Intense graphic novels for your new adult needs!

Galaxy: As the World Falls Down by Jadzia Axelrod came out today! It’s probably my favorite graphic novel of the year so far, and I encourage you to let it ease you into a season of intense New Adult graphic novels of various genres.

Galaxy: As the World Falls Down is a sequel to Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, which came out from DC in 2022. In As the World Falls Down, Galaxy is trying to figure out both what her role in superhero circles will be, and what her life might be like post-high school. I have very high expectations for Jadzia Axelrod’s writing, and they are delightfully met here. Jess Taylor’s art for the first book was lovely, and Rye Hickman’s art for the second is similarly beautiful, with comedic and weird moments that really land. I literally laughed aloud, I literally teared up about love, and I enthusiastically told my family about scenes from the book over dinner.

Also, I get a lot of the references in this book, like the David Bowie lyric in the title, but there were also a lot of things that were obviously cultural references I didn’t recognize, like a reference to the Hirschfeld Archives. If I had glossed over that reference, my reading experience still would have been great, but that’s not who I am as a person. I looked up the references I didn’t get immediately, and learned new stuff, which I appreciate. I do recommend rereading Galaxy: The Prettiest Star right before you read Galaxy: As the World Falls Down, so that all the personalities and backstories will be fresh in your mind and you can concentrate on the amazing DC cameos that happen in the second book.

On May 19, a very different book about a young woman post-high school comes out from Drawn and Quarterly: Narrow Rooms, translated from the Korean, tells a noir-inflected story about a woman who is enrolled in an art school in order to pass the entrance exam to an art college. She and her classmates are working incredibly hard all the time, and some of their decision-making suffers.

Our main character starts stalking and fantasizing about a handsome neighbor, even as she is receiving unwanted attention from the director of the school. As we get glimpses of other students’ lives, we see that they, too, are not doing the best, mentally. Narrow Rooms has art and words by Choi Sungmin, translated into English by Janet Hong, who did a fabulous job. Recommended highly for when you feel like being tense and enthralled.

Back to DC, and a surprise addition to the DC Superhero Girls line by Shea Fontana and Yancey Labat! The DC Superhero Girls series of graphic novels and animated shorts and specials are not New Adult. In fact, they were formative for my kid when she was a toddler. However, this summer, DC Superhero Girls: High School Reunion comes out on June 2nd and it is all about being a new adult. The suggested age range for the book itself is still middle grade, but the subject is one that I am sure resonates for many post-high school: Wondering about how all those people you knew as a teen have made it so much farther than you.

Our point of view character is Harley Quinn, who feels bad about herself because she’s comparing her lack of achievements to all her friends’ social media presences. We learn that Wonder Woman is leading a program to help intergalactic refugees and a supervillain enhances people’s fear of immigrants. As the reunioning pals team up again, Harley teaches the other supers some ways to manage their fear to keep functioning in the moment.

DC Superhero Girls: High School Reunion is useful and timely, and also a nice walk down memory lane for those of us who have extremely fond memories of the series from a decade ago. Please note that I have never attended any of my actual high school reunions and don’t plan to do so.

Finally, yet another genre of new adult, Witch’s Inheritance by Paige Hender comes out from Macmillan on July 7! In it, a young woman who is estranged from her magical family inherits both a responsibility and a house on chicken legs, and has to investigate her family’s backstory and figure out how she can get her confidence up to magic level.

I read Paige Hender’s debut graphic novel, The Confessional, which is about vampipres who have a LOT of sex and also murder, so I was surprised to see Witch’s Inheritance published by a children’s imprint. While it has a lot less sex, and less murder, I would still say that the subject matter is about being a grown-up, though in a way that is appropriate for, and will probably appeal to, tweens and teens.

If you, personally, are considering what to do after high school, why not let these books suggest some pathways? Why not become a superhero, witch or stalker? What could possibly go wrong?