Summer Reads 2025 from Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly

Buff Soul

Moa Romanova, trans. from the Swedish by Melissa Bowers (Fantagraphics)

Swedish cartoonist Romanova tags along with a musician friend—they’re both supercool, gorgeous neurotics with substance abuse issues—on a road trip misadventure across the U.S. in this graphic memoir drenched in neon Memphis Milano aesthetic. Days of binge-drinking, drugs, and sex ultimately lead to a confrontation with the past. The Eisner winner’s pop art narrative makes for an addictive sweet-and-sour treat.

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Gaysians

Mike Curato (Algonquin)

The cast of Lambda award winner Curato’s first graphic novel for adults are as bombastic as the characters of Crazy Rich Asians but live on a Singles budget. A young gay man named AJ moves to Seattle in the early aughts, and though tech bros have pushed queer kids to the city’s outer limits, he makes the best of rainy nights out with his “Boys Luck Club,” a crew of fellow oddballs including a drag queen, a cad, and a gamer.

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Simplicity

Mattie Lubchansky (Pantheon)

Comics rabble rouser Lubchansky follows up Boys Weekend with a sci-fi escapade in their trademark combination of bright cartoony art and scathing satire. In 2081, an idealistic anthropology student yearns for an escape from the high-tech big city and ventures out to study a remote hippie commune where free love, gender nonconformity, and psychedelic visions reign. Then dead bodies start to pile up, revealing the hard limits of utopia.

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Spent: A Comic Novel

Alison Bechdel (Mariner)

Fame and fortune are made to look ridiculous in this caricature of the Fun Home cartoonist’s own precipitous rise, which questions how to best turn literary success into activism. Alternate-world Alison tries to parlay her notoriety into a platform to critique capitalism but keeps getting tripped up in the minutia of sustainable goat farming. Bonus points: there’s a wonderfully diverse queer ensemble cast that’s sure to delight fans of Dykes to Watch Out For.

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