Viz Media has some cool manga's available for preorder. I've made the title of each book a link to the page on Viz's website. So if you're looking for something fun to read, check out these cool new series!
The Bugle Call: Song of War, Vol. 1 | ||||||
In the year 1294, nine ancient Spires hold the lost secrets of a vanished civilization. Luca, a bugler dreaming of becoming a maestro, is marked as a Branch-hexed—able to see sound—and swept into a war far beyond the battlefield he hoped to escape.
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Writers: Dennis Culver, Fred Kennedy, Zack Davisson, John C Hocking, Jim Zub & Liam Sharp
Artists: Chris Burnham, Marco Rudy, Max von Fafner, Liam Sharp & Dan Panosian
Pin-Up Artists: Doug Braithwaite, Adam Gorham, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jonathan Wayshak, Tom Raney & Juan Alberto Hernández:
Cover Artists: Joe Jusko & Alex Horley:
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $6.99
Release Date: April 30, 2025
Conan has battled dinosaurs. Despite his distrust of magic, Conan has helped a witch confront someone intent on wiping out her sisterhood. He has befriended a child in a town populated by zombies. The Cimmerian has united with other heroes across space and time to confront the power of the black stone. What great evils will he face next? And how does Conan compare with other heroes in the Howardverse? Let’s grab our Atlantean swords, leap into The Savage Sword Of Conan #8, and find out!
Treasure Of The Vermin Queen: Story
Conan has partnered with a young thief to pillage the horde of the Ver-Men. When he and Fleek reach the temple, they observe a ceremony. Conan thinks this is the perfect time to search the temple. Instead, Fleek rushes in among the robed figures to prevent a human sacrifice.
In Dennis Culver’s story, the barbarian never suspected Fleek’s treachery. Still, the Cimmerian rushes to aid his fellow thief. Fleek justifies his lies by assuring Conan that any cult must have a treasure to fund their movement. In Treasure Of The Vermin Queen, Conan wonders how to punish the thief for leading him into a trap. But first, he must battle the priests of "Bug and Bone" and an outraged god.
Treasure Of The Vermin Queen: Art
Chris Burnham’s opening page evokes Conan, Subotai, and Valeria climbing the Tower of Serpents. But Conan and Fleek are climbing inside a vertical tunnel. When they reach the worship chamber, they find thick stone pillars decorated with diagonal caterpillar-shaped stripes. The lines, crosshatching, and shading illuminate the dark chamber filled with cloaked worshippers, stalagmites, and broken pillars. But the high priest's mask, along with the pillars and the design carved into the wall behind him, hint at the appearance of the god Conan must fight before he can decide on Fleek's future.
When I Was Young, I Met A King: Story
In the second story in The Savage Sword Of Conan #8, a woman remembers her childhood. A sorcerer's minions hunted her for her latent magical abilities. Hana’s father saved Conan’s life. Despite his distaste for magic, the Cimmerian promised to protect the healer's daughter. After Fleek's betrayal in Dennis Culver’s story, Fred Kennedy demonstrates how loyalty flows through Conan’s veins. He doesn’t know whether the girl will do good or ill with her gifts. Still, Conan won’t rest until he delivers Hana to safety.
When I Was Young, I Met A King: Art
After Chris Burnham's traditional penciling and inking, Marco Rudy's mesmerizing images intertwine, and his characters overlay each other as in a collage. Memories blend with Hana's narrative, while camera angles demand the reader's attention. The visual effect is bracing, challenging, and open to interpretation.
Kinship Of The Fallen: Story
The first four paragraphs of Jim Zub’s war poem are three lines each. The last word of the second line rhymes with the first and second and the third with the fourth. Then, the final four-line three stanzas rhyme with an A, B, A, B sequence. (Apologies, ABBA fans). Jim Zub's poem commemorates a battle, celebrates life, honors the fallen, and pledges eternal brotherhood.
Kinship Of The Fallen: Art
In Dan Panosian's double-page image, Conan sits beside an adoring maiden. A wooden cask and bottles fill the tables. Candles glow while white sparkles rise toward the ceiling. In contrast to the poem, none of his fellow warriors linger in the tavern, suggesting they drank their fill before leaving to continue their celebrations elsewhere.
Live By The Sword: Story
In this story by Zach Davisson, another Robert E Howard hero ventures into the pages of The Savage Sword Of Conan #8. Cormac FitzGeoffrey is a stranger to this walled city. Sir William De Fontane rides up with a free horse after Cormac dispatches his combatants. The knight wishes Cormac had sworn homage to Lord Guillaume De Montfort. But Cormac doesn't want a patron.
Live By The Sword presents another Howardian hero with the question of loyalty. Cormac’s refusal to serve Lord Montfort highlights our relationships with authority: what bowing before our leaders gives us and what it takes away.
Live By The Sword: Art
After opening this new series with Conan battling dinosaurs, Max von Fafner returns to introduce Cormac FitzGeoffrey to modern readers. Cormac’s first opponent wears a turban, leather armor, and Persian boots. Cormac wears chainmail, while plate armor covers his shoulders, arms, and shins. He carries a large shield as he battles his enemies. A helmet adorns his head, and armor covers the head and neck of the horse he rides. Stone shards rise taller than the warriors who fight between them, while tent-covered buildings rise behind a stone wall.
The opening scenes evoke “The Shadow of the Vulture.” Robert E Howard’s historical tale introduces the world to Red Sonya. Roy Thomas would later reinvent the character and introduce Red Sonja to the pages of Marvel’s Conan The Barbarian. The upraised stone spikes also suggest that, in joining this battle, Cormac has unwittingly stepped into a serpent’s maw.
Coils of the Golden Empress: Story
Conan novelist John C Hocking follows the comic adventures and poem in The Savage Sword Of Conan #8 with a prose story. In Coils of the Golden Empress, Conan wanders through a jungle. While morose and mourning, Conan also feels a sense of pride, remembering how he sent the burning Tigress out to sea. As in recent issues of Conan The Barbarian, Bêlit’s death leaves him bereft. Yet, unlike Jim Zub’s story, Conan finds people who welcome him with a meal. They even invite him to join their company. If only the men didn’t profit off Human misery.
John C Hocking's story sparkles with an engineering triumph and a reminder of how well-traveled Conan is. And then there is the monster that dwells at the heart of this story of loyalty, betrayal, and grief. Tom Raney contributes a one-page illustration to enliven the two pages of prose.
The Wuthering: Story
Liam Sharp closes out The Savage Sword Of Conan #8 with a finely written and drawn tale of mercy. As Conan explores a Pictish wilderness, he comes across a giant of a man. The densely muscled warrior introduces himself as Tor Himdhul, a name that evokes British rock formations and Norse legend. Tor entertains Conan with a tale that evokes another classic Robert E Howard tale. While he taunts Conan with words of anger, he seeks kindness from the Cimmerian. Yet what Tor asks will test Conan's adherence to his moral code.
The Wuthering: Art
Conan descends a staircase through the jungle. Behind him, upraised stones surround a tree perched along a cliff, suggesting memorials to the fallen (in more ways than one). Tree trunks, limbs, and exposed roots congregate like jungle vines. Leaves flutter past Conan and onto Tor, leaving branches and twigs bare. While Conan exhibits youth and vitality, Tor’s light hair, beard, and features suggest a more mature outlook. In his tale, Tor rides a horse through the dramatic landscape. His mount's musculature suggests a draft horse trained not to work the field but to plow through an enemy’s cavalry.
Lettering
Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith fill the stories of The Savage Sword of Conan #8 with uppercase lettering in white narrative boxes and dialogue balloons. The words grow bold for intonation, swell for volume, and rarely shrink. The narrative in Liam Sharp’s tale floats unrestricted across panels. The balloons grow cloudy or spiky to convey extreme emotions. Sound effects announce cracking treasure, enraged elements, a person exploring her capabilities, and a hero’s sword breaking in the heat of battle. Thanks to Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
In The Savage Sword of Conan #8, the barbarian hero battles monstrous gods, venomous beasts, a relentless sorcerer, and an aging Aesir. As the conflicts challenge his ethics, Conan also fights for and because of love. Another Robert E Howard hero, Cormac FitzGeoffrey, wrestles with his duties to monarchs and friends. The comics, prose, and poem celebrate the warrior’s heart and what tests his mettle.
Rating 9.5/10
To look inside see yesterday's preview.
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| COVER B: ALEX HORLEY |
Rejoice, Cimmerian sword masters! Titan's glorious Black & White magazine returns to comic shops tomorrow! Here's a preview of Conan's latest adventures:
THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #8
(W): Dennis Culver, Liam Sharp, Fred Kennedy, Zack Davisson, Patch Zircher
(A): Chris Burnham, Liam Sharp, Marco Rudy, Max Von Fafner, Juan Alberto Hernandez
Publisher: Titan Comics & Heroic Signatures
B&W, 64pp, $6.99, On sale: April 30, 2025
FEATURING THREE THRILLING CONAN TALES!
Witness a death-defying duel from the legendary Liam Sharp, a cave-crawling adventure from Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham, and a dreamlike journey from Fred Kennedy and Marco Rudy.
Adding to the excitement are two new Howardian characters – BRECKENRIDGE ELKINS (from Zircher/Hernandez) and CORMAC FITZGEOFFREY (from Davisson/Fafner). With a stunning array of pin-ups and captivating covers from Joe Jusko and Alex Horley, THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN Issue #8 is not one to be missed!
Now, let's take a look inside:
And check out this cinematic homage!
COVER A: JOE JUSKO
Thanks to Titan Comics for sharing this preview with us.
Marvel has a long history of telling horror stories. Werewolf By Night is currently on shelves. Varnae, the first Vampire, cast our world into darkness during the recent Bloodhunt crossover event. Check out these earlier, previously uncollected horror tales from some of the iconic creators of Marvel Comics!
Discover Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows
The First in a series of Hardcover Collections Featuring Never-Before Collected Comics by Neal Adams, John Buscema, Howard Chaykin, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Barry Windsor-Smith, and other Silver Age masters.
Since its founding in 1939 as Timely Comics, Marvel has published some of the most iconic series in American comic book history, including The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and X-Men and built an unparalleled library of characters and stories that have shaped pop culture. For over 45 years, Fantagraphics has published the very best comics and graphic novels that the medium has to offer, including Love & Rockets, Eightball, and My Favorite Things Are Monsters. Now these two publishing titans are teaming up for Lost Marvels, an ambitious series of hardcover releases featuring never-before collected comics by masters of the Silver Age, including Neal Adams, John Buscema, Howard Chaykin, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Barry Windsor-Smith, and other masters of the Silver Age.
Fantagraphics will publish three hardcover volumes in the Lost Marvels series this year, all collaboratively produced with Marvel Comics, with more releases to follow in the coming years.
In April, Fantagraphics will publish Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows, collecting all nine issues of the series. In 1969, with its revolutionary superhero line well established, Marvel took a chance on the kind of supernatural, EC-style anthology series that had been banned since the formation of the Comics Code in the 1950s. Tower of Shadows featured a staggering array of artists and writers, including Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Wally Wood, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, John Romita, Johnny Craig, Marie Severin, Gerry Conway, and Bernie Wrightson, to name a few. Freed from the conventions of the superhero adventure, these creators brought their storytelling skills to a more quietly sinister genre, producing atmospheric gems of twisted suspense and sardonic horror, including Roy Thomas and Tom Palmer’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s "Pickman's Model"
In July, Fantagraphics will publish Lost Marvels No. 2: Howard Chaykin Vol. 1: Dominic Fortune, Monark Starstalker, and Phantom Eagle. When Howard Chaykin broke into comics in the 1970s, there was nothing quite like him. His original characters Dominic Fortune and Monark Starstalker took classic pulp heroes and ran them through a postmodern blender. This new volume collects some of the most exciting, sought-after work by Chaykin from 1975 to 2008, including retro-science-fiction bounty hunter Monark Starstalker’s debut appearance and all the Dominic Fortune stories, including the character’s unexpurgated Max series, published a generation later. Completing the package is the collision between pulp heroism and the devastating, bloody realities of World War I in Chaykin’s 111-page collaboration with The Boys writer Garth Ennis on War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle. As the artist behind Marvel’s comic adaptation of the first Star Wars movie and the creator of iconic, influential series like the sci-fi satire American Flagg! and the adults only vampire saga Black Kiss, Howard Chaykin has earned his reputation as a prolific and essential cartoonist.
In November, Fantagraphics will publish Lost Marvels No. 3: Savage Tales. Best known for Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith’s Conan the Barbarian and the first appearance of Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow’s Man-Thing, 1971’s Savage Tales was a stunning comics magazine in the spirit of Creepy and Heavy Metal. This volume will collect all 11 issues of the series featuring work from Stan Lee, John Romita, Dennis O’Neil, Al Williamson, Jim Steranko, John Buscema, and a host of other legendary creators delivering a high-octane combination of fantasy, horror, and action.
“Marvel published a surprising amount of work that fell outside its superhero purview in the '60s and '70s and '80s, most of it never before reprinted, much of it "lost" except in the fading memories of fans who bought it and read it for the first time back then when it was originally published,” said Fantagraphics Publisher Gary Groth. “Exceptional craftsmen and artists were often featured — Barry Windsor-Smith, Steranko, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, and others— and one of the goals of this project is to create a carefully curated record of this somewhat more obscure work that so many comics readers have forgotten or are unfamiliar with. Lost Marvels complements our Atlas reprints which features so many of the best craftsmen from the 1950s.”
The Lost Marvels series is dedicated to introducing these vital stories to a new generation of readers and restoring them to their rightful place in comics history. Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows will be available from Fantagraphics on April 29, 2025; Lost Marvels No. 2: Howard Chaykin Vol. 1 will be available on July 8, 2025; and Lost Marvels No. 3: Savage Tales will be published on November 18, 2025. For updates Fans can follow Fantagraphics on X, Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky, and YouTube.
About Fantagraphics:
For over 45 years, Fantagraphics has published the very best comics and graphic novels that the medium has to offer. Our mission is to celebrate great cartooning in all of its incarnations, from the form’s early luminaries to contemporary artists currently forging the future of visual storytelling. Not content to rest on our laurels and extensive roster of talented artists, we constantly seek out fresh voices from across the globe. Thus, we honor the rich history of comics while providing a platform for bold new stories, styles, and perspectives that push the boundaries of the medium. Fantagraphics remains peerless in our commitment to be the publisher of the world's greatest cartoonists.
Thanks to Fantagraphics and Superfan Promotions for sharing this news about their latest release with us.
Storytellers: Peter J Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Designer: Steve Blackwell
Editor: Brian Cunningham
Cover Artists: Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz; Germán Peralta; Mark Chiarello
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 23, 2025
After returning the zombies to their graves, Zachary Halo and Rose Hornsby wanted to resume their lives. But even a Vulcan Nerve Pinch can’t awaken the teenagers from this nightmare. The creature Rose calls a Mutant Demon Lion can assume any shape. Zachary and Rose know him best as their bus driver, but the Adjudicator has taken many forms while watching over them during their adolescence.
With agents from Heaven and Hell trying to influence the thirteen-year-olds, the Adjudicator agrees to show them where they came from. Will discovering their origins bring Zachary and Rose peace? Or will it freak them out even more? Let’s grab some snacks from the Drive-In Theater concession stand, leap into Hornsby And Halo #6, and find out!
Story
Zachary damaged Rose's sketchbook, broke into her bedroom, hotwired the truck from Jim's Orchard, and pilfered candy bars from the concession stand. So, when the Adjudicator transports them to Hell, Rose struggles to accept she belongs there, while Zachary hails from Heaven. It doesn't help that a demon welcomes her by name. Nor does Rose appreciate Zachary's snarky comments as they watch people suffering eternal torment.
But then, Zachary is not enjoying their interdimensional sightseeing tour either. Zachary has spent his youth weighed down by guilt over his parents’ bad behavior. He blames himself for the zombie uprising. So when Zachary visits Heaven in Hornsby And Halo #6, he struggles to feel like he belongs. Worst, Heaven delivers good vibes but seems strangely lacking in substance.
The Adjudicator finds the teenager’s dissatisfaction troubling in Peter J Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg’s story. He has watched over them all their lives. Yet Rose and Zachary hesitate to trust him. The Adjudicator granted their wish to see where they belong. Yet the teens wonder if they want the privileged futures awaiting them. The Adjudicator tries to make Rose and Zachary understand that they must prevent a cosmic war. Still, Rose and Zachary struggle to accept that everything they thought they knew about themselves is a lie in Hornsby And Halo #6.
Art
Peter Snejbjerg conveys Rose and Zachary’s space odyssey amid cinematic widescreen imagery. Panels stretch across two pages or convey depth in vertical strips as the characters descend to Hell and ascend to Heaven. The interdimensional imagery seems lifted from illuminated manuscripts painted with quill pens in medieval monasteries. A moment of wonder in Hornsby And Halo #6 recalls Superzach’s “flights” on the school bus. Visions of her eternal destiny evoke drawings in Rose’s sketchbook.
After remaining by Zachary’s side during the zombie uprising, Pepper gazes at a tiny cosmos of pink, blue, and white circles. The green-eyed orange-and-white cat paws at the sparkling energy as if struggling to believe its master left it behind. Rose and Zachary fly through green clouds amid the starry cosmos. Orange, yellow, and red convey the horrors of Hell, while purple and green portray doomed souls. Greens and blues dominate the Adjudicator’s ascent, while beige, blue, mauve, and white fill Heaven with radiance and mystery. John Kalisz's colors capture the majesty and horrors of the eternal realm and the richness of Earth.
Rob Leigh places uppercase letters into white and colored dialogue balloons. Letter size, balloon shape, and arrow size vary as the teens ask the Adjudicator to hold their hands. Sound effects convey the anguish of Hell, a battle in Heaven, and the Adjudicator’s frustration when the future rulers turn on each other. Thanks to Image Comics and Ghost Machine for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Rose and Zachary used to respect Mr Wenders. Now, they call their bus driver by his first name and question everything he tells them. Like many teens, Rose and Zachary struggle to embrace truths they don't want to accept. But then, people like the Adjudicator have been influencing them without their knowledge or consent. While their friends ponder how to spend their lives, Rose and Zachary's futures seem already written in Hornsby And Halo #6.
Rating 9.4/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
It's been two years since I reviewed anything from Ahoy Comics, but the issue impressed me. It was called Second Coming: Trinity #1, and written by Mark Russell, who also penned the Traveling To Mars series from Ablaze. Here's the info on the latest offering from Ahoy Comics:
HOWL #4
Writer: Alisa Kwitney
Artist: Mauricet
Cover A: Mauricet
Cover B: Mauricet Psychedelic
Married to a 1950s science fiction writer possessed by an extraterrestrial being, Ziva begins—shockingly—to explore the outrageous possibility that their romance has a future. Featuring an AHOY First: a “Psychedelic” incentive cover by the same artist as the main cover! Have WE been taken over by the “mycelial invasion,” too?
Release Date: April 30, 2025
Price: $3.99
Now, let's take a look inside:
Here's another cover option:
Thanks to Ahoy Comics and Superfan Productions for sharing this preview with us.
Writer: Sophie Campbell
Artist: Matt Frank & Sophie Campbell
Letterer: Nathan Widick
Cover Artists: Sophie Campbell & Nicole Goux
Editor: Jake Williams
Publisher: IDW
Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 16, 2025
Antra protected the Earth. Yet something drove the kaiju to attack Mothra before the queen of the monsters could lay an egg. Shorn from her family, Mira grew up in Mothra’s carcass. Mira scrounged abandoned shops for food while avoiding Antra's drones in the ruined city. All that changed when her sister found her. Mothra's priestesses cared for Emi. They trained her in musical magic. A dream led Emi to Mira. But her sister and the tiny priestesses also led a strange bug-eye creature to Mira’s home.
Now, the sisters are on the run. The priestesses need their help to bring another Mothra into a world dominated by Antra. Can Mira and Emi find another Mothra egg and rejuvenate their dying planet? Or will the bug-eyed creatures extinguish all hope for the future? Let's warm our voices, leap into Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2, and see!
Story
Mothra’s priestesses helped the sisters open a portal to the prehistoric era. Mira and Emi arrived at a grand view of a riparian valley. Dinosaurs wandered through the forest while a twisting river wound past a smoking volcano before emptying into the sea. Sophie Campbell's story opens with an armored dinosaur pursuing the sisters. As they race past a bug-eyed creature like the one that attacked Mira's home, another Mothra attacks the strange monster. The tiny priestesses who accompany the prehistoric Mothra expected the sisters’ arrival. They lead Mira and Emi toward the egg while a therapod with spine ridges attacks the spiky, armored dinosaur.
The sisters accompany the priestesses and the prehistoric Mothra to a hidden, underground temple. Mira hadn't realized that Mothra would have priestesses in this period. She wonders what else Emi hasn't told her. Like the monsters they serve, the priestesses sense the ebb and flow of life. They can tell the sisters haven't worked together long. Worse, Mothra's priestesses realize Mari and Emi aren't in tune with each other in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2.
With the girls prone to argument and unused to working together, the priestesses worry that their magic could go wrong. But the priestesses have little time to train the recently reunited sisters and help them trust each other. Mari and Emi must open a portal and speed the egg to the future. Like Mothra and Antra, the Dragon Queen has sensed the girls' intrusion into this time. It yearns to devour Mothra’s egg and increase its power. The girls' disharmony blazes like a beacon of light, drawing the Dragon Queen toward the egg in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2.
Art
Matt Frank and Sophie Campbell fill their time travel tale with dinosaurs, flying dragons, bug-eyed “dragonflies,” three different Mothras, and Antra and her drones. While Emi’s priestesses resemble children, their prehistoric forebears look like seasoned warriors adorned with face paint and carrying spears. Aside from their hairstyles, Emi and Mari look alike as they fun, argue, and weave ritual music.
After their flight through the verdant jungle, the sisters enter a gray world illuminated by glowing drawings. The luminous blocks resemble a labyrinth from the ground and a symbol from the air. Emi and Mari’s red attire fades as they glimpse a striped blue egg amid light-blue mushrooms. Swirls of color surround the sisters as they burst into song. Then, a purple dragon senses the green-and-pink portal opening and rushes to prevent the girls from transporting it to their gray world.
Nathan Widick incants black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2. The priestesses speak smaller white letters into pink balloons. The letters swell for volume, grow bold for intonation, and shrink for lowered voices. Monsters receive stylish introductions and fill the pages with vibrant colored sound effects as they rampage, attack, and turn Mari’s simmering anger into boiling rage. Thanks to IDW for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Mira grew up hating Mothra because she didn't save her family. Now, she must act as a guardian to a young Mothra the priestesses claim will save her world. But her sister and the tiny priestesses haven’t told Mira the entire truth in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2. And time travel is a complicated business. Even with precise calculations, the sisters could fly through a paradox. And that would end their hopes for a better future, wouldn't it?
Rating 9.2/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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First, Ridley Scott stepped into the comics ring with Mechanical Cake. Now, the director of Apocalypse Now and The Godfather is blessing comic shops with his cinematic visions. I love the smell of Graphic Novels in the morning!
Here's all the news on Francis Ford Coppola's new project:
Abrams ComicArts to Publish Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis as an Original Graphic Novel
Abrams ComicArts is thrilled to announce the debut graphic novel from legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis: An Original Graphic Novel, hitting shelves this fall. This stunning 160-page graphic novel offers readers an immersive new version of Coppola’s iconic cinematic story, adapted by writer Chris Ryall and Eisner-winning artist Jacob Phillips.
Set in the futuristic city of New Rome, Megalopolis originally captivated audiences with its masterful filmmaking, becoming one of Francis Ford Coppola's most widely discussed films. Now, in graphic novel form, it explores the gripping narrative of idealism versus corruption. Architect and dreamer Cesar Catilina seeks a utopian future, while Mayor Franklyn Cicero fights to preserve the status quo—rife with greed and political warfare. Caught between these powerful forces is Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose romance with Cesar tests her loyalty and compels her to redefine her beliefs about what humanity truly deserves. The film, which features an all-star cast including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, and Aubrey Plaza, made its world premiere last year to a 10-minute standing ovation at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and was released theatrically and in IMAX globally on September 27, 2024.
“I was pleased to put the idea of a graphic novel in the competent hands of Chris Ryall with the idea that, although it was inspired by my film Megalopolis, it didn’t necessarily have to be limited by it,” said Francis Ford Coppola. “I hoped the graphic novel would take its own flight, with its own artists and writer so that it would be a sibling of the film, rather than just an echo. That’s what I feel Chris, Jacob Phillips and the team at Abrams ComicArts have accomplished. It confirms my feeling that art can never be constrained, but rather always a parallel expression, and part of the bounty we can make available to our patrons, audiences and readers.”
Chris Ryall, known for adapting groundbreaking graphic novels from legends such as Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Harlan Ellison, brings expert craftsmanship to this ambitious project. Jacob Phillips, acclaimed artist behind hits like That Texas Blood and Newburn, infuses the story with visually stunning illustrations that heighten the novel's emotional and cinematic intensity.
“Adapting Francis Ford Coppola's visionary Megalopolis has been an incredible creative thrill,” says writer Chris Ryall.
“Coppola's storytelling challenged and inspired me at every turn, and
collaborating with Jacob Phillips brought new depth to the narrative.
With Abrams ComicArts, we've created something that both honors and
expands the world of the original film.”
“Megalopolis is a giant, awe-inspiring tale which insisted I pushed my artwork to new levels to meet the challenge,” explains artist Jacob Phillips. “A Roman epic in modern day America.”
Joseph Montagne, Publisher of Abrams ComicArts, expressed his excitement: "Bringing Francis Ford Coppola’s extraordinary vision to the graphic novel format is an immense honor for Abrams ComicArts. Coppola’s storytelling genius, paired with Ryall’s writing and Phillips’ dynamic artistry, makes Megalopolis a true landmark in the graphic novel literary canon."
Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis: An Original Graphic Novel promises readers a thrilling journey, proving once again that Coppola remains one of the most innovative storytellers of our time.
Available October 2025 from Abrams ComicArts.
About the Book
Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis: An Original Graphic Novel
By Francis Ford Coppola, Adapted by Chris Ryall
Art by Jacob Phillips
Abrams ComicArts | October 2025
U.S. $25.99 | CAN $32.99 | U.K. £18.99
Hardcover | 160 Pages
6.625 x 10.18 Inches | Full-color illustrations throughout
Hardcover ISBN: 9781419787126 | eBook ISBN: 9798896840091
Founded in 1949, ABRAMS was the first company in the United States to specialize in publishing art and illustrated books. The company continues to publish critically acclaimed and bestselling works in the areas of art, photography, cooking, craft, comics, interior and garden design, entertainment, fashion, and popular culture as well as narrative non-fiction and new works of fiction for adults; children’s books ranging from middle grade to young adult fiction to picture books to board books. ABRAMS creates and distributes brilliantly designed books with the highest production values under the following imprints: Abrams; Abrams ComicArts; Megascope; Surely Books; Abrams Image; Abrams Press; The Overlook Press; Cernunnos; Cameron + Company; Abrams Books for Young Readers; Amulet Books; Abrams Appleseed; and Magic Cat. ABRAMS also distributes books for Booth-Clibborn Editions, Alain Ducasse Édition, Èditions de La Martiniére, Editions BPI, Global Golf Group, Lucky Spool, Milky Way Picture Books, The Museum of Modern Art, SelfMadeHero, Tate Publishing, V&A Publishing, and The Vendome Press.
