Etelka Lehoczky

At a time when comics and graphic novels were seldom released by mainstream publishers, Gina Gagliano worked tirelessly to put the genre on the radar. Now she's head of the Boston Book Festival.

Eric Orner's book isn't just a great story, it's an enveloping visual experience crafted by a terrific artist; even if one paged through it without looking at the words, it would be a good read.

Through her work, Israeli comics artist Rutu Modan suggests that only cartoon characters can possibly reflect the cartoonish levels of greed and self-deceit revealed as her tale unspools.

Rachel Smythe's smash hit webcomic, out now in graphic novel form, transports the follies of the Greek pantheon — particularly Hades and Persephone — to a modern setting of suits and sports cars.

Wake, by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez, blends passion and fact to set a new standard for illustrated history: Not just action scenes of daring, desperate women, but the struggle to make them known.

Windsor-Smith is known for his work on Conan the Barbarian and lots of X-Men titles. Now, he's back with a passion project about a man subjected to ghastly secret government experiments.

Writer Ram V takes on a classic music-biz myth in his new graphic novel: The devilish crossroads deal. But it's illustrator Anand RK's loose, jazzy, clever art that really makes this book sing.

Bishakh Som's new comics collection is uncanny and hard to categorize — science-fictiony, mythic and humanistic, without making any particular assumptions about where humans as a species are going.

Nicholas Gurewitch scratched images into clay with a stylus for this tale of Death's visit to an analyst — who helps him come to terms with Death Jr.'s lack of interest in the family business.

Passmore's timely new graphic novel is set in an unnamed city whose football team has just won the Super Bowl, setting off fiery riots. It's a biting satire of political action, race and capitalism.