The Awl is a manhwa about a produce manager at a grocery store to learns about the world of labor rights/organizing after he's tasked with unethically firing his employees:The Awl Vol 1|Paperback

The Kalevala is a GN depiction of the Finnish classical myth/epic poem, done in a painted style that's cool and unique! CW for depictions of sexual assault/rape/kidnapping (mythology, am I right?) as well as nudity and consensual sex scenes, none of which is particularly graphic.Kalevala: The Graphic Novel|Paperback

But it does have some very silly bits and for that I respect it. When myth doesn't take itself too seriously, ig.

pondicusrex The sales tagline we're meant to REALLY PUSH with this one is "Tolkien was really into it!" so idk if you'd enjoy that or have any insight in general to the Kalevala and its influence on his work.

OOH A KALEVALA GRAPHIC NOVEL

We did a biography comic (originally in French) for Tolkien in which it came up, so maybe these matters are linked, haha.

yeah that tagline is legit, he became obsessed with the Kalevala when he was studying at Oxford before the war, and it heavily influenced his thinking about the legendarium

the tale of Turin Turambar is basically kallevala fanfic

well, no, but it's HEAVILY influenced by the Kalevala

Excellent! Well, I enjoyed working on it, which is mostly just supervisory stuff with translation/assembly/printing, but...! I promise it's fun, haha.

it's what made him want to write mythology!! I've never read it but I've heard it's great

I maaay have to get my hands on this

I enjoyed this summary while I was going through it:The Kalevala (According To Scott Sandwich)

I liked it enough to buy it! (I don't get comps. Boo!) And now I've already read it so I'm making my spouse read it, haha. But it shhhould also be on Amazon (all of these are, it's just not my first choice for linking) or obtainable through comic/bookshops. I'm honestly not sure of the best way to get it in the UK.

I'll find it,

Nice!

If you grab it, I hope you enjoy it! It's one of my favorites thus far!

Next...! The Library Mule of Cordoba is a GN set in Spain during the time of its being Al-Andalus. Under threat of book burnings after a regime change, a librarian, a copyist, and an apprentice-turned-criminal escape the Library of Cordoba with a huge pile of books in an attempt to rescue them.The Library Mule of Cordoba|Hardcover

CW's include mentions of slavery, SA, religious extremism, castration... All pretty tame, since this is a YA-ish title, but figured I'd mention!

The Prism is a GORGEOUS (De Longis' art!!) sci-fi story in which a band is formed to...go into space and make an album for the good of humanity.The Prism Vol 1: Burn|Paperback

Cw's include drug/alcohol use and some light nudity/sexual content.

Tomorrow the Birds is for you if you like Osamu Tezuka being outside of his mind, lol. It's speculative sci-fi about birds gaining intelligence and becoming Earth's dominant species.Tomorrow The Birds|Paperback

CWs are many, varied, and complex! Racial caricature, genocide (there's unfortunately fully a holocaust visual gag at some point), SA, some oddly sexual egg-laying scenes... I think those are the big ones, excluding that idk how much that last one counts beyond being weird.

So idk how much I even wanna be like "I FULLY ENJOY THIS," 'cause a lot of it's very 'product of Tezuka's very specific cultural time/place and not all of his ideas/influences were good,' but it's...interesting?

We're just scraping the barrel for Tezuka content and most of what's left is the more fridge, weirdo stuff. He was just an incredibly prolific cartoonist and, if you're familiar with or interested in the wider body of his work, this is one of 'em!

Rompepistas is a GN originally published in Spain, based on a novella. It's a coming-of-age story about a punk in late 70s/early 80s Barcelona. He's in a band and has girl troubles and is directionless. CWs for drug use/addition, violence.Rompepistas|Paperback

That one theoretically got us a grant from Institut Ramon Llull in Spain, so... Culture!

I think that's all that aren't, like, continuing volumes of series. And some of these I definitely enjoyed more than others, haha, but...! Pretty fine. I didn't get sick of them after having to read them over and over and over again!

I have not heard the name of Osamu Tezuka in literal years. This is a deep cut

He's got the BIG ONES, mostly his more kid-focused titles(?), and then he's got a bunch of lesser-known, truly weird shit going on. We've now got three titles out by him with a forth on the way. Unsure if there will be more from us after that, definitely unsure of what's left for anybody to do.