Graphic novel of the month
Every month Rachel Cooke reviews graphic novels
The Wendy Award by Walter Scott review – the voice of a bewildered generation
The fourth in this brilliant and painfully funny series finds our self-destructive millennial heroine nominated for an art award – and grappling with gen z sensibilities
George Sand: True Genius, True Woman review – a pleasure and an education
Writer Séverine Vidal and illustrator Kim Consigny tell the extraordinary life story of the French author, who cross-dressed and pricked male pomposity, with great care and humour
So Long Sad Love by Mirion Malle review – an irresistible celebration of female courage
A French cartoonist has doubts about her boyfriend in Mirion Malle’s third book in English, a striking hymn to women and solidarity
Self-Esteem and the End of the World by Luke Healy review – male anxiety hilariously meets global crisis
A painfully funny cartoon about a neurotic graphic artist deftly explores the themes of self-obsession and ecological disaster
The Russian Detective by Carol Adlam review – exquisitely illustrated celebration of early crime fiction
This richly evocative tale – part of a project drawing on the work of long-forgotten contemporaries of Dostoevsky – bears repeated readings
Polar Vortex by Denise Dorrance review – hazards of a homecoming
The American cartoonist’s story of a trip to tackle her frail mother’s needs is funny, wise and magical
Aya: Claws Come Out by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie review – Ivory Coast’s comic soap opera
The latest instalment in Abouet’s brilliantly illustrated series about the lives of three friends in Abidjan is as funny and sharp as ever
The Cliff by Manon Debaye review – misfits with a monstrous plan
This deceptively charming story of preteen friends seeking refuge in the French countryside is a modern-day Lord of the Flies
Monica by Daniel Clowes review – pitch-perfect portraits of an ever scarier US
A prickly misfit connects nine dark tales in this sad and sharply funny new book from the author of Ghost World
Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki review – a blissful ode to female friendship and New York
The award-winning cousins beautifully capture the magic and misery of the Big Apple through the tumultuous experiences of three young women
A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll review – haunting gothic tale with a heady whiff of Daphne du Maurier
The award-winning Canadian graphic novelist’s account of a young woman whose widower husband has a dark secret about his first wife is vividly drawn and masterfully plotted
Juliette by Camille Jourdy review – an exquisite story of love and loss in rural France
This gorgeous graphic novel about a woman escaping the pressures of Paris for her home town, and the complications that follow, is a masterpiece
Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter by Oscar Zarate review – enriching tale of the power of art
Using two time frames, this engrossing book flits between three modern admirers of the groundbreaking artist and the man himself wandering Europe
Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham review – to live and cry in LA
The cartoonist’s singular book, 14 years in the making, imbues the tale of a harried 1970s B-movie editor with panoramic scope
Work-Life Balance by Aisha Franz review – richly comic takedown of the wellness industry
This well-aimed tale of a self-obsessed therapist and her angsty clients nails the neuroticism of the digital age and its snake-oil remedies
Spa by Erik Svetoft review – how the other half dies
An oozing discharge in the corridors of a five-star hotel symbolises the corruption of the rich in the Swedish artist’s mordant gothic debut
We’re All Just Fine by Ana Penyas review – home truths in a tyrant’s reign
Rich in detail, this award-winning debut explores the evolution of Spanish womanhood through drudgery, dictatorship and liberation
Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul B Rainey – a marriage made in hell veers into the unknown
In this clever and savage tale about a horribly miserable couple, redemption comes with a sci-fi twist
Artist by Yeong-shin Ma – middle-aged men behaving badly
This darkly comic tale of three hapless and macho males fixes a boldly satirical eye on Korean society
No Surrender by Scarlett and Sophie Rickard review – the long fight for women’s rights revisited
A brilliant graphic update of Constance Maud’s 1911 call to arms puts the hobnail boots into the women’s march for suffrage
About 163 results for Graphic novel of the month 
