Through The Black Gate by Alfredo Cáceres. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2026. 9781664941839. 264pp. including an afterword, early concept art, and sheet music for a song that’s played in the book, “Requiem for Lost Souls.”

Irene lost her parents in a fire, but in their house’s ashes she found a cat, Moses, who then helped her find a book there, too. A Comprehensive Guide to the Graylands is about ghosts and what happens after death. Irene thinks her father’s spirit lives on in Moses, which explains why he keeps trying to escape the hostel where she lives with her guardian, Ruth, to return to the site of the fire.

Ruth’s ghost-obsessed nephew, Francis, comes for a visit, bringing his guitar. When Francis sings the song his mentor taught him, Moses glows. Moses escapes soon after, and Francis and Ruth head out to find him. They talk about ghosts and such, and then Francis’s music opens a portal to the Graylands. There they end up on a quest of sorts to help Ruth’s father’s spirit pass through the Black Gate.

Worth noting: the Graylands are just a bit spooky, and Cáceres populates them with compelling characters, mythical and human. (His drawings are beautiful, as are the colors by Diego Mora.) Francis can hear music everywhere there. Many of the spirits he and Ruth encounter recognize Moses, and seem to want to help the kids. But the Keeper of the Forest is not as kind as they hoped, and the Ferryman, who guides spirits through the Black Gate, has selfish desires of his own.

Journey to Tomioka by Laurent Galandon and Michaël Crouzat. Translated by Ann and Owen Smith. First Second, 2026. 9781250406712. 105pp. 

After the 2011 earthquake that caused the failure of the cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Akiko and her little brother, Osamu, have been raised by their grandmother in an area outside the contaminated zone. Akiko thinks Osamu is childish because he still believes in yokai. (In truth, he can see and talk to them.) Their grandma misses the animals at the farm she had to abandon, as well as her husband. 

After their grandma passes away, a distant cousin arrives to take them to her apartment in Tokyo. Osamu insists their grandmother’s ashes need to be delivered to her farm first because their grandfather and her animals are waiting for their grandmother. The first chance he gets, Osamu flees into the forbidden zone toward the farm. Akiko soon joins him. Pursued by authorities and menaced by a pack of dogs (along with a strange, glowing yokai), they find some help in the form of a character based on Naoto Matsumura, who I believe still lives in the contaminated area to care for the animals left behind there. (He was featured in another graphic novel I reviewed: Guardian of Fukushima by Fabien Grolleau, illustrated by Ewen Blain.)

This graphic novel includes an afterword by Galandon, photos from his research trip to Fukushima (including a photo he took of Naoto Matsumura!), and character designs and sketches by Crouzat.

Serine lives in a run-down manor with her family, including several younger brothers. She wants to learn to read, but her tutor is more interested in teaching her how to behave as a member of society. (Of course she refuses to learn these lessons.) When her mother wants to send her to a monastery, she instead asks to go to the palace to become a lady-in-waiting for the Queen. Her mother refuses, but that doesn’t stop her from going anyway.

There, she’s mistaken for a servant before finally taking a place in the Queen’s service. When she is expected to give the Queen a compliment, her quick thinking puts her in the Queen’s good graces. But the other ladies set her up to fail, and then she has to fend off the Queen’s secretary as well. It’s soon clear she has made too many enemies, one of whom even tries to kill her. But she survives and returns as a masked jester, helping and entertaining the King while doing a lot of good for the kingdom, too. 

I’m a huge fan of Kerascöet’s graphic novels (Beauty, Miss Don’t Touch Me, Beautiful Darkness), and even met them at Seattle’s Short Run comics fest a few years ago. Their illustration style (they’re a married couple who work together) adds a lightness to even the darkest of subjects; as a child, my daughter loved Beautiful Darkness, which is set in and around a dead girl’s body in the woods. In The Court Charade the torturer and his apprentice get this treatment; they’re more than humane, and even those in their “care” seem to treat their confinement as time in a clubhouse of sorts. Kerascöet makes it all work. 

While this is a light story with lots of acrobatic antics and humor, it’s not really a kid-friendly book in all ways. After you get a copy for your library, shelve it in your adult collection. 

The Last Watchtower by Karl Slominski. Black Panel Press, 2026. 9781990521546. 154pp. 

Cal, an astronaut living on the moon, is sixteen years into a thirty-year assignment. He records Earth’s disasters (natural and man-made) with the help of Blip, a robotic AI that thinks its resources are underutilized. The pair send frequent reports off to Earth; it’s routine, but sometimes the details get too real for Cal. All the death and suffering he observes gets to him despite his lunar strolls, his exercise routine, and the letters he writes to his wife. 

Then, in a crater, Cal finds a woman. She’s not wearing a space suit but somehow she’s alive. She provides a very human perspective on what Cal is witnessing, and how removed he seems to be from it all. And she gets him to talk about why he’s really there.

(In an afterword, I believe) Slominski explains the Covid origins of the graphic novel, including how (and why) the book feels so raw. I absolutely loved the art. 

The Yves Saint Laurent Revolution: The Story of “Le Smoking” by Loo Hui Phang, illustrations by Benjamin Bachelier. Thames & Hudson, 2026. 9780500030967. 168pp. Includes a Cast of Characters, a chronology, and a bibliography which includes exhibition catalogues and films. (This graphic novel was originally published in France, I believe.)

The book opens in 1966, with Yves Saint Laurent finishing sketches to be handed to his premiers d’atelier so that they can turn his ideas into reality. The sketches are of Le Smoking, a tuxedo adapted for women. In the next section, in 1967, he and Betty Catroux walk around New York while she’s wearing Le Smoking with little underneath. They’re turned away from high-end restaurants because Betty is breaking the rules by wearing “men’s clothes.” They discuss the history of fashion and laws about it, plus they run into Andy Warhol, Coco Chanel, and others; it’s easy to see why they were soulmates. 

My favorite section in the book is the next, “Dancing,” in which one of the aforementioned premiers d’atelier explains their job. It’s clear how exacting a knowledge of form, fabric, and stitching they bring to their work, and why different premiers d’atelier will produce different products from the same sketches. (This brought comic book inkers and colorists to mind for me; each has their own style and can change the look and feel of the art they help finish.)

The real star of the book for me is Bachelier’s art. It’s stunning. He blends pencils and inks, includes a bit of collage, and has just the right amount of color, some of it added using unexpected textures. Every page of this book provided me with a beautiful surprise. 

La Plus Belle Plage Du Norde by Lucas Burtin and Sun Bai. Fidèle Editions, 2021. 9782492290015. 76pp. In French, but there’s a translation of each panel that contains text on the inside of the dust jacket, in both English and Chinese. Images of / from the book plus ordering info at https://fidele-editions.com/products/la-plus-belle-plage-du-nord-lucas-burtin 

Here’s the description of the book from the publisher’s website (English version):  

“Following the rise of sea levels, on a deserted Earth, a Northern restaurant pours one last coffee to two friends who came to say goodbye. Just a moment to remember the strolls on the windy coast, confronted to the choice of leaving or staying. Further away, a thick cloud of smoke rises from the silent depths of the northern sea.”

This is a quiet, melancholy book. Humans have mostly abandoned the planet. A young woman travels to a nearby town to meet a friend at a cafe to say goodbye. Their meeting is awkward. 

This graphic novella is a stunning physical object. I tracked down how to order a copy after seeing some of Bai’s illustrations online, and was super happy to receive mine within a week. (The publisher is located in France but shipped my order from a US location.) I’ll be ordering more books from the Fidèle Editions again soon. 

Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol: The Graphic Novel: Beware the Werewolf adapted from a novel by Andres Miedoso, illustrated by Salvatore Costanza at Glass House Graphics. Little Simon, 2026. 9798347103706. 

Andres is a cat person. His best friend Desmond is a dog person, and he’s also the founder of the Ghost Patrol. The story begins with them looking for ghosts in a park when the dog catcher picks up a puppy the two are chasing. The strays in his truck look surprisingly happy! He invites them to visit the puppy at the pound the day after the night of the full moon. They sense something weird going on, and yeah, it involves werewolves.  Despite the chase scenes in the latter half of the book, it’s not too scary. 

The October Girl Book One by Matthew Dow Smith. Maverick, 2025. 9781960578594. 

Autumn used to believe in fairies and magic and her imaginary friend, Barnaby. Now she’s thirteen, has a weekend job, and her life is not a fairy tale. But then her imaginary friend shows up, and things start to get weird. She finds answers to what’s happening, or at least the beginning of them, in the bookstore she used to visit with her dad back before he left. 

I love Smith’s art, particularly how it works with his straightforward layouts. (I’ve already read Book Two in the series, and it’s great, too.)

All In Line by Saul Steinberg. New York Review Books, 2026. Introduction by Liona Finck. Afterword by Ianin Topliss. Includes additional drawings from the 1947 Penguin paperback edition plus: “Notes on All In Line” by Sheila Schwartz of The Saul Steinberg Foundation, and “Captions” which lists the original date of publication and other information about each drawing. 

I picked up this book because I’m a huge fan of Finck’s comics and illustrations. (I’m sure she mentioned it in her Substack newsletter, which you should subscribe to.) She explains that Steinberg “…is a good artist crush.” And that, “His perfect ease can’t be faked.” 

I don’t think you’ll fall in love with every drawing in this re-issue of Steinberg’s first book, but if you flip to five pages, I’d be willing to bet you’ll see one you’ll think about for a long while. Looking at his lines brought me joy. I love the images, in particular, that he seems to have composed with wire rather than ink. I don’t understand how he found ways to express thoughts that were so smart and silly at the same time. 

The Lights Of Niterói by Marcello Quintanilha. Translated from Portuguese by Bruna Dantas labato & Marcello Quintanilha. Fantagraphics, 2026. 9798875001772. 232pp.

Hélcio and his friend Noel (aka Turtle) are at the beach when they see someone in the distance fishing with dynamite. Hélcio wants to go out and grab some of the fish to sell, since there will be too much; Noel wants to play it safe and turn in the empty bottles he has. Hélcio has more reason to be cautious than Noel — he’s a rising star in the local soccer scene, and is supposed to be at practice soon — but he talks Noel into going out in a rented boat. 

What happens is beyond what either bargained for. It includes flashbacks of Hélcio’s life as he dives for fish, the threat of violence as the two try to sell their haul, and a storm that is as terrifying as it is beautifully drawn. As they try to keep their boat afloat, it’s clear that both their lives and their friendship are at stake.

Halloween Boy: Last of the Halloween Boys by Dave Baker. Oni Press, 2026. 9798894880747. 248pp.  Includes an interview with Baker. Includes material originally published as Halloween Boy # 1 – 5. 

Halloween Boy is “an individual without a past” who combats the impossible. He works “…as an archaeologist-for-hire, magical ghost hunter, and super-scientist explorer.” He is “…the patron saint of the impossible.” In the graphic novel’s introductory adventure, he rescues an alien slave girl named Carrion, calls upon spirits of thirteen monks for help opening a vault, and faces the guardians of the temple of a spider god (as well as others out to loot it, too). He refers to himself as a demon. And he wields a giant sword that is way beyond flaming. 

I love everything about this book, including its amusing yet serious tone, Baker’s un-inked art, and his minimal use of color. My favorite bits are the introductory pages to each chapter along with the pages where Baker goes berserk with his art. Halloween Boy reminds me of early Hellboy adventures in the best way, and it has the energy of Michel Fiffe’s Copra. 

I had an early electronic review PDF but had to buy a copy for myself the day it was released. The book is a beautiful physical object that belongs on your shelf! File it next to Baker’s amazing Mary Tyler Moorehawk and the recently published Punk’n Heads, which he co-created with Nicole Goux.