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New Additions to Comics Plus: January 2025 | Rob’s Advisory

by | Feb 5, 2025 | Comic Spotlight, Comics Plus, Resources, Robs Advisory

Rob's Advisory picks for January 2025

We really came out of the gate strong in 2025 with new additions to Comics Plus, including a number of popular manga titles I’ll be spotlighting here. There’s honestly a lot more where that came from to boot, so we’ll have tons more great content debuting throughout the year, but we started with some notable heavy hitters. Also, since last month’s advisory was focused on my top picks for all of 2024, that meant there were some interesting titles in December that got overlooked, and so I’ll highlight a few of those here as well.

Young Readers

The Little Red ChairIt’s been encouraging to have so many great picture books added to Comics Plus lately. The value they bring to our youngest readers cannot be overstated, but as an oft-times cynical adult reader, I am typically not the target audience for the lion’s share of them. That’s why it’s so great to find books like The Little Red Chair by Cathy Stefanec Ogren and Alexandra Thompson (Cherry Lake), which really is geared for all ages — young and old. And talk about the human power of anthropomorphization! If you still have a sore spot in your feels from past experiences with, say, The Brave Little Toaster or Toy Story (Tokyopop), then strap in because you’re about to get your heart broken by an adorable (yet still inanimate) piece of furniture.

This book definitely wound up being more of an emotional ride than I was expecting, but that’s probably its ultimate point — highlighting our powerful ability to identify with, and have empathy for, something other than ourselves (even if it’s “just” an object). Anyway, it’s sweet, charming, and lovingly illustrated; an instant classic!

Middle Grade

The Unicorn LegacyI made mention of Kid Toussaint’s larger catalogue when highlighting Elle(s) (Ablaze) as a top 2024 pick for teens last month, but pre-teen readers who aren’t quite ready for that level of drama may instead appreciate The Unicorn Legacy by Kid Toussaint and Verónica Álvarez (Europe Comics) as an introduction to his work. I wasn’t kidding when I said he knows his audience, as this is the ultimate Euro love-letter to the magical girl trope of Shoujo manga. Absolutely cute, fun, and exciting, it also manages to be quite empowering, with a strong vein of inclusivity and teamwork. While its appeal certainly skews towards young female-identifying readers, its fantastical setting, exciting action, and clever character design has something to intrigue any age or gender. Plus, unicorn fans are usually a pretty easy mark, so know this book scratches that itch of what it might be like to have your own magical unicorn BFF… (I told you the dude knows what he’s doing!)

The Girl and the GlimI always love it when a book that’s appropriate for younger readers also has a wider appeal. My selections so far all have that going for them, but my top pick for Middle Grade probably has the widest potential appeal out of everything in this month’s advisory. The Girl and the Glim by India Swift and Michael Doig (IDW) shows off the engaging magic of comics, because the kinetic/frenetic energy captured in its pages makes reading this book feel like you just watched some kind of crazy cartoon — but of course, nothing actually moves. The book’s animation influences help it greatly, but the clever (“unconventional”) panel layouts tell this action-packed story in a way only comics can. Come for the hilarious action and adorable character designs, but stay for the social and emotional learning elements running throughout.

It’s tough enough to be a weird outsider when you’re the new kid at school, but when you start seeing strange creatures (both cute and terrifying) that no one else can, let’s just say it doesn’t make the regular bullying you receive any less regular. Still, our protagonist remains quite the relatable if unlikely heroine, and more than once I found myself laughing out loud at the “socially damning” antics necessary in her quest to rid her school of one of those nasty “glums” that only she can see — with the help of her adorable “Glim” who I promise you’ll wish you could see, too. It’s a pretty safe bet almost anybody you hand this book to will find something to like about it.

Teen & Young Adult

Fullmetal AlchemistThe Teen and YA crowd were spoiled for choice again last month, especially with all of the new manga, and that made it doubly difficult to nail down my top picks. Popular series like Final Fantasy, Soul Eater, Black Butler, and Durarara!! (Yen Press) are sure to keep your most voracious manga fans busy for the foreseeable future, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the crown jewel of our latest wave of manga: Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa and Akira Watanabe (Yen Press). Even if you’re not already personally familiar with it or its various anime adaptions, chances are it rings a bell. Either way, here’s your chance to experience this beloved classic from its very beginning, along with all the action, excitement, humor, pathos, and at least one of the most iconic heart-wrenching scenes in manga history. I don’t dare spoil that part, though…

The Call of CthulhuThere were so many more great books that I wanted to highlight (and are included in the honorable mentions below), but for me there was no contest for my top spot. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the works of mangaka Gou Tanabe, and I heaped no small amount of praise on his The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Dark Horse) when I wrote about it last year. While I still maintain that book is an amazing achievement, I think his tackling of the seminal Lovecraft work, The Call of Cthulhu (Dark Horse), manages to accomplish what I always thought made that story impossible to properly visualize. I’m not talking about the squamous grandeur of the titular squid-faced god (I knew he could handle that), but how exactly does one go about depicting the “non-Euclidian” architecture of the city of R’lyeh described in Lovecraft’s text? Well, I don’t know how he did it, but Tanabe-san somehow pulled it off, and the results are beautiful, eerie, appropriately confusing, and downright unsettling.

This book may have just cemented itself as the definitive adaptation of the Cthulhu Mythos in any medium, and is certainly a must-read for any fan of cosmic horror. Cthulhu Fhtagn!

Adult

Bear Pirate Viking QueenThere was no shortage of notable picks for mature readers, either. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips team up for Reckless (Image Comics) a pulpy neon-soaked crime noir tale set in the 1980s. But if that’s not your thing we also have their collaboration in horror thriller Houses of the Unholy (Image Comics), which will have you reliving the Satanic Panic of that same decade. If you want to see them blend noir with Lovecraftian themes, there’s always Fatale (Image Comics) Also, last month my colleague Moni did a great job highlighting why you will probably enjoy the soul-sucking dystopian Travelling to Mars by Mark Russell and Roberto Meli (Ablaze), but if you need a slightly more humorous change of pace there’s always Skottie Young’s sardonically irreverent take on fantasy worlds in I Hate Fairyland (Image Comics).

Great reads all, but my top pick is based solely on its artistic merit. I wasn’t familiar with the artist on this book, but I immediately fell in love with the visuals of Bear Pirate Viking Queen by Sean Lewis and Jonathan Marks Barravecchia (Image Comics) which felt almost like a cross of The Fountain with Arkham Asylum. Like some kind of surrealist fever dream, Mr. Barravecchia seems to channel the work of a whole slew of the great comics art from the 90s, hybridizing the styles of Kent Williams, Phil Hale, David Mack, Sam Keith, Ashley Wood, and Dave McKeen, just to name a few, while managing to make it a style all his own. There were more than a few panels I found myself luxuriating on for far longer than it took to actually “read” them, and hopefully that’s reason enough to make you want to see them for yourself. It’s a title I can see myself revisiting again for that reason alone—and I can’t wait to see what his next project will be!

Honestly, that’s just a small sample of the great comics, manga, and picture books added to Comics Plus last month. With literally thousands of titles to choose from across a wide range of genres, I could keep writing forever! Be sure to check in every month for more highlights, and browse our expanding list of past Rob’s Advisory selections.

Honorable Mentions

Rob's Advisory logo from Comics PlusUntil next month, here are some more honorable mentions from the past two months that (mostly for space reasons) didn’t quite make my list, but you may also enjoy checking out:

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Rob Randle is the Production Director for LibraryPass, and has worked in and around the comic book industry in various capacities, including as a book reviewer for the NY Journal of Books, and a judge for various comic book industry awards—the 2006 Eisner Awards, among others. Before joining LibraryPass, he had been the Director of Publishing for iVerse Media LLC since 2010, and prior to that was a purchasing manager for Diamond Comic Distributors where he helped to manage the monthly Previews catalog for close to a decade starting in 2002. Additionally, Rob occasionally does freelance work as a comics creator, and is the author of the critically acclaimed graphic novel Serial Artist. Rob holds a B.A. of Illustration from the Maryland Institute, College of Art (MICA).