Graphic Novels and Most Talked About Fandoms

Deadpool: Drawing the Merc with a Mouth—Three Decades of Amazing Marvel Comics Art, by Matthew K. Manning
Deadpool has been getting a lot of love over the past few years, and now has a fancy artbook all to himself! This one covers 20 years of some of the best art featuring Wade, who began as a minor villain and has become one of Marvel’s most popular (anti)heroes. In addition to page after page of amazing (and amazingly weird) art, the book also features interviews with many of the artists and writers who turned the Merc with a Mouth into a phenomenon.

DC Comics Encyclopedia: All-New Edition, by Matthew K. Manning and Alex Irvine
Things are always changing in the superhero universes of the big publishers, so an encyclopedia from DC is necessary. This coffee table book lays it all out: over 1,100 characters from A to Z, complemented by hundreds of illustrations.

Attack on Titan Anthology, by Various
In a move that’s extremely rare in the manga world, Kodansha Comics lined up some top non-Japanese creators, including Batman writer Scott Snyder, Birds of Prey writer Gail Simone, and Milk and Cheese creator Evan Dorkin, to create their own comics based in the world of Attack on Titan. This anthology is in full color and sized like a comic book, and like the manga, it’s filled with Titan-fighting action, crazy characters, and shocking twists. The Barnes and Noble exclusive edition features a specially drawn cover by Eisner Award winner Faith Erin Hicks.

Civil War II, by Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez
Marvel’s controversial 2006 Civil War crossover laid the groundwork for years’ worth of stories. Comic fans being a passionate people, some loved it and others loved it a bit less, but there’s no denying it impacted everything that came after. Civil War II is poised to do much the same thing for the modern Marvel landscape, with heroes fighting heroes over the shape of the future itself. A student named Ulysses Cain is exposed to the Terrigen Mists that birth Inhumans, and he quickly learns his power is to see the future. Events lead the heroes to form up: Captain Marvel wants to use the visions to preempt crime by locking locking people up before they commit them, while Iron Man stands with the heroes who refuse to condemn the (currently) innocent. Not everyone survives, and the story is leading to new teams and a new order among the heroes of the Marvel Universe.

DC Rebirth Omnibus (Expanded Edition) by Various a
DC’s New52 reboot lasted for several years, and saw a darker take on heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The company shocked everyone in 2016 by making a commitment to a (slightly) lighter tone and a willingness to acknowledge the company’s more than 75 years of history in current stories. There’s a through line in the return of Wally West, the beloved Flash with a long awaited film (coming 2022?), but the numerous specials collected here each tell their own story about the heroes of the DCU and establish the current and future state of play. Superman has got a kid! The JSA is back! And what’s Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan doing skulking around behind the scenes?

Marvel: The Hip-Hop Covers, Vol. 1
Marvel has done some truly stellar work on variant covers over the past few years, but few were more successful than the more than 80 works of art using heroes of the Marvel U to pay tribute to some of hip-hop’s legendary musicians and album covers that have become equally iconic. Adi Granov recreates Nas’ 1994 Illmatic cover with Miles Morales, Mark Brooks uses Ant-Man to channel Biggie, and Brian Stelfreeze recreates Jay-Z’s Black Album with the Black Panther. Ms. Marvel is miseducated a la Lauryn Hill. Adam Hughes re-creates Straight Outta Compton using the all-female A-Force. Those are just some favorites, but there are many, many more from some of the top names in comics art.

Fruits Basket Collectors Edition, Vol. 1, by Natsuki Takaya
Yen Press kicks off its new edition of one of the most popular shoujo manga ever with a double-size volume. Cheerful orphan Tohru Honda is so determined to never cause any trouble to anyone that when her grandfather’s house is being renovated, she goes off and lives in a tent. By an incredible coincidence of the sort only found in shoujo manga, the hottest guy in her class, Yuki Sohma, lives nearby with his two cousins, and she soon moves in and brightens up their bachelor lives. This isn’t a fluffy high school romance, though. Some members of the Sohma family turn into animals when they are hugged by a member of the opposite sex, and this ancient curse has left the family scarred and dysfunctional. There are 13 animals altogether, and Natsuki Takaya weaves her story around all of them, drawing the reader in with a complex plot and heartfelt emotion. Yen Press’s new collectors’ edition is modeled on the deluxe Japanese edition and includes full-color pages and other nice touches.

Hatsune Miku Mikubon, by Ontama
It’s moe to the max in this cute gag manga about Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku and her companions Rin, Len, and Luka. You don’t have to be a fan of the turquoise-haired phenomenon to enjoy this story—it reads like any other gag manga about a girl and her friends going to school, with a cast that includes the clumsy heroine who keeps falling asleep in class, the girl everyone has a crush on, and the weird adult character (in this case, Vice Principal Ann, who keeps popping up in odd outfits including a nurse’s uniform and a leather bikini). Adding to the fun are a mad professor and a robot that can assume any human form, leading to all sorts of hijinks. The comic follows the four-koma (four-panel) format, so it reads like a newspaper comic strip only vertical instead of horizontal. The story is lighthearted, with plenty of slapstick and overreaction, making for an easy read you can easily pick up and put down again.

Star Wars: Complete Locations, by Jason Fry, Kemp Remillard
One of the best things about Star Wars is its wide variety of colorful locations. There’s a lot more to the galaxy far, far away than just “ice planet” and “swamp world,” though those are featured here, too, along with the fire world of Mustafar. The book packs in some really nice art along with plenty of fine detail, including cross-sections of locations like the Resistance base from The Force Awakens and Luke’s old homestead on Tatooine. It’s a great gift for the obsessive fan or a very nice coffee-table art book for the more casual moviegoer.

Doctor Who: Whographica: An Infographic Guide to Space and Time, by Steve O’Brien and Simon Guerrier
The sci-fi Doctor Who Universe, spanning more than fifty years, hundreds of hours worth of television, and thirteen (or so) leading men and women, holds endless fascination for fans willing to take a slightly deeper dive. This book takes that exploration to a new level, using colorful charts and infographics to illuminate the various corners of the Who-niverse. The Doctor’s convoluted family tree is rendered as one of the many elaborate double-page spreads covering aspects of the show including The Doctor himself, Daleks, the TARDIS, companions, and alien planets and monsters. The book’s writer, Simon Guerrier, has penned various Who novels, short stories, and audio dramas. Which is just as well: on a journey into the many worlds of Doctor Who, you want an expert along.