Great stories this week, 19–25 October
New graphic novels this week, 19–25 October: Front Desk listed for 20 October, Doom Patrol and Ghost Rider collections on 21 October, and our pick.
How to Make a Comic: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to make a comic from scratch: build a story and script, plan each page with thumbnails, then draw, letter and set up pages at the right size.
Storyboarding a Heist Panel by Panel
Plan a heist or crime story page by page: build the crew, script the robbery, then use thumbnails, panel size and gutters to control pace.
Netflix Manga Adaptations: Which Stay Faithful to the Page?
Which Netflix manga adaptations stay closest to their source? We look at One Piece, Alice in Borderland, Fullmetal Alchemist and what reviewers say.
Why Watchmen Split Critics: Lessons for Comic Adaptations
Watchmen's film looked faithful yet divided critics and was slow to pay off. What one case study reveals about why comic book films work or fail.
Four-Panel Comics: How to Sequence Your Story
Plan a four-panel comic as a sequence of beats, then set the reading path, pacing and transitions so the story reads in the right order.
Comic Strip Punchlines: Why the Last Panel Lands
Why the last panel of a comic strip gets the laugh, how silence and setup build timing, and how to write a punchline that surprises.
Free Tools for Drawing Your First Comic Page
Free tools and page setup for your first comic: choose the right size and resolution, then try Krita's built-in comic templates, with trade-offs.
Marvel's Midnight Imprint: Is It a Good Place to Start?
Marvel's Midnight horror imprint for new readers: launch titles, release dates, whether you need Marvel continuity, and what is still unknown.
Manchuria Opium Squad Anime: Where the Manga Stands
Manchuria Opium Squad is getting an anime, but no studio or release date is confirmed. Here is where the manga stands after its artist's death.
What Is Manga? Japan's Comics and Where They Began
Manga are Japanese comics, usually printed in black and white. Here is what the word means and where modern manga came from.
How to Read a Comic: Panels, Gutters and the Space Between
A beginner's guide to the grammar of comics: how panels, gutters, balloons and page turns work together to tell a story.
A Short History of the Comic Strip: From the Yellow Kid to Webtoon
How newspaper strips, comic books and phone-scrolling webcomics grew from the same idea: telling stories in pictures.
Maus and the Graphic Novel: How a Comic Won a Pulitzer
Art Spiegelman's Maus helped change how the world sees comics. Here is what the book is, why it matters, and why it is still discussed.
Public Domain Comics: What You Can Legally Read, Share and Reuse
A plain-language guide to which old comics are free to read and reuse, why characters are different from issues, and where to look.
Manga vs Western Comics: What Is Actually Different?
Reading direction, release schedules, page counts and genres: a practical comparison of manga, superhero comics and European albums.
Where to Start With Manga: A Beginner's Guide
Where to start with manga? Begin at volume 1 of a series in a genre you enjoy, and pick a short complete title like Death Note to test the format.
The Greatest Superhero Comic Runs
Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen and the stories that changed the medium.
Graphic Novel vs Comic Book: What's the Difference
The terminology, the snobbery, and why it matters less than the work itself.
How Webtoons Changed Comics
From Korean mobile screens to global audiences.
The Best (and Worst) Comic Book Adaptations
What makes a comic translate to screen, and what kills it.
Manga Everyone Should Read
Ten series that demonstrate what the medium can do at its best.