The 15 best comics of 2025

Barcelona2025 has been the year of the historic exhibition at the CCCB of Chris Ware, who assured us that The best comic book store in the world is located in Barcelona.We've had visits from renowned authors like Art Spiegelman, Charles Burns, Jaime Hernandez, Joe Sacco, and Gou Tanabe; we've also said goodbye far too early the illustrator Amaia Arrazolaand some go stop reading Neil Gaiman comicsA very difficult year to summarize in fifteen comics. However, we will try.

Nadia Hafid He began in 2025 publishing his first comic in Catalan, in April he drew the cover and the opening story for the special comic book issue of ARA, and this week he illustrated the new campaign for the Filmoteca de Catalunya. Bad smellThe Terrassa native examines the labor policies of a fictitious company where only women work to talk about racism and the hypocrisy of corporate culture.

The story of the rise and self-destruction of the Norwegian black metal scene had already been told in book and film form, but never in this wayMagius respects the facts to a certain extent: the escalation of violence, the burning of churches, and the murders, but he transforms the young nihilists into small children. Once the initial shock subsides, the experiment works and reveals the grotesque and tragic dimension of the story.

All the self-published comics and illustrations he has done for media outlets have become Pau Valls He was one of the best cartoonists of his generation. But he was missing the long comic that would truly showcase his talent as an author, and here it is: an absurdist comedy in the style of thriller which blends influences from the Coen brothers, Kaurismäki, and Adrian Tomine to narrate in a fragmented way the intertwined destiny of two natural-born losers.

With This is not right (Autsaider, 2020)Irene Márquez revealed herself as the best humorous comic book author to emerge from the ranks ofThursday in decades. Death He now takes on the challenge of expanding the range of his humor beyond dark satire and telling stories with greater narrative depth. The result is telling: icy smiles, awkward laughter, and a great talent for macabre comedy.

Following the paths of grass and armed with parasols and traditional clothing, a small frog and two toads travel south, fleeing the cruelty of winter and its ever-shorter, colder days. Linnea Sterte paints nature from an amphibian's perspective and captures the unattainable beauty of the horizon in a work of more than 300 pages that is devoured and savored like a haiku. One of the surprises of the year.

Great works are still being published in the superhero genre. For example, this reinvention of Martian Manhunter packs a veritable avalanche of ideas and narrative experiments into every page. Javier Rodríguez, from Asturias, is the most audacious and exciting artist working in the American market; and this series, of which only four issues have been published so far, is a mind-blowing journey through the gates of perception.

The luminous and sweet tone with which Michel Rabagliati He has always narrated his life in the comics of the series Paul makes contact with the bitterness of Paul at home It's a real blow. Divorced, depressed, and with his mother ailing, the protagonist is going through the worst time of his life. But even here, the Quebecois filmmaker is able to capture the beauty of life and its small moments. And also in Rose on the island, her first illustrated novel.

In We called him Bebeto Summers are endless afternoons playing football on the neighborhood's cement courts, with the murmur of Indurain's Tour de France exploits in the background. But Javi Rey It avoids the traps of nostalgic idealization to draw (magnificently) a sensitive coming-of-age story about the chiaroscuro of adulthood, a tale of unexpected friendship, betrayals, and a heart that breaks for the first time.

Maggie Chascarrillo has grown up. The character who has been the backbone of the monumental work of Jaime Hernandez For over four decades, he takes a step back in favor of Tonta, a confused teenager with a naturally dysfunctional family. The saga Crazy It continues to grow in an installment that continues to observe life as an infinite tragicomedy full of infatuations, disappointments, deceptions and punk music.

Another children's comic is possible. In this one, a girl survives in a world ravaged by a climate apocalypse with her family and friends. A dystopian adventure that is both tender and funny. Ivy demonstrates that the imaginary of Mad Max It can coexist with the Miyazaki universe. A product with a designation of origin. Strong Horse that collects the comic strip winner of the Cavall Fort 2020 award and the pages published in the magazine between 2022 and 2023.

The most impressive debut in Catalan comics in years. With the freedom of dreamers, Genís Rigol steps through the looking glass to imagine a love story set backstage at an impossible theatrical performance that has been running for days. Olivier Schrauwen and Winsor McCay approvingly observe how Rigol plays and experiments to shape this exciting meditation on the unexpected paths of artistic creation.

The great reference point for journalistic comics He has written an extraordinary report that, starting with the riots sparked by murders in northern India, paints a complex picture of hatred, xenophobia, corruption, sexism, and electoral interests. With an eye toward the narratives we create to interpret reality in a self-serving way, The eternal disturbance It illustrates a cycle of violence and death that feels disturbingly familiar.

After two works with very biographical roots such as We're all okay. and Everything Under the SunAna Penyas, from Valencia, takes a step towards fiction in her third comic, but without abandoning her commitment to the reality that surrounds her. Blank It analyzes the insomnia epidemic as a symptom of the economic, labor and housing precarity of today's society, and does so through an empathetic mosaic of stories and voices.

The latest graphic novel from the cartoonist and filmmaker Dash Shaw It's structured like a Russian nesting doll, revealing a new layer of stories and characters every twenty or so pages, all connected by doubt. A reversible experiment that portrays frustrations, insecurities, and obsessions, and which, instead of overwhelming the reader with its formal aspects, moves them with the depth with which it captures the texture of life.

A heartbroken Parisian photographer spots a girl he photographed months earlier among the guests at a New Year's Eve party. As if hypnotized, he follows her and they make passionate love. The next day, still reeling, he discovers he has swapped bodies with the girl. Brothers Lucas and Arthur Harari bring the body horror in the realm of existential searching and sign a thriller Absorbing and disturbing, like a Cronenberg nightmare drawn by Charles Burns with clear, precise lines and a masterful use of color. A film adaptation directed by Arthur Burns himself—screenwriter of the novel—will be released in 2026.Anatomy of a fall– starring Léa Seydoux.