Best Graphic Novels: March 2025

April 25, 2025 Eugene Tierney

Best Graphic Novels: March 2025

Starting this year, I’m going to post the best graphic novels I’ve read each month; as the year goes on, this will also turn into the top 10-15 I’ve read for the year, depending on how technical I want to get later on.

I was able to complete 6ish graphic novels last month; I say -ish because I went from individual volumes of Usagi Yojimbo to the Special Edition which collects the Fantagraphic Books volumes.

Best Graphic Novels - Doctor 13: Architecture & Morality

Doctor 13: Architecture & Morality
W: Brian Azzarello
A: Cliff Chiang
Publisher: DC
Amazon

Brian Azzarello on a DC book? Must be trippy..

It was. I’ve found that a lot of Azzarello’s books that don’t feature main characters are pretty far out there. Originally published as Tales of the Unexpected #1-8, the story follows Dr. Terrence Thirteen, a parapsychologist who disapproves of superheroes, supernatural, and pretty anything that can’t be explained. So of course he gets teamed up with some of the most obscure and forgotten DC characters, ones that even James Gunn probably didn’t think about when creating his Suicide Squad.

Vampires, Confederate General ghosts, and Nazi Gorillas highlight the crazy team. They are selected because the story is a meta look at comic book editorial, and the selection of which characters can/can’t be used and the decision to retcon previous stories. These characters are fighting for their survival in the greater DC Universe, which is paralleled as them trying to save their universe in the comic.

It’s an interesting premise that often gets lost in the crazy story and heavy dialogue; I had to re-read parts to figure out what was going on. The art is fine; the cartoonish style works with the abstract ideas, but it’s not really my thing.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Usagi Yojimbo Vol 4: The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy
W: Stan Sakai
A: Stan Sakai
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Out of Print

Everything we’ve read with Usagi so far is pulled together. There is a conspiracy to overthrow the Shogun and Lord Noriyuki has sent Tomoe to investigate. Usagi happens to see that she’s captured and jumps into action. He joins forces with Gen, Zato-Ino, and the Neko ninja clan to stop the conspiracy. We get a lot of character development for all involved and the story just flows perfectly. You feel for characters that were previously seen as the bad guys when unlikely alliances are made.

Again, Sakai crafts an epic tale that ties into the historical aspects of the period. This could easily be crafted into a movie or streaming mini-series and be a hit. The art is clean, as always, and is in balance with the story.

This is by far the best story of Usagi so far, but it does require knowledge of the previous 3 books to full enjoy and appreciate the book

Rating: 5 out of 5

Usagi Yojimbo Vol 5: Lone Goat And Kid
W: Stan Sakai
A: Stan Sakai
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Out of Print

After the events of Vol 4, it was going to be hard to top what this book had already done. We’re back to more stand alone stories here and the are enjoyable. The highlight is Lone Goat and Kid, a play on writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub. Like any crossover, we get a battle and then a team up.

I continue to enjoy the book; the stories are refreshing and positive while providing consistent art throughout the entire series. Even when the story quality drops, it’s still better than a lot of books with long runs; there aren’t repeated and reused tropes.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

New Mutants: Demon Bear
W: Chris Claremont, John Francis Moore, Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost
A: Bill Sienkiewicz, Jim Cheung, Mike Choi
Publisher: Marvel
Amazon

I just expected this to be the New Mutant’s Demon Bear (#18-20) story, but it was more than just that. We get pages that lead up to these issues from New Mutants #3 and #17, plus the return of the Demon Bear from X-Force (1991) #99 (with pages from #96-97) and Warpath’s equivalent in X-Force (2008) #7-10. It’s not always as good as it sounds when they add to it.

The original Demon Bear story holds up and should be considered a classic at this point; it was nice having the additional content to get readers up to speed with what was going on with Dani Moonstar. Dani’s powers are out of whack and her worse fear manifests itself to almost kill her. The New Mutants rally around her to stop the Demon Bear.

The art in the original story is right there with the writing; Sienkiewicz’s art is legendary. His rough drawing fits with the mythical aspects of the story.

The 90s X-Force stuff was forgettable, like a lot of comics from this time period. The heavy exposition bogs down the flow of the story and it really just feels like a filler story trying to tie into something that previously worked; it was more forced than free flowing.

The 2008 X-Force story was better, but it really didn’t tie into the Demon Bear story other than Native American mutant fights a mythical beast tied to their culture. Ghost Rider was there for reasons. It was fine, but I really didn’t need to revisit the story that I read when it came out; in fact, it came off as better at the time because it wasn’t trying to be forced as part of a bigger narrative.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Usagi Yojimbo: Special Edition #2
W: Stan Sakai
A: Stan Sakai
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Out of Print

OK – I caved and bought the only reprints of the Fantagraphics’ Usagi collections I could find; it’s the 2 part special editions that cover the full run. Special Edition Vol 2 includes Vol 5 of the series, which I reviewed above.

Much like Volume 5, the rest of the series was good, but not the great level of Volume 4. We find out more about the origins of Usagi, why Gen became a bounty hunter and a redemption story for him, and we get the fate of Zato-Ino out of the battle in the Dragon Bellow Conspiracy. I can’t stress how well crafted these books are.

The Special Editions come with extras, like a comic of Sakai creating the book, more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crossovers, a covers gallery, and an interview with Sakai.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Note: While the Fantagraphic Usagi books are out of print, you can find used copies on both Amazon and eBay; they can get pricy though. I was able to read the individual volumes on my library’s app.

2025 Rankings: