DC will publish Azie Tesfai + Penelope Rivera Gaylord’s ‘You’re A Superhero!’ this fall

Arriving in November, the all-ages graphic novel follows six-year-old Mariam as she discovers that real superheroes live in her neighborhood.

DC has announced You’re A Superhero!, a new early reader graphic novel by Supergirl actor and writer Azie Tesfai, with art by Penelope Rivera Gaylord.

Aimed at ages 5–7, the story follows a six-year-old girl, Mariam, who lives in the DC universe and longs to see the heroes on TV closer to home. She discovers her own local heroes in the everyday people in her neighborhood, from her building super to her bus driver to her mom.

“I wrote this book because playing a superhero on television opened me up to a world filled with imagination, power, and possibility, one I hadn’t fully experienced when I was growing up,” Tesfai said. “It made me think about how meaningful it would have been to meet these heroes at a younger age and to see myself reflected in that world from the very beginning. With this story, and as DC begins an exciting new chapter in the kids’ space, I wanted children to have that experience early on.”

Tesfai played Kelly Olsen, sister to Jimmy Olsen, on Supergirl. After her TV brother left the show, she also became a superhero and took on the mantle of the Guardian. The actress is the first Ethiopian and Eritrean person to portray a superhero on U.S. television, and the first CW actor to write for the network, penning the Guardian’s debut episode, “Blind Spots.”

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Top Shelf announces ‘Ghoul,’ the debut graphic novel from Kasey Iris

The new book blends supernatural chills with a coming-of-age story about love, loss and hope.

Top Shelf has announced they’ll publish Ghoul, the debut graphic novel by writer/artist Kasey Iris, in May.

Clocking in at 292 pages, the story centers on a lonely Filipino-American teen whose grief takes an unexpected and monstrous form — a “ghoul” that crawls right out of a comic book and into the real world.

“I wrote Ghoul as a gift to my younger self and as a little escape from reality. It is a re-imagination of my own experiences with love, loss and hope,” Iris said. “Ghoul is a reminder that while everything may seem complicated and dark, there is still joy and light in this world.”

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Mutants, mayhem and turduckens: An exclusive look at ‘Toxic Crusaders’ #4

AHOY Comics’ mutant misfits return on Feb. 18 with a new issue packed with grotesque origins and mayhem.

AHOY Comics is keeping the slime flowing with Toxic Crusaders #4, the penultimate chapter in its revival of Troma’s infamous eco-heroes. Written by The Nib founder and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Matt Bors with art by Tristan Wright, the series reunites the Toxic Avenger with No-Zone, Junkyard, Major Disaster and more for a gleefully grotesque spin on super heroics.

This issue leans hard into backstory, delivering the origins of Headbanger and a mutated counter-Crusaders force that sounds as appalling as you’d hope. Cultists merged with animals and objects into living “turduckens” collide with the team in what promises to be an epic fight.

Toxic Crusaders #4 hits shops Feb. 18 and retails for $4.99. Many thanks to AHOY Comics for sharing this exclusive preview:

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Abrams will publish Derf Backderf’s ‘The Dissidents’ this fall

The new graphic novel from the creator of ‘Kent State’ is about a group of cartoonist who stood up to a president.

Abrams ComicArts will publish Derf Backderf’s next graphic novel, The Dissidents, in September. The creator of My Friend Dahmer and Kent State said the new project is “a story about autocrats, vigilantes, communists…. and cartoonists.”

Set in the early 1900s, the graphic novel features an America that’s teetering on the edge of chaos under President Woodrow Wilson. Amid rising racism, economic inequality, labor unrest, political extremism and looming war, a group of real-life political cartoonists at The Masses, including Art Young, Boardman Robinson and Cornelia Barns, use their art to challenge corruption and defend free speech. When the government charges the artists with sedition for daring to document the truth, they face prison, exile and execution.

“It’s the era when modern comics are born,” Backderf said on BlueSky. “The daily comics page has just been invented, as have animated cartoons. Comics are suddenly everywhere and quickly become a national obsession. Renowned cartoonists are celebrities, on par with the first generation of film stars.”

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