Scion by James Islington. S&S / Saga Press, 2026. 9781668239247. 240pp. 

Azure is a gene-boosted agent of the Keres. Mostly he’s contracted to assassinate lifers — those who can afford the drugs needed to keep them young forever. (Those on basic income sometimes crowdfund these assignments, though he usually doesn’t know who hired him or why.) The book opens with the final moments of one such job, with Azure taking on a many-eyed, many-armed, many-clawed bioweapon. 

Azure is a big banged-up, but his next assignment should be easy. It’s a protection gig. They’re usually low-risk, but this one just keeps getting weirder. The compound outside the megacity, Themis, where he is dropped off to meet his client, is impossibly expensive once he understands its features. And that client presents as incredibly old, though she could obviously afford not to. He’s not allowed the help of the AI, Atti, that he usually relies on. And along with his pay he’s offered a bonus — information on a job that nearly killed him.

This was just the bit of short-ish, well-written violence I needed on a recent trip, the perfect distraction during a stressful flight and a long wait. It was the first book by Islington I read, but I enjoyed it so much I’ll be picking up his The Will of the Many soon. 

Murder School by Paul B. Rainey. Drawn & Quarterly, 2026. 9781770468603. 216pp.  

Yesterday was a perfect day. I was looking for a reason to avoid work on a project, and I arrived home to find a review copy of Murder School in the mail. I felt entirely justified in clearing my schedule and reading it in one sitting, even though today I’m putting in a few extra hours of work. The one-sheet that came with it describes it as “part memoir and part surreal fiction.”

The book opens with reproductions of a few issues of Crud, a comic-format school newspaper by “ex-All-Saints pupil Nick Goddad!” In the first, after another student wet himself, Nick approaches the headmaster to try to get him to allow students to go to the toilet without permission. In another, he takes revenge on a nonchalant bully. In a third, Nick is sexually assaulted by an older boy, and no one seems to care. The fourth is Murder School, and it’s about something that he witnesses while wandering the school hallways during class. 

Who is Nick Goddard? How does his experience relate to what Paul Rainey experienced at his secondary school, All-Saints? (This is the subject of most of the rest of the graphic novel.) What Rainey and others go through is dark. It includes not just beatings by other students but repeated violence at the hands of teachers. But Rainey has friends, and he has comics. Sometimes he even has a friend who likes comics. He’s caught stealing. He gets the strap. 

One of his teachers always sends him out of class, and he’s unsure why. Another beats all the students in class, usually with a slipper, for speaking while he’s lecturing. (He does this even when no one is actually speaking). This teacher is one of my favorite characters. I can’t justify this; something is clearly wrong with me. I really loved the music teacher, too, who invites students to bring in music to play during class but doesn’t seem to understand the filthy lyrics. (I laughed aloud several times while reading the book, probably loudest when an idiotic teacher was trying to shame a young Paul Rainey for reading 2000 AD.)

The end of the main narrative about Rainey leads into another issue of Crud, which is back after a forty-year break. And then this turns into the final act, also titled “Murder School,” that starts with Rainey giving an amazing presentation about his first graphic novel and leads to a strange reunion or two. 

Murder School is another volume of deadpan brilliance from Rainey, and it made me happy that I never had to navigate school life in the UK.

Fire Power Book One by Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee. Image, 2022. 9781534322073. 448pp. Includes Fire Power Prelude and issues #1-12.

The book opens with Owen Johnson climbing through the snow to find the lost Temple of the Flaming Fist and train there. To be accepted as a student he has to fight Master Wei Lun (who is odd and not at all what you’d expect). Another student, Ling Zan, is the first to show him kindness. They fall in love. And of course Owen makes enemies. There’s a room he’s not permitted to enter that he’s told contains a dragon, and a statue of Master Shaw that may be alive. Everyone is working to rediscover the lost art of the flaming fist.

Owen Johnson is also in search of the truth about his birth parents, which has to do with the Scorched Earth Clan. (While the Temple of the Flaming Fist works to keep the dragon imprisoned and the world safe, the Scorched Earth Clan wants to see the dragon released and watch the world burn.) Early on there’s an attack on the temple featuring ninja-like warriors and airships. Plus there’s some basketball. Oh, and Owen rediscovers the Flaming Fist technique.

Then the story jumps forward 15 years. Owen is back in the US, married to a badass cop, and the father of two wonderful children. He makes furniture. Everything is peaceful. And then someone from the Temple finds him and tries to get him to come back. He’s told Wei Lun is gone and that the Temple is vulnerable to the Scorched Earth clan. Said ninja-like warriors are soon attacking Owen and his family in their home. And Owen finds out that almost everything he has been told is a lie.

I initially dismissed this comic series as an Iron Fist ripoff, and I’m glad to find out I was totally wrong. It’s got a light, entertaining tone throughout, and at the heart of it all is Owen’s family. He’s not hiding anything from his wife, his kids aren’t idiots, and they’re all in this crazy situation together. And this all moves it along as much as the amazing martial arts fight scenes.

This is a deluxe hardcover edition of the first part of the series, which wraps up with Book Two.

Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn From Animal Sex by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland. W.W. Norton, 2026. 978132408904. 272pp. 

Ireland, along with cats Pudge and Ursala, takes readers on a graphic tour of the amazing sex lives of animals. She dives right into details in the introduction, the first in a long line of complicated examples of how “…so much of what humans struggle with about sex, and what makes understanding the private lives of animals so difficult for us.” It’s about hyenas. (See the included images from the book for more info.) 

The graphic novel is full of unexpected examples and facts about other species; their biological sex is complicated and eye-opening, as is their behavior. Perrin shows how previous generations of scientists tried to interpret all of this through their human- and male-centric viewpoints and ideas about morality, often to the denial or outright misinterpretation of the complexities of biological sex, its expression, and the act itself. 

The whole adventure is entertaining and often utterly unexpected. The diverse generation of scientists Ireland quotes and interviews seems to be doing a fantastic job of trying to make sense of it all, as is Ireland herself.

Backwater by James Sallis. Soho, 2026. 9781641298599. 208pp.

I love short crime novels, and I love those written by James Sallis. He was a poet who created characters by sharing moments from their lives, whose books often move suddenly and naturally between a character’s present and the past in a way that feels natural. This was his last novel; Sallis died earlier this year. 

Bishop, a former detective turned jazz guitarist, is talked into coming back to the town where he grew up to help solve a murder (though there’s no body) by a friend from his days as a cop. By the time Bishop shows up to take a look, that friend has absented himself. Bishop sinks in behind his friend’s desk, into his files, and into life in a place he never wanted to return to. It brings back memories of moments on the police force, of growing up, and of books he’s read. He connects with the people he works with as much as anyone, and finds many things unchanged. And as he puts in time, much of it just spent listening and paying attention, solutions to puzzles and problems present themselves, as do a few other crimes and tragedies of different sorts. 

I’ve read most of Sallis’s novels more than once. For me, this is one of his best, right up there with Moth, Death Will Have Your Eyes, and Drive (which was the basis of the film starring Ryan Gosling). 

Monkeypig by Huw Aaron. Viking, 2026. 9798217039159.

Molly (a pig) lives in the jungle with a bunch of monkeys. No one notices she’s different. But then the head monkey calls a meeting, announces there’s an imposter among them, and sets out a series of tests to figure out who needs to be banished from their tribe. Molly is freaked out! But of course she doesn’t really need to be. My favorite part: Molly, entirely failing to eat a banana in the “correct manner.” Epic. 

All the Ice Cream in the Land by Emmy Kastner. Simon & Schuster Book for Young Readers, 2026.9781665984515. 

Princess Roselyn the Reticent’s every need is taken care of without her ever having to say a word. When she doesn’t say how much ice cream she wants for a snack, everyone thinks she wants more until the whole kingdom sets about making the largest bowl of ice cream ever. (In the end, she gets what she actually wanted all along.) Charming. 

The Fart Book by Todd Harris Goldman. Grosset & Dunlop, 2026. 

Ever wondered how often people fart? How many farts there are in a day? A week? A year? Now think about that with animal farts added in. This book would have broken my brain if I read it as a kid. (I respect the science of this book, but I think every number is based on an undercount.) Awesome. 

Unicorns in Uniforms by Beth Ferry & A.N. Kang. Simon & Schuster Book for Young Readers, 2026. 9781665975421. 

Unicorns run the village square at a magical place in the forest. They seem to do all the jobs, and they even defend everyone from dragon storms. Kang’s drawings are full of life and personality. This would be a great book for storytime, and I’d buy uniformed unicorn action figures in a heartbeat if they were available. 

Mr. Noodle’s Super Noodle Shop by Qinzi. Francis Lincoln, 2027. 9781805705130.

Mr. Noodle’s handmade noodles are the stretchiest! And while people are eating them, they discover other ways to have fun with his noodles. This makes Mr. Noodle very angry. Qinzi’s anthropomorphic animals are delightful, and I’d love to see parents try to keep their kids from playing with their noodles after reading this. 

The Underwear Wolf by Gideon Sterer, illustrated by Charles Santoso. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 20269781665955584. 

A highly organized kid gets a strange gift from his uncle, Larry: wool underwear. With them is a note not to wear them during the full moon. But the kid does. He turns into a wolf. The night calls! What follows is a wild adventure around town and in the forest that includes making a bunch of new friends. Santoso’s drawings are amazing, and, bonus, the book includes an epic wedgie.

Fly, Mama, Fly! by Anna McGregor. Scribble US, 2025. 9781964992143.

Guest review by Julie Strange

This absolutely gorgeous board book will make snuggling up with your toddler or preschooler all the more dreamy and wonderful. Printed with special neon ink, you’re transported into a magical world of a baby flying fox as they fly through the night with their mama. (They’re native to southwestern Australia and endangered.) There’s wonderful positional language in here –“under,” “over,” “past,” and “through” — and action words — “sip,” “nibble,” “bite” — that lend a lovely interactive element to reading time. My nearly-six-year-old loves this book, and frankly so do I. It will forever hold a special place on our shelves, and I will continue buying a copy for every new family member that comes along. (Bonus: five percent of profits from each copy sold is donated to the Australian Conservation Foundation.)

The Girl Who Raised The Dead by Kawashima Norikazu. English Translation by Ryan Holmberg. Smudge / Living the Line, 2028. (Original © 1987). 9781961581134. 204pp. Contains an essay titled “Magical Girls and the Occult in Postwar Japan” by Tanaka Hirokazu, which is worth looking at if only to see the original cover to this manga. 

Mirumo is killed when the umbrella she’s holding is struck by lightning. But then something truly weird happens, and she comes back to life after a mysterious light enters her body. Now she has secret powers, among them the ability to raise the dead. 

I went into this expecting some sort of zombie outbreak story, but it defied my expectations. Mirumo mostly uses he powers to help others. But she also has to fend off some violent attacks, the first at school and one later when she tracks down a murderer.

Stylistically, the book appears fairly innocent, though the horrific scene of the electrocution at the beginning sets the reader up for the bloody chaos later in the book. 

Note: this is the sixth book in the Smudge series of “vintage horror, occult, and dark fantasy manga.” (If you love horror manga, it’s worth finding the other books in the series.)

Last Day Pool Party by Emma Steinkellner. Labyrinth Road / Random House Children’s Books, 2026. 9798217031429.  176pp.  

I fell in love with Steinkellner’s art when reading her The Okay Witch series. Her art plus the expert way she was able to juggle so many characters’ stories at the pool party pulled me through this graphic novel.

It starts with the graduation ceremony at Orange Grove Junior High where we’re introduced to the central characters: Dustin, Juhi, her best friend Liv, Paul, Maya, and Rose, who’s so invisible that her name is never called for graduation. It feels like the book is going to be Rose’s story — she has a list of things she wanted to do by the end of 8th grade, and the only one she has checked off is to graduate. I was ready for the book to be about her crossing off items at the pool party, and it kind of is, though her journey is woven in brilliantly with everyone else’s stories. Dustin is the party’s host; he became an outcast after he cried in a video featuring the popular Maya, who has problems of her own. Juhi is moving to London and hasn’t told Liv, who, after hearing the news, immediately starts auditioning new best friends. Paul sits inside for most of the party, playing video games, but even he has a part ot play later. 

This graphic novel has a brilliant mix of awful behavior, disasters, and nice moments that feel totally genuine. It is really something special by the end. I loved it.