Lucy Knisley always knew she wanted to be a mother, but life doesn’t always make our dreams easy. Kid Gloves is the account of her relationship with babies and childbirth, from her perceptions of the process as a kid to the exhaustive effort she once put into preventing pregnancy before she was ready and the way that she struggled with her feelings when the person she wanted to spend her life with wasn’t interested in being a parent. Her art style, as well as her experiences, are grounded and deeply relatable — whether you’re interested in parenthood or not — and the book is sprinkled with facts about reproduction, gestation, and childbirth that are both fascinating and important. You’ll feel each step of Lucy’s tangled emotions as she processes everything from miscarriage and a chilling account of the birth that almost kills her, to the deep fulfillment of a lifelong wish. Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man (yes, there are multiple!), started out as a character in the Ultimate Marvel imprint. But when the imprint closed in 2015, he became part of the Marvel Universe, and many rejoiced at the diversity that the Afro-Latino teenager represented. Does The Handmaid’s Tale need an introduction? Margaret Atwood’s towering tapestry of a dystopia in which women are subjugated in a patriarchal society has shaken people for 35 years — and it’s more relevant than ever today. If you’ve already read it a hundred times, we suggest turning to Renee Nault’s graphic novel for your hundred-and-one read-through. Her spare and affecting artwork — which leans beautifully on all the shades of red, from orange to rust — makes the story that much more visceral. Most of all, Nault’s interpretation of Atwood’s language is spectacular, living up to The Handmaid’s Tale’s lofty name and stamping it as a classic in the world of graphic novels. In the world of Amestris, alchemy is a revered science: alchemists can create almost anything they wish. But there are a few rules that govern their practice of alchemy: first, the Law of Equivalent Exchange must exist — meaning that any alchemist who creates something out of nothing must provide something of equivalent value in exchange. The second rule is that humans and gold are forbidden from the touch of alchemists.

Jetzt nochmal in Form dieser Graphic Novel in die Welt von Hardin & Tessa einzutauchen, hat mir unglaublich gut gefallen. You may know him as a human rights activist or Star Trek’s Sulu, but before he could grow up to do any of those things, George Takei was a Japanese-American boy whose family was imprisoned in an American concentration camp during World War II. Equal parts painful and sweet, Blankets is a tender look at what it means to be young, deftly exploring the experiences that become the defining moments of our lives — all with the softness of a new blanket of snow. Here’s a history lesson for you: Marvel Comics is the publisher of all Marvel stories. The Avengers movies and the mainstream Marvel comic books all take place within the Marvel Universe — the central Marvel storyline. However, under the Marvel Comics umbrella are various smaller imprints, with timelines and storylines that can differ from that of the Marvel Universe.

This ambitious steampunk saga is as gruesome as it is gorgeous. Artist Sana Takeda lavishes her talent on lush, Mucha-inflected scenes of garnish, while writer Marjorie Liu — an epic fantasist worthy of Tolkien — weaves a spellbinding story of violence, sacrifice, and revenge. Set in a matriarchal, Asian-inspired world, Monstress centers on a teenager called Maika Halfwolf, whose body plays host to a monster: a tentacled beast who appears suddenly from the stump of Maika’s severed arm. You’ve seen fairy tales retold, twisted, and subverted before, but never quite like this. Sebastian is the royal half of The Prince and the Dressmaker: by day he attends to monarchical duties and purportedly searches for a princess to marry. But by night, he’s the beautiful Lady Crystallia, a trendsetter who takes Paris by storm with the help of her loyal dressmaker, Frances. And Frances is fine with keeping herself a secret... until she starts falling for the prince inside the dress. Coupled with charming Disney-esque illustrations by Jen Wang, The Prince and the Dressmaker is both timeless and refreshingly modern, a treat for readers of any age. But Prince eventually realizes that it’s not that she isn’t a girl, it’s that the narrow definition of “girlhood” she’s been fed her whole life is too restrictive. This memoir is a tender examination of the roles we’re thrust into, and a joyful embrace of what it looks like to decide for ourselves exactly what “boy” and “girl” — and “man” and “woman” — mean for each of us. One of the most innovative graphic novels in recent memory, Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese skillfully intertwines three tales of race and culture. The first and most prominent is that of Jin Wang, a Chinese-American boy struggling to assimilate into a new white neighborhood and school. Alongside his narrative are the slightly fantastical stories of the Monkey King — a powerful master of kung-fu who wants people to view him as a god — and another boy, Danny, who lives in fear of being embarrassed by his stereotypical Chinese cousin. However, as this carefully arranged novel unfolds, it emerges that all is not as it seems… and that the characters of each individual story have as much to learn from one another as we readers do. Told with laugh-out-loud humor and a gentle touch of compassion, this is a story to charm all ages. Phoebe and Her Unicorn is an instant classic; a sparkly, girly successor to the much-loved Calvin and Hobbes.

In the charmingly-rendered Sheets, thirteen-year-old Marjorie has a lot going on: her mother is dead, her father has depression, and she has to take care of her younger brother and the family laundromat, all while juggling the nightmare of high school. People don’t seem to really see her, and so she often feels like a ghost. Homer’s classic tale of a man who took ten years to complete a 500-mile journey gets the graphic treatment in this handsome tome from award-winning artist Gareth Hinds. Join Odysseus and his loyal soldiers as they face the long road home after a gruelling victory in the Trojan War. Their journey is made all the more dangerous by encounters with a sheep-loving cyclops, comely sirens, and a witch who turns Odysseus’ crew into pigs. If the thought of reading a 2,800-year-old epic poem feels like too much of a challenge, then this graphic novel adaption of The Odyssey is a perfect inroad to a timeless classic. In No Normal, we meet Kamala Khan, a seemingly average teenager living in New Jersey. As the story usually goes, one day she suddenly possesses superhuman powers. But as the old saying goes: with great power comes great responsibility. And “great” is an understatement when it comes to Kamala’s gifts. Suddenly, this teenager finds herself struggling to control not only her new powers, but the pressure of becoming the focal point of an age-old legacy. What about fans who are very familiar with After, both in its novel and Netflix adaptation forms? What can they get out of these graphic novels that they haven't already read or seen onscreen?Me esperaba un desastre de historia, pero la verdad es que me ha resultado bastante entretenida. Como no lograba animarme con el libro, decidí lanzarme primero con la novela gráfica y ver si despertaba mi curiosidad. A rasgos generales, lo ha conseguido, así que ahora tengo interés en ver cómo sigue la relación de Tessa y Hardin, los protagonistas. Her father was distant and quiet, and their relationship was not one for spilling secrets or having heart-to-hearts. So when Bechdel comes out as a lesbian in college and finds out that her father is also gay, she is stunned to say the least. What other secrets did he have? Unfortunately, Bechdel doesn’t have the chance to ask her father questions about this revelation because a few weeks after, he passes away. So Bechdel attempts to learn about her father on her own, putting together puzzle pieces that build out not just her father’s past, but her’s as well. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic memoir that details Bechdel’s complicated relationship with her late father, an English teacher and the director of a local funeral home — which Bechel referred to as the “Fun Home.”