Several people told me I had to visit The Vault of Midnight when I was in Ann Arbor giving a staff day keynote in October, and I'm super glad I stopped by. This is one of my favorite comic book stores -- it's right up there with Portland's Cosmic Monkey and Austin Books & Comics.
The King's Warrior by Huahua Zhu. Bulgilhan Press, 2024. 9781737130161. 74pp. https://bulgilhanpress.com/
A king sends his lionsteed warrior on a final mission, to kill an evil alchemist. The warrior's backstory is told in flashbacks inked in blue, while the current story is told in pages with bolder colors and black inks. The whole book is beautiful and it feels like a fairy tale.
I picked up this book because of the amazing cover and the fact that it was the last copy on a shelf loaded with great books; I figured if everyone else liked it, I would, too. A clerk saw me do that, and then we had a conversation during which he asked what sorts of books I was looking for. After a discussion about comics creators during which I said I was looking for graphic novels that I'd never heard of, he recommended the next two books on the list, plus gave me a list of five others the store didn't have in stock but that he was sure I would like. (So far he's been absolutely correct. As far as I'm concerned he's the best graphic novel readers advisor ever.)
Grog the Frog: The Book of Taurus written and illustrated by Alba BG and Davilorium. Silver Sprocket, 2023. 9798886200232. https://www.silversprocket.net/
The bright cover made me think of Adventure Time and I mean, come on, I'm up for reading any book about a frog wizard with a bad attitude. There's a lot going on in this book -- it's kind of a romp, and at times felt like a stoned video game. The coloring is something to behold, and the battle scenes shine.
Gnomicide: A Rust Kingdom Tale by Spugna. Hollow Press, 2018. No ISBN. www.hollow-press.net
This wordless book is full of tentacles, mushrooms, and gore. Giant fanged mollusks face the last survivors of a gnome village. As the title suggests, things do not go well for the gnomes.
I love the look of this book -- it's black and white, and it feels like Jeff Smith of Bone-fame inked a gnome-centric issue of Jordan and Strahm's Image Comics series Spread.
I immediately tried to buy a few other books by Spugna from Hollow Press. This one is sold out but it's one of the three stories in Rusted Tales by Spugna (2022, also no ISBN) which is still in print. I picked up a copy at Floating World Comics in Portland, which sells them on their website at https://floatingworldcomics.com/shop/comic-books/rusted-tales-by-spugna
