Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 09/06/2026Animan by Anouk Ricard. This is a delight, elegant cartooning paired with silly but really well crafted writing and just a lot of very funny jokes. My favourite French comics creator comes through again! 001 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 31/03/2026Uri Tupka and The Gods by Mike Mignola. I was slightly lukewarm on Bowling With Corpses on a first read, but revisiting that before reading this was a delightful experience. I love weird folk tales and am a sucker for everything Mignola draws, so this was like a warm bath 110 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 24/03/2026Lavender Jack Vol 1 by Dan Schkade. I’m very late to the party with this but I’m simply more likely to read something physically! Just a good romp! I don’t read enough stuff that’s primarily fun and propulsive and stylish. I had a good time! 100 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 06/03/2026Legend of Kamui vol 3 by Shirato Sanpei. I am so obsessed with this book! I’ve never had so much fun reading about the grindingly bleak exploits of people being crushed an oppressive class system! This is an enthusiastic recommendation! 100 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 22/02/2026Vermis III by plastiboo. Please buy this! This series scratches the most specific itch that I did not know existed! Innovative sequential storytelling that makes you feel deeply grubby and as though you shouldn’t sleep. A pitch that will resonate with everyone! 110 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 22/02/20262026 comics reading thread, as I will otherwise forget! Such a strong start with Ex. Mag vol 6, focussed on space exploration. I love this book! Highlights includes work from Lando, Hannah K and Linnea Sterte but the whole thing is amazing. @peow.bsky.social forever! 1233 23
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 05/02/2026@kierongillen.bsky.social apologies if this is how you’re learning this - but spotted this and verified it’s true - hopefully an easy fix with Google! 110 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 09/12/2025A Garden of Spheres by Linnea Sterte. I think this is the most beautiful book I’ve ever read? Absolutely nobody is making books as stunning and lyrical as Sterte, just jaw dropping art that supports a quiet and engrossing fantasy epic. Please buy this! 0462 46
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 06/12/2025Hakim’s Odyssey by Fabien Toulmé. These books are a couple of years old, but I read all three across the year. An emotionally devastating look at the experiences of a Syrian refugee making his way to France. It shouldn’t feel so radical to read something that does this with a sense of compassion! 110 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 04/12/2025Hobtown Mystery Stories by Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes. Two volumes this year, what a treat! Such a fun and interesting series, a subdued and oppressive tone that also manages to be very funny and exciting without feeling incoherent. Gorgeous art and colouring and horrible little goblin men. 172 7
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 04/12/2025Crimehot by Alec Robbins. For a book that is full of pastiche and meta commentary, this is a deeply earnest and thoughtful book about desire and sex that also made me laugh on almost every page. So good! Volume 2 please! 110 1
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 30/11/2025Search and Destroy by Atsushi Kaneko. I surprise hit for me! I love Dororo and was not expecting to be so charmed by a reinterpretation. Appropriately gross, weird, funny and propulsive, this book is really firing on all cylinders and I can’t wait to catch up on the final volume. 140 4
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 30/11/2025Love Languages by James Albon. Look at this book! Perhaps the most beautiful thing I read this year, an inventive and tender story that also contains the best kiss I’ve ever seen in a comic. I should read more comics with great kisses! 120 2
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 29/11/2025Cornelius: The Merry Life of a Wretched Dog by Marc Torices and translated by Andrea Rosenberg. Really hard to overstate how ambitious and creative this book is. Constant invention and complete control of tone meant this was the funniest and most depressing book of the year for me. 131 3
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 28/11/2025I have a sleeping child on my chest and can’t move, so will start a list of the best comics I’ve read this year to stay awake! Legend of Kamui by Sanpei Shirato! Holy moly, this is a revelation! So elegant and ambitious that reading it comes with a sense of discovery that I’ve not had in years! 160 6
Cal @cal-smith.bsky.social · 17/05/2025A terrible photo, but I loved Love Languages by James Albon, amazing cartooning (office bros never looked more monstrous) and the best kiss in a comic! More kissing in comics! Always kissing in comics! Also, fascinating and fluid ways to depict slipping between languages! And a big kiss! 010 1
