Book picks similar to
Idle Days by Thomas Desaulniers-Brousseau


graphic-novels
graphic-novel
comics
historical-fiction

The Nameless City


Faith Erin Hicks - 2016
    and no name.Built on an ancient mountain pass, the City is forever being invaded by one nation or another, and every new master gives it a new name. But for the natives, their home is the Nameless City, and those who try to name it are forever outsiders. Dreamy, sheltered Kaidu is one such outsider. He's a Dao born and bred — a son of the latest nation to occupy the Nameless City. Cynical, street-smart Rat is a native, and at first she hates Kai for everything he stands for. But Kai's love of his new home may be the one thing that can unite these two unlikely friends. And they will need to stand together at all costs......because the fate of the Nameless City rests in their hands.

The Divine


Boaz Lavie - 2015
    But you never really get away from war. So it feels inevitable when his old army buddy Jason comes calling, with a lucrative military contract for a mining job in an obscure South-East Asian country called Quanlom. They'll have to operate under the radar--Quanlom is being torn apart by civil war, and the US military isn't strictly supposed to be there.With no career prospects and a baby on the way, Mark finds himself making the worst mistake of his life and signing on with Jason. What awaits him in Quanlom is going to change everything. What awaits him in Quanlom is weirdness of the highest order: a civil war led by ten-year-old twins wielding something that looks a lot like magic, leading an army of warriors who look a lot like gods.What awaits him in Quanlom is an actual goddamn dragon.From world-renowned artists Asaf and Tomer Hanuka (twins, whose magic powers are strictly confined to pen and paper) and Boaz Lavie, The Divine is a fast-paced, brutal, and breathlessly beautiful portrait of a world where ancient powers vie with modern warfare and nobody escapes unscathed.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: A Graphic Novel


I.N.J. Culbard - 2013
    A dangerous inmate disappears from a private hospital for the insane, his method of escape baffling the authorities. Only the patient's final visitor, family physician Dr. Marinus Bicknell Willett—himself a pece of the puzzle—holds the key to unlocking The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. A macabre mixture of historical investigation, grave-robbing and bone-chilling revelation, this adaptation artfully lays bare one of H.P. Lovecraft's most horrifying creations.

Moonshine, Vol. 1


Brian Azzarello - 2017
    Lou figures it for milk run -- how hard could it be to set-up moonshine shipments from a few ass-backward hillbillies? What Lou doesn't figure on is that Holt is just as cunning as ruthless as any NYC crime boss and Lou is in way over his pin-striped head. Because not only will Holt do anything to protect his illicit booze operation, he'll stop at nothing to protect a much darker family secret...a bloody, supernatural secret that must never see the light of day...or better still, the light of the full moon.Volume one of MOONSHINE reunites the acclaimed creative team that defined modern crime comics with 100 Bullets...and now puts a horror-twist on a classic gangster tale!Collects Issues 1-6

Archival Quality


Ivy Noelle Weir - 2018
    But Cel is desperate to feel useful, and Abayomi Abiola, the Logan Museum's chief curator, is desperate to hire a new archivist. Cel soon realizes the job is unlike any other she's had. There's an apartment onsite she's required to live in, she only works in the middle of the night, and she definitely gets the impression that there's more to the museum than Abayomi and her new boss, Holly Park are letting on. And then strange things start happening. Odd noises. Objects moving. Vivid, terrifying dreams of a young woman Cel's never met, but feels strangely drawn to. A woman who for some reason needs Cel's help.As Cel attempts to learn more about her, she begins losing time, misplacing things, passing out--there's no denying the job is becoming dangerous. But Cel can't let go of the woman in her dreams. Who is she? Why is she so fixated on Cel? And does Cel have the power to save herself?

Spectacle Vol. 1


Megan Rose Gedris - 2018
    Sharing a room with her sister was hard, but now they're sharing a body while trying to identify the killer. With few leads, a troupe full of secretive folk, and strange paranormal occurrences popping up around the circus, solving the case seems near impossible. But the murderer in their midst may be the least of their problems...  "Humorous and heartfelt, creepy and captivating; readers will eagerly hope for another volume." - Kirkus

Beautiful Darkness


Fabien Vehlmann - 2009
    Join princess Aurora and her friends as they journey to civilization's heart of darkness in a bleak allegory about surviving the human experience.  The sweet faces and bright leaves of Kerascoët’s delicate watercolors serve to highlight the evil that dwells beneath Vehlmann's story as pettiness, greed, and jealousy take over. Beautiful Darkness is a harrowing look behind the routine politeness and meaningless kindness of civilized society.

Deadly Class, Volume 1: Reagan Youth


Rick Remender - 2014
    Marcus Lopez hates school. His grades suck. The jocks are hassling his friends. He can’t focus in class. But the jocks are the children of Joseph Stalin’s top assassin, the teachers are members of an ancient league of assassins, the class he's failing is “Dismemberment 101,” and his crush has a double-digit body count. Welcome to the most brutal high school on earth, where the world’s top crime families send the next generation of assassins to be trained. Murder is an art. Killing is a craft. At Kings Dominion School for the Deadly Arts, the dagger in your back isn’t always metaphorical. Collecting the first arc of the most critically acclaimed new series of 2014, by writer RICK REMENDER (BLACK SCIENCE, Fear Agent) and rising star artist WESLEY CRAIG (Batman). Experience the 1980s underground through the eyes of the world’s most damaged and dangerous teenagers.Collects DEADLY CLASS #1-6.

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

Wayward, Vol. 1: String Theory


Jim Zub - 2015
    Can Rori unlock the secrets of her power before it's too late? Jim Zub (Samurai Jack, Skullkickers), Steve Cummings (Legends of the Dark Knight, Deadshot), and John Rauch (Invincible) team-up to create an all-new Image supernatural spectacle that combines the camaraderie and emotion of Buffy with the action and mystery of Hellboy. This volume collects the first five issues of the acclaimed comic series, Wayward.

Baltimore, Vol. 1: The Plague Ships


Mike Mignola - 2011
    Lord Henry Baltimore, a soldier determined to wipe out the monsters, fights his way through bloody battlefields, ruined plague ships, exploding zeppelins, and submarine graveyards, on the hunt for the creature who’s become his obsession.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec 1: Pterror Over Paris/The Eiffel Tower Demon


Jacques Tardi - 1976
    With various American attempts to publish Adele having dribbled into nothing decades ago, Fantagraphics Books, fresh from its triumphs with Tardi's West Coast Blues and You Are There, launches a spectacular, newly retranslated, hardcover series ¬- The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec - that intends to collect every one of its nine (soon ten) volumes. In this premiere installment which features two tales, "Pterror Over Paris" and "The Eiffel Tower Demon," Adele becomes involved in a series of mysteries that involve a revived pterodactyl, a frightful on-stage murder, a looming execution by guillotine, and a demon from the depths of hell - plus of course moronic gendarmes, loyal (or perhaps traitorous?) henchmen, and a climax atop the Eiffel Tower.

Afterlife with Archie, Vol. 1: Escape from Riverdale


Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa - 2014
    Archie and the gang go where they've never been before -- to the grave and back! A horrific accident sets off a series of grim events and Sabrina the Teenage Witch must try to repair the unspeakable evil her spell has unleashed. Gasp in horror as Riverdale faces an impending zombie Arch-pocalypse in this spine-tingling ongoing series -- but be warned, kiddies, this one's not for the faint of heart! For TEEN+ readers.Collects Afterlife with Archie #1-5

Black Is the Color


Julia Gfrörer - 2013
    The narrative also explores the experiences of the loved ones he leaves behind, on his ship and at home on land, as well as of the mermaids who jadedly witness his destruction. At the heart of the story lie the dubious value of maintaining dignity to the detriment of intimacy, and the erotic potential of the worst-case scenario. Julie Gfrörer’s delicate drawing style perfectly complements the period era of Black Is the Color, bringing the lyricism and romanticism of Gfrörer’s prose to the fore. Black Is the Color is a book as seductive as the sirens it depicts.

Ice Cream Man, Vol. 1: Rainbow Sprinkles


W. Maxwell Prince - 2018
    Each installment features its own cast of strange characters, dealing with their own special sundae of suffering. And on the periphery of all of them, like the twinkly music of his colorful truck, is the Ice Cream Man—a weaver of stories, a purveyor of sweet treats. Friend. Foe. God. Demon. The man who with a snap of his fingers—lickety split!—can change the course of your life forever.