5 graphic novels - spring selection 2024

From Arthurian legend and paranoid splendour to a heated philosophic discussion, and from Thailand to the embarrassing inside of a man’s mind: our graphic novel spring selection has something for everyone.

‘Sunday’ follows a man from morning till midnight. For 472 pages, we follow every single one of his banal, uninteresting, sometimes embarrassing and frequently irritating thoughts. From this seemingly dull and unlikely premise, Olivier Schrauwen manages to distil a brilliant graphic novel.

The Pellinors have been hunting the Beast for a thousand years – to no avail. Reluctantly, their descendant Pelli decides to accept the quest of his forefathers. With its humour, its colourful, dynamic drawings and its wondrous events, ‘The Quest’ is bound to appeal to young and old alike.

Araya moves from Belgium to Thailand to go live with her mother. In simple black-and-white drawings, the semi-autobiographical ‘Araya’ paints a complex portrait of a young woman struggling with her bi-cultural identity, her sexuality, the relationship with her mother and her self-image.

In preparation for the battle between good and evil that is just a matter of time, Arthur’s father trains him and talks him into believing that nobody can be trusted. In his incomparable fashion, Brecht Evens creates the paranoid world of a child who is doomed to mistake illusion for truth.

Two strangers at a bar become embroiled in a philosophical discussion about belief, disbelief, science, truth and God, while the bartender acts as a peacekeeper. Ben Gijsemans’ minimalist linework gives us little more than talking heads and the bar with the three characters. ‘The Barflies’ is a remarkable book about conviction, faith and self-image, and ultimately also about persuasion.