by Nika Beauchamp,is a modern take on the classic thriller offset by a coming-of-age story. In a scene that echoes Stand by Me, Tâm and her schoolmate Alex follow clues that lead to the discovery of a severed finger and, ultimately, self-discovery. Though intriguing, the mystery and danger are the framework in which the character-driven story is realized. Nirvana is Here touches on universal themes such as family, young love, and growing up as well as immigration and LGTBQ issues, which not everyone experiences personally but can become more familiar through the nuance of stories like this.
Despite the social issues it addresses, Nirvana is Here is never preachy. The characters are the core of the story, and Ross never loses sight of that. If there is a critique of Nirvana is Here, it is that the reader may wish for some of the side characters to be more developed: some are shown to be more than the tropes they embody and are interesting enough that readers may want to learn more, while others are one-dimensional. In particular, there is a subplot between Alex and an old woman named Jutta that will hopefully be reconciled in the final edition.
Ross’ art is perfect for the tone of his story. Rendered in black and white, Ross uses loose, almost-cartoony lines and features for the characters, a style that can convey humor in one panel and then urgency and seriousness in the next. The fluid style of the characters is offset by the detailed and sometimes gritty backdrop of urban Berlin. Nirvana is Here is the ideal graphic novel in which the contrasting art techniques between characters and environments successfully works with the various themes of the narrative. Everything works.
The publisher’s age rating for Nirvana is Here is adult, but the story will resonate with older teens as well. There is violence, and the stakes are high for the siblings and Hoa Bin, and, due to the ARC only a portion of the story, how our characters ultimately fare is still up in the air. However, the story in the ARC rings of hope and a celebration of self and the people around you. Ultimately, it’s worth it for librarians and parents to check out Nirvana is Here to see if and how it will fit into their collections.
Are you afraid of the dark? For within the dark lurks a multitude of wonders hidden from the naked eye, yet a cautionary reminder prevails: “The night does not belong to us.” In another alluring graphic novel, Spanish illustrator and comics artist Laura Pérez guides readers on a journey into the depths of the night and everything that lies dormant—or awake—in the darkness.
Like an opening to a film zooming in on an establishing shot, the scene begins at dusk and gradually dims into darkness where denizens of the night—bats, centipedes, and owls—awaken from their natural habitats while humans take shelter. Dancing flames of fire offer illuminating warmth in a cave carved on the side of a mountain.
From there, the bonfire from within shifts to an isolated light in a side window of a building, leading to the fire on a kitchen stove top. These scenes transition fluidly, transporting readers from one scenario to another in just a few panels. Full-page panels on a two-page spread depict a medium long shot of the night in the forest and throughout the city. A brief caption reads: “Since time immemorial, night has been a place we’ve tried to conquer and in a way we’ve succeeded.” Despite the change from one time period to another, the setting may have evolved technologically from a rural to an urban locale, but the cloak of night still envelopes the same space from one era into the next.
As the narrative unfolds, a solitary owl sporadically appears—a winged creature of the night that swoops through time and space, transcending the physical world. Subtle yet pervasive details coalesce into Pérez’s deceptively simple, silent world. Shades of black and dark teal accentuate the mood and time. A young girl donning a red hoodie ventures forth from an RV at night into the woods, echoing snatches of Little Red Riding Hood. Punctuating these scenes are a night owl that sweeps through the night air as well as a dead deer lying on a deserted road, for the night camouflages and shelters, furnishing a sanctuary while rendering secrets out of sight, melting everything away in its embrace like a black hole.
Pérez plays around with metaphysical themes of universal consciousness and telepathy, of people and places stretched across time and space, echoes of a distant, primordial past. The panels, minimalist at times, accrue more meaning upon successive viewings as though beckoning readers to delve deeper into the mysteries buried within. As a graphic novel, a visual poem, and a meditation on the sublime enchantment of the night, Nocturnos bears repeated readings and integrates well with thought-provoking titles in adult graphic novel collections, offering a pictorial Zen-like exploration that generates insight through repeated readings that will tease, tantalize, allure, and enchant.
Nocturnos By Laura Pérez Fantagraphics, 2025 ISBN: 9798875001260
Company Age Rating: Series ISBNs and Order Related media:
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: Spanish,
Amélie is a 16th century Dutch noblewoman fascinated by science and nature, but forced into an unhappy marriage by her impoverished parents. Her new husband, Hans, is dashingly handsome, loves animals, and is pleasant and outgoing in public. But in private, he belittles her and subjects her to sexual violence and humiliation. Her only respite occurs when Hans takes a business trip to Portugal, leaving her to freely study what fascinates her more than anything: flight.
Thinking of flight as both a glimmer of hope for escape and as a way to be closer to God, she studies the bones of birds, pours through books in her husband’s library, and crafts model flying contraptions. She ponders the way maple seeds spin in the air and is relieved to not hear a word from her husband for many months.
Things get complicated when Hans finally returns, accompanied by a beautiful young slave woman from an unknown place. He claims he saved her from a terrible fate and moves her into the house as his mistress. Amélie is both humiliated and fascinated by this woman, given the name Sahara by Hans after he acquired her. Hans is loving and tender with Sahara in stark contrast to his behavior with Amélie. She is quiet and cheerful, despite a deeply traumatic past, but tension develops between the two women. As they both adapt to life stashed away together in Hans’ house, they start to experience compassion and support for one another. They explore Amélie’s love of flight and begin work on a contraption that will change everything.
I am a complete sucker for historical dramas. I love a sumptuous setting, detailed costumes, and an exploration of life in a time that seems both unknown and absolutely familiar. Raging Clouds by South Korean author and illustrator Yudori ticks all those boxes for me. When I think of the art style, the first word that comes to mind is “exquisite”. I was absolutely captivated by every panel. There is so much attention to detail, particularly in the clothing. Yudori has a mastery over drawing the folds of fabric that really brings life to the art. There is detail everywhere, from the clothes, to furniture, to individual strands of hair. There are some historical inaccuracies here and there, but I can see due diligence was done to be true to the time period.
There is a lot of nudity in this work, but I really appreciate Yudori’s nuanced depictions. At times nudity is used to explore the beauty and desirability of the female form, while other times it’s employed to express dehumanization and subjugation, essentially the two extremes of being a woman under patriarchy. This is a deeply feminist work, and Yudori is not shy about showing the pain and trauma of being a woman under oppression.
The cover art and some errotic tension in the story might lure you into thinking this becomes a sultry queer romance, but as the author explains in an Instagram post, this is a story of failed attempts. As much as I love a queer romance, I also love a story of two women surviving through different aspects of patriarchy, seeing each other, and finding ways to lift each other up as the system tries to knock them down. It feels authentic and I want to see more stories featuring this kind of non-romantic love and compassion.
There are a lot of potential content warnings that librarians and readers might want to know about, some of which have already been mentioned, such as nudity and sexual violence, which includes rape and dubious consent. Several sexual acts are illustrated pretty clearly. There is also physical violence ranging from hitting to murder, although nothing very bloody is shown directly on the page. Amélie also experiences a lot of body image issues, which comes in the form of negative comments from others and negative self-talk.
As you might expect with a period piece, particularly one featuring people of color in Europe, there is casual and overt racism littered throughout the story and there are some historical terms for groups of people that are outdated by today’s standards. Sahara is a non-native speaker and her way of expressing herself could be interpreted as stereotyped. However, according to the author in another Instagram post, the inspiration for how Sahara speaks comes from her own experience as a non-native English speaker when she moved to the United States from Korea as a teenager.
There is also some animal harm at various points. A cat is the subject of a violent game among men and several dead animals are shown. There are no animal deaths, but as someone very sensitive to animal harm, the realism of the animals was slightly unsettling for me. It was balanced somewhat by an adorable pet cat doing very annoying (but still adorable) cat things, so the realism goes both ways.
While there are many challenging issues depicted in Raging Clouds, nothing feels out of place or unwarranted. This is definitely one for the adult collection, although some older teens might connect with it as well. I think it’s a beautiful and honest work exploring the lives of women in the past that is incredibly relatable to women of the present.
Raging Clouds By Yudori Fantagraphics, 2025 ISBN: 9798875001062
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: South Korean, Character Representation: Dutch,
Little Moon’s mother reads to her every night out of Grandma’s story book. Little Moon’s favorite story is about the scary monster the Shenk. Is it real? Then something horrible happens to her parents—luckily, some witches in hiding find her and help her understand the real purpose of Grandma’s book. But then, a spooky fairie librarian steals her book! Why? This opens the door to Little Moon learning about magic of all kinds—dark, light, helpful and tricky. Magic that is no longer allowed. She must get her Grandma’s book back! Thus starts Little Moon’s adventures, which take the form of spooky fairie stories. Think “fae” as in the old Gaelic tales, not the sanitized Disney version. It’s kind of Alice in Wonderland, with a gothic edge. Librarians and professors are portrayed as dark eyeless authoritarians and “keepers of the accredited institutions.” The first story explains how the Shenk came to be. Think of an origin story, somewhat like Thor and Loki, but as sisters.
The art is surrealistic (sometimes with no gutter or border, and sometimes with the gutters elaborately decorated with background actions) in grayscale, which is a shame, because the pencils are lush and textured and swirl every which way – it must have taken forever to layer them. This is an advance copy, though, and the back says, “vibrantly rendered in watercolors”. Colors would add to the fantastic weirdness. EVERY corner of every frame is crammed with swirling action and spooky visions. It’s a little hard with so much layered texture to determine what’s happening. The eye goes every which way and the story pacing suffers. It’s a challenging read. But the story is supposed to be creepy and disorienting—I get it. The lettering looks hand done. The book is marked for 14 and up, which I don’t think really fits. I might say 16 and up, because the parent’s disembodied heads are portrayed in the first few pages. Hiding who you are and refusing to listen to authority are also recurrent themes, better suited to older teens. The Book of Murmurs started as a web comic titled The Shenk. Webcomics are more of an older teen thing, I think. There are no adult themes, but there are lots of teeth, empty eyes, and skulls. Older teens should love it, difficult as it is.
The Book of Murmurs By Candice Purwin Fantagraphics, 2026 ISBN: 9798875001765
Company Age Rating: 14 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Horror manga, like most horror subgenres, is a surprisingly deep and disturbing rabbit hole. A reader might read Junji Ito’s Uzumakior Ishida Sui’s Tokyo Ghoul series and then discover multiple authors, along with those authors’ twisted imaginations, who populate this genre. Indeed, one particular joy for a horror-loving librarian is being able to recommend a terrifying book based on the readers’ interests. For those librarians with patrons who are fans of manga and horror, they can suggest the stories lying in wait in Shintaro Kago’s collection Brain Damage.
Kago is no stranger to disturbing readers, having penned works like Dementia 21, and the four stories here, propelled by Shintaro Kago’s singular vision, will burrow their way through the readers’ skin and into their brains. Follow four identical women wake up in a strange room and try to discover why someone’s hunting them. Meet a woman who devotes her life to helping the living dead move on. See a family fights to be remembered to keep from literally disappearing from existence. Discover how used cars carry the deaths of their owners with them.
While this book doesn’t have a wraparound story that ties all these tales together, the stories individually stand on their own and savagely shock readers by way of brutal twists.Those familiar with horror manga from creators like Ito and Sui should find familiar ground as reality unspools around these characters like cheaply woven thread. But in this realm, Kago’s satirical stories and pitch black humor raise societal, ethical, and existential questions, whether it’s questioning the ethical care reserved for flesheaters or the moral quandaries involved in stopping a horde of hungry automobiles. In this way, Kago’s fiction hearkens back to anthology pioneers like Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, who revealed real-world issues to readers through the lens of the fantastic.
Fans of manga might be familiar with how many books use black and white images to tell their stories, which can seem an odd choice for a graphic novel, particularly among horror graphic novel fans used to seeing red ink all over the page. However, Kago’s decision to use black and white should not be viewed as restraint or self-censorship. This book does indeed have bodies being turned inside out and twisted in all sorts of directions (with black ink substituting for blood). Some of the more disturbing images in this book require no blood; there’s something disconcerting about seeing a hole with no ragged edges or blood spurting simply appearing in a person’s head or torso.
Brain Damage could serve, for many readers of horror graphic novels, as a bridge between manga and story collections and vice versa. For librarians in charge of adult collections looking for content to satiate your gorehounds and manga fans, this book could offer another author for your patrons to digest after they have devoured all of Ito and other manga horror authors in your collection.
Brain Damage By Shintaro Kago Fantagraphics, 2025 ISBN: 9798875000935
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: Japanese, Character Representation: Japanese,
After her acclaimed graphic memoir, Ephemera, Briana Loewinsohn explores a fictional account of her adolescent years in the graphic novel, Raised By Ghosts. Set in the 90’s, through her years in middle and high school, the story follows Briana traveling between the houses of her divorced parents as she finds friends, music, and art.
Loewinsohn has a distinct style to her writing and illustrations that lends itself well to remembered stories. The text is primarily in journal entries, juxtaposed against comic panels illustrating her daily life. The words are filled with emotion and metaphor, and the watercolor illustrations are toned down in shades of brown. Just as in Ephemera, her book in memory of a lost mom, Raised by Ghosts, feels like a delicate remembrance of Loewinsohn’s past.
Briana’s journal entries are written on top of illustrated torn journal pages. Through these journals we see the inner world of a young girl struggling to find a place at home and school. In the illustrations she is taking the bus to school and struggling through class. At home it is quiet and the houses are lonely with parents who are only just glimpsed through overheard comments, half-hearted replies, or shouted demands from off the page. In high school the illustrations show her with new found friends and smiles on her face, but home is still lonely and quiet, with little more than traces of either parent to grace the panel illustrations.
“Maybe years later all these hours will blend together into one eternal day. Long days on a bus that goes nowhere and will never end.” Lowinsohn’s attention to her writing and illustrations, elevates the beauty of this graphic novel. The words themselves are beautiful. I found myself collecting quote after beautiful quote. The journal pages are all handwritten. It is not a handwritten font, but rather handwriting, that evolves as Briana the character ages. There is little dialogue until her older years, as her friendships deepen and those conversations grow in importance, so the bulk of the story is told through the journal.
There are other characters in the book other than Briana, parents who are never physically seen on the page, except for the hand of her mother. Siblings are mentioned once but never seen or heard. Her friends are on the page though, such as Clera, Emily, and Jacob. However, the story is at its very core Briana’s. The others have no arcs or growth. Briana’s sense of self, existence, is defined by the absence of her parents and the presence of her friends, and that is how they are included in the story.
Briana truly finds herself when she finds art. The illustrations transform, as she slips into the pages, embraced in a way that no one else could. The surreal illustrations seep with emotion and capture more truth for Briana than the realism throughout the rest of the book.
Just as with Ephemera, this book is stunning, from top to bottom. It is a beautiful exploration of the inner life of a girl discovering herself and the world around her. It is highly recommended for anyone who loves beautiful emotional stories.
Raised by Ghosts is written for the young adult market. It may not fly off the shelf since it is not a typical graphic novel, and may not find its people among those readers. However, those who are looking for books that revolve around emotion more than plot will adore this read. When imagining who I will hand this book to, it is my poetry readers who I think will most cherish the book. Buy it, read it for yourself. It is beautiful and you won’t regret it.
Raised by Ghosts By Briana Loewinsohn Fantagraphics, 2025 ISBN: 9798875000508
Company Age Rating: 14-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
“How long would it be like this? Would I get out? Or just stay fucked up?” (116).
So asks Glenn Head in his autobiographical Chartwell Manor, a chronicle of the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse that Head and his classmates suffered at the eponymous boarding school.
In 1971, Head’s family sends their teenage son to the English-style boarding school in New Jersey run by serial pedophile Terence Michael Lynch. Lynch (known as “Sir”) spanks, paddles, and canes the minors in his care, and he tells bedtime stories while he sexually abuses the boys. The other adults at the school, including his wife, normalize the abuse by treating Lynch’s behavior as business as usual (49).
Head attempts to confide in his parents, but right away we see that his weak, strained relationship with his parents sets the family up for a communication failure. Disgusted by her son’s wild, reckless behavior, his mother literally turns her back on the clearly troubled young man (119). Head thinks to himself, “This can’t be talked about,” (103). Even many years later, Head’s mother does not open up to hear his experiences, and his father has dementia and cannot receive it either. Both parents vocalize a “the past is in the past” mentality. After graduation, Head ends up in Brooklyn, dealing with the trauma and subsequent fallout. This manifests as drug and porn addiction, sexual dysfunction, relationship problems, and suicidal ideation.
One good thing that happens at Chartwell Manor is that budding artist Head draws his first comic there (69). The alternative, or underground, comics (comix) that Head was exposed to-Zap Comix, Mad Magazine, and Weirdo Magazine—inspired his style. Head’s black and white artwork is dense and heavily inked with a lot of bizarre, psychedelic imagery. The people are cartoonishly stylized and the environments are finely textured and patterned. The book is incredibly enticing visually. Head pulls no punches in depicting sex, prostitution, violence, substance use, and other adult content. The busy, cluttered style and the tragic subject matter pair well. At first, both seem like too much to take in, but the reader who persists reaps the reward of seeing Head’s progress. On the final page, Head is with his daughter, thinking about just letting go. “Holding onta stuff yer basically…much better off lettin’ go of…Maybe I’ll work on that,” (236).
This dark and disturbing adult memoir is a deeply candid story with wonderful artwork. Memoirists and aspiring cartoonists will benefit from reading Chartwell Manor, while those readers who would struggle with the content should of course skip it. Graphic memoir is an overflowing genre and it can be hard to pick out a worthwhile book, so consider this an easy win.
Chartwell Manor A Comics Memoir By Glenn Head Fantagraphics, 2021 ISBN: 9781683964254
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: Addiction, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Character Representation: Addiction, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
When the lights go out at night, what lurks in the hidden corners of our bedrooms? Is something itching to crawl out from underneath our beds? Might there really be a Bogeyman tucked away deep inside the closet, ready to spring out the moment we fall asleep? While these imaginary childhood fears may rattle young minds, Laura Peréz (Totem) presents a supernatural and mystifying series of strange encounters for adults in Ocultos that resonate with sinister overtones.
Mysterious incidents materialize through a string of bizarre occurrences in this non-linear, disparate collection of supernatural phenomena. The opening scene begins at a book shop with a conversation revolving around the mystique and ritualistic symbology behind masks and their function in transforming one’s inner identity and connecting to other spiritual planes. From there, a panoply of recurring narrative snippets laced with nuances of the supernatural and the macabre unveils: An old lady living alone notices objects shifting around in her house—a figurine here, a swinging door there. An unseen presence seems to be watching a man when he writes or sleeps—is something lurking amidst the privacy of his home? A group of boys spots a cluster of red dots flitting across the night sky. Are extraterrestrial entities monitoring the earth?
These varied uncanny snapshots intrigue as much as they confound, teasing at the elusive sightings hovering at the edge of our peripheral vision. In compelling, cinematic style, each panel highlights subtle yet haunting imagery that tantalizes our curiosity. While some panel sequences touch on themes of supernatural phenomena and magical realism, others are stripped of dialogue, focusing instead on gothic-like facial expressions in Edward Gorey style. Deep midnight blues blend with inky blackness to amplify particular scenes with a shadowy noir-like ambience. Somber gray and black shades in others feature a couple vacationing in a desolate town, mimicking a surrealistic sensation straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. Perhaps most stunning are the voyeuristic zooming shots that prey upon unsuspecting characters engaged in routine tasks like sleeping, writing, and dishwashing, for at their core lies the mundaneness of everyday life where the ordinary meets the sublime.
Traversing the delicate lines between reality and the supernatural while navigating the realms of belief and the inexplicable, Ocultos explores the thin veil separating the ordinary from the profound, inviting readers to penetrate the superficialities and tawdry experiences of everyday existence. While not tailored to all readers of graphic novel fiction, Peréz’s work nonetheless challenges and baffles the mind with her haunting artwork and intriguing storytelling style. Like a rare literary gem that accrues deeper meaning and tangential explorations through repeated readings, her work emerges as an outstandingly obscure find for adult graphic novel collections.
Ocultus By Laura Peréz Fantagraphics, 2024 ISBN: 9781683969990
Publisher Age Rating: Series ISBNs and Order Related media:
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: Spanish,
look at the lives, loves, and losses of a group of characters united by their proximity to a single street.
When we are young the world can seem magical and full of untold possibilities. It’s when we get older and more perceptive, if not wiser, that the magic can fade and reality becomes more apparent. This transition from childhood to adulthood is a rite of passage for all of us and a time that can define who we become as people. 
Note: This is a review of the ARC, which is 200 pages long and not the complete manuscript.
naked eye, yet a cautionary reminder prevails: “The night does not belong to us.” In another alluring graphic novel, Spanish illustrator and comics artist Laura Pérez guides readers on a journey into the depths of the night and everything that lies dormant—or awake—in the darkness.
impoverished parents. Her new husband, Hans, is dashingly handsome, loves animals, and is pleasant and outgoing in public. But in private, he belittles her and subjects her to sexual violence and humiliation. Her only respite occurs when Hans takes a business trip to Portugal, leaving her to freely study what fascinates her more than anything: flight.
Shenk. Is it real? Then something horrible happens to her parents—luckily, some witches in hiding find her and help her understand the real purpose of Grandma’s book. But then, a spooky fairie librarian steals her book! Why? This opens the door to Little Moon learning about magic of all kinds—dark, light, helpful and tricky. Magic that is no longer allowed. She must get her Grandma’s book back! Thus starts Little Moon’s adventures, which take the form of spooky fairie stories. Think “fae” as in the old Gaelic tales, not the sanitized Disney version. It’s kind of Alice in Wonderland, with a gothic edge. Librarians and professors are portrayed as dark eyeless authoritarians and “keepers of the accredited institutions.” The first story explains how the Shenk came to be. Think of an origin story, somewhat like Thor and Loki, but as sisters.
After her acclaimed graphic memoir, Ephemera, Briana Loewinsohn explores a fictional account of her adolescent years in the graphic novel, Raised By Ghosts. Set in the 90’s, through her years in middle and high school, the story follows Briana traveling between the houses of her divorced parents as she finds friends, music, and art.
from underneath our beds? Might there really be a Bogeyman tucked away deep inside the closet, ready to spring out the moment we fall asleep? While these imaginary childhood fears may rattle young minds, Laura Peréz (Totem) presents a supernatural and mystifying series of strange encounters for adults in Ocultos that resonate with sinister overtones.
