What a year it's been.
And it’s not even over yet. Rumour has it the rulers of the universe won’t let us slide into 2026 until we finish picking and packing all those Black Friday orders. Help!
Wanna know which day was the craziest? The day the Graphic Novel deals went online, because you guys are crazy!
Black Friday has the power to distort any analytics and make some books shine that we weren’t even aware existed. Like Plutona by Jeff Lemire. Like… what? Never heard of that one, and yet it’s one of the bestsellers in November!
Your Top 5 in 2025
5. Ultimate Spider-Man
What a great ending for the Ultimate Universe. Ultimate Spider-Man TP Vol. 1: Married With Children made it into the Top 5. Yay!
4. Absolute Superman,
3. Absolute Wonder Woman,
2. Absolute Batman
This has been a DC year. We do not even need to look at the numbers to know these are great. We just have to read the stories to feel how strong they are.
Absolute Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are everywhere.
Absolute Wonder Woman won the Eisner Award. Even though we had some heavy discussions at the beginning, Walter finally admitted:
"Team Walt rarely agrees on something, but when it comes to the question which is the strongest series in the Absolute line, it is a clear majority: Wonder Woman."
It is chef's kiss. And as I'm writing right now, Absolute Martian Manhunter is climbing the ladder to become the graphic novel bestseller in December.
Absolute Batman TP Vol 01 The Zoo
€15,29
€17,99
A gang of masked killers terrorizes the streets of Gotham. A vigilante fights for his city--but he's not the Batman you know. The Absolute Universe, born out of the Justice League's apocalyptic battle with Darkseid, ushers in a set of… read more
Absolute Wonder Woman TP Vol 01 The Last Amazon
€15,29
€17,99
In a different, darker world, Diana of Themyscira was exiled to the underworld as a baby and raised by an enemy. They did not destroy her; instead, they made her all the stronger--tragedy, danger, and magic honed her into an… read more
Absolute Superman TP Vol 01 Last Dust Of Krypton
€15,29
€17,99
Spiraling out of the catastrophic events of Absolute Power, a new side of the DC Universe is born--the Absolute Universe! In a different, darker world, Kal-El landed in a remote Kansas field, the last survivor from an alien planet...but even… read more
1. Invincible: The Transmedial Bridge
This year has been no different, Invincible has been everywhere. I think this phenomenon really deserves its own proper study.
What is it with Invincible, and how did this series transcend its screen medium and push people to read the comic so well, like probably nothing else?
I mean, yes, movies and shows can be very rewarding for comic readers, because you get all the little details, references and easter eggs if you have read the stuff. But at that point?
Our Team Hightlights
We have had lots of highlights this year.
Our five year anniversary event was crazy. The Chip Zdarsky signing was waugh! And our latest Open Warehouse Days have been mental. It is so nice to see so many new faces and catch up with the older ones.
We have also had great additions to our team with Daniel, Matheus and Petar, who practically build reading orders and recommendations on their own with Beyond the Panels.
But the real question is: what did Team Walt unexpectedly pick up and end up loving in 2025?
How to - Part 74:
Manipulate people working at a comic shop into reading something that was not on their list?
3 - You are Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman
We kiss the floor they walk on. I know we have already screamed about it, but Absolute Wonder Woman, because YES, it is THAT GOOD. I will shut up now.
2 - You are a Gen Z colleague who thinks talking about comics counts as work in a comic shop
Another one high on the list is Assorted Crisis Events by Deniz Camp. Credit where it is due: someone on the team would not shut up about it, a lot of us got it, and then the whole team could not shut up about it.
You read the first part thinking how clever it is, and wonder how much more clever it can get. Trust me, it gets clever-erer.
1 - You give us a sale
Last on the list: Blacksad. A little bit out of nowhere. It probably would never have been on our radar, but there was a really nice spring sale where Blacksad was part of the offer, a really insightful video by Matttt about the artist came out, and most of us were like, “let us give it a chance.”
No one regretted it.
My personal highlight: Joe Sacco
Lucky enough to have been at Thought Bubble this year (and for the sake of my bank account, I will probably keep a two year hiatus), I went to a panel with Joe Sacco: Spotlight on Joe Sacco.
How interesting was it? I normally do not sit down and simply listen to someone speak for an hour, it is not how my brain works. Even less so when it is already 3 pm on a Sunday afternoon and the whole week was hectic.
But Joe Sacco got me. So I will be yapping about him for the next few years.
At some point in his life, this man was even a local in Berlin Neukölln. I smell pure GOAT energy.In a world where everything is about pushing things out faster and faster, even at the cost of quality, and where the human touch feels lost and unwanted, it is refreshing to hear a journalist who takes his time and chooses to focus on humans first and foremost.
Graphic novels like Palestine, Safe Area Goražde and his latest work, The Once and Future Riot, come from months spent talking to people, observing, taking notes and turning all of that into a carefully crafted graphic literary form.
I can only think of one word for that: appreciation.
We do not have a huge amount of his graphic novels in stock yet, but I really hope we can work on that in the future, cough, cough...
What are we still looking forward to…
this year? There are still some graphic novels coming in, like:
- WE3 as a DC Compact Edition (even if I think this one really deserves to be read as an Absolute, I’m just glad it’s here),
- or the latest Absolute title, Absolute Green Lantern TP Vol. 01: Without Fear.
All New ArrivalsNext year? I mean January, (which is in just 22 days 💀) there are already a ton of exciting graphic novels announced!
- For my fellow Poison Ivy readers, Poison Ivy Vol. 6: A Death in Marshview will finally drop.
- From Omni to compendium (my favorite hero’s journey format), The Invisibles Compendium by Grant Morrison is scheduled for January 20.
- Seasons Vol. 2 by Rick Remender is coming too.
- Corto Maltese: Fable of Venice and Other Adventures is perfect for those of you who have always wanted to give Corto Maltese a try but, like me, were never sure where to begin.
- And then there is Altamont with The Walking Dead’s Charlie Adlard, a mix of fictional and real events about a group of friends trying to make it out alive from Woodstock.
Until next time, thank you all for this crazy 2025!
We love crazy.
Gloriana
