There’s a prevailing notion that the joy of reading comics ends as people grow and mature. Some of this myth stems from the lingering (and harmful) narrative that comics are illustrated and therefore must be exclusively reserved for young readers. While patronizing your local comics retailer is still acceptable for some adults, having hobbies just for fun — particularly reading comics — becomes de-prioritized and can easily fall by the wayside as we get older. Despite the fact that our tastes might change over time, we don’t simply stop loving what we love just because we’re adults. Instead, we stop making time for our beloved hobbies until they eventually become fond memories from the past.
During my almost two decades staffing various library reference desks, I was an advocate for the fact that many adults love comics too, and supported it by building high-circulating adult comics collections. Now, almost five years removed from that environment, I’m lucky enough to have a job where I really can read all the comics! However, this reading is always for an external purpose: curation, readers advisory, and boosting engagement with comics in libraries and classrooms. I recently realized I had lost the plot when it came to reading comics I love simply for the fun of it.
I have now decided to stop and smell the roses — or, in this case, read comics just because they looked interesting to me, for me. The following are six picks for older readers that I’ve enjoyed, and what makes them special. You can also check out our curated Must Reads for Young Adults and Must Reads for Adults lists for an even deeper dive into more wonderful comics and manga for older readers. Readers’ advisory is important, but if you decide to read any of these expressly for your own entertainment, too — I promise not to tell!
Young Adults
The Hard Switch by Owen D. Pomery (Avery Hill)
This sci-fi adventure takes place in a dystopian future where the galaxy is about to run out of the special mineral that makes interstellar jumps possible. The phenomenon is known as the Hard Switch, and it will leave the widely scattered population stuck wherever they most recently landed. Of course, this notion is causing intergalactic panic as creatures from all worlds compete for the last dregs of fuel so they can land at their preferred final destinations. This panic predictably brings out bad behavior, including massive competition for fuel and parts and guides getting paid for passage, only to double-cross their trusting benefactors in order to steal their fueled ships.
Ada, Haika, and Mallic are nomadic scavengers who make their meager living raiding abandoned spaceships and wrecks for sellable parts. Their last mission in advance of the Hard Switch is an attempt at extraction — a dangerous process of salvaging fuel from historic shipwrecks. Unfortunately for the team, they’re not the only ones trying to claim the resources, and a space battle ensues. After this close call, they work to figure out why that particular, previously unclaimed wreck garnered so much interest from multiple scavenging groups. The mysteries keep stacking up, leading Ada’s team to visit the leisure planet of the wealthy artifact collector, Gillerston. It turns out that their discoveries from this wreck could be the key to a whole new kind of interstellar transit, making it not only a valuable monetary commodity, but one that could save the galaxy. Too bad they may not survive to spread the word about this revelation!
Writer-illustrator Owen D. Pomery has a background in architecture, and this is showcased in his rendering of background planets and ships. Each planet the crew visits has distinct features, bringing the galaxy our characters exist within to life. Overall, The Hard Switch is a quick read that’s easy to digest, enjoy, and ponder afterwards. It is engaging but not heavy, making it a refreshing leisure read.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, and Whitney Cogar (BOOM! Studios)
Giant Days is an episodic coming-of-age story about an unlikely group of friends, Susan, Esther, and Daisy, who meet and quickly bond during their first few weeks in neighboring college dorms. The girls are seeking fresh starts and personal reinvention now that they’re away from home for the first time. Susan is our narrator and resident “common sense silo;” Esther is the gothy, “interesting” one, with an energy that acts as a magnet for drama; Daisy is the most innocent of the trio, thus subjected to being both teased for her naivety and also protected because of it. Together they navigate college life, including quirky male counterparts, unscrupulous chancellors, accidental fame, flu season in the dorms, and more, with humor, heart, and realism. There’s an easy comedic vibe that’s carried from the situations and dialog into the facial expressions and background illustrations that makes every setting an engaging visual read, too.
The core of this beloved series are the bonds between characters. There’s an authentic-feeling exploration of the ups and downs of friendship, especially for young and stressed students. It’s a sense of found and chosen family that endures due to the dedication the girls have to one another. From the whirlwind of their early interactions, where they immediately navigate Esther’s breakup, bullying by mean girls, and joining a creepy goth cult; to trading off being each other’s mums in offering unwavering support and advice, their dedication to each other is tested and proven many times over.
The multi-award winning Giant Days series is a spinoff of the early 2000s webcomic, Scary Go Round, and earned praise for its positive, realistic depictions of college-aged women. The popularity inspired another successful spinoff, Wicked Things, and caused demand for Giant Days to be revisited throughout the years for a holiday special, collected quotable volume, and special anniversary crowdfunded library editions. Whether you are discovering these characters for the first time or revisiting old friends, entering this universe is like wrapping up in a soft blanket.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Erased Vol 1 by Kei Sanbe (Yen Press)
“With all that’s going on, what you pay attention to is critical.” As a 29-year-old pizza delivery worker and wannabe successful manga creator, Satoru Fujinuma is already full of regrets. For instance, he has been prone since childhood to notice when things are amiss, a habit which always leads to him intervening and regretting his involvement. One day while out on delivery, Satoru notices a truck driver behaving erratically and makes quick maneuvers that save a child who was crossing the street. The accident lands him in the hospital, where he begins having flashbacks about his childhood when he had first noticed strange details surrounding children going missing, and turning up murdered, in his town. This habit of noticing things amiss and eventually intervening is a pattern for Satoru that he calls “Revival,” and soon the flashbacks bring back forgotten details about the kidnappings that a now adult Satoru realizes are not what he once thought them to be. He also quickly realizes that his mother, now staying with him since the accident, knows more about the crimes than she’s ever shared with him.
Despite the first volume clocking in at just under 400 pages, there isn’t any wasted time in the plot. Instead, many layers unfold simultaneously. Readers learn more through alternating flashbacks, premonitions of danger, and everyday events as they mash together, creating a sense of both dread and chaos.
With his pervasive pessimism, lifelong inability to relate to others, and general belief that helping others is to his detriment, Satoru is an interesting anti-hero, contradicting the usual bubbly manga character trope. Series writer-Illustrator Kei Sanbe aspired at a young age to break into manga, so it is possible that the realism of Satoru’s character is rooted in Sanbe’s early career experience. Overall, this is a compelling manga mystery well-suited for readers’ advisory, library programs, or for your own pure reading pleasure.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Adults
Traveling to Mars by Mark Russell and Roberto Meli (Ablaze)
Roy Livingston’s life has changed drastically in just a few weeks: He went from living in the Big Bass capitol of Alabama as the poster child for “peaked in high school” to being the most famous man in the universe, traveling on a spaceship to save humanity. It started when a super rover detected natural gas on Mars, causing quite the commotion on a dying planet Earth over who owns this valuable resource. It’s determined that Roy is the perfect candidate for a one-way trip, as his rare form of terminal cancer will actually cease progressing when introduced to the zero gravity of space. Of course, this endeavor to save humanity is sponsored by Eazy Beef, a private corporation that makes imitation beef out of Jupiter, Florida. With only three days of oxygen available upon reaching Mars, Roy makes the journey while reliving past regrets. The entire story is a deep dive into what it means to finally find greatness and achieve recognition in the final days of your own life, and the end of humanity.
Writer Mark Russell is known for his dark humor, and this title is an exceptional example of that humor masterfully crafted to tell an engaging story, too. One of the most notable moments finds Roy realizing that he will once again be disappointing his mother when she receives her $10 million reward check from Eazy Beef. It’s thoughtful, sad, and so very on brand for humanity that it’s funny, too. Meli’s detailed artwork demands poring over each page, adding to the nuances of regret and humor, and readers will be moved by Roy’s final, surprisingly poignant moments.
- Comics Plus Collection: Full Collection
Drawing Blood Volume 1: Spilled Ink by Kevin Eastman, David Avallone, Ben Bishop, and Troy Little (Image Comics)
Washed up cartoonist Shane “Books” Bookman is in trouble, and not the kind he usually creates for himself. When his business partner, Frank Forrest, kills himself along with what was left of their shared business, Books is aggressively confronted by Lithuanian mobsters coming to collect on the two million dollars Frank owed them. Unfortunately for Books, he long since sold the rights to his insanely successful Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls franchise, and blew his way through his share of the profits on drugs, women, and his upcoming Broadway debut. He’s now stuck balancing the life or death necessity of coming up with $2 million in 24 hours while putting on a good front for a TV crew documenting his seemingly doomed play. These are just Books’ most recent troubles, forever compounded by his tortured artist mentality, various addictions, past regrets, and general bad behavior. These troubles unfold in a comedic, action-packed mess of a good time for readers that smacks of famous fictional crime capers.
Drawing Blood is inspired by the experiences of legendary Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman, who knows well the struggles and blessings of creating characters that take on a life of their own, and his experiences are well fleshed out and excitingly fictionalized by writer David Avallone. Illustrations are of three distinct styles, with Eastman deftly creating the world of Books’ past, Ben Bishop drawing Books’ present tale, and Troy Little lending the manga style for the Ragdolls characters, inspired by the Ninja Turtles.
This collected volume boasts tons of fun backmatter, including the full origin story, character creation sketches, and a few comics from the Drawing Blood universe, including Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls (of course!). With more of both the Ragdolls and Drawing Blood issues planned for 2025, I’m intrigued to see where these stories take readers next.
- Comics Plus Collection: Full Collection
Glarien: Origins 1 by Charlie Stickney, Romina Moranelli, and Fin Cramb (White Ash Comics)
Glarien: Origins opens with the title character in very compromising, and devilishly humorous, positions. While this hook is certainly spicy, it’s a contextually appropriate moment containing elements crucial to both the plot and the characters. As we snap quickly from bedroom encounters to violent action, the reader learns that the walls between Glarien’s elven world and a demon realm are thinning. Demon creatures are coming for blood!
From here, readers find themselves in 1970s New York City, during a therapy session for a young woman named Rachel, who has been having increasingly violent and disturbing dreams, including this sexy-turned-deadly encounter. When the therapist asks Rachel if she is confusing her experiences for that of Glarien — she’s also dreaming about Glarien’s death in first-person — Rachel abruptly ends the session. The plot weaves back and forth between Glarien’s journey and Rachel’s, as Rachel struggles to work through significant trauma from a hospital fire while dreaming of Glarien. Meanwhile in Glarien’s world, the evil Meglath is tricking enemy warriors into battling each other, only to snatch out their still-beating hearts before making his escape through magic portals. Each woman’s story is so intriguing it’s hard to have a preference over which world we are exploring, but by the cliffhanger ending, readers learn how these two women are connected.
Readership of spicy, high fantasy books is on the rise, and the world-building and characterization in Glarien makes it a perfect series to slot into adult leisure reading rotation. Glarien’s story is like a fun Dungeons & Dragons campaign, while Rachel’s unfolding mystery grounds the book in reality. With two new Origins stories planned for 2025, there’s also an ongoing Glarien universe to explore. While great for leisure reading, it could also work for book club discussions and even inspire TTRPG campaigns.
- Comics Plus Collection: Full Collection
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Moni Barrette, MLIS is the Director, Collection Development for LibraryPass, as well as former President of American Library Association’s Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table, and co-founder of the nonprofit Creators, Assemble! Inc. As a former public library manager, Moni won the California Library Association PRExcellence Award (2018 & 2019) for library events aimed at underserved adult library users, and has proven success using comics to increase library circulation. She is a frequent panelist at San Diego and New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic Fest and Wonder-Con, hosting industry networking events and providing instruction to educators and librarians.
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