Continuing to fuel today’s pop culture landscape, graphic novels have become the lifeblood of new and innovative work. This year, we see more genres blending and mutating into fresh forms of storytelling, emerging voices are finding their earliest expressions, and creative teams large and small (some comprised of only a single creator) are forging truly fantastic material for every occasion, every mood, and every reader.
These upward trends show no signs of abating, and libraries have become champions of the illustrated format. According to Kuo-Yu Liang, VP of sales and marketing, Diamond Comic Distributors, “In 2016, graphic novels sales increased 17.2 percent for public libraries and 14 percent for school libraries.” Reporting a whopping 64 percent growth in digital lending from 2015 to 2016, OverDrive’s Hadie Bartholomew told LJ that public libraries are set for another record-breaking year in 2017.
While traditional superhero adventures still dominate, many different kinds of comics are gaining traction. “Libraries that were typically focused on superheroes and the like are now showing interest in treatments that are literary in nature, showcasing a broader range of stories that can be done in comics,” observes Baker & Taylor’s Martin Warzala, director, collection development. Jenny McCluskey, Ingram Content Group’s comics specialist predicts expansion specifically for YA books, memoirs, and realistic fiction.
Creators abroad are also showing a stronger U.S. presence, with new digital distributor Europe Comics making available—via OverDrive’s catalog—thousands of thoughtful and dizzyingly varied English translations. And this past spring, digital content provider Findaway launched Comics Playaway Lauchpad, unveiling a new line of preloaded tablets designed for library circulation of diverse comics for kids, teens, and adults.
New horizons
Some of 2017’s most exciting new offerings don’t conform easily to existing genre definitions. Newcomer Emil Ferris’s My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 2 (Fantagraphics, Oct.; Vol. 1, LJ 6/1/17), continues ten-year-old Karen Reyes’s journey of self-discovery, deepening and resolving mysteries begun in the widely acclaimed first volume with the same bold vision and sensuous, experimental storytelling. [See the Q&A with Ferris below.] Another rich visual treat defying easy categorization is Connor Willumsen’s Anti-Gone (Koyama, Sept.), in which Spyda and Lynxa’s reality shifts between a surreal sf dystopia and the virtual present. Highlighting the adventures of young Iranian Minoo Shirazi, Dara Naraghi and Brent Bowman’s two-volume Persia Blues (NBM, Jul.) moves between a mythic fantasy realm and the modern world as magical and realist drama collide. Also in July, Simon & Schuster’s new graphic imprint, Gallery 13, releases master storyteller Christophe Chabouté’s largely wordless Alone (LJ 6/1/17). Combining heartbreak and hope, the tale centers on a hermit coming to terms with existence and meaning.
The picture book format and sweetly gothic sensibility are hallmarks of Élian Black’more and Carine-M’s Spooky & the Strange Tales: Monster Inn (IDW, Aug.), in which young Spooky shows why she is unlike the other bright princesses in the kingdom of Fairy Tales. Finally, the midnight imagination of debuter Chris Gooch enlivens the somnambulistic world of Bottled (Top Shelf: IDW, Sept.), tackling issues of body horror and its tragic consequences, as protagonist Jane obsesses over her former friend Natalie’s glamorous life and her own lack of achievement.
Wonder Women: Creators & Stories
Advancing the lively growth seen in the last few years of stories by and about women are works from a range of incredible female talent. Janet Harvey and Megan Levens’s Angel City: Town Without Pity (Oni, Aug.) places Dolores Dare in a Los Angeles–set noir investigating the murder of her roommate amid the glamour of 1930s Hollywood and the turmoil that fueled the Zoot Suit Riots. Self-discovery is the mystery at the heart of newcomer Nidhi Chanani’s all-ages Pashmina (First Second, Oct.), following young Priyanka Das’s search for answers about why her mother left India for America and why she won’t talk about her father. And with The Wendy Project (Super Genius: Papercutz, Jul.), debut author Melissa Jane Osborne and artist Veronica Fish confront aspects of life and death, as Wendy Davies imagines her recently deceased younger brother very much alive, only caught in some sort of Neverland with a flying boy.
Firmly grounded in the present yet attuned to the past are two October titles. Award winner Roz Chast’s charming and hilarious Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York (Bloomsbury USA) sees the native New Yorker traipsing through the wonderland of the city, viewing the concrete jungle anew with her children. Covering similar territory but from the perspective of a West Coast transplant who spent a decade living and working in Gotham is Julia Wertz’s Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City (Black Dog & Leventhal).
Fantasy lovers won’t want to miss the latest volume in Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s Eisner-nominated Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood (Image, Jun.), which continues Maika’s quest to discover her past, despite new threats surfacing in strange and forbidding territories. Picturing lazy summer days and middle school surfer girls who happen upon a cave filled with supernatural wonders is Kim Dwinell’s Surfside Girls. Bk. 1: The Secret of Danger Point (Top Shelf: IDW, Jul.). Katie O’Neill’s The Tea Dragon Society (Oni, Oct.) also deals with the lives of young women, chiefly Greta, an apprentice blacksmith, who makes friends and learns a new craft in the seldom-seen world of tea dragons.
Cases In point
In recent years, crime fiction comics have made a huge comeback. And with new graphic imprints dedicated to the genre, such as Hard Case Crime Comics, merging Titan Comics and mystery publisher Hard Case Crime, the appeal of the detective story appears here to stay. Some notable new crime titles include Joe R. Lansdale and Jussi Piironen’s Hap and Leonard: Savage Season (IDW, Oct.), in which the easygoing best friends are caught up in a simple recovery job that becomes a life-or-death struggle. David Pepose and Jorge Santiago Jr.’s Spencer & Locke (Action Lab, Aug.) teams a hard-boiled detective with his imaginary childhood friend, a talking panther, to solve a brutal murder. And continuing the compelling police procedural featuring wizard cops against the backdrop of a lushly imagined supernatural London are acclaimed creative team Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, and Lee Sullivan with the July release of Rivers of London, Vol. 3: Black Mould (Titan Comics).
Artful allusions
Several titles out this month delve into the power of art as medium and artistic vision. Igort’s Japanese Notebooks: A Journey to the Empire of Signs (Chronicle) manages to be both a meditation about the cartoonist’s time in Japan working in the manga industry as well as a cultural history and presentation of various styles. With Hubert (Jonathan Cape: Random UK), debuter Ben Gijsemans pulls off a similar feat of aesthetic prowess, capturing the life of the titular museum-goer, whose obsession with high art interferes with his ability to navigate real life. Étienne Davodeau’s The Cross-Eyed Mutt continues NBM’s popular “Louvre” series with Louvre worker Fabian pressured by his girlfriend’s family to mount a hideous painting of a cross-eyed dog onto the walls of the museum, leading to hilarious predicaments for the hapless administrator.
More examples of art in story continue with Eternal Friendship (Siglio, Oct.), in which creator Anouck Durand uses old propaganda art, photography, and a variety of formal visual techniques to tell the true story of two friends of different faiths trying to reconnect during wartime. Katie Skelly’s My Pretty Vampire (Fantagraphics, Aug.) employs a pop art–meets–manga approach in this sex-positive tale of a young vampire girl seeking to end cruel restrictions placed on her undead life. Further down the river of the surreal, readers will enjoy Nicole Claveloux’s The Green Hand: And Other Stories (NYRC, Sept.), a lushly pop art–infused dream-glance at romance, mystery, and self-realization. Not to be missed is Titan Comics’ The Book of Ballads: The Original Art Edition (Nov.), in which regal adaptations of great songs and folktales serve as the vehicle to original art by multi-award-winning fantasy illustrator Charles Vess. They are accompanied by stellar writing from such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, and Elaine Lee.
September sees a bounty of titles exploring the life and times of artists both fictional and real, starting with French creator Kickliy’s wrap-up to the Angoulême Prize–nominated series “Musnet,” starring the plucky mouse artiste. Vol. 4: The Tears of the Painter (from Uncivilized Books’ new YA comics line, Odod Books) relates Musnet’s final journey toward becoming a great painter, working in the same style as his human counterpart, Claude Monet. Taking a turn toward biography, Firefly Books presents French writer/illustrator Florent Silloray’s take on the photographic journalism of World War II photographer Robert Capa: A Graphic Biography. Also from Firefly, Xavier Coste’s Egon Schiele: His Life and Death unveils the Austro-Hungarian artist’s relationships with colleagues and models and the passions that drove him further into his craft. Finally, Norway’s Lars Fiske revels in the art scene of Weimar Germany and more with his biographical two-tone look at the life of caricaturist Grosz (Fantagraphics).
Realms of the Real
Real-life tales of drama, heartache, perseverance, and hope are another component in the continuing popularity of the graphic novel format. Juliana Smith, Ronald Nelson, and Mike Hampton’s (H)afrocentric Comics, Vols. 1–4 (PM Pr., Sept.), wields humor and satire as weapons while exploring racial and economic strife on a college campus, just as Yvan Alagbé’s collection of short stories, Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures (NYRC, Oct.), reveals unsettling truths about racial inequality and oppression on both a personal and hegemonic scale. For Japanese manga master Tadao Tsuge, the lives of the down-and-out, small-time hustlers, and petty thugs are the stuff of the creative life, as portrayed in Slum Wolf (NYRC, Nov.).
Having completed his National Book Award–winning March trilogy, documenting the trials and triumphs of civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, Nate Powell returns this month with Nate Powell’s Omnibox (Top Shelf: IDW). Compiling the cartoonist’s earlier works in one place, this collection addresses issues such as war and mental illness. Newcomer Yuki Fumino’s dramatic relationship manga, I Hear the Sunspot (One Peace, Aug.), features young Kohei, whose personal diffidence, based in part on his hearing loss, is pushed aside when he meets outgoing Taichi. And using surreal iconography and comedy to convey the heartbreaking lengths to which Daphne will go to retain custody of her son, novelist Deb Olin Unferth teams with artist Elizabeth Haidle for I, Parrot (Black Balloon: Catapult, Nov.). Finally, newspaper comics get a little love with a comprehensive collection of Lynn Johnston’s compelling family dramedy For Better or for Worse: The Complete Library, Vol. 1 (IDW, Oct.).
drawn to life
Many upcoming biographical works depict lives from around the world and every sort of circumstance. Coming in August is Kevin Sacco’s wordless Josephine (Slave Labor), offering a lens into the author’s rising consciousness by way of his New York City childhood during the height of the civil rights movement. Small press Microcosm adds to its “Comix Journalism” series with Six Days in Cincinnati: A Graphic Account of the Riots That Shook the Nation a Decade Before Black Lives Matter (Xpress Reviews, 4/14/17), in which activist Dan Mendez Moore cartoons his experience of the nation’s first large-scale 20th-century uprising. In Diario de Oaxaca (PM Pr., Sept.), Peter Kuper captures a peaceful vacation escape that landed him in the midst of some of Mexico’s largest political struggles.
Chronicling life in the Middle East, author Brigitte Findakly, with the help of artist-husband Lewis Trondheim, discusses growing up as an Orthodox Christian in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and her bittersweet relationship with her homeland in Poppies of Iraq (Drawn & Quarterly, Sept.). Cartoonist Riad Sattouf concludes his personal history of moving from Syria to France with the final volume in the Angoulême Award–winning trilogy The Arab of the Future. Vol. 3: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1985–1987 (Holt, Sept.; Vol. 1, LJ 9/15/15, Vol. 2., Xpress Reviews, 7/22/16).
Reaching even further into the personal, health coach Lacy J. Davis and illustrator Jim Kettner tackle body issues head-on in Ink in Water: An Illustrated Memoir; or, How I Kicked Anorexia’s Ass & Embraced Body Positivity (New Harbinger, Oct.), detailing with poignancy and care Davis’s struggles to become who she is today. Sabrina Symington captivates with the bright and moving First Year Out: A Transgender Transcript (Singing Dragon: Jessica Kingsley, Nov.), telling a story of transitioning based on her own life. Similarly, Iasmin Omar Ata’s personal experience as an Arab American college student dealing with epilepsy informs the stirring tale of Mis(h)adra (Gallery 13: S. & S., Oct.). Sparks of joy are guaranteed to accompany organization consultant Marie Kondo and manga artist Yuko Uramoto’s The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up (Ten Speed: Crown, Jun.), which tells the story of Chiaki, who turns her life around with the help of Kondo’s renowned decluttering philosophy.
Finally, two August releases in the world of traditional biography: Jonathan Hennessey and Justin Greenwood present a timely portrait of the famous and controversial Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father (Ten Speed: Crown), while Mathilde Ramadier and Anaïs Depommier solve the existential crisis at the heart of modern life with a study of Sartre (NBM).
Flights of Imagination
The fantasy genre continues to be a solid presence in the world of comics, and this year there are several exceptional efforts that may become tomorrow’s classics. Kevin Czap’s Fütchi Perf (Uncivilized, Sept.) beautifully imagines a romantic future created by young, queer radicals working to better all humanity (while still leaving time for a few great parties and good friends). Art is the thing in Campbell Whyte’s Home Time. Bk. 1: Under the River (Top Shelf: IDW, Jun.), as gorgeously rendered, video game-influenced adventure is had by a group of precocious youth in the summer before high school begins. Gaming enthusiasts should also check out The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution (Ten Speed: Crown, Oct.) by Jonathan Hennessey and Jack McGowan, detailing the people, business forces, and products that built the industry.
Doors to unknown universes open in M.F.K. (Insight, Sept.), which follows Nilah Magruder’s deaf protagonist Abbie’s attempts to bury her mother’s ashes on a fantastical mountain range steeped in hidden magic. Superstar creator Becky Cloonan’s By Chance or Providence (Image, Jul.) gathers a stunning collection of epic tales of swords, magic, and intrigue. And Kerascoët and Fabien Vehlmann envision Satania (NBM, Nov.), where young scientist Charlotte embarks on an expedition to use Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to prove the physical existence of Hell, with unexpected results.
Classics, Reinvented
The modern Stone Age family continues to get a satire-rich but perpetually fun makeover in Mark Russell and Steve Pugh’s The Flintstones. Vol. 2: Bedrock Bedlam (DC, Oct.). Forging ahead with two-fisted excitement for superhero fans of all ages is Ted Naifeh’s breathtaking Night’s Dominion, Vol. 1 (Oni, Jul.). Featuring uproarious adventure and complex characterization, this new series centers on barmaid Emerane, aka most-wanted thief extraordinaire Night, leading the fight against eldritch cult forces infiltrating the highest rungs of government. Trapped in a New England mansion mystery and navigating multiple relationships, Sarah Vaughn and Lan Medina’s Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, Vol. 1 (DC, Jun.), blends gothic romance with the supernatural. Transporting the superhero universe to high school, Carrie Harris and Stipe Kalajžic’s On the Wall (One Peace, Jun.) tells the story of Mira Mason, who believes herself useless, yet her “lame” talent might just be what’s needed to help catch the creep roaming the halls. Venerable icon Wonder Woman also gets a chance to shine in 2017, with the hero-defining work of Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp, and Nicola Scott in Wonder Woman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition, Bk. 1 (DC, Oct.). This volume both respects the Amazonian princess’s past yet moves her into the future.
A number of ripping yarns this season spread the thrill of adventure throughout time and space. With Anno Dracula: 1895; Seven Days in Mayhem (Titan Comics, Nov.), Kim Newman and Paul McCaffrey follow up Newman’s best-selling eponymous novel with this graphic sequel, imagining Dracula defeating his enemies and marrying Queen Victoria. Enter vampire journalist and freethinker Kate Reed, who takes part in a vampire anarchist group hoping to end Dracula’s world-conquering plans in 1895.
The riveting world of steampunk continues to grow with NBA legend/Sherlock Holmes enthusiast Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld, and Josh Cassara’s Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook (Titan Comics, Sept.; LJ 6/1/17). Here, the great detective’s older brother sets out on a global search for a weapon with unearthly power. In ancient Rome, bloodied visions of Apollo are driving people mad, while a female gladiator’s power threatens patriarchal rule in comics master Peter Milligan and Juan José Ryp’s Britannia. Vol. 2: We Who Are About To Die (Valiant, Oct.; Vol. 1, LJ 6/1/17).
And in November from Papercutz’s new imprint Charmz, specifically geared toward teen girls, is the first book in Patricia Lyfoung’s series, Scarlet Rose. Set in 18th-century France, the story follows the adventures of Maud—aka the swashbuckling Scarlet Rose—on a quest to right the wrong of her father’s death and meet the sword-wielding Fox. Bringing the Wild West roaring back to life, award winners Joe R. Lansdale and Sam Glanzman kick off IDW’s It’s Alive imprint with Red Range: A Wild Western Adventure (Jun.). This realistic portrayal of racially motivated hatred wrapped in Western exploits takes a turn for the weird before the final gunfight. And riffing on today’s strange landscape, Berkeley Breathed returns to the comics art form after a 25-year sabbatical with Opus, Milo, Binkly, and the gang in Bloom County: Brand Spanking New Day (IDW, Sept.).
Finally, editors Ben Katchor and Bill Kartalopoulos are this year’s team for The Best American Comics 2017 (Houghton Harcourt, Oct.), which pulls together a smorgasbord of great talent in an anthology format and provides a superb starting point for adult readers to experience the breadth and depth of what graphic novels can offer.
Q&A: Emil Ferris
Emil Ferris burst onto the comics scene this year, garnering critical acclaim for her debut graphic novel, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (MFTIM), Vol. 1 (Fantagraphics; LJ 6/1/17), which centers on ten-year-old Karen Reyes growing up in 1960s Chicago. The second and final volume, imbued with exquisite art and a deeply resonant script, is set for an October release. Author Rednour caught up with Ferris via email, giving us a glimpse into her creative world.
In MFTIM, Karen fills hundreds of pages of her diary with horror images, basically combining a thoughtful coming-of-age tale and a murder mystery. How did you create such a dynamic story?
Early on, I knew that the book was going to be the kind sewn together in my art laboratory from the midnight-harvested remains of dead saints, criminals, myths, and monsters. Like the good Dr. Frankenstein, I used the ingredients that appealed to me most, and I did a lot of research and remained open to the places [where] that research led me. I drew experiences from my own life and from the lives of others and from stories that resonated with me and had always haunted me.
Your artwork is so deliberate, down to the smallest line. How did you develop such a beautiful style?
I’ve been drawing since I was two. I had a disability, so I was drawing well before I was able to walk. Also, I think that losing the ability to draw for a time, relatively recently, and being required to fight my way back, has helped me to value the process of creating art even more. All the pages that comprise [MFTIM] might seem deliberate, but I allowed accidents and mistakes to lead the way and indicate my path.
MFTIM combines elements of many genres, especially horror. How has that genre influenced your work?
Horror is, in my opinion, as viable a means to illustrate social commentary as sf. Three movies inspired my approach: the classic Night of the Living Dead, with its stark ending, wherein the black male savior of zombie-menaced humans is ultimately gunned down by police, as well as the recent Get Out, which offers another, more pointed consideration of racism in America and tells us we’re living with horror every day. Finally, there’s The Wolf Man (1941), written by Curt Siodmak, a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany and ended up in Hollywood. Siodmak has said that his use of the pentagram [in the film] as an ominous foretelling of doom was inspired by the Nazi’s use of the Star of David as a way to “brand” Jews and emphasize their “otherness.” Of course, we know that this brand of otherness was what ultimately marked them—and many others—for state-sponsored murder.
Karen; her brother, Deeze; and her schoolmate regularly walk through museums, and both Karen and Deeze sketch their own versions of the art on display. Were you able to work in your favorite art pieces, or are there some that didn’t make the book?
I did not obtain permission to use Paul Delvaux’s Village of the Mermaids, nor Peter Blume’s The Rock. Consequently, I went in other directions. Many of the paintings that I love that didn’t make it into the first book will be seen in the second. (Get ready for Karen to draw some luscious Renaissance gore!)
What developments and twists of fate can you tease fans about appearing in Volume 2?
The story of Karen’s mysteriously deceased German neighbor Anka Silverberg takes up quite a bit of Book 2. We see her life in Nazi Germany and her attempt to save six girls, despite the terrible cost. The mystery of Anka’s death is solved, and we also come to understand who Deeze has killed. We learn more about the Invisible Man (Karen’s father)…. [W]e find out what became of the down-at-heels ventriloquist Mr. Chugg and…Karen falls in love!
NBM, 40 Years and Counting
NBM (Nantier Beall Minoustchine) Publishing released its first title in 1977, a year after its founding by co-owner and publisher Terry Nantier (TN) and partners Chris Beall and Marc Minoustchine. Influenced by the popularity of graphic novels in Europe at the time, the company began releasing English translations of top-line European cartoonists as well as reprints of classic newspaper comics. Innovative and focused on distribution via traditional bookstores rather than specialty comics shops, their efforts have helped forge today’s broad comics market.
Could you imagine when you started NBM that comics would come to be so beloved and integral to modern culture?
TN: I did, actually, as that was the vision. Did I imagine it would take over 20 years to even begin to get there? No. Obviously, I figured graphic novels would take America by storm in a couple of years. Not exactly, but I persevered, and we saw incremental progress through much of those first 20 years.
How do you choose which works to translate and release in U.S. editions?
I have maintained great relations with Europe’s leading publishers of comics from the beginning. Do we get a first look? Fairly often, since I travel twice a year to Frankfurt, Germany, and Bologna, Italy, but not as a matter of contract or agreement. I’m continually sent the best choices, filtered for what we’re seeking these days: general fiction and nonfiction.
How do you find the right translator for a given work?
A good translation is indeed necessary. We have a few translators now, and I do some pretty severe editing, making sure the language sounds natural, steering away from a theatrical and literary tone the French like to use (and French readers expect) to the easygoing attitude of U.S. readers. I shy away from the pompous or oratorical, [which] can appear stiff to us. It’s not easy, and there are spots I find later where I kick myself for missing something that could have been better.
From your perspective, are stories today blending genres more than they did in the past?
Yes. For example, I’ve read stories in which an sf setting really becomes a vehicle for a psychological study of characters rather than a story about creating a new world. Our forthcoming Persia Blues (Jul.) by Dara Naraghi and Brent Bowman does just that, blending a young Iranian girl’s experience in today’s world with fantasy steeped in Persian legend. However, NBM has a small list, so we’ve stuck mostly with excellent literary fiction from creators such as Cyril Pedrosa, the creative team of Kerascoët, and Sean Michael Wilson. That said, we are doing sf/fantasy parody (Dungeon and Zombillenium), and, recently, we published the charming sf Look by American author Jon Nielsen (a librarian, I might add).
What 2017 titles are you most excited about?
We’re very proud that it is our 40th anniversary and are taking the occasion to bring back some classics from years past. This fall, we’ll rerelease the remarkable Streak of Chalk by Miguelanxo Prado, a psychological thriller, with breathtaking paintings, set on a small, wayward island. We’re also republishing the entire Mercenary saga by Vicente Segrelles, which I believe is the world’s first fully painted—in oil—realistically styled heroic fantasy. Each panel is a painting you could put up on your wall, and the stories are quite fun. We will also continue our very successful biographies series with Sartre, Monet, and Rick Geary looking at Billy the Kid, as well as more works by Pedrosa and Kerascoët.
Going Graphic
Below are the forthcoming titles mentioned in this article. Translations are denoted by [Tr.]
| AUTHOR | TITLE | PUBLISHER | RELEASE |
| Aaronovitch, Ben & others | Rivers of London. Vol. 3: Black Mould | Titan Comics | Jul. |
| Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem & others | Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook | Titan Comics | Sept. |
| Alagbé, Yvan | Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures [Tr.] | NYRC | Oct. |
| Ata, Iasmin Omar | Mis(h)adra | Gallery 13: S. & S. | Oct. |
| Black’more, Élian & Carine-M | Spooky & the Strange Tales: Monster Inn [Tr.] | IDW | Aug. |
| Breathed, Berkeley | Bloom County: Brand Spanking New Day | IDW | Sept. |
| Chabouté, Christophe | Alone | Gallery 13: S. & S. | Jul. |
| Chanani, Nidhi | Pashmina | First Second | Oct. |
| Chast, Roz | Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York | Bloomsbury USA | Oct. |
| Claveloux, Nicole | The Green Hand: And Other Stories [Tr.] | NYRC | Sept. |
| Cloonan, Becky | By Chance or Providence | Image | Jul. |
| Coste, Xavier | Egon Schiele [Tr.] | Firefly | Sept. |
| Czap, Kevin | Fütchi Perf | Uncivilized | Sept. |
| Davis, Lacy J. & Jim Kettner | Ink in Water | New Harbinger | Oct. |
| Davodeau, Étienne | The Cross-Eyed Mutt [Tr.] | NBM | Jun. |
| Durand, Anouck | Eternal Friendship [Tr.] | Siglio | Oct. |
| Dwinell, Kim | Surfside Girls. Bk. 1: The Secret of Danger Point | Top Shelf: IDW | Jul. |
| Ferris, Emil | My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. Vol. 2 | Fantagraphics | Oct. |
| Findakly, Brigitte & Lewis Trondheim | Poppies in Iraq [Tr.] | Drawn & Quarterly | Sept. |
| Fiske, Lars | Grosz [Tr.] | Fantagraphics | Sept. |
| Fumino, Yuki | I Hear the Sunspot [Tr.] | One Peace | Aug. |
| Gijsemans, Ben | Hubert [Tr.] | Jonathan Cape: Random UK | Jun. |
| Gooch, Chris | Bottled | Top Shelf: IDW | Sept. |
| Harris, Carrie & Stipe Kalajžic | On the Wall | One Peace | Jun. |
| Harvey, Janet & Megan Levens | Angel City: Town Without Pity | Oni | Aug. |
| Hennessey, Jonathan & Justin Greenwood | Alexander Hamilton | Ten Speed: Crown | Aug. |
| Hennessey, Jonathan & Jack McGowan | The Comic Book Story of Video Games | Ten Speed: Crown | Oct. |
| Igort | Japanese Notebooks: A Journey to the Empire of Signs | Chronicle | Jun. |
| Johnston, Lynn | For Better or for Worse: The Complete Library | IDW | Oct. |
| Katchor, Ben & Bill Kartalopoulos, eds. | The Best American Comics 2017 | Houghton Harcourt | Oct. |
| Kerascoët & Fabien Vehlmann | Satania [Tr.] | NBM | Nov. |
| Kickliy | Musnet. Vol. 4: The Tears of the Painter [Tr.] | Odod: Uncivilized | Sept. |
| Kondo, Marie & Yuko Uramoto | The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up [Tr.] | Ten Speed: Crown | Jun. |
| Kuper, Peter | Diario de Oaxaca | PM Pr. | Sept. |
| Lansdale, Joe R. & Jussi Piironen | Hap and Leonard: Savage Season | IDW | Oct. |
| Lansdale, Joe R. & Sam Glanzman | Red Range: A Wild Western Adventure | It’s Alive: IDW | Jun. |
| Liu, Marjorie & Sana Takeda | Monstress. Vol. 2: The Blood | Image | Jun. |
| Lyfoung, Patricia | Scarlet Rose [Tr.] | Charmz: Papercutz | Nov. |
| Magruder, Nilah | M.F.K. | Insight | Sept. |
| Milligan, Peter & Juan José Ryp | Brittania. Vol. 2 | Valiant | Oct. |
| Moore, Dan Mendez | Six Days in Cincinnati | Microcosm | Jun. |
| Naifeh, Ted | Night’s Dominion. Vol. 1 | Oni | Jul. |
| Naraghi, Dara & Brent Bowman | Persia Blues | NBM | Jul. |
| Newman, Kim & Paul McCaffrey | Anno Dracula: 1895 | Titan Comics | Nov. |
| O’Neill, Katie | The Tea Dragon Society | Oni | Oct. |
| Osborne, Melissa Jane & Veronica Fish | The Wendy Project | Super Genius: Papercutz | Jul. |
| Pepose, David Jr. & Jorge Santiago | Spencer & Locke | Action Lab | Aug. |
| Powell, Nate | Nate Powell’s Omnibox | Top Shelf: IDW | Jun. |
| Ramadier, Mathilde & Anaïs Depommier | Sartre [Tr.] | NBM | Aug. |
| Rucka, Greg & others | Wonder Woman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition. Bk. 1 | DC | Oct. |
| Russell, Mark & Steve Pugh | The Flintstones. Vol. 2: Bedrock Bedlam | DC | Oct. |
| Sacco, Kevin | Josephine | Slave Labor | Aug. |
| Sattouf, Riad | The Arab of the Future. Vol. 3 [Tr.] | Holt | Sept. |
| Silloray, Florent | Robert Capa: A Graphic Biography [Tr.] | Firefly | Sept. |
| Skelly, Katie | My Pretty Vampire | Fantagraphics | Aug. |
| Smith, Juliana & others | (H)afrocentric Comics. Vols. 1–4 | PM Pr. | Sept. |
| Symington, Sabrina | First Year Out: A Transgender Transcript | Singing Dragon: Jessica Kingsley | Nov. |
| Tsuge, Tadao | Slum Wolf [Tr.] | NYRC | Nov. |
| Unferth, Deb Olin & Elizabeth Haidle | I, Parrot | Black Balloon: Catapult | Nov. |
| Various | The Book of Ballads: The Original Art Edition | Titan Comics | Nov. |
| Vaughan, Sarah & Lan Medina | Deadman. Vol. 1 | DC | Jun. |
| Wertz, Julia | Tenements, Towers & Trash | Black Dog & Leventhal | Oct. |
| Whyte, Campbell | Home Time. Bk. 1: Under the River | Top Shelf: IDW | Jun. |
| Willumsen, Connor | Anti-Gone | Koyama | Sept. |
