Six comics worth reading right now
From a touching indie friendship story to samurai retellings of French classics, these recent releases stand out.
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Recent releases have given us a small stack of standout comics that showcase the breadth of the medium right now.
Aristotle or Almost, by Matthew Dooley, tells the improbable story of an unlikely friendship between a young intern and an older man who works at the lost-and-found office. The tone is wry at first, laced with irony, before shifting toward something gentler and almost tender. Dooley's straightforward, understated style makes the emotional beats land harder — by refusing to signal anything, he lets readers discover the depth of the characters' connection themselves. 218 pages, Presquelo.
Ketsudan, by Mud and Motteler, takes Corneille's 17th-century tragedy "Le Cid" and transplants it into ancient Japan. The gambit works. The alexandrine verse gives the samurai court the gravitas it needs, and the story of honour fits perfectly into the world of the shogunate. The comic is structured like the original play, with scenes and acts, but includes interludes that flesh out the history of yokaï — malevolent creatures that still threaten humanity. The artwork is extraordinary: precise, evocative, strong in battle scenes, and sensitive to character interiority. 179 pages, Dargaud.
Ornithomaniacs, by Daria Schmitt, follows Niniche, who can fly but wishes she couldn't — her wings are too small to be useful, and her mother keeps trying to use her for attention. With her friend Tina, she ventures to a strange manor where she discovers she's more bird than she realized. The story mixes "Alice in Wonderland" with mad-scientist narrative, but it's Schmitt's art that distinguishes it: dense black-and-white hatching creates an atmosphere somewhere between the fantastic and the horrific, with architectural compositions that recall the "Cités Obscures" series. 111 pages, Aire Libre/Dupuis.
Three more titles round out the standouts: Presque lune, a study of fractured identities; The Mysteries of Hobtown, which echoes "Twin Peaks" in a remote Nova Scotia village; and Wormwood, a horror narrative. All six demonstrate the range available to readers looking for something beyond mainstream graphic novels.