The graphic novel and the comic continue unstoppable and there are not a few publishers that bet on the genre with series that hit all the keys: detectives, first loves, indestructible friendships, hyperactive gangs, mysteries, misunderstood preadolescences and turbulent adolescences... A genre that It has been placed at the top of this year's series. We review them.
One of the most successful is the one offered to us by the Danes Sabina Lemire and Rasmus Bregnhøi with Nina (Swedish Cat), a fresh comic that delves into the life of a teenager. The first installment starts right at the New Year's Eve party and ends with the same party the following year. During this time, one of the most important in Nina's life, everything will happen: the bridal parade of her beloved and eccentric mother, the estrangement with her best friend, the irruption of a new student at the school that forms the club of love that only those who feel in love have access to. But what is love? Nina wonders. A bit of philosophy, a bit of disappointment, lots of dreams and not a little sense of humor (11-12 years).
From Denmark, and sharing an illustrator –Rasmus Bregnhøi– there is also an interesting proposal that delves into pre-adolescence from the prism of two kids, Manu and Moha/ En Marc i en Moha (Takatuka), which give their name to this fun and realistic series. by Kim Fupz Aakeson (9-10 years old). Divided into ten episodes, we discover two inveterate gamers, sometimes bullies, sometimes tender, with a great competitive spirit but friends until death, and open to making the most of life. Interculturality is not an issue in itself, but it is latent and raised without any shoehorn.
Also in a comic key, the German creator Tanja Esch arrives in Spain with the first adventure of Oli and the mystery of the new one (Liana Editorial), a classic troupe of child detectives with an overflowing imagination who, to combat the boredom of a town where Nothing ever happens, the most unexpected cases are invented. At the start of the presentation, the new student, Emma, serves them adventure on a silver platter (6-7 years). The book, awarded by the Bologna Ragazzi 2022, will continue in 2024. Tanja Esch herself has announced it to us through Liana's editor, Marta Tutuone, who incidentally and as a curiosity explains that, in the Spanish translation , and with the permission of the creator herself, the names of Oli's friends have been changed to those of the gang of Tutuone's children –Mario, Mae, Telmo or Adri...– much easier to remember.
For early readers and in handwriting, the author known for signing her funny illustrations only with Gómez starts Drila Cocodrila / Drila Cocodrila (Destiny) solo, her new comic book series starring a crocodile, a raccoon, a worm and a pair of loving sheep. In the first installment of her Darle al coco / Fer anar la cloaca they highlighted the importance of thinking. In Soy genial/ Sóc genial we discover the talent that we all carry inside (some more hidden than others).
At home, the Madrid illustrator José Fragoso delves alone into the life of Olivia Wolf (Nubeocho), a wolf-girl who lives in Engendroland, a charming place where monsters and humans coexist in unsuspected harmony. So far the first two issues (7 years) have come out, The Sandwich with Extra Mold and The Night of the Giant Monsters, the first as an introductory one, where he introduces us to who will be Olivia's travel companions: her best friend Bela, a brave bat and her best friend Elliot, a human with magnificent skills for disguise.
Also at home, Ana Campoy and Álex Alonso have launched Aventura Rodríguez (La Esfera Azul), a series for early readers halfway between comics and short stories. It stars a boy with an overflowing imagination and his little sister. The confines of the house are often his playground, and any situation ends up turning into an adventure. An entertaining series, easy to read and somewhat disturbing regarding what circulates in the corners of our homes.
For the little ones (4 years old) a vegetable protagonist breaks out with force, Supertata / Supertona ( SM / Cruïlla ), a new series that arrives from the United Kingdom where it has had not little acceptance. Sue Hendrá and Paul Linnet have come up with a fun formula to give life to the healthiest foods in the supermarket. This summer the fourth installment of the series has arrived, The Night of the Living Vegetables, with a very terrifying plot.
The illustrator Òscar Julve also starts a very Jurassic comic series for the little ones (5-6 years old). This is Nico and the dinos / El Nico i els dinos (Beascoa) that follows the adventures of a gang in a town, where the least extraordinary thing that happens is the discovery and subsequent birth of a dinosaur egg.
The successful tandem Jaume Copons and Liliana Fortuny also premieres a very special series. It's about Roc Guitar (Comanegra), a story halfway to the graphic novel where the couple of creators uses the excuse of a high school student, a bit of a wacko, to bring the story of Companyia Elèctrica Dharma closer in a very original way to a young audience (11-12 years). The next installment will be this fall and will be dedicated to Circ Cric and the world of clowns, according to the editorial.
From Astiberri, a specialist in comics, arrives for a youth audience (11-12) The Nameless City, a story set in eastern lands with warlike overtones brought to us by Canadian Faith Erin Hicks. The story takes place in a city renamed with each invasion, where the natives subsist without intervention, among them Rata, an intelligent and agile street girl, who becomes the best friend of Kaidu, a young Dao, future warrior of the last invaders. A tandem whose destiny is linked to the future of the city.
In a detective key Sara and Jamila (Maeva Young) burst onto the scene, by the Canadian illustrator Gillian Goerz. A series that pays homage to the Sherlock Holmes stories through Sara's great observation skills, but with much more diversity, and not just because of Jamila's character and her family. The first installment is dedicated to summer and the birth of a unique friendship between two people who a priori seem to have nothing in common (11-12 years).
Kómikids, the publishing label resulting from the agreement between Bayard Magazines and Editorial Kókinos to publish comics, starts this season with two fun series starring Zuk and Niko. The first is a little witch, the work of Serge Bloch and Nicolas Hubesch, capricious and junk, whose spells mess everything up. In the first installment, A Witch's Holiday / Unes vacances de bruixa (5-6 years old), its creators make it clear how far the magic of this little girl can go. As for Niko, his creator, Paco Sordo, already puts all the meat on the grill in the first installment, Superinventos y grandes trastadas / Superinvents i grans bestieses (6 years old) where the protagonist takes advantage of the incredible inventions of his eccentrics and parent scientists.
The renowned French cartoonist Joann Sfar puts the disturbingly funny point in this selection with one of the most famous vampires of recent years. It's about little Vampir, the child version of his popular character, Fernand, inspired by Murnau's Nosferatu. After going through the big screen and starring in a series of cartoons, the publisher Fulgencio Pimentel starts with Pequeño Vampir in the horror movie the new series about this endearing character, halfway between the comic and the novel. Accompanied by his friend Miguel, Vampir will go to see a horror movie. Vampir has already warned him that it is not for his age. Zombies are very scary, but even in dreams Miguel would have imagined that a nightmare could become a door to reality.
Another specialist in comics, Norma Editorial, has several series for children and young people on its Astronave label. One of the most interesting is the one signed by the French Tristan Roulot and the Spanish Mateo Guerrero, El bosque del tiempo (14 years old), whose second installment is not expected until next year. This first introductory chapter, which by the way, closes with many questions, delves into a magical world, a village inhabited only by children for whom time has stopped thanks to a magical stone that has just been stolen.
Eduard Márquez and Artur Laperla have a great time as commentators and illustrators of the story of Dijous, a girl whose parents relegated to oblivion as soon as she was born to dedicate herself to playing sports, and who fed only expired products. Something that could be vomiting, but which is the key to the recovery of this new heroine (or anti, we still don't know for sure) whose first two chapters L'Altra Tribu has just compiled in Catalan (10 years old) in Integral XXL. The series had already been published previously by SM in Spanish and Cruïlla in Catalan.
