Book picks similar to
Cyclopedia Exotica by Aminder Dhaliwal


graphic-novels
comics
graphic-novel
fantasy

I Left The House Today!


Cassandra Calin - 2020
    This beautifully illustrated compendium of first-person comics about the trials of the single life, school, stress, junk food, shaving, and maintaining a healthy self-image. Cassandra Calin's comics frequently highlight the humorous gap between expectations and reality, especially when it comes to appearance and how much she can accomplish in one day.

Home After Dark


David Small - 2018
    Suddenly forced to fend for himself, Russell struggles to survive in Marshfield, a dilapidated town haunted by a sadistic animal killer and a ring of malicious boys who bully Russell for being “queer.” Rescued from his booze-swilling father by Wen and Jian Mah, a Chinese immigrant couple who long for a child, Russell betrays their generosity by running away with their restaurant’s proceeds.

Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him


Robert Kirkman - 2015
    Unfortunately, what he uncovers along the way could bring about the end of life on Earth as we know it. Collects OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #1-6.

Skyward, Vol. 1: My Low-G Life


Joe Henderson - 2018
    Twenty years later, humanity has adapted to its new low-gravity reality. And to Willa Fowler, a woman born just after G-day, it's...well, it's pretty awesome, actually. You can fly through the air! I mean, sure, you can also die if you jump too high. So you just don't jump too high. And maybe don't get mixed up in your Dad's secret plan to bring gravity back that could get you killed...SKYWARD, VOL. 1 collects issues #1-5 of the ongoing series from writer Joe Henderson (showrunner of Fox's Lucifer) and artist Lee Garbett (Lucifer, Loki: Agent of Asgard).

Shortcomings


Adrian Tomine - 2007
    Along the way, Tomine tackles modern culture, sexual mores, and racial politics with brutal honesty and lacerating, irreverent humor, while deftly bringing to life a cast of painfully real antihero characters. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, Tomine has acquired a cultlike fan following and has earned status as one of the most widely acclaimed cartoonists of our time.Shortcomings was serialized in Tomine's iconic comic book series Optic Nerve and was excerpted in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13.

Bitter Root, Vol. 1: Family Business


David F. Walker - 2019
    A terrible tragedy has claimed most of the family, leaving the surviving cousins split between curing monsters and killing them. Now, with a new breed of monster loose on the streets of Harlem, the Sangerye family must come together, or watch the human race fall to untold evil.Collects BITTER ROOT #1-5

After the Rain


Nnedi Okorafor - 2021
    . . and her life is changed forever  After the Rain is a graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s short story “On the Road.” The drama takes place in a small Nigerian town during a violent and unexpected storm. A Nigerian-American woman named Chioma answers a knock at her door and is horrified to see a boy with a severe head wound standing at her doorstep. He reaches for her, and his touch burns like fire. Something is very wrong. Haunted and hunted, Chioma must embrace her heritage in order to survive. John Jennings and David Brame’s graphic novel collaboration uses bold art and colors to powerfully tell this tale of identity and destiny.

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Comic Book


Leighton GrayJarrett Williams - 2019
    The comic series tells five standalone stories, each focused on different Maple Bay Dads, their kids, and their relationships with one another. Dive into entirely new stories featuring the backstories and adventures of your favorite Dads, told by game co-creators Leighton Gray and Vernon Shaw, along with the comic industry's top indie talent like C. Spike Trotman, Josh Trujillo, and Kris Anka!

SLAM! Vol. 1


Pamela Ribon - 2017
    From the first day of Fresh Meat Orientation for the Eastside Roller Girls, Jennifer and Maisie knew they’d be fast friends. But when they’re drafted to different teams, the pull of competition — and their increasingly messy personal lives — threaten to drive them apart. In roller derby you take your hits, get back up, and learn how to be a better jammer, a better blocker, a better lover, and a better friend. Derby can heal your heart...but it might break a bone or two in the process. Bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and retired Los Angeles Derby Doll Pamela Ribon (Going In Circles, Why Girls Are Weird) joins artist Veronica Fish (Archie, Silk) for a tale of friendship, heartbreak, and truly epic jams.

Displacement


Kiku Hughes - 2020
    Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

Prez, Vol. 1: Corndog-in-Chief


Mark Russell - 2016
    In a nation where corporations can run for office, the poor are used as human billboards, and tacos are delivered by drone, our only hope is this nineteen-year-old Twitter sensation. But the real question isn’t whether she’s ready for politics—it’s whether politics is ready for her.Writer Mark Russell (God Is Disappointed in You) and artist Ben Caldwell (Star Wars: Clone Wars) take on a very unusual hero in these stories from PREZ #1-6, along with the Sneak Peek story from CONVERGENCE: BATGIRL #2.

Apsara Engine


Bishakh Kumar Som - 2020
    A woman drowns herself in a past affair, a tourist chases another guest into an unforeseen past, and a nonbinary academic researches postcolonial cartography. Imagining diverse futures and rewriting old mythologies, these comics delve into strange architectures, fetishism, and heartbreak.Painted in rich, sepia-toned watercolors, Apsara Engine is trans illustrator Bishakh Som's highly anticipated debut work of fiction. Showcasing a series of fraught, darkly humorous, and seemingly alien worlds—which ring all too familiar—Som captures the weight of twenty-first-century life as we hurl ourselves forward into the unknown.

Shadow Life


Hiromi Goto - 2021
    She goes on the lam and finds a cozy bachelor apartment, keeping the location secret even while communicating online with her eldest daughter. Kumiko revels in the small, daily pleasures: decorating as she pleases, eating what she wants, and swimming in the community pool. But something has followed her from her former residence—Death’s shadow.Kumiko’s sweet life is shattered when Death’s shadow swoops in to collect her. With her quick mind and sense of humor, Kumiko, with the help of friends new and old, is prepared for the fight of her life. But how long can an old woman thwart fate?

Faith, Volume 1: Hollywood & Vine


Jody HouserPete Pantazis - 2016
    But now this once ordinary teenager is taking control of her destiny and becoming the hard-hitting hero she's always known she can be - complete with a mild-mannered secret identity, unsuspecting colleagues, and a day job as a reporter that routinely throws into her harms way! Well, at least she thought it would When she's not typing up listicles about cat videos, Faith makes a secret transformation to patrol the night as the City of Angels' own leading superhero - the sky-soaring Zephyr!But flying solo is going to be tougher than she ever thought when Zephyr uncovers a deep-rooted alien conspiracy. Two-bit burglars and car thieves are one thing, but when the world needs a hero to stave off an full-blown extraterrestrial invasion, will Faith find herself in over her head or ready for her biggest challenge yet?Rising star Jody Houser (Orphan Black) and explosive artists Francis Portela (Green Lantern) and Marguerite Sauvage (DC Comics Bombshells) pilot a new chapter for the high-flying hero that People Magazine calls "a superhero we can all admire." Collecting: Faith 1-4

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1


Emil Ferris - 2017
    Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. Full-color illustrations throughout.