Spring Comics & Graphic Novels

Kalevala: The Graphic Novel by Sami Makkonen, trans. by Laura Arpiainen (Feb. 27, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68497-228-9), adapts the Finnish saga of warriors and wizards seeking fortune and romance in snowy lands, which is credited as the basis for Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

ABRAMS COMICARTS

Fall Through by Nate Powell (Feb. 6, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-41976-082-2). The latest from musician and National Book Award winner Powell (the March series) follows a 1990s Arkansas punk band—whose signature song opens up a portal in the space-time continuum—on one spectacular tour.

AFTERSHOCK

Jimmy’s Little Bastards by Garth Ennis and Russ

Braun (Feb. 20, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-956731-33-0) returns to the world of the swaggering British spy antihero and finds him to be a (mostly) reformed middle-aged dad, with his daughter taking up his former bad habits as dark family secrets come to light.

ANDREWS MCMEEL

Finding the Light by Marian Henley (Mar. 5, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 9781-5248-8469-7). When Henley gave birth to a boy, she realized she would one day tell him that she was a rape survivor. Her graphic memoir delves into that difficult conversation and the healing it brought about.

AVERY HILL

Safer Places by Kit Anderson (Apr. 16, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1910395-77-6). Anderson’s debut collection of short comics vignettes focus on unexpected, whimsical everyday observations discovered on nature walks, in waiting rooms, and hiding under floorboards.

BLACK PANEL

Animals Rule This Land by Luke Milton (Apr. 16, $24.99, ISBN 978-1990521-22-5). The last dude on Earth contends with a rowdy cast of animals who have taken over the world, hell-bent on exacting revenge for ages of animal abuse.

BOOM! STUDIOS

Brzrkr: Bloodlines by Keanu Reeves, Mattson Tomlin, and Steve Skroce (Apr. 2, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60886149-1) collects battle-filled episodes across eras and empires featuring the immortal sword-wielding warrior conceived by actor Reeves.

CARTOON BOOKS

Thorn: The Complete Proto-Bone College Strips 1982–1986 and Other Early Drawings by Jeff Smith

(July 1, $30 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-888963-86-1) brings together the comics Smith drew in the 1980s for Ohio State University’s student newspaper, the Lantern, which introduced the famed Bone series characters in their earliest incarnations.

CATALYST

Chaos in Kinshasa by

Barly Baruti and Thierry Bellefroid, trans. by Ivanka Hahnenberger (Apr. 23, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-946395-98-6). The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974 Zaire provides the setting for a thriller about a Harlem gangster who gets caught up in an African coup.

CONUNDRUM

The Field by Dave Lapp (May 21, $30 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77262-094-8). In this graphic memoir of growing up in the 1970s, young boys make mischief and a friendship gets betrayed, all in the big field where kids in Lapp’s small town were let loose for the summer.

DARK HORSE

Blood Oath by Alex Segura, Rob Hart, and Joe Eisma (Feb. 20, $22.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-3715-7). In Prohibition-era New York City, farmer and bootlegger Hazel tries to ply her trade while evading the Mafia and a darker supernatural force.

DC COMICS

The Vigil by Ram V and Lalit Kumar Sharma (Apr. 9, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77952-343-3). Part of the publisher’s We Are Legends program introducing Asian American heroes, this series launch finds reluctant South Asian superheroes Arclight, Castle, Dodge, and Saya teaming up to battle malicious tech and military forces. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

DRAWN & QUARTERLY

Self-Esteem and the End of the World by Luke Healy (May 14, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-77046-714-9) sees the Ignatz Award–winning cartoonist grappling with crushing personal blows and a career roller coaster as he questions if anything personal really matters given the inescapable reality of climate change.

FANTAGRAPHICS

Blessed Be by Rick Altergott (Mar. 12, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-68396-778-1). This first graphic novel from the gag cartoonist known for goofy shock humor is set in a burg call Flowertown and features the hijinks of Tom “The Acid King” Cottonwood, holy roller Henry Hotchkiss, and other colorful characters.

Tender by Beth Hetland (Mar. 12, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-68396-935-8) is a surreal, body horror–style graphic novel debut about a woman who tries so hard to control the world around her that she