I’m sure I’m not alone here, but my thoughts about the future have grown somewhat darker and more troubled of late. Well beyond the usual “comics aren’t real books” discourse, or the ongoing draconian challenges of books by and about already marginalized people, it seems like the very concept of the library, our (limited) progress towards equality, and even history itself is under attack. Suddenly, intellectual freedom feels more important than ever.
It’s fortuitous then, that a number of titles added to Comics Plus last month actually deal with concepts surrounding access to libraries and information, particularly as vehicles for self-education and self-empowerment, a theme that became the backbone of this month’s advisory.
While we can’t pretend to meet the needs of every potential reader — we only have comics, manga, and picture books from publishers willing to offer libraries unlimited, simultaneous access to their digital catalogs — I’ll always believe there’s at least one comic for every reader, which can lead them to discovering other great readalikes, many of which they will find on Comics Plus.
But, that’s enough firebranding; let’s talk about the comics.
Middle Grade
I’ll start my picks off on the lighter side with a little piece of comics history, and a great example of the value of archiving, enabling us to look back in time and appreciate a seminal work in its original form — warts and all. The Art of the Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee, John Romita Sr., and Gil Kane (Dark Horse) comprises high-quality scans of the comic’s original black-and-white pages, showcasing Romita taking the torch from Spidey’s co-creator Steve Ditko and establishing what has arguably become the character’s most iconic depiction.
In some ways, this is the quintessential Silver Age sampler, and you get to experience it as if you’re sitting at the drawing table where it was first created, including the judicious use of white-out for corrections. While it’s certainly a product of its time that hasn’t aged gracefully, it features plenty of Lee’s classic cornball dialogue and tons of Romita’s iconic art. The cherry on top is arguably Gil Kane’s original pages featuring the tragic death of Gwen Stacy!
While this is a rare example of a Marvel character available on Comics Plus, fans of superheroic stories will find plenty of readalikes to choose from in our curated list, Superheroes for Everyone.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Elementary, Middle School, Children’s Public Library, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Teen & Young Adult
We’re not quite to the heavy stuff yet, but if it weren’t for some of the darker humor in the totally hilarious Cthulhu Cat by Pandania (Dark Horse), it probably would be fine for some younger readers, too. Sporting a looser, quirkier style than most mainstream manga fans are probably used to, this fun little book is the ultimate creepy-cute love letter to all things Lovecraftian. Pandania has definitely done the homework, as there are some deep cuts that made the hardcore Weird Fiction fan in me smile many times over. It should be no surprise to anyone who read last month’s advisory what a Lovecraft enthusiast I happen to be, but seeing mythos entities also dreamt up by the likes of Robert W. Chambers or August Derleth all reimagined as adorable chibi kitty-cats has nuzzled its way into my heart and curled up in a comfy spot I didn’t know was there.
My next pick is an important one, if for no other reason than it highlights the importance of library access as a tool for self-education. And it’s probably because I have more personal experience with cults (and cult-like behavior) than I ever truly wanted or asked for, but the survivor memoir Occulted by Amy Lee, Ryan Estrada, and Jeongmin Lee (Iron Circus) hit me very close to home. Careful to not identify the group or its leader directly (possibly for legal reasons), this creative decision lends the plight of its young cult victim a certain amount of universality, especially when she tries to break out of the wider prison of ignorance she was raised in.
What unfolds throughout these pages is a young girl’s years-long struggle contending with the machinations of a manipulative leader— supported by their devoted followers — to discover the cult’s hidden truths. It’s a group that has always sought to rob her of her agency, and over time, her entire family, leaving only her and her long-sick mother. Were it not for her rebellious access to a forbidden library, she might never have learned the liberating facts which prompted her eventual escape from the cult, ending up in South Korea. There, she eventually collaborated with another proponent of anti-censorship, Ryan Estrada of Banned Books Club (Iron Circus Comics), to bring us her own eye-opening memoir. I am unable to express how deeply impressed I was by Lee’s defiant bravery and insatiable dedication to finding the keys of her own liberation. Critical thinking doesn’t even really start until around eight years old, and she’d been raised in the cult since she was three! The fact that she’d managed to reason her way out in the first place is pretty remarkable, let alone tell us the tale, and I think the testament it leaves in regards to the value of intellectual freedom speaks for itself.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Middle School, High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
I’d feel remiss if I didn’t take a quick detour to spotlight Tunis to Sydney by Meriam Carnouche, Christian Carnouche, and Sam Rapley (FairSquare Graphics), a somber meditation on family distance (both in miles and emotions), symbols of inarticulable grief, and a heartbreaking cautionary tale of how there’s never enough time with the ones you love, especially since you never know when that time can suddenly be up. It’s a solidly bittersweet read. I also now know to never even think about trying to bring foreign flora into Australia; those Aussies in Customs aren’t messing around!
But that brings me to my top pick for older teens and, even though it’s not even Spring yet, will probably wind up being one of my top picks for all of 2025. For what appears to be a sweetly simple LBGTQ teen romance story, Navigating with You by Jeremy Whitley and Cassio Vinicius dos Santos Ribeiro (Mad Cave) is astonishingly successful on a number of unexpectedly deep levels. While it definitely delivers in the adorable department — the blossoming relationship between these two girls is a well-earned emotional rollercoaster, with some very notable highs — it also proves to be a poignant rumination on the daily challenges of young women of color and the disabled. It does a particularly good job of challenging common assumptions about, “What does it look like to be disabled?”, especially when one’s condition isn’t necessarily obvious. And yes, while it still definitely succeeds as a sweet teenage romance, it also transcends genre expectations to show that, ultimately, many people’s struggles to find their place in the world isn’t just limited to their teenage years.
This book is up there with the likes of Cheer Up (Oni Press), where walking a mile in the young characters’ shoes can suddenly open the reader up to a whole plethora of new perspectives they may have otherwise never considered, While certainly no single book could ever be the “cure” for racism, sexism, homophobia, or even anti-comics sentiments for that matter, I defy anyone who gives this an honest read to come out the other side without at least a few newly broadened horizons. Plus, I absolutely loved the way the two characters bond over their (two-person) book club’s arduous search for the obscure volumes of a vintage manga they both remember loving — and the way the creators use “excerpts” from each newly discovered volume to subvert reader expectations while foreshadowing the character’s own evolving relationship was downright charming.
In truth, the entire scenario speaks to the power of libraries to bring people together in the first place, since the girls’ local branch didn’t actually have the full run of the manga print series, so the search was on! While it makes a terrific thrust for the story, I couldn’t help thinking, “All that might not have been a problem if their local library had Comics Plus in the first place.”
- Comics Plus Collection(s): High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Adult
There were a handful of great books for mature readers, too, and I had a tough time picking between them. The Last Halloween, Book 1 by Abby Howard (Iron Circus) is probably the easiest to talk about; although its little-too-casual gore/child death is what pushed it to the Adult level, it’s perhaps still the “lightest” of my three selections. Howard’s gothy influences are wild and wonderful, a mash-up of Edward Gorey, Jhonen Vasquez, Roman Dirge, Tim Burton (at his most “NBX-y”); some Jim Henson for the touch of the puppetcore; and, of course, a healthy smattering of Pendleton Ward for the laughs. There are probably as many giggles in there as there are panels that’ll make you want to $#!+ your pants, as it strides that quirky line between horror and humor for the entirety of its 400+ page introduction to the most nightmarishly apocalyptic Halloween night of all time. You really don’t need to wait until October to enjoy this one.
Speaking of horror, my next pick somehow manages to go to an even darker place. Anyone who read my initial review for the first installment last year can probably guess how excited I was to receive the full Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees- Collected Edition by Patrick Horvath (IDW). Not only does everything I said about it previously still apply — tl;dr: think Dexter meets Blacksad (Europe Comics) — in many ways my every expectation, indeed even all my oddball musings about anthropomorphic storytelling techniques were met (and answered) in this book, and then some! Don’t let yourself be disarmed by the charming character designs; there are a great many parts of this book that are downright chilling, and in some ways the cutesy anthropomorphic stuff manages to make all the terrible violence even worse! The entire experience left me completely unsettled, in the best way.
It was a tough fight for the #1 spot for mature readers, but the ultimate tie-breaker was because technically, Ashes by Álvaro Ortiz (IDW) is — European sensibilities about monkey junk aside — probably the “classier” choice as far as most librarians are concerned. This is minimalist cartooning at its most refined, and I daresay this may be one of those great graphic novels you could recommend to someone who is otherwise also a bit too “refined” to give comics a try. The storytelling here is truly masterful, and while on its surface the tale of three estranged friends tasked with a long road trip to scatter the ashes of a now-deceased fourth (who none have seen in years) certainly lends itself to some classic slice-of-life scenes of grief, confusion, resentment and reconciliation — but it also becomes part crime thriller, part ghost story, and most masterfully of all, a meta-exploration of an intriguing concept proposed in a Paul Auster novel, which by its final pages will have you questioning if there could actually be any real truth to anything you just read.
If you’re like me, those questions may even linger long after you put the book down, and could even persist after a deep internet dive or two (which I’ll not risk depriving you the thrill of that particular little hunt), just so you can maybe start to appreciate what it is Mr. Ortiz actually did here. All I’ll say is it all left me wondering if maybe the reality of any of those questions about the story’s veracity even matter (idealized fiction sort of being the point after all), because regardless, what we get in the end is a pretty astounding work of graphic literature.
- Comics Plus Collection: Full Collection
Honorable Mentions
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.
Until next month, here are some more honorable mentions that (mostly for space reasons) didn’t quite make my list, but you may also enjoy checking out:
- Cruella de Vil (Dynamite)
- The Department Of Truth: Wild Fiction (Image Comics)
- Gunnerkrigg Court Volume 1 (Dark Horse)
- Lackadaisy (Iron Circus)
- The Legend of Korra: The Mystery of Penquan Island (Dark Horse)
- Mutiny: Black Girl Magik #1 (FairSquare Graphics)
- The Powerpuff Girls: Valentine’s Mwah Mwah Kissy Face Special (Dynamite)
- Softies: Stuff That Happens After The World Blows Up (Iron Circus)
- Templar, Arizona, Book 1 (Iron Circus)
- Unicorn Book Club: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure (Andrews McMeel)
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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).
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