Book picks similar to
Idle Days by Thomas Desaulniers-Brousseau


graphic-novels
graphic-novel
comics
historical-fiction

Lady Mechanika Vol. 1: The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse


Joe Benítez - 2015
    Having no memory of her captivity or her former life, Lady Mechanika eventually built a new life for herself as an adventurer and private investigator, using her unique abilities to solve cases the proper authorities couldn't or wouldn't handle. But she never stopped searching for the answers to her own past. Set in a fictionalized steampunk Victorian England, a time when magic and superstition clashed with new scientific discoveries and inventions, Lady Mechanika chronicles a young woman's obsessive search for her identity as she investigates other mysteries involving science and the supernatural. This volume collects the entire first Lady Mechanika mini-series The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse, including its prequel chapter The Demon of Satan's Alley, plus a complete cover art gallery.

Grimoire Noir


Vera Greentea - 2019
    But when his little sister is kidnapped because of her extraordinary power, Bucky has to get out of his own head and go on a strange journey to investigate the small town that gives him so much grief. And in the process he uncovers the town’s painful history and a conspiracy that will change it forever.

Crawl Space


Jesse Jacobs - 2017
    But in the fraught realm of adolescence, can friendship survive the appeal of the surreal?Jesse Jacobs was born in Moncton, NB, and now draws comics and things from his home in Hamilton, ON. In 2009, his books Small Victories and Blue Winter were short listed at the Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning. He received the Gene Day Award for Canadian Comic Book Self-Publisher of 2008. Even the Giants (AdHouse, 2011) marked his major publishing debut after several award-winning, self-published titles, and his work has appeared in the acclaimed Latvian comics anthology š!, as well as the 2012 edition The Best American Comics edited by Françoise Mouly and published Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He made his debut with Koyama Press in 2012 with the psychedelic creation myth By This Shall You Know Him, which was followed by the trippy take on nature versus nurture, Safari Honeymoon in 2014.

Laika


Nick Abadzis - 2007
    This is her journey.Nick Abadzis blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, once a political prisoner, now a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program, and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for Laika's health and life.

PTSD


Guillaume Singelin - 2019
    Alone, desperate, and suffering from wounds both mental and physical, she seeks relief in the illicit drugs she manages to purchase or steal. Jun’s tough exterior served her well in combat, but she’ll need to nurture her vulnerability and humanity to survive at home. With the support of her fellow vets, the kindness of a stranger who refuses to turn away, and the companionship of a dog named Red, Jun learns to navigate the psychological trauma that she experienced in the war. Singelin's PTSD is an adult fiction graphic novel that grapples with the reality of being a war veteran about a traumatized war vet who must fend for herself against all odds.

Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula


Andi Watson - 2015
    This princess of the underworld has plenty of her own work to do but always seems to find herself doing her layabout father's job, as well. The king doesn't feel quite well, you see. Ever. So the princess is left scurrying through the halls, dodging her mummy, werewolf, and ghost subjects, always running behind and always buried under a ton of paperwork. Oh, and her father just fired the chef, so now she has to hire a new cook as well. Luckily for Princess Decomposia, she makes a good hire in Count Spatula, the vampire chef with a sweet tooth. He's a charming go-getter of a blood-sucker, and pretty soon the two young ghouls become friends. And then...more than friends? Maybe eventually, but first Princess Decomposia has to sort out her life. And with Count Spatula at her side, you can be sure she'll succeed. Andi Watson (Glister, Gum Girl) brings his signature gothy-cute sensibility to this very sweet and mildly spooky tale of friendship, family, and management training for the undead.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight


Brian Augustyn - 1989
    Presenting for the first time the adventures of the Victorian Era Batman in one 112-page edition! This volume includes the breakthrough Elseworlds specials Gotham by Gaslight and Master of the Future that pit the Dark Knight against Jack the Ripper and a death-dealer from the skies over Gotham!This edition collects the two one-shots: Gotham by Gaslight and Master of the Future.

Clean Room, Vol. 1: Immaculate Conception


Gail Simone - 2016
    Its creator started out as an obscure writer of disposable horror fiction who decided to change the world—one mind at a time. Now its adherents rule Hollywood while obeying their leader's every command.That's almost all anyone knows about the movement—or is it a cult?—founded by reclusive guru Astrid Mueller. But reporter Chloe Pierce is sure that there's something deeper hiding behind Honest World's facade. Her fiancé was a devoted follower of Mueller, right up to the moment when he blew his brains out while holding a copy of her book. Now Chloe wants answers from the woman whose words command the loyalty of millions—and she's ready to storm the top-secret sanctuary known as the Clean Room to get them.But there's more to Astrid Mueller than Chloe could ever imagine—and the truth that she's about to discover is more astonighing than any of Astrid's accomplishments, and more terrifying than any of her novels.From the mind of superstar writer Gail Simone and gifted artisti Jon Davis-Hunt comes CLEAN ROOM, VOL. 1: IMMACULATE CONCEPTION—a new vision of horror that takes you inside the locked chambers of sex, violence, celebrity, and the supernatural.Collectis issues #1-6

Poe: Stories and Poems: A Graphic Novel Adaptation


Gareth Hinds - 2017
    It is true that I am nervous. But why will you say that I am mad? In "The Cask of Amontillado," a man exacts revenge on a disloyal friend at carnival, luring him into catacombs below the city. In "The Masque of the Red Death," a prince shielding himself from plague hosts a doomed party inside his abbey stronghold. A prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, faced with a swinging blade and swarming rats, can t see his tormentors in "The Pit and the Pendulum," and in "The Tell-Tale Heart," a milky eye and a deafening heartbeat reveal the effects of conscience and creeping madness. Alongside these tales are visual interpretations of three poems "The Raven," "The Bells," and Poe s poignant elegy to lost love, "Annabel Lee." The seven concise graphic narratives, keyed to thematic icons, amplify and honor the timeless legacy of a master of gothic horror."

Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation, Vol. 1


Simon Spurrier - 2018
    Set in 18th-century Venice, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation is a striking look into the mysteries of the Labyrinth itself, uncovering the fate of a small boy named Jareth who would one day be King. Simon Spurrier (The Spire, Jim Henson’s The Power of the Dark Crystal) and Daniel Bayliss (Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Dragons, Big Trouble in Little China/Escape from New York) present a look into a magical world where nothing is as it seems and introduce Maria, a heroine instilled with courage, hope, and determination.Collects issues #1-4

Salem Brownstone: All Along the Watchtowers


John Harris Dunning - 2009
    As he twists the key and slowly creeps into the grand mansion left to him in his father's will, Salem Brownstone has an eerie feeling that his world is about to change. First there's the appearance of a beguiling contortionist from Dr. Kinoshita's Circus of Unearthly Delights . . . then a crystal ball . . . then an attack by the sinister Shadow Boys. It seems the father that Salem never knew was actually a powerful magician, and the son has inherited his dark legacy -- and an unfinished battle for life or death. With intriguing echoes of Tim Burton, Edward Gorey, H. P. Lovecraft, and Aubrey Beardsley, this album-format, beautifully cloth-bound graphic novel forges a mesmerizing style all its own."Wonderfully imaginative and stylish. . . . A perfect example of the adventurous new directions that comic books should be taking in the future." -- Alan Moore, author of WATCHMEN and V FOR VENDETTA

Sandcastle


Pierre Oscar Lévy - 2010
    Soon everybody is growing older—every half hour—and there doesn’t seem to be any way out of the cove. Levy’s dramatic storytelling works seamlessly with Peeters’s sinister art to create a profoundly disturbing and fantastical mystery.

Eat, and Love Yourself


Sweeney Boo - 2020
    One night, while perusing the aisles of the neighborhood convenience store for a midnight snack, she finds a new product. A chocolate bar called “Eat and Love Yourself”. On a whim, Mindy buys the curious candy, not knowing that with every piece of chocolate she eats, she will be brought back to a specific moment of her past -- helping her to look at herself honestly, learn to love her body the way it is, and accepting love. Perhaps, she will even realize that her long lost high school best friend, Elliot, was more than just a friend…

Ethel and Ernest


Raymond Briggs - 1998
    They meet during the Depression -- she working as a chambermaid, he as a milkman -- and we follow them as they encounter, and cope with, World War II, the advent of radio and t.v., telephones and cars, the atomic bomb, the moon landing. Briggs's portrayal of his parents as they succeed, or fail, in coming to terms with their rapidly shifting world is irresistably engaging -- full of sympathy and affection, yet clear-eyed and unsentimental.The book's strip-cartoon format is deceptively simple; it possesses a wealth of detail and an emotional depth that are remarkable in such a short volume. Briggs's marvelous illustrations and succinct, true-to-life dialogue create a real sense of time and place, of what it was like to experience such enormous changes. Almost as much a social history as it is a personal account, Ethel & Ernest is a moving tribute to ordinary people living in an extraordinary time.

The Unwritten, Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity


Mike Carey - 2010
    His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom's real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it's even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom.When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map -- one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction.Collecting: The Unwritten 1-5