Posted by The Gosh! Gang on 29th Nov 2024
Gosh! Comics Best of 2024 - Adult
It's the most wonderful time of the year! We of the good ship Gosh! have been wrestling through the releases of 2024 to find our absolute favourites for the year. As ever, apologies if the best graphic novel you've ever read comes out sometime in the next 5 weeks. We look ahead at release schedules and get advance reader copies where we can, but things do slip through.
We'll start with the usual disclaimer: doing any kind of Best Of list is a subjective affair, and we should emphasize that these are simply the titles we collectively liked best this year. We also try to offer a reasonable spread of subject matter to find something for as many tastes as possible. So I can guarantee you won't like everything in this list, but I can also guarantee you that you'll like something.
We loosely adhere to a few rules as we put these lists together:
- We will only do the first book of a series unless a deliberate attempt is made to create a jumping on point with it. You might have loved volume 4 of Doff Your Cap To The Master Cat for its nuanced depiction of flipped feline power dynamics, but we won't include it, sorry. We like to make these lists accessible.
- Books collecting stories for the first time that have been serialized prior to this year do qualify. We will also include reprints of translated editions that are being presented in English for the first time, whatever the age.
- We just stick to physical media, and only what we might describe as a book.
- We only include things that we anticipate will actually be available for a period of time. Inevitably when we announce these lists some books will be temporarily unavailable or reprinting, but they should generally be available. This also excludes a lot of amazing small and micro press material we've seen throughout the year that we're unlikely to ever see again.
- Sometimes we bend the rules. They are, after all, our rules.
The list below is for our Best of 2024 Adult list. For our Best of 2024 Kids and Young Adult list, click here.
Should you wish to purchase any of these from our webstore (please be our guest!), just click on the title, or check out the Best of 2024 - Adult page for the whole range.
So here they are, presented alphabetically (no way are we going to try and rank these), our Best of 2024 - Adult list!
By Emma Rios
Publisher: Image Comics
Conceived as an eco-horror, Emma Rio’s sublime graphic novel transformed in the making into something more like a pacifist fable. As the world is reclaimed by the sea, three youths are drawn together, changed, and determined to do no harm. Beneath its delicate, pale cover, Anzuelo is awash with Rios’ watercolours, creating what is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful graphic novels we’ve seen in years. But Rios can also write, and she draws us into this strange new world and the lives of the young people within it in this thoughtful story that carries a powerful message.
By Roberto Recchioni, Gigi Cavenago & Werther Dell’Edera
Publisher: DC Comics
The caped crusader teams up with one of Italy's most famous comic creations to take on mad science, zombies, and even Hell itself in this bold and exciting supernatural romp. When the Joker starts to meddle with the occult, The Batman must join forces with wisecracking paranormal investigator Dylan Dog, as well as a few other famous faces, in order to stop the clown prince of crime’s madness from engulfing both Gotham City and London. Beautifully illustrated in vibrant hues evoking Italian 70’s cinema and told with flair and panache, this is the perfect introduction to an icon of European comics and an excellent standalone adventure for the Dark Knight.
BENEATH THE TREES WHERE NOBODY SEES SC
By Patrick Horvath
Publisher: IDW
I originally knew Patrick Horvath as a horror movie producer and then followed him on Instagram for his incredible watercolour paintings, eagerly awaiting some sort of comic project from him. The wait was worth it! Beneath the Trees follows Samantha the (adorable looking) bear, hardware store owner and serial murderer. Patrick continues working in watercolour and there’s not many better looking books on the shelves this year. It’s a tense cat & mouse mystery where somehow you’re rooting for the bloodthirsty killer, although admittedly the whole thing is (gloriously) upsetting. And that’s what I want from a horror book!
By Dash Shaw
Publisher: New York Review of Comics
Blurry feels like a culmination of all the work so far of writer and artist Dash Shaw, incorporating motifs and beats from earlier books into a masterful portmanteau graphic novel. But he’s not just recycling old territory, but rather evolving and developing on ideas, and changing their focus. How do we live our lives, is the main thesis here. How do we make the decisions that govern even the small, seemingly trivial things? And do they really matter? Shaw explores those questions through small snapshots of the lives of ten characters who have loose connections, each grappling with choices they must make. It’s a book that combines weighty philosophical questions with a breezy, wry, eminently readable style. A rare achievement, but Shaw is a rare kind of creator.
By Leo Fox
Publisher: Silver Sprocket
Leo Fox continues to go from strength to strength, his third comic in the last couple of years and the second published by the indelible Silver Sprocket in San Francisco, Boy Island is an absolute triumph. A fable of transgender becoming, the story follows Lucille, born on Girl Island but who harbours a secret. Lucille is a boy, and has been for a longtime, the only option he's left with is to leave his mother and begin the treacherous and difficult journey to his true home on Boy Island. It's an insightful, thoughtful, funny and eclectic book rendered in Leo's fresh and distinctive style, breaking down a potentially complicated topic and process into an incredibly relatable story, while still managing to retain and explore the nuances therein. Shame, pain, acceptance, discovering and becoming the real you, it's a book that can be enjoyed and savoured by anyone but shines as a truly queer work of art.
By Jay Stephens
Publisher: Oni Press
Picture if you will a beautiful picnic scene featuring the Harvey Comics characters of old. Richie Rich is there, spreading a blanket of plenty from the back of his golden Rolls Royce. Wendy the Good Witch is playing catch with Little Lottie, while Casper the Friendly Ghost cheers them on. And then Hot Stuff shows up and promptly disembowels Richie Rich with his pitchfork while talking backwards, while Casper starts to tell the story of his grisly death at the hands of a serial killer while Wendy and Lottie laugh cruelly at him. That’s basically Dwellings in a nutshell: incredible cartooning married to some of the most gruesome occurrences we’ve seen in a comic this year. Stephens creates a wonderful world in the Canadian town of Elwich, a picture postcard place hiding a seemingly endless parade of dark secrets. No small number of us here at Gosh are depraved little horror junkies, and if that describes you too, then you can’t miss this one.
By Charles Burns
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
It’s safe to say I found Final Cut tremendous. Collecting into English the three volumes of the previously published French language Dedales, Burns’ story of two cult horror enthusiast friends working on their latest low budget project hits a lot of the artists standard fixations. One of those friends is emotional mixed-bag Brian, lacking in social skills but abundantly supplied with creative impulses, a character whose unpleasant fuddling of his romantic wants with his lead star test the empathy that you so sorely want to have for him. In Burns’ work we can vividly see reflections of our
friends and ourselves from when we emerged from the key stage of adolescence that the characters within Final Cut are struggling to navigate. Burns often returns to themes of youth in his work, but it never feels like he’s going over old ground, instead treading new pathways into memories we didn’t know we had. With its incredibly strange mille-feuille layering of cult-film nods, broken romance and the fundamental human need to try and express, I’d put Final Cut up against just about anything.
By Keigo Shinzo
Publisher: Viz
Looking for a slice-of-life read that will put a smile on your face? Hirayasumi follows the lives of the carefree Hiroto who recently inherited a house from a neighbourhood granny, and his cousin Natasumi who is a struggling art student. With one being a happy-go-lucky free spirit and one being a crybaby, the two somehow find ways to create wholesome moments living together. The manga came about when author Keigo Shinzo got diagnosed with cancer. While being in the hospital, he decided to write an uplifting manga to help his readers power through life. The good news is he is now in remission, and Hirayasumi is still going strong!
HOBTOWN MYSTERY STORIES VOL 01 SC THE CASE OF THE MISSING MEN
By Kris Bertin & Alexander Forbes
Publisher: Oni Press
Chances are that if you've asked for a horror recommendation from me in the past, I've told you that my favourite has been out of print and unavailable for a while but that you need to seek out Hobtown Mystery Stories. Thankfully, Oni Press have reprinted it and brought it to UK shores! The book follows Hobtown's Teen Detective Society who aren't afraid to dig into the cases that no one else wants to talk about, in this volume it's the constant vanishing of the adult men of the town. Don't let the Blyton-esque appearance fool you; Hobtown Mystery Stories aren't books for children. It's gloriously spooky, a Lynchian small-town tale, that manages to do something truly unique with the tropes we're familiar with. The horror is unique, taking inspiration from Canadian folklore with some truly uncanny and unnerving sights. When I first read the book I sat in the dark with a torch and relished a comic that could actually, really creep me out. Beautifully recoloured and repackaged, it’s finally time you took a trip to Hobtown!
By Sole Otero
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Mothballs has already won the Fnac-Salamandra Graphic Novel Award in 2019 and the Audience Award from the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2023, and now it can win your heart too. Mothballs follows the relationship between a grandmother (Vilma) and a granddaughter (Rocio) and spans across four generations, taking you from 20th-century Italy to 21st-century Argentina. The comic perfectly captures the political climate in Argentina along the way as Rocio uncovers the hushed history of sexual violence in her grandmother’s past. Sole Otero encapsulates both the similarities and differences between Vilma and Rocio vividly in her mesmerising illustrations, with mothballs permeating Vilma’s house and will eventually invade the reader’s mind once they are done with this masterpiece.
By Julie Deporte
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
A profound depiction of what it’s like to come out as a lesbian in later life, Julia Deporte draws upon the traumatic instances in her childhood which made her submit to a hetrosexual lifestyle and the societal pressure placed on women to give men whatever they desired. Using illustrations of nature and Tove Jannson, Julia Deporte depicts what it’s like for many women who come to terms with their sexuality much later in life, but demonstrates not all is lost within this. A compelling read for anyone struggling with their identity and the traumatic experiences that haunt them from afar.
THE ROAD GRAPHIC NOVEL ADAPTATION HC
By Cormac McCarthy & Manu Larcenet
Publisher: Abrams
French writer and artist Manu Larcenet has produced a worthy comic adaptation to Cormac McCarthy’s seminal piece of post-apocalyptic fiction. An artist I’ve been aware of for years but, since I don’t speak or read French, I’ve never had the pleasure of reading work from before. His drawings are gorgeously dark and incredibly atmospheric Cormac McCarthy’s original is a seminal work of post-apocalyptic fiction that many finish with a bit of thousand-yard stare.The same can be said for the comic, you might go in with an idea of what to expect but you’re still going to come out on the other end different.
By Yamada Murasaki
Publisher: D&Q
Originally released in the 80s and now republished by Drawn & Quarterly, Second Hand Love is an unconventional manga that offers a voice for characters that play the role of mistresses in Japanese society. Rather than vowing to be the villain in someone’s trajectory, or playing the guilt-ridden female roles, the two main characters in Second Hand Love express their intense desire to receive undivided attention and to be coddled like a baby. Should they stay or should they cut their losses? How does a woman take their power back and not be used by someone they love? Yamada Murasaki, one of literary manga’s most respected feminist authors, will offer you some answers.
By Samir Dahami
Publisher: Humanoids
Coming to terms with your queerness is never straight-forward, as demonstrated in Seoul Before Sunrise. We follow best friends Seong-ji and Ji-won as they leave their hometown by the sea to attend university in Seoul. With their friendship already on the line, Seong-ji finds herself taking night shifts at a convenient store to get by. What happens next allows Seong-ji to rediscover herself when things only come into focus during the dark hours. Samir Dahami uses watercolours to create this breathtaking and poignant coming-of-age story and takes the reader to places they could only ever dream to see. While it doesn’t offer the happy ending many would crave, the journey taken is one of great significance for many LGBTQ+ people and reminds us that life can continue to go on.
By Becky Cloonan & Tula Lotay
Publisher: DSTLRY
Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay absolutely hit it out of the park with this erotically charged piece of folk horror set in an English village in the 1600s. Anna, a young woman trapped in a loveless marriage to the local witch hunter, begins to experience dream-like visitations from a dark, mysterious, possibly infernal figure with lustful intentions. Meanwhile a murder has taken place in the village, and witch-hunting hysteria is taking hold, with one woman already having lost her life. Can Anna hold true against the seductive powers of darkness? Cloonan and Lotay both handle art duties, with the former handling the waking hours where Anna’s life begins to unravel while the latter applies her smoky painted style to Anna’s fevered dreams.
By Olivier Schrauwen
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Schrauwen is one of the finest cartoonists working today and Sunday is his (current) opus. An attempt to depict human consciousness in human form, it covers a day in the life of Schrauwen's cousin Thibault as he wakes up, procrastinates and puts off work, gets songs stuck in his head, doesn't make it past a single sentence in the book he's reading and doesn't interact with anyone. Meanwhile, the world continues to spin and the unremarkable lives of a city district play out next to him. It's banally epic, drilling down to the banal specificities of contemporary life and making it hilarious and gripping in a way that only Shcrauwen could. Sunday will go down as one of the true comic masterpieces next to the likes of David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp and Daniel Clowes' Ghost World.
By Taiyo Matsumoto
Publisher: Viz
Having been a manga editor for 30 years, Kazuo Shiozawa decided to resign and leave everything behind. But would it be that easy if all facets of his life are entangled with the manga world? The story showcases the ups and downs of hustling as an accomplished editor and manga artist. Releasing a big hit manga isn’t all fun and games, but if you don’t, you are getting dropped by the publisher. For lovers of manga as well as people in the comic industry, Tokyo These Days is a heartfelt (albeit melancholic) manga that will speak to you.
TRANSFORMERS SC VOL 1 ROBOTS IN DISGUISE
By Daniel Warren Johnson
Publisher: Image Comics
Yes, you read that right: a comics reboot of the Transformers that is part of a larger shared “Energon” universe including GI Joe, is one of the best comics of the year. Why? The secret ingredient is writer and artist Daniel Warren Johnson (no stranger to these lists), who pours everything into what is clearly a dream project for him. And that passion shines through in an action-packed, character-driven sci-fi adventure which sees the Autobots and Decepticons stranded on Earth, continuing their centuries-long war. There’s a lot of heart (seen especially in its human supporting characters whose lives are sent into turmoil by the discovery of the robots), and a surprising amount of brutality. Turns out giant metal creatures and small squishy humans are a bad mix.
By Jonathan Hickman & Marco Checchetto
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Web-spinning out of the events of Ultimate Invasion, which established a new world without the Marvel Heroes as we know them and ruled by a sinister cabal. The Peter Parker met here is gifted his powers as a mature adult, married and with two children. A long desired status quo from superhero fans wanting forward momentum in the lives of their heroes. The creative team of writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Marco Chechetto and David Messina don't simply ride the wave of goodwill from that choice however. As well as a moving and considered household they establish new takes on old favourite characters, wrestle with journalism in the face of corruption, the terror of making new friends as couples and that old Spider-man standard, power and responsibility. Dynamic but grounded action rounds out all the needed elements to make this the most successful relaunch since the original Ultimate Universe.
By Christopher Blain and Jean-Marc Jancovici
Publisher: Particular Books
Ever feel completely helpless due to global warming, the melting of the ice caps and the rising of sea levels? Do you ever feel an overwhelming sensation of hopelessness that the world is going to end in chaostrophic disaster and the control is completely and utterly out of your hands? Well rest assured, World Without End will put some of that worry at ease! Award-winning cartoonist Christopher Blain teams up with climate expert Jean-Marc Jancovici to illustrate the changes the planet has been through since mankind first walked the Earth and how much technology has impacted our planet; from the smallest of things such as chemicals used in our toothpastes, to the biggest and baddest corporations with their oil-loving contraptions. Translated for the first time in English, Blain never lets the information become too overwhelming for the reader and uses loveable cartoon characters to break it down in a fun, yet illuminating way, showing us there is still hope if we all join together to do what we can in order to save our home.
And there we are for another year! Happy reading, everyone!
The Gosh! Gang