Usagi Yojimbo, Vol. 1: The Ronin


Stan Sakai - 1987
    He's a rabbit bodyguard, a samurai who wanders the mountains, plains, and villages of a 17th-century Japan populated almost exclusively by anthropomorphic animals. Cats, snakes, rhinos, and ninja moles plot and fight their way across a land ravaged by civil war. The 10 stories in this first collection introduce Usagi, the evil Lord Hikiji, and a host of other characters. The stories themselves can stand alone, but taken together they begin to form an ongoing saga of treachery and revenge. Sometimes violent, sometimes funny, Usagi's adventures are filled with fascinating historical detail. The costumes, landscapes, and buildings are beautifully drawn, creating such a sense of realism it's easy to forget the hero is a rabbit. If you buy the first book in this series, you'll want the rest.

Mirror: The Mountain


Emma Ríos - 2016
    But this strange society exists in an uneasy truce, in the aftermath of uprisings seeking freedom and acceptance, that have only ended in tragedy. As the ambitious, the desperate and the hopeful inhabitants of the asteroid struggle to decide their shared fate, a force greater than either animal or human seems to be silently watching the conflict, waiting for either side to finally answer the question: what is worthy of being human? EMMA RiOS (PRETTY DEADLY, ISLAND) and HWEI LIM (LALAGE, HERO) present MIRROR: THE MOUNTAIN, the first arc of a story about the mage-scientists of The Synchronia and the sentient animals of Irzah colony.

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 Puma Blues: The Complete Saga in One Volume


Stephen Murphy - 2015
    Without it, any well-stocked comics library should be considered incomplete." — A.V. Club"Absolutely outstanding art by Zulli. The visuals are eye-popping." — Publishers WeeklyOut of print for nearly 25 years and one of Rolling Stone's Top 50 Non-Super Hero graphic novels of all time, The Puma Blues is a series of interrelated stories that visualize life at the turn of the 21st century as a world of mutated animals, in which a lone government agent investigates the truth behind environmental degradation. Written by Stephen Murphy, the most prolific Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles author of all time, and illustrated by Michael Zulli, artist on many of the most popular Sandman comics, The Puma Blues unveils "a near-future world kissed by terrorist assaults…and the threat of ecological ruin. Zulli's wildlife art is utterly breathtaking." — The Comics Journal. "If you want to see a book with truly amazing art that challenges the constructs of illustrated fiction, look no further." — Cleveland.com. Suggested for mature readers.Exclusive Bonus Material:• New forty-page ending by original creators• Hard-to-find The Puma Blues mini-comic• New Introduction by Dave Sim, legendary creator of Cerebus• New Afterword by Stephen R. Bissette, acclaimed artist on Swamp Thing• Four-page The Puma Blues story by Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta)

Comic Book Tattoo


Rantz A. HoseleyMark Sable - 2008
    Cebulski, Nikki Cook, Hope Larson, John Ney Reiber, Ryan Kelly, and many, many others, Comic Book Tattoo encapsulates the breadth, depth, and beauty of modern comics in this coffee table format book.

Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #1


Zack Whedon - 2014
    Always outlaws, Mal, a very pregnant Zoe, new pilot River Tam, and the other surviving crew members are in greater danger than ever. Meanwhile, everyone is asking the same question . . .

The End of Summer


Tillie Walden - 2015
    Locked inside for the duration, he passes the time playing with his siblings and his giant cat, Nemo, while tensions within the family begin to simmer… In her first graphic novel, Tillie Walden tells the tragic and moving story of Lars and his twin sister, Maja. Full of subtle and tender character moments and set in an exquisitely rendered castle, it’s a hauntingly beautiful work that will no doubt be considered as one of the great debuts of 2015.

Black Bolt, Vol. 1: Hard Time


Saladin Ahmed - 2017
    The silent king of the Inhumans stars in his first-ever solo series! But it begins with Black Bolt...imprisoned?! Where exactly is he? Why has he been jailed? And who could be powerful enough to hold the uncanny Black Bolt? The answers to both will shock you -and Black Bolt as well! For if he is to learn the truth, he must first win a fight to the death with a fellow inmate -the Absorbing Man! Award-winning science fiction writer Saladin Ahmed (Throne of the Crescent Moon) crafts a story as trippy as it is action-packed, with truly mind-bending art from the one-and-only Christian Ward (ODY-C)! COLLECTING: BLACK BOLT 1-6

Pop Gun War Volume 1


Farel Dalrymple - 2003
    It is more about a feeling you, the reader, get from the story rather than a typical narrative. If you wanted to get literal, it is about an inner city boy, Sinclair, who discovers a pair of discarded angel wings. With these wings, Sinclair flies around the city and gets into adventures." - Farel Dalrymple, series creatorThis volume collects the critically acclaimed series into one volume for the first time.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs


Ed Brubaker - 2005
    Written by Ed Brubaker Art by Doug Mahnke, Patrick Zircher, Aaron Sowd and Steve Bird Cover by Mahnke Witness Batman's first encounter with The Joker in this hardcover volume collecting the graphic novel BATMAN: THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, by Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke! This collection also includes DETECTIVE COMICS #784-786, a murder-mystery tale guest-starring Green Lantern Alan Scott!

Gemma Bovery


Posy Simmonds - 1999
    A sudden windfall and Gemma's distaste for London take them across the Channel to Normandy, where the charms of French country living soon wear off.Gemma's neighbor, the intellectual baker Joubert, is consumed by fascination for her. Denying voyeurism but nonetheless noting every change in the fit of Gemma's jeans, every addition to her wardrobe, all of her love bites and lovers, Joubert -- with the help of the heroine's diaries -- follows her path toward ruin.Adultery and its consequences. Disappointment and deception. Fat and slim. Then and now. Familiar ingredients of the novel are given new life in Gemma Bovery's unique graphic form.From the Hardcover edition.

Lout Rampage!


Daniel Clowes - 1992
    This 1991 paperback includes stories from Eightball #1-6, along with strips Clowes created for alternative comics anthologies Blab!, Young Lust, and Weirdo. It includes several of the cartoonist’s one-page collaborations with The Duplex Planet creator David Greenberger and two of his most well-known comic-strip rants: “I Hate You Deeply” and “I Love You Tenderly.”

Skullkickers, Vol. 1: 1000 Opas and a Dead Body


Jim Zub - 2011
    Image's new hit fantasy action-comedy series has gone through multiple printings of each issue released so far and is getting rave reviews from readers and critics alike. Pick up the first collection and find out what all the excitement is about.Collects SKULLKICKERS #1-5 and the short stories from POPGUN, VOL. 2 & 3

The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel


Robert Venditti - 2010
    You've seen the movie. Now submerge yourself in the thrilling, stunning, and action-packed graphic novel. Mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking out of the pages of twelve-year-old Percy Jackson's textbooks and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, he and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. Series creator Rick Riordan joins forces with some of the biggest names in the comic book industry to tell the story of a boy who must unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

The City of Shifting Waters


Pierre Christin - 1970
    Valerian and Laureline are agents who protect mankind from rogue time travellers. Now they are sent to New York in 1986 to intercept Galaxity's worst megalomaniac, Xombul-except that in 1986, the world is in ruins and New York is about to be swallowed by the ocean. The two agents must navigate the shifting waters of the past to make sure that the future will exist.