Etelka Lehoczky

Kate Beaton, the mind that gave us perky revolutionaries and a roly-poly Napoleon, now tells the darker side of her life story: how she suffered during the two years she worked in Alberta's oil field.

At a time when comics and graphic novels were seldom released by mainstream publishers, Gina Gagliano worked tirelessly to put the genre on the radar. Now she's head of the Boston Book Festival.

Eric Orner's book isn't just a great story, it's an enveloping visual experience crafted by a terrific artist; even if one paged through it without looking at the words, it would be a good read.

Through her work, Israeli comics artist Rutu Modan suggests that only cartoon characters can possibly reflect the cartoonish levels of greed and self-deceit revealed as her tale unspools.

Among the flood of titles aimed at the high-school set this fall, a few stand apart for their unorthodox stories, deft artwork and potent themes.

Rachel Smythe's smash hit webcomic, out now in graphic novel form, transports the follies of the Greek pantheon — particularly Hades and Persephone — to a modern setting of suits and sports cars.

Manuele Fior's latest, Celestia, is set on a far-future Earth, wracked by climate change — but the terrors of flood and fire stay under the surface of his dreamy, hazy, philosophical story.

Wake, by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez, blends passion and fact to set a new standard for illustrated history: Not just action scenes of daring, desperate women, but the struggle to make them known.

Miura was one of the most influential manga artists in the field; his signature series, Berserk, ran for over 30 years and melded sword fights, supernatural elements and knotty moral dilemmas.

Windsor-Smith is known for his work on Conan the Barbarian and lots of X-Men titles. Now, he's back with a passion project about a man subjected to ghastly secret government experiments.