The Best Graphic Novels You’ve Never Heard Of

Starting a new school is never easy, especially when you’re an alien. But when all your fellow classmates are aliens, too, it makes the discovery that your mom and dad aren’t really your mom and dad and you’re actually a fire-wielding alien from another planet a bit easier to swallow. Still, Tara will have to get a handle on her newly discovered powers if she wants to succeed at her new school and make friends along the way.

Astral projection is all fun and games — until someone gets hurt. And when Boetema learns that she can astrally project her consciousness into the bodies of people on other planets, it seems like exactly that: a bit of fun. But then she accidentally gets a girl hurt while possessing her body, and now she and her trouble-prone brother must work together to right a series of wrongs strewn out across the galaxy.

A young deaf girl wants nothing more than to make her way across the deserts and get to the mountain range beyond to scatter her mother’s ashes. But she lives in a world of sleeping gods and fragile peace. After being rescued from dehydration by desert-dwellers, she must decide whether to reveal her mysterious powers in order to protect their town from attacking rogues or continue on her journey alone.

I was honestly shocked to discover this graphic novel was a relative unknown since I found it to be such a fun read. Every year, giant sentient robots come to Earth to bond with humans and fend off alien threats. The new crop of cadets at Sky Corps Academy are awaiting selection, but when a boy working alongside his mom as a janitor is chosen by one of the robots instead, he’s given the opportunity of a lifetime — if he can prove himself to his classmates and teachers before the next alien attack.

This anthology of short comics all explore the same idea in a myriad of different ways: what if people everywhere suddenly had access to a cheap warp drive, making space travel accessible to the masses? With faster than light travel now widely available, what will the future bring?

The creator of the hit webcomic O Human Star teams up with renowned chef and restaurant critic, Soleil Ho, in this graphic novel all about food. Yarrow is a young chef determined to find her place in the culinary world with her insect-based creations. But winning over her personal hero — and the chef of a buzzy new restaurant — might prove harder than she expected. Especially because Chef Chanda Flores comes from a culture where people have been eating bugs for centuries and she’s not at all impressed by some newbie’s attempt to make insects the next big thing.

Is the headless knight that Olivia has always seen an imaginary friend? A ghost? An omen? After all, no one else sees what she sees. She’s grown so accustomed to the knight’s presence that it doesn’t really bother her anymore. But she also knows that one day she will have to confront it in this 38-page comic from ShortBox.

A new father struggles to balance all the different aspects of his life in this Korean graphic novel all about family. After moving to the country with his wife and baby, Madang struggles to be the good father and husband he longs to be while also having to travel back to Seoul to care for his ailing mother and alcoholic father. His only comfort is memories of family meals throughout his childhood. Determined to have one last, multigenerational family meal before his mother’s death, Madang races to collect her recipes and bring together three generations while they still have time.

Inspired by West African folklore, this graphic novel follows the adventures of Mansou, the prince of a dying kingdom, and Awa, his royal storyteller, known as a Djeliya. The two are on a quest to confront the wizard who destroyed their world and then retreated to his tower, never to be seen again. Along the way they encounter friends and foes from myth and legend and revisit the stories that gave rise to their people in the past as they try to save what is left of their present.

This adorable graphic novel is pure fun and pizza jokes. An intergalactic pizza delivery crew tries to beat out the competition on their quest to discover the very best cheese in the galaxy. But along the way they’ll have to battle space slugs, prickly customers, and culinary critics who don’t care how fast their delivery is if the pizza isn’t good enough to go along with it. This is a great read for kids or adults looking for some lighthearted laughs.

Two reincarnated assassins, constantly at each others’ throats throughout time, wake in their newest life — but one of them suddenly begins to question why she continues to fight. Neither Mali nor Tessa remember why they’re fighting in this war that stretches back so far no one even knows what they’re fighting for. Tessa is waking up, starting to wonder why she should fight for something she can’t even remember. But Mali is still out there, and she’s already on the hunt, whether Tessa wants to be a part of it or not.

A former child queen driven from her throne wanders the galaxy all while trying to evade the revolutionary forces that would still see her dead, queen or not. Elida is slow to trust, but when an old frenemy claims to know the location of her mother, she has no choice but to follow him on a quest back to her home planet to rescue her mom. But what’s in it for him? And will trusting him prove to be Elida’s downfall?

After a mysterious force attacks Japan, China, and Korea in the 19th century, the survivors come together to build a new society on a hidden island refuge. Kenichi, the son of a samurai leader, and Hana, the orphaned daughter of Korean farmers, have little in common except their skill as warriors and their disdain for each other. But when an army brings word that the Shogun has returned and expects fealty in exchange for protection from a mutated horde, they will have to learn to work together to protect their island and their people.