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On the Dark Side of the Moon（我們在月之暗面）

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by Yu-Ling Kung   On the Dark Side of the Moon (2024) is a graphic novel by Beck Kao, an independent comics artist and toy designer from Taiwan and the founder of Uniautomata Studio, which published the book. It is difficult to guess what kind of story lies inside from the cover. The black, landscape-format cover shows only part of the Moon and the title, with no main characters or clear clues about the genre. Once I started reading, I found the story full of unexpected turns. At first, the main character, SYD, is a professional basketball player on the… Read More

Dumb Reminders

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by Fernando Gabriel Sosa Dumb Reminders (2026), written by Humberto Avila and illustrated by Kat Penrose, is a poignant and fiercely honest autobiographical short comic exploring the aftermath of a traumatic C4-C5 spinal cord injury. Originating from a life-altering motor vehicle accident near Christmas, the narrative shuns conventional “inspiration porn” or over-dramatized heroics. Instead, it invites the reader into the quiet, claustrophobic reality of living with quadriplegia, confronting the erosion of social support, the grief of physical loss, and the difficult psychological adjustment to a radically altered life. The title itself touches upon the core paradox of living with a… Read More

Trans History—From Ancient Times to the Present Day

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By Martha Cornog   Content advisory: This book/review discusses suicide and sexual violence. The crisis Lifeline number in the U.S. and Canada is 988, in the U.K. it’s 999; and for elsewhere go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines.   Trans History aims to explain the nature of “trans” (also referred to as “transsexual” or “transgender”) by telling the stories of notable likely-trans individuals throughout history, following a sequence from earliest documented times to the present. These brief biographies are intercut with anecdotes about laws and customs that have been applied to such people over the centuries, and commentary about how these individuals fit—or… Read More

Lights, Planets, People!

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by Melanie Anspacher Lights, Planets, People! is a graphic novel based on the author Molly Naylor’s stage play of the same name and illustrated by Lizzy Stewart.  The story follows an astronomer named Maggie Hill who suffers from bipolar disorder and is experiencing severe anxiety.  Maggie reluctantly seeks counseling from a therapist as she prepares to deliver a guest lecture that is intended to inspire young women, a task she finds quite daunting.  Weaving through the present and past as the conversation with her therapist unfolds, she recalls navigating a romantic relationship while pursuing her life’s work to discover exoplanets,… Read More

Sound: A Comics Anthology

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by ISHANI ANWESHA JOSHI   Edited by Budjette Tan and Charis Loke, Sound: A Comics Anthology (2020) is published by Difference Engine, an independent Singapore-based comics publisher. Featuring thirteen comics by Southeast Asian comic artists, this anthology demonstrates the unique capacity of the verbal-visual medium to render the unseen visible on the page. As a faculty tied to one of our primary senses, sound has multiple levels of significance across various contexts, as explored in the stories depicted in the anthology. The anthology examines themes such as bonding through shared music and language, the positive and negative impact of words,… Read More

Nick Pope: Summer of ’88

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by Laboni Das Christopher Stanton and Raymond Klecker’s Nick Pope: Summer of ’88 continues the evocative, diaristic exploration of adolescence introduced in its prequel, Nick Pope: A Diary (2023), deepening its engagement with questions of identity, embodiment, and emotional vulnerability. While the earlier volume foregrounded Nick’s social alienation and bullying, this sequel turns inward, charting a more complex terrain of emotional fragmentation, artistic self-exploration, and relational instability. Presented once again in the form of an illustrated diary, the narrative unfolds over the summer of 1988. The diary format remains central to the book’s appeal, combining handwritten text with expressive black-and-white… Read More