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MIKE DONACHIE

GLITTERBOMB By Jim Zub and Djibril Morisette-Phan Image Comics

With TIFF on Canadians’ minds, there’s never been a better time for Canadian creators to launch a new comic book about the darker side of Hollywood. The first part of Glitter

bomb, the disturbing look at the life of a struggling actress, is out now. It’s written by Toronto’s Jim Zub and drawn by Montreal-based Djibril Morisette-Phan, and a perfect example of how image fosters intriguing projects.

It’s all about Farrah Durante, a single mother and actress who’s on the hunt for her next gig. But she’s too old to be a starlet, and people never tire of telling her so, as she struggles to keep her life together. And (no spoilers) there’s all the blood and torn flesh, because this is also a horror comic.

It’s a fascinating book, telling an important story about the way Hollywood devours women. But perhaps even more horrible are the true events related in the backup material, the first of a series of essays by former movie producer Holly Raychelle Hughes, describing her experiences as a woman in the business.

MOONCOP By Tom Gould Drawn and Quarterly, 96 pages, $22.96

Tom Gauld’s charming graphic novel Mooncop is understated, subtle and a little treasure.

The unnamed hero is, unsurprisingly, a police officer on the Moon. But his duties and pressure are few: everyone is leaving, and he is sad. Drawn in a stark, simple style, this book is an easy but rewarding read. It’s full of satisfying gags, like a dog in an air bubble and a malfunctioning doughnut dispenser, but, weirdly, almost nothing happens.

The real value is in the nothingness, much like the vacuum of the Moon itself. The mooncop drifts through life, apparently unable to understand why everyone isn’t like him and largely unconcerned.

Gauld, perhaps best known for his strips published in The Guardian newspaper, uses a simple palette in colour and illustration, along with dry humour and matter-of-fact storytelling. This treatise on the value of solitude and silence will make you enjoy just sitting alone to read it.

CHEAP NOVELTIES: THE PLEASURES OF URBAN DECAY By Ben Katchor Drawn and Quarterly, 112 pages, $26.95

Witness the adventures of Julius Knipl: real estate photographer, and marvel at their banality.

This is nostalgia for something that never existed, or at least existed only in the minds of city dwellers with a tendency to be nostalgic.

Ben Katchor’s simple cartoons — collected here for their 25th anniversary — take us on a tour of scuffed streets just around the corner from where we used to live. On the way, there are eccentricities of an old city: the flamboyant signature of an elevator inspector, some unreadable lettering on a 20th-floor window, a deli where all its famous customers are dead. It is wonderfully bonkers, and compelling.

All the time, we have Mr. Knipl’s wry observations on city life; the way it is and the way it perhaps used to be. Presented as dozens of little stories in a simple, black-and-white style (plus one longer-form story at the back), Katchor’s work is unputdownable, clever, charming and hilarious.

SHAME By Lovern Kindzierski and John Bolton Renegade Arts Entertainment, 224 pages, $29.99

If adult fairy tales are your thing — and it’s a subgenre with plenty of material — take a look at

Shame, the lavish new book from Alberta publisher Renegade. It’s all about a wish gone wrong, like so many great stories, and about longing, magic and, above all, evil. So much terrible evil.

It’s been written by veteran creator Lovern Kindzierski, who’s just moved from Winnipeg to Montreal, and illustrated so beautifully by London’s John Bolton, whose painted artwork has always been breathtaking. Bolton, the publishers proudly reveal, turned down a ton of other work to spend 10 years painting this utterly beautiful graphic novel. Let’s be grateful he did.

But it’s not without its challenges. The fairy tale theme and female protagonists involve copious nudity, and perhaps not every reader would consider it all absolutely necessary. But Bolton’s fullypainted art makes it feel like a comic book that escaped from the Renaissance, and the tragic narrative will keep you hooked.