Author: Gene Ambaum

Smoking Kills by Thijis Desmet. Translated by Trace Demon and Gryla Skullking. F.U. Press / Fantagraphics, 2023. 9781683969150. 166pp. Two dead dudes hang out. The ghost smokes. The skeleton guy can’t quite face the fact that he’s dead. They wander […]
Read More

Endsickness by Sofia Alarcon. Conundrum, 2025. 9781772621075. 148pp. This book features eight short comics by Alarcon about “climate change and eco-anxiety” (says the back cover). “Positive Thinking” opens with just that, but then becomes a fantasy about leaving everything behind. […]
Read More

Family Force V Book One by Matt Braly and Ainsworth Lin. Skybound / Image, 2025. 9781534340336. 232pp. Publisher’s Rating: Ages 12+ This is a cross between Power Rangers and the Fantastic Four. A family of superheroes in colorful costumes — […]
Read More

Simplicity: A Novel by Matty Lubchansky. Pantheon, 2025. 9780593701126. 272pp. Here’s the book’s full title on the title page: In the Land of…Simplicity: A Novel. An Account Of The Unusual Peoples Of The Former United States & A Sojourn Through […]
Read More

Lucas Wars by Laurent Hopman and Renaud Roche. Translated by Jeremy Melloul. 23rd St., 2025. 9781250367402. 186pp. Includes a detailed bibliography plus a portfolio, commentary, and a few pages of notes on Roche’s creative process from roughs to finished pages. […]
Read More

Goes Like This by Jordan Crane. Fantagraphics, 2025. 9781683967729. 192pp. This is a perfect companion to Crane’s adult graphic novel Keeping Two. The stories are short, but they share the mastery of sequential art on display in that book; the […]
Read More

World’s Edge: A Mosaic Novel by James Sallis. Soho, 2026. 9781641298261. 225pp. Sallis is one of my favorite novelists because he’s a poet who doesn’t waste words. His books circle ideas and moments and people that are often full of […]
Read More

The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion by Margaret Killjoy. Tor.com, 2017. 9780765397362. 125pp. Danielle hitchhikes to a ghost town in the middle of nowhere, in Iowa. She hopes to find out more about her friend Clay, who used to live […]
Read More

Freaking Romance Volume 1 by Snailords. WEBTOON Unscrolled, 2023. 9781990778964. 354pp. Zylith just got kicked out by her parents. Her hunt for an apartment isn’t going well, which is why, when Landlady Howser shows her a cheap place that’s allegedly […]
Read More

The Ghost of Wreckers Cove by Liniers (illustrations) and Angelica Del Campo (written by). Papercutz, 2025. 9781545821237. Cristina, her dad (an illustrator), and her younger sister Martha move to a new house that’s next door to an old lighthouse. The […]
Read More