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September is here, and with summer winding down, there’s no better way to prepare for winter than with a small library of new graphic novels. As usual, there are a ton of paperbacks and trade paperbacks releasing this month from a wide variety of publishers, and we’ve rounded up some of the most notable releases below.
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For the highlights, here’s a quick rundown of what the big two have to offer. DC Comics always has a few Batman trade paperbacks ready to launch, and this September, one of the new ones to check out is Batman: City of Madness. Illustrated and written by Christian Ward, it’s Batman confronting cosmic horror as he explores a Gotham that exists beneath the actual city. A living nightmare populated by warped mirrors of the people above, the Dark Knight soon comes face to face with his own twisted reflection, who has a sinister agenda he plans to carry out.
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Moving on to Metropolis, Superman: The Triangle Collection is another massive comic book collection. What makes this one interesting is that it brings together Superman's adventures from the time the character was experiencing a creative renaissance in the '90s. Several superstar creative teams came together at the time, telling their own stories while creating a tight continuity that kept the four main Superman titles connected. Superman, Adventures of Superman, Action Comics, and Superman: The Man of Steel all featured numbered triangle icons on their covers, and this fan-favorite period would come to be known as the “Triangle Era” of Superman comics.
Superman: The Triangle Era Omnibus Volume 1 collects the first year of these comics, which is over 1,200 pages long. You might want to soak up the yellow solar rays before you try to lift this volume. A new edition of WE-3, a miniseries about weaponized pets, also came out this month, but don't do it Read this unless you're ready to have your heart broken. While Frank Quitely's art is worth the price of admission, this series is a powerful look at animal testing gone way too far.
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Moving over to the mighty Marvel, you can get your hands on not one, but two Ultimate Spider-Man graphic novels. The fourth omnibus of the original Ultimate Spider-Man is packed with drama, goblins, and symbiotes to make life difficult for Peter Parker, and collects a ton of issues, one-shots, and annuals from the series.
THE other The Ultimate Spider-Man graphic novel is smaller, although considering the series only recently started, that's possible. The new incarnation of Spider-Man is very different, as this Peter Parker received his powers decades after he was originally supposed to.
Older and blessed with family, Parker must face new challenges while learning to become Spider-Man for the first time.
On the weirder side of Batman, Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert, and Tony Daniel's legendary series is collected in multiple volumes. The first one contains some great stories, including the first appearance of Damien Wayne, who would later become the current Robin. For something lighter, there's also the groovy adventures of Batman '66, as this massive 928-page compendium collects the entirety of Batman and Robin's adventures. This collection features some great talent, including Jeff Parker, Michael Allred, Laura Allred, Jonathan Case, and many more who put their bat stamp on the Gotham Guardian.
Other Marvel graphic novels we recommend include the coolest Ghost Rider ever, Danny Ketch, who races down the street with a full tank of '90s gas, and the original X-Factor comic book series that has been collected.
Moving on from Marvel and DC, you can look forward to an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. We say “look forward to” in a tongue-in-cheek sense, as the original book is a dark look at life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and the comic book adaptation looks set to do it justice. Illustrated by internationally renowned artist Manu Larcenet, it’s a moving tale of human perseverance and familial love.
Another book that might stir emotions is Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story by Mutts artist and writer Patrick McDonnell. It’s a collection of stories about Guard Dog, a character abandoned by his owner and left to die alone. The Mutts characters would save Guard Dog, who would become one of the most popular characters in comics, and any series that tackles the sensitive subject of animal cruelty and neglect deserves to be told and shared.
For a quick overview of everything else, you can read the list below.