We’re well past the end of 2025, which means I’ve had plenty of time to think about which graphic novels and comics I’ve really enjoyed in the past year. So here are some of my favorite comics I read in 2025!
Best Comedy: My New Wife’s Fake Smile by Kengo Matsumoto
Sojiro—the insecure second son of a samurai family—worries about his new wife. In the month since they’ve been married, Chiyo has forced a fake smile every day. As such, Sojiro is convinced that Chiyo is dissatisfied with their arranged marriage.
The truth, however, is that Chiyo is so thirsty for her handsome, strong and brave husband that she constantly has to hold back her feelings or risk publicly drooling all over him! Between Sojiro’s insecurities and Chiyo suppressing her desires, will Sojiro ever know how his wife truly feels?
My New Wife’s Fake Smile is a delightful, sex-positive comedy of errors in a similar vein to Cheerful Amnesia, a yuri manga I discussed for Pride Month back in 2024.
Many cultures throughout history have demonized female sexuality and desire, so each instance of a female character being portrayed as lovable precisely because of her desires is a breath of fresh air. Chiyo is an adorable and endearing lead specifically because she’s insatiably thirsty for her man.
This story may be a comedy, but, similar to Komi Can’t Communicate, the humor is drawn less from mocking our female lead and more from jabbing at Japan’s strict social norms and invoking the relatable awkwardness of interpersonal relationships.
Both of our leads struggle with what society expects of them. Chiyo holds herself back due to the stoicism expected of Japanese women. Sojiro, meanwhile, worries that he isn’t a good enough man for his wife simply because he’s the second son of his family. He feels this way despite the fact that he’s an astonishingly skilled swordsman, a fiercely protective husband and a drop-dead gorgeous man with multiple women fawning over him.
My New Wife’s Fake Smile is funny and cute, with equally endearing male and female leads. Check it out on Hoopla!
Best Romance: The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai
The Green Yuri manga is hard to beat! I talked about this one last February, but The Guy She Was Interested In is a manga worth talking about over and over again.
When Aya meets the cute guy at the local record store, she immediately falls head over heels for someone who finally shares her taste in music. But as the title says, that cute guy wasn’t a guy at all. It was Aya’s classmate Mitsuki!
Thinking the flashy gal Aya would never be interested in a mousey girl like her, Mitsuki keeps the truth to herself. But when Aya finally does discover the truth, she’s not the least bit disappointed that her crush is a girl.
A rare example of a manga that makes excellent use of color, the green accents of this otherwise black-and-white comic emphasize the growing emotions between our two leads. Said leads contrast wonderfully with each other, making for a couple you’re just begging to get together by the end of the first volume.
Even among all the amazing yuri manga out there, The Guy She Was Interested In stands out as one of the best of the decade. And with an animated adaptation announced early last year, there’s all the more reason to check the manga out!
Best Drama: A Witch’s Life in Mongol by Tomato Soup
A dramatization of the real-life Fatima (advisor to early Mongol queen Töregene Khatun), this series makes excellent use of artistic liberties to portray what life may have been like for many women in the lands conquered by the Mongols.
This nuanced story doesn’t shy away from the sins of the Mongol Empire, nor does it demonize the Mongol people as inherently evil. A Witch’s Life is about life after loss, and about how bigotry and prejudice cannot survive the power of knowledge. It is a unique manga telling the story of a Muslim woman who was branded a witch at the end of her life. I’ve never read a manga quite like this, so please give it a look. And keep an eye out for the anime coming out in July of 2026!
You can also check out my full review of A Witch’s Life in Mongol from last December!
Best Action-Adventure: Spider-Man: Fake Red by Yusuke Osawa
At the end of Amazing Spider-Man #50 we see the iconic image of the Spider-Man suit hanging out of a garbage can as Peter Parker walks away from his former identity. This panel has been replicated and homaged a hundred times over. But what if someone found the costume Peter left behind?
That appears to be the story Fake Red intends to tell. Yu Onomae is a high school student having a rough time with his social life. When he finds and puts on the Spider-Man suit, he feels like somebody. Unfortunately, that somebody is the guy who has to protect New York until the real Spidey gets back!
With no powers but a strong sense of responsibility, Yu protects the innocent and fights the wicked—all while the real Spider-Man’s allies desperately search for their friend!
Featuring charming original characters and appearances from beloved Spider-Man supporting characters, Fake Red is one of my favorite Spider-Man stories ever told. It’s a short manga, so you don’t have a lot of time to get to know Yu and his friend Emma—not that one—but the story uses what little time it has to establish a very endearing relationship that took me by surprise.
At a brisk 14 chapters, this one-volume manga is a great afternoon read.
Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy: Strange by Jed Mackay
I talked about Jed Mackay’s work on Black Cat last summer, and have since followed up on his other works with Marvel Comics. Among my favorites was Strange, a 10-issue series covering Clea Strange’s tenure as the Sorcerer Supreme. Wife of Stephen Strange and niece of the dreaded Dormammu, Clea has occupied an important but inconsistent place in the Doctor Strange comics.
Much like Black Cat, Clea is a character who has had a profound impact on her male counterpart’s life, yet has also been subject to large absences from the comics. In Black Cat’s case, her appearances in popular Spider-Man cartoons and video games ensured that she remained well-known in the fandom despite getting the cold shoulder from the comics. For Clea, this very series was her rise to prominence in the superhero fandom.
Clea takes on the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme following the titular Death of Doctor Strange, a crossover event and miniseries also written by Jed Mackay. Clea’s first order of business is to contend with a magic-powered terrorist group tormenting the hidden magical side of Manhattan.
When not dealing with magic terrorists, Clea keeps an eye out for any sign of Stephen’s resurrection—either through his own contingency plans or by someone else’s hand. But when Clea starts detecting signs of necromancy, she instead finds old heroes rising from the dead as zombies!
This book will be many readers’ first introduction to Clea, as it was mine. And it’s a heck of an introduction, as Clea is a far more brutal protector of the innocent than her husband was. But her lack of mercy for the wicked comes from genuine care for the victims. She is a blood relation of the demonic Dormammu and was raised in the Dark Dimension—a realm filled with hate and suffering. But Stephen’s kindness and compassion deeply affected her. For Stephen, his reverence for life is a reason to preserve it, always. For Clea, her same reverence is a reason to snuff out anyone who threatens the lives of the innocent.
Mackay excels at making his female leads both strong and vulnerable. Clea is a woman full of fury and love, and Mackay portrays both sides beautifully. This was my first time meeting Clea, and I instantly fell in love with her. When the first thing she does is stare down an angry Doctor Doom, how could I not?
While primarily a character-focused story, Strange also gives the reader a look at the urban fantasy side of the Marvel universe. The fantasy side of Marvel tends to focus on Asgard and alternate dimensions, so seeing fantasy creatures established in Manhattan makes for an interesting change of pace. The world-building of the story is secondary to the character drama, but what’s there is compelling and has interesting implications for the wider Marvel Universe.
Strange is a great character-driven story, and one that’s largely accessible to new Marvel readers. Whether you want to enjoy it as a standalone story or make it the first step on your Marvel Comics journey, Strange is a great read.
Best Children’s: Sonic the Hedgehog Vol. 18 and Vol. 19 by Evan Stanley
I talked about IDW Publishing’s take on Sonic the Hedgehog in a franchise retrospective from a couple of years ago, and I’m more than happy to talk about it again. Volumes 18 and 19 cover my favorite story arc to date, the Clean Sweepstakes.
The shady but supposedly altruistic Clean Sweep Inc. is sponsoring an Extreme Gear race, the same kind seen in the Sonic Riders game series. However, Sonic’s friends and foes alike are sure that Clean Sweep’s CEO is up to something.
To buy time for Amy and Tails to search for clues, Sonic uses tech from Dr. Eggman to disrupt the race under the guise of the Phantom Rider. But for maximum secrecy, Sonic’s other friends, enemies, and frenemies are left in the dark. And the biggest bumps in the road are villains-turned-heroes Surge and Kit!
This story arc heavily features IDW’s comic-original characters, with the arc providing a big turning point for Surge the Tenrec and Kitsunami the Fennec—evil duplicates of Sonic and Tails introduced in the Imposter Syndrome miniseries. Surge and Kit have become two of my favorite characters in the franchise, so I was very happy to see them get the spotlight.
While these two former villains are starting to turn to the side of good, Sonic’s deception is an uncharacteristically underhanded act for him—even if he had very good intentions. With these shifting allegiances and questionable moral choices, these two volumes provide some of the best dramatic storytelling the Sonic series has ever had.
If you’re a Sonic fan, I highly recommend you get caught up on this comic!
Best Young Adult: Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod
The tale of a teenage alien princess hiding on Earth, Taylor Barzelay was made to take the form of a human boy for her own protection. It’s been a burden for six long years. It was already too much to bear.
When the pretty new girl in town says she’s not into boys, hiding her true self becomes all but impossible for Taylor. But when Taylor’s been holding her truth back for so long, the question becomes less about whether her little town will accept her and more about whether she can truly accept herself.
Galaxy nominally takes place in the DC Universe, but is far enough from the main action to be easily enjoyed by anybody. The story forgoes superhero action to instead focus on a deeply personal story of a young trans woman being her authentic self despite the dangers that may come her way.
Taylor’s relationship with her overprotective father figure is nuanced, but the narrative is always on her side. Her budding relationship with girlfriend Kat is adorable, while her robotic corgi provides charming comic relief.
As for Taylor herself, Axelrod brings heartbreaking authenticity to the character’s insecurities. Taylor doesn’t fear the harm that may come her way if the conquerors of her planet find her. She only fears the thing she hasn’t felt in far too long: happiness.
Also, she’s a David Bowie fan, so that punches up her likability quite a bit in my book.
As a deeply moving experience and an authentic representation of trans women’s experiences, I really have to recommend Galaxy: The Prettiest Star. And keep an eye out for the sequel later this year!
Best Adult: Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) by Jonathan Hickman
We’re double-dipping into Spider-Man comics and triple-dipping into Marvel Comics. But it’s hard not to when the publisher has been putting out some of their best work ever in the last five years!
Taking place in a universe where Peter Parker was never bitten by the radioactive spider, Peter is nothing more than a 35-year-old husband, father and journalist at the Daily Bugle. But Peter is soon told that he was denied his destiny, and that he now has the chance to reclaim it.
Easily one of the most popular, critically acclaimed and exciting Spider-Man books in a long time, Ultimate Spider-Man is a tightly focused story with some of the most charming interpretations of Spider-Man’s supporting cast I’ve ever seen.
Peter has a great relationship with his wife and kids, and a rocky but compelling one with Harry Osborn—the Green Goblin and one of this world’s few heroes.
While Peter is a normal, well-adjusted guy in this world, Harry is a hot mess of a man. He is so emotionally dependent on his deceased father, Norman, that he uploads an AI to his super suit that berates and abuses him in his father’s voice.
Other reinterpretations of Peter’s supporting cast include Gwen Stacy (now wife of Harry Osborn) and a teenage Felicia Hardy flirting with Peter’s son, Richard. Other references to the original Spider-Man canon are more subtle at first, then hit you like a truck when you realize what’s been right under your nose all along.
With this book taking place in a new universe, the story is highly accessible to casual Spider-Man fans. So even if you’re just a fan of the movies or the cartoons, you should be reading this comic!