The non-player characters in a role-playing world strike back against the heroes in this clever, raunchy, and self-aware send-up of isekai portal fantasy from Sayman (The Voynich Hotel). Two sardonic young women, Aine and Nacht, are unceremoniously crushed by a falling satellite and reborn as custodial staff in a labyrinthine fantasy dungeon world. They befriend the resident monsters and grow to hate the adventuring parties that barge in and create messes for them to clean up. To discourage such incursions, they attempt everything in their power to make dungeon-crawling an unpleasant experience. Soon, heroes warn one another against the destination and its “certain malevolence, like it’s driven to kill.” The story revels in the tropes of RPGs: Aine and Nacht die over and over but always come back to life in their staff quarters, meet ridiculous versions of seemingly every creature in the D&D Monster Manual (the kobolds that look like pugs are particularly appealing), and endure a socially awkward run-in with a hero from their original world. The humor pushes the envelope into adult territory, with cartoon gore and jokes about the girls snorting powdered mandrake (“Yeah, that’s primo shit”) and fishing for a shark-man with used menstrual pads. Sayman’s simple, angular artwork stands out, particularly the leads’ hilariously deadpan expressions. Rife with nerdy pop-culture references, this is catnip for otaku and fantasy devotees. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Heyum and Winter’s sturdy manhua debut, which adapts an online light novel by G.M., offers a simple but relatable fantasy: appreciation for a job well done. Pollyanna, the unwanted daughter of a minor noble family, is sent to die in a war, but she refuses to play into her own sacrifice and throws herself into military training. “Survive, no matter what,” her gruff, bearded mentor instructs her, because “that’s the best revenge you can get on your parents.” Pollyanna’s superiors don’t appreciate her fighting skills or her genius for strategy, but Luxos I, the ambitious young king of rival country Acrea, becomes curious about the soldier who’s been predicting his moves. After he convinces Pollyanna to defect to his side, they set out together to defeat all rival forces and unite the continent. With this intriguing setup established, the opening volume settles into formulaic RPG-style plotting, as Pollyanna works her way up through the ranks, racks up experience, and overcomes the skepticism and sexism of her new comrades. The brightly colored artwork is more efficient than elegant, but that’s appropriate for a rational, no-nonsense heroine who eschews luxuries. Pollyanna’s butch-styled character design nicely contrast to King Luxos’s golden-haired bishōnen prettiness. Though this offers few surprises, it’s comforting fare for romantasy fans. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

This enjoyably frantic manga prequel to the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners by Sztybor (The Witcher series) and Asano (BNA: Brand New Animal) bombards the reader with relentless action, foul-mouthed wit, and anarchic excess. In futuristic, crime-ridden Night City, gleefully violent Becca and her luckless brother, Pilar, struggle to prove themselves on the mean streets. They hope to become edgerunners like their father, who raised them on nuggets of wisdom like “This city’s a goddamn warzone! And wars aren’t won by cuddling dogs!” The volume doesn’t slow down long enough to unpack exactly what an edgerunner is or does, with little space for exposition as the siblings fight weirdo gangs, attempt heists, race through motorcycle chases and gunfights, and even, to Becca’s delight, rescue the occasional cuddly dog. The rampage is too frenzied for them to realize that the mysterious, mild-mannered fellow they’ve recruited into their gang is more dangerous than he first appears. The clean, cartoony art splays out on the page like an ultraviolent version of children’s manga, as if the human characters from Pokémon went on a crime spree. It’s a full-throttle sci-fi joyride. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

A billionaire gets humbled in this phantasmagoric series launch from filmmaker Aronofsky, his Black Swan collaborator Ari Handel, screenwriter Jeff Welch, and Eisner-nominated Argentinian cartoonist Martín Morazzo (the Ice Cream Man series). On a surreal hillside, a group of teenagers are lectured by grizzled Uncle Duke about the “good, bad, and ugly” of their weird world. In the magical land of Omaha, he tells them, he became rich by monopolizing the chicken processing industry. When he got cancer, he simply bought a cryogenics firm. It returned him to life years later, but as a captive in an apparent outer space prison within an electrified force field. His fellow detainees schooled him in how to avoid punishment from the alien eyes that surveilled them from above—and that the eyes enjoyed a good performance; his Elvis impersonation proved useful. Based on an unproduced script by Welch, the writing leans heavy on the cornpone narration (“Them raindrops falling on my noggin gave me a fresh idea”), and often strains for laughs, though some of the grim referential humor lands: the Talking Heads song “Once in a Lifetime” plays inside the force field–protected pen; “Rod Serling was here... Vonnegut too,” reads a carving on a tree. By the close of the first volume, Duke’s gone to battle with one alien eye—but where the teens all fit in is yet to be revealed. The detailed, angular art by Morazzo skillfully grounds this trippy tale. Readers with a taste for edgy satire will want to tune in to this mash-up of The Prisoner and The Matrix. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Conrad (the Wonder Woman series) and Ringo winner Chisholm (Miles Davis) riff on haunted house tropes in this twisty supernatural thriller about the pervasiveness of violence. Ghost hunter and social media personality Del heads a haunted-house exorcism team comprising Jacob, a devout young minister, and Holland, a snarky, nonbinary professional debunker. Del believes that sites of violence need to be spiritually cleansed: “These places are wounded,” he warns. “They lash out.” But after the trio encounters real ghosts, a bloody pattern emerges—someone connected to each site they cleanse ends up murdered. Del becomes obsessed with cleansing California’s Salton Sea, which he believes to be particularly cursed. As the exorcists’ lives and mental states unravel, buried secrets are unearthed. Chisholm’s figures and faces are often stiff, but he excels at drawing scenes of horror, from a squirm-inducing masked serial killer to glowing ghosts and a hallucinatory image of a house coming to life. The boldly contrasting color schemes add to the sense of disorientation. This chiller offers more than enough shocks to make horror fans feel at home. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Beneath its pastel-pretty surface, this print debut from writers Chi pa rang and Mitchu with art by R.PPOBI offers a feverish take on gothic pulp fiction. Servaine Noxirel, the scion of a wealthy family in a fantasy world reminiscent of 19th-century Europe, is bedridden with physical and mental ailments inherited through her troubled bloodline. Her father, who’s desperate to entertain her, gives Servaine an alluring captured merman named Mel—and her infatuation swiftly turns obsessive and controlling. “He is mine and only mine,” she sneers, and only after near-disaster does she begin to understand the cruelty of her behavior. Flash forward years into the future, when a relative also named Servaine Noxirel sets out to claim her inheritance, only to find a man who looks like Mel standing in her way. Is the merman back? And if so, does he seek romance or revenge? The delicate, decorative art is reminiscent of a Victorian valentine, all pastels, flowers, silks, washes of light and art nouveau compositions framing attractive leads in elegant poses. But the plot is rife with murder, melodrama, and other gothic tropes, up to and including madwomen not quite in attics. The momentum sometimes pauses too long for tormented inner monologues, and the time jumps between the two Servaines can be confusing. Even so, devotees of all things gothic will want to dive in. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Eisner winners Ennis (the Boys series) and Cloonan (Somna) join forces to sketch a gripping vision of the end of the world. For writer David, his pregnant wife Nikki, and their intellectual New York City circle, war is an abstract concept to debate over drinks—until nuclear bombs fall on London and obliterate the city. As WWIII breaks out, seemingly instigated by Russia, they follow updates on social media, and Nikki becomes enraged when David’s first instinct is to pitch a book about the crisis. War still seems far away until, suddenly, it isn’t. Watching in despair as nations fail and fall, their friend Maggie comments bleakly, “All these millennia of human development, and that’s the best we can do.” Soon the survivors are dealing with radiation sickness, attacks from raiders, and nuclear winter. As usual, Cloonan’s art hooks readers with a glance. The characters, rendered in bold strokes, look and feel painfully human as they face devastation on a massive scale. The script tips into excess at the close, but conveys the urgency of 1980s nuclear-warning specials like The Day After and Threads, or John Bergin’s 1993 graphic novel From Inside. Terrifyingly relevant, it’s a much-needed jolt to the system. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

This lush erotic horror from Mullane (Painted) and Eisner winner Lotay (Somna) conjures dark delights out of the rock ’n’ roll world of the late 1960s and early ’70s. During the tarnished later days of the Summer of Love, a tight-knit, glamorous circle of six groupies—Amina, Lisa Storm, Vera Vicious, Morgaine La Fey, Gaia, and Myuuzu—prowl the Sunset Strip. “The rock stars we make love to, soon learn that they are blessed to get with us,” Gaia opines, over rumpled post-coital images of a threesome that includes her sometimes-lover Morgaine; in the next scene, she and Morgaine pull tarot cards and pop pills. When the gang goes on tour with the Moon Show, the hottest new band on the West Coast, they’re thrilled to be at the center of the action, and Lisa falls for sexy, sinister lead singer Si. But the party morphs into a bad scene: groupies start to disappear, and the band turns out to be involved in Satanic shenanigans. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of a different groupie as she peers through a miasma of sex, drugs, and blood sacrifice. Lotay’s smeared neon colors evoke the psychedelic haze and smoggy Los Angeles sunsets of the era, the painterly art rendering steamy eroticism within warped Satanic Panic tropes. Despite the story’s abrupt ending, horror fans will enjoy this murky nightmare. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Set in a future wasteland of deserts, warlords, and manga-styled robot throwdowns, this inventive series launch from Lullabi (the Transformers series) and Lucas (the Destro series) finds an entrepreneurial spirit starting a food truck. Between lanes of Fury-Road chaos, chef Loloi peddles noodles spiced with an impossibly hot pepper only she can make palatable. Lullabi’s storytelling bridges the everyday business of food service—sourcing peppers; getting hauled into town for repairs; competing with a rival purveyor of provisions—and an epic backstory of a godlike hero turned ruler punching a world-threatening monster into the moon. Mysterious warrior Ash returns from parts unknown to contest that legend, stirring alarm from the powers that be. In a classic samurai story turn, Ash just wants to slurp a bowl of Loloi’s soup but instead must stomp enemy after enemy in a succession of strikingly composed battles. The art is influenced equally by anime and bande desinée, and an episodic stolen-valor plot involving Ash’s old warrior cohort ends up feeling generic. It’s the food-truck thread that steals the show, and serves to humanize Ash. Fans of cozy postapocalyptic fare will want to sample this first course. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Boecher’s tenderhearted graphic novel debut follows a stand-up comedian to his aunt’s funeral at Chicken Heart Love, the commune she founded. Jackie Locklear hasn’t spoken to his trans aunt Sheila in over a decade, ever since their family “disowned her after this one Thanksgiving,” but he unexpectedly gets an invitation from her found family, “the Chicken Hearters,” to speak at her memorial (she died by suicide). Jackie has also been considering a gender transition, and jokes about it in his stand-up set, quipping that he doesn’t want to “fight raccoons” while dumpster-diving “for a whole new wardrobe.” Secretly, however, Jackie admits that he’s a trans man: “I wince in pain every time someone calls me a ‘she.’ ” At Chicken Heart, “a place for misfits,” Jackie faces the commune’s complicated grief, his regrets around his estrangement from Sheila, and his “crushing loneliness”—particularly after he hooks up with the commune’s bard, Will (“Oh, stupid heart,” Jackie says to himself). Blending bubbly dialogue and moments of introspection, Boecher depicts how an interdependent community must carry on in the wake of its founder’s suicide. The thick, simple linework and three-color palette ground the proceedings, with a few whimsical flourishes, and emotions hold the spotlight. By turns sad and joyous, this is a moving treatise on the many meanings of love and loss. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink