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

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

Rob's Advisory picks for Summer 2025

While a solid portion of our readership (read: students) have been enjoying a few well-earned months away from their Comics Plus provider (read: school), we’ve still spent a very busy summer adding an amazing array of new comics, manga, and picture books for them to come back to.

More awesome stuff than I could ever hope to do justice to, but as it’s also my summer retrospective, I’ll have more than the usual number of books to highlight with this article. I’ll do my best to keep things short and sweet, but with so much to consider, I’ve given each section its own list of “Runners Up” titles — books that, with more space/time, I’d definitely have written about, too — in addition to the usual list of Honorable Mentions at the end.

I’ve already wasted enough space, so check out all the cool new stuff we added over the summer!

Young Readers

We had a whole bunch of great comics and picture books debut on Comics Plus over the summer, and many are sure to strike a chord with our youngest readers. While kids books are not really my area of expertise, these three stood out to me as particularly strong additions to any reader’s shelf (young and old), so be sure to check them out.

Miss Betti, What Is This?: How Detroit's School Lunch Lady Got Good Food on the Menu by Lela Nargi and Kristen Uroda (Cherry Lake)My Name Is Ai Lin by Maria Wen Adcock and Yu Ting Cheng (Cherry Lake) is a wonderful exploration of the deep value and cultural significance of a person’s name, in this case specifically Chinese meanings. The idea is transcendent, though, and it’s a great recommendation for readers of all ages to help expand their horizons.

Welcome to the Forest: The Harvest Party by Katie Risor (Andrews McMeel) is chock-full of adorable monster friends and a total heart-melter. A modern cottagecore graphic novel that feels like Miyazaki blended with Fraggle Rock… or maybe “Moomin meets the Muppets” is closer? Either way, young readers are gonna love it.

Miss Betti, What Is This?: How Detroit’s School Lunch Lady Got Good Food on the Menu by Lela Nargi and Kristen Uroda (Cherry Lake) is my top pick, and it really is some “next level” picture book content. It hits all the beats of a traditional children’s book, yet sports an art style that’s as solid as any traditional comic book that’s crossed my desk this summer. It’s a simple biography that also touches on themes of health & nutrition, green education, urban gardening, upcycling, and other examples of positive choices I wish we all talked more about. For every superhero book out there, there should be a book like this showcasing the real honest-to-god heroes who actually make the world a better place. Go Miss Betti, and cheers to the folks who made this book a reality!

Runners Up

Middle Grade

Pacheco and the Witch of the Mountain by Juan E. Zambrano (Andrews McMeel)While it had already gained popularity over the summer, new and returning readers are in for a treat with Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: Love Live The Pumpkin Queen by Liz Marsham, Alessio Petillo, and Ismael Canales (Dynamite), an all-new NBX graphic adaptation centering on Sally as the protagonist. It’s a refreshing take on a long beloved property and you probably don’t need my help to glean its (multi-generational) appeal. With Halloween just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to queue it up, too.

While most titles based on licensed properties are, generally speaking, going to be the “low hanging fruit” of reader recommendations, our other gems aren’t always so easy to find, but they’re certainly worth putting in the spotlight. The super cute Pacheco and the Witch of the Mountain by Juan E. Zambrano (Andrews McMeel) is my top pick for middle grade readers. It’s a quaint, imaginative, and strongly “green-themed” story with an art style that lovingly blends the charm of both its Tezuka and Miyazaki influences (among others), while also using its fantasy setting to take on gender roles in a way fans of Shepherdess Warriors (Ablaze) or even Haru (Andrews McMeel) might appreciate. Great stuff!

Runners Up

Teen & Young Adult

As is typically the case, teens had a bunch of great new titles to pick from on Comics Plus over the summer, but you could practically hear the rejoicing — or was that just instant critical acclaim? — when 10,000 Ink Stains: A Memoir by Leff Lemire (Dark Horse) hit our virtual shelves. I’ve been an admirer of his since first reading Essex County (IDW) when it debuted ages ago, and he’s created such an incredible body of work (before and since) that gaining his personalized insights into how each project came about is a veritable treasure trove for any enthusiast of the comics creation process.

Cat + Crazy Volume 1 by Wataru Nadatani (Dark Horse)Normally that would be my no-brainer pick, but as I’ve made no attempts to hide in the past, I am a die-hard cat lover, so I fell into immediate love with Cat + Crazy Volume 1 by Wataru Nadatani (Dark Horse) — the same creator who brought us Cat + Gamer. His body of work shows he clearly understands mankind’s curious obsession with cats, and with his latest he takes it to a frenetic extreme that only manga can provide. However, as my own best feline friend passed away quite suddenly while I was still drafting this article, I’m subsequently also reminded how that die-hard love can also be crazy bittersweet. Be warned, books like these can turn you into the next person to fall dangerously in love with cats forever, but I promise you it’s so worth it.

While I feel bad about all of the books I’ve had to “relegate” to the Runners Up lists, the triage done to our YA additions is particularly painful. You should check them all out for yourself because I’m sure you’ll find some great ones, but in the interests of time, space, and/or things already requiring a tl;dr, these are the recent YA additions you should definitely know about.

I’m honestly not sure how this became such a popular sub-genre but Solo Leveling by Chugong and DUBU (REDICE STUDIO) (Yen Press) has exploded onto our platform as the latest “semi-ironic dungeon-raiding trope” with a popularity we haven’t seen since Delicious in Dungeon (Yen Press). It’s as weird as “an RPG IRL” could be, but is definitely a fun read and its popularity is quite understandable. I’m sure it also doesn’t hurt that it’s a full-color manhwa series with its own animated tie-in, but you don’t even really need to “get it” to get that readers are going to devour it all and still be hungry for more.

Fault Lines by Robert Cullen (Ablaze)Also be certain to take note, the same Hollywood icon who brought us the groundbreaking They Called Us Enemy (IDW) breaks yet more ground with his thoughtful coming-of-age memoir, It Rhymes With Takei by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker, José Villarrubia, and Nathan Widick (IDW). It’s honest, heartfelt, and a solid pick that will resonate with readers of practically any background.

My top pick for the YA reader has everything to do with the effortless competence of Fault Lines by Robert Cullen (Ablaze), the guy who gave my over-active childhood imagination the character of Danger Mouse to deal with. (Oh, crumbs!) Now he turns around and rocks my adulthood with this little gem! Efficient linework meets masterful pacing, with a Twilight Zone feel that delivers quite a few angst/guilt-ridden gut-punches right in your feels. Plus it features such a uniquely clever technique for visualizing sound on the comics page I couldn’t help but wonder if Mr. Cullen might not somehow “suffer” from synesthesia.

Regardless, it’s a true delight to read, and one I’m certain will impress you, too.

Runners Up

Adult

There are still more Runners Up titles to consider, but the cuts for space/time had to continue, so now we’re down to my last two picks from the summer. They are almost definitely “me” picks as well, and maybe not for everybody, but I can’t help but gush a bit about these amazing books landing on our platform, including what feels like a crown jewel — for me, anyway.

Anno Domini 1000 by Thomas Gilbert (Europe Comics)My top pick for mature readers would normally have easily gone to Anno Domini 1000 by Thomas Gilbert (Europe Comics), the same creator who brought us the incredible Our Alchemical Bodies and The Daughters of Salem. And while I really and truly loved both of those titles quite profoundly, somehow this latest new addition managed to check all my strange little boxes. There are some psychological similarities to Our Alchemical Bodies, and like Daughters of Salem, it’s also a work of historical fiction, this time centered around the apocalyptic mania and violent madness that accompanied the calendar date of 1000 AD. (Yes, there was definitely a Y1K as well!)

Mr. Gilbert gives us another great cast of compelling characters to take us through this mind-bender of a tale which I dare not risk spoiling, but would feel at home on the shelf next to the likes of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy (Dark Horse) or Guy Davis’s Marquis (Dark Horse). It’s a truly superb work, and a frightening, almost pseudo-religious, experience that could only have been accomplished in a graphic novel.

My top pick is also quite possibly going to be my top pick of all time, as it’s tied up in all sorts of personal, professional, creative, and synchronistic aspects of my past in a curious way that feels like events finally coming full circle. My wife and I once had the rare opportunity to interview comics legend Alan Moore way back in our Diamond Comics days (RIP DCD), and that was when I first learned first-hand (and in great detail) about this incredible project he was working on with fellow comics creator/ceremonial magician Steve Moore (no relation).

Kevin Storm, my collaborator on Serial Artist, had the crazy good fortune to later befriend both men, and Steve (possibly due to his appreciation for our use of the I-Ching?) even humbled us with a glowing pull quote — so his sudden passing in 2014 (the same week of our book’s publication) was an eerie shock. For years and years afterwards, I’d heard rumors, followed teasers, but mostly just wondered at the fate of the amazing book the two men had long been collaborating on, and if it would ever actually see the light of day.

And now after literal decades it’s finally here!

The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic by Alan Moore, Steve Moore, Ben Wickey, John Coulthart, Kevin O’Neill, Melinda Gebbie, Rick Veitch, and Steve Parkhouse (IDW)The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic by Alan Moore, Steve Moore, Ben Wickey, John Coulthart, Kevin O’Neill, Melinda Gebbie, Rick Veitch, and Steve Parkhouse (IDW) is probably the first ever grimoire actually intended for the masses. Not hidden away in the secret depths of some mystery school, but concise, open, and (more or less) rationally composed for a new and modern age —  with one foot firmly rooted in magical history and tradition while the other’s deep in the rich soil of modern pop culture. Serious, but not too serious, and with tongue always planted firmly in cheek, once you crack these pages you are in for an unprecedented download of occult history, influential figures, ritual practices, transcendental ideas, and even some potential spiritual enlightenment!

Only my closest friends could attest to what extent I have more than just a passing interest in this topic, but I daresay as a magickal primer this book packs in more relevant information (thanks in large part to the power of sequential art) than years of scattershot research could ever hope to glean. It’s exactly the sort of instructional tome of magic knowledge that your childhood self had secretly imagined was out there; I know I certainly wish I’d had this book in my younger years. Even hardcore skeptics will likely (possibly in spite of themselves) still find it all ever-so-fascinating, but believe me when I say that for the budding neophyte or even the aspiring adept of the new aeon, there may be no single better place to continue your studies next than with this book.

I’ve been excitedly impatient for it for decades and it was still absolutely worth the wait!

Runners Up

Honorable Mentions

That was a lot of good books to cover in one advisory, and yet still so many more I didn’t get to. Remember, there’s always more to read every month on Comics Plus! 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.

Rob Randle: "Read all the comics!"Until next month, here are some more honorable mentions that, mostly for space reasons, didn’t quite make my list, but you (and/or your readers) may also enjoy checking out:

Rob Randle is the Director of Content Management 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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