Best Graphic Novels: April 2025

May 9, 2025 Eugene Tierney

Best Graphic Novels: April 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 list of what I’ve read.

Technically, there were 8 graphic novels read in April, but I’ve combined Sex Criminals because I read the volumes back to back and The One Hand/The Six Fingers because they were collected together.

Best Graphic Novels: The Ghost Fleet: The Whole Goddamned Thing

Ghost Fleet: The Whole Goddamned Thing
W: Donny Cates
A: Daniel Warren Johnson
Publisher: Image Comics
Amazon

The Ghost Fleet have been secretly transporting stuff across America since the country was founded; they have been consistently used by the Government with a great success record since the beginning. Until now.

A shipment doesn’t make it to it’s destination and things go crazy. There are twists and turns in the story and a very unexpected ending.

Cates crafts a great story with character development and a strong plot. There are some of your typical revenge tropes in the story, but the actual plot of the book makes up for any predictability from the tropes. The results come off as one of those very enjoyable John Carpenter style stories that’s a high end B-movie.

If there’s a down side, it’s the ending of the book. While I didn’t see it coming, it felt rushed; that’s because Dark Horse, the original publisher, cut the series short at 8 issues. I think if they could have gotten the final 4 issues, this would be a much stronger book.

DWJ’s art is on par with his other works. His rough style fits the John Carpenter-esqe story perfectly (even better than it does with some of his own writing). It’s a dark book with the art really reflecting this.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Rick Grimes 2000
W: Robert Kirkman
A: Ryan Ottley
Publisher: Image Comics
Amazon

I had not clue this book existed and got it from the library within 24 hours of learning. This was a backup story in Skybound X, a serial book that created short stories for characters published by Skybound/Image.

Rick Grimes 2000 takes place after Walking Dead #75; Rick wakes up to find out the zombie apocalypse was started by aliens so they could take Earth’s water to use as currency elsewhere in space. The survivor’s of Rick’s group band together to fight the aliens, along with various Walking Dead bad guys that show up along the way.

The story is silly, but Kirkman did it for this reason. If you take it all too seriously, it’s campy and dumb; if you enjoy it for what it is, it’s a hilarious fun trip in a familiar setting. It’s not as good as Here’s Negan (told in the same manor as this book, but in Image+), but that was a more series, in continuity addition to the Walking Dead lore.

Ottley knows how to draw Kirkman’s stories perfectly; they have a little experience together in the past and it’s like they are still working together on a regular basis.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
W: Cormac McCarthy
A: Manu Larcenet
Publisher: Abrams
Amazon

This is the graphic novel adaptation of McCarthy’s haunting post-apocalyptic tale of a father and son traveling across America. The novel itself is a horrifying look at the true nature of man when faced with adversity; adding images to it just adds to the horror.

In the future, people are fighting for survival after an event leaves the world in ruins. Our father/son team are making their way to the ocean, where there are rumors of shelter. Along the way, they have to avoid a Mad Max style group who rape and pillage anything in their paths. This leads to distrust of just about anyone they run into.

Rarely does a movie or graphic novel capture the spirit of the source material; this one does.

Larcenet’s art is like PWJ’s in the Ghost Fleet; rough sketches of black and white backgrounds and an unclean look that fits with McCarthy’s stark landscape. At the same time, the art really puts you into the story, where you feel everything the characters are going through. It’s quite the feat because the graphic novel doesn’t have the internal monologue of the book, yet you are still drawn into the story in the same manor.

This is the best book I’ve read this year.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Sex Criminals Vol. 1-2
W: Matt Fraction
A: Chip Zdarsky
Publisher: Image Comics
Amazon: Vol. 1, Vol. 2

This is the weirdest series I’ve read this month. We start of by meeting Suzie, a librarian that needs to save her library. She also has the ability to stop time after she climaxes. After learning about how she discovered this power, we meet Jon. who just also happens to have this ability. They’d never met anyone else who could do this.

After they get together and we get Jon’s origin story, they find a way to save the library. They decide they can use these powers to rob banks. Only they run into the Sex Police.

Volume 1 is pretty much set up and origins. It’s a solid book with some great comedy. Besides the weird concept, we get funny stories about first times, breaks of the 4th wall, and Jon pooping in his “evil” bosses plant…often. Fraction proves that even with this unique story, he’s a great writer that can do just about anything.

Volume 2 is even better; rather than continuing to rob banks and escape the Sex Police, they get into mental health and what’s needed for a healthy relationship. The comedy is still there, but there is more heart in volume 2.

After we learn about Jon’s mental health, we see his slowly unravel and his relationship with Suzie deteriorate. They stop robbing banks and stay away from the Sex Police. Jon works on himself, but does some stupid stuff. In the end, Jon and Suzie get back together to take on the Sex Police.

One thing that Fraction does well is world building, even in a setting like this. Since the “origin” story is done, we get more background on side characters. We see more about the Sex Police. We learn about Jon’s first crush.

The art is very good. After a couple of “rough” books, the Zdarsky’s art is pretty clean and almost cartoonish, which works well with the comedy of the book. There is a distinct difference between real time and frozen time, which comes off as more “mythical” with bright colors and dream-like effects.

Note: this book is graphic and probably not one to read in public or around kids.

Rating: Volume 1: 3.75 out of 5
Rating: Volume 2: 4.00 out of 5

Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams
W: Steve Horton
A: Mike Allred
Publisher: Insight Comics
Amazon

Ever wonder about the life of David Bowie but don’t want to read an actual book? This is the book for the early years.

We get a young Bowie as he starts to discover who he is as a person and an artist. We see his relationships, his bands, and his styles until he’s done with the Ziggy Stardust phase. We even get a little bit inside of Bowie’s head.

The issue with the book is it doesn’t get super deep and it’s more of a who’s who of Bowie’s celebrity fans. The book is 160 pages, and while you learn about Bowie, you only see the surface level of who he is. And that’s fine unless you are looking for more details about the man. It almost wipes out the rock ‘n roll lifestyle, as it only shows the nice parts of touring in the ’70s.

It also seems that every few pages there are name drops of people at his shows, at his studio, or wanting to work with him; again, that’s fine to a degree but it gets to be a little excessive when every 3 to 4 pages has Freddie Mercury, Elton John, or someone else.

The art is beautiful. Allred’s style is legendary and he shows it here with more realism than I’ve seen in some of his previous work. The colors (courtesy of Laura Allred) are bright and vibrant, much like the Ziggy Stardust character.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The One Hand & The Six Fingers
W: Ram V/Dan Watters
A: Laurence Campbell/Sumit Kumar
Publisher: Image Comics
Amazon

What if you took one story, split it into 2 alternative views from 2 writers, then threw each book into one trade that alternated issues? You’d get this book.

The One Hand, written by Ram V and drawn by Laurence Campbell, follows an investigator on his last case…one that he’s already made 2 convictions on. The One Hand Killer made Ari Nasser a famous detective, but the killer appears to be on the loose again. Postponing his retirement to get to the bottom of it, Nasser goes to great lengths to find out if he got the wrong guy or if there is a new copycat killer.

The Six Fingers, written by Dan Watters and drawn by Sumit Kumar, follows Johannes Vale, a graduate student who believes an ancient arrowhead he was given as a kid will lead to a hidden civilization. Except Vale is having blackouts and weird hallucinations that might mean he’s the new One Hand killer.

This whole tale is set in a Blade Runner type future where robots are part of society and might be a factor in the history of the One Hand Killer. There are also mysterious supernatural elements that remind me of Longlegs. Each issue in the collected edition switch between the 2 books, so after you read The One Hand from Nasser’s perspective, you get the Six Fingers telling the same time period from Vale’s view.

The art in the books is amazing and just different enough to make the alternative point of views stick out. Campbell’s paint style shows the dark, grimy aspects of a murder investigation that fits well with Ram V’s narrative. Kumar’s more traditional style shows the contrast of the early hopefulness of Vale’s studies. It helps remind the reader which side of the story they’re reading.

It’s a fascinating book. It’s creepy and suspenseful while also intriguing enough that you need to find out what is happening. This is one of the better books I’ve read this year.

Rating: 5 out of 5

2025 Rankings: