Kei and Masaru are just a couple of Tokyo teens going about their day until they’re killed by a train — except that they wake up in a room with an orb. That orb equips them and orders them to fight wave after wave of horrifying aliens. Can they win their freedom or just die for real?

This six-issue comic book series from 2017 sees an occult hustler known only as Nameless sent on a suicide mission. An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. It’s no mere asteroid, though. It’s a piece of a lost planet long destroyed by elder gods. What’s more, one of those horrifying gods is in the asteroid just waiting to exact revenge.

No, I’m not cheating. This book actually has nothing to do with the video game franchise.

Hester’s life was going well until an attack left her injured and stranded on a mining colony. Now she works security for the owners. When a friend of hers is murdered, Hester is in on the investigation, but what she finds sheds light on her own injury and so much more.

One man wakes up cold, naked, and wet. He’s aboard a spaceship. He doesn’t know where it’s going or why. He does know that he’s surrounded by monsters and other survivors who don’t seem much safer. He has a lot to uncover if he can survive.

Generation ships are often tales of heroism. In Ship of Fools, their enormous ship has been flying in circles looking for any sign of life, a safe place to land. When they follow a strange transmission, they find something that horrifies them deeply, and sends them hurtling toward even more space horror.

Maria has died before. She always awakens in a cloning vat, her last memory of her death. But now she’s awakened with no memory of her death. Blood streaks her vat. And she’s not the only member of her spaceship crew to have died recently. But how? Why? And who is responsible?

If you think your childhood bullying was bad, meet Kesh. Living on a colony dictated by corporate values, his classmates kidnap him and leave him in the middle of an alien rainforest. He then meets the giant, bug-like alien inhabitants. They seem friendly, but they soon trade him back to the colony as a scientific curiosity. Everything for Kesh goes from bad to worse to horrifying.

This novel is a different kind of horror, one of the mind rather than the body. Dr. Grace Park isn’t great with people. She’s more comfortable around androids. Now she’s the ship psychologist on a top-secret mission to a strange world. But when the crew starts acting strangely, human and android alike, Dr. Park might be their only hope.

Archie, Veronica, and the rest of the gang are familiar to all of us. Now imagine them in a post-apocalyptic fight for their lives. It’s somehow bewildering, nonsensical, and brilliant all at the same time. But maybe don’t tell Grandma that this is what Archie is up to these days.

Coming off the upheaval of DC’s big 2022 event, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC is kicking off 2023 with a follow-up. From what we’ve seen in the teasers, the Lazarus Volcano explodes, sending the green goo of the Lazarus Pits into the atmosphere. Their tag line is, “Heroes transformed. Secrets revealed. Powers unleashed.” This should be fun.

The big two don’t have the only superheroes in town. Image certainly is no stranger to the super game. Tired of all the continuity and backstory? Try Torrent, a new series kicking off a new superhero universe. This story focuses on the hero Crackerjack. At least, she’s a hero until tragedy pushes her too far.

Who is your favorite Captain America? Steve Rogers or Sam Wilson? Currently, they’re both wearing the mantle of Captain America in their own, separate comics. In the spring, these two titles will collide. Wakanda, Nomad, Bucky, and the Outer Circle will all play roles in this crossover of comics coming in 2023.

DC Comics is making major renovations in 2023 in what they’re calling “Dawn of DC” once Lazarus Planet is finished. This dawn will launch 20 new titles, including this one for Hal Jordan. Hal is back on Earth, trying to find his place in the Green Lantern Corps and among Earth’s heroes. Where does he fit in now?

Cody is a dead, queer punk rocker who haunts Leon. Of course, Leon has no idea until he uses a borrowed antique camera and discovers a ghostly image there. Cody doesn’t know how he died, and so he enlists Leon’s help to solve the mystery. Queer icon Ray Nadine brings us a ghost story that is sure to pull no punches.

One more from the “Dawn of DC” new comics. This one focuses on Conner Kent. Since Jon Kent has hit the scene, things have been harder for Conner. Where does he fit in? To find his place, he’s leaving Earth in this new series.

Somehow, Power Rangers has been on television nonstop for nearly three decades. Oh, and there are some great comics over at Boom! Studios, too. Launching on Free Comic Book Day, this new series will feature new and old faces of the Mighty Morphin’ universe to welcome in the 30th year of the franchise.

This is a graphic memoir translated from Spanish that looks gorgeous and promises a beautiful tale of love in the midst of gender transition. That transition is one of the most difficult journeys someone can undertake. Can love, like the love between Sara and Diana, survive that journey? This is high on my list of comics coming in 2023.

Marvel is making big promises for summer, starting with the Children of the Atom. After years of thriving on Krakoa and beating back several world-ending events, apparently things are going to take a turn for the worse. Not much is known other than the description from Marvel: “This universe-melting X-event will introduce a horrifying timeline that makes Age of Apocalypse look like the X-Men Swimsuit Special…” Oh boy.

I said it was a big summer for Marvel, right? The X-Men aren’t the only ones having fun in the sun, though. Marvel’s catchphrase for the event is, “Sun’s out, tongues out!” Venom, Carnage, and the alien symbiote family are taking center stage. The House of Ideas is promising new titles, old faces, and new heroes and villains in symbiote form.

I found this book to be so deeply beautiful, translated from French by Montana Kane. An itinerant bookstore owner and a retired city mayor have been in love for decades and finally do something about it in their twilight years. Told in reverse order, Lafebre slowly reveals the ups and downs of their distant relationship and origin story.

This was the biggest event on the Marvel Comics calendar this year, and it definitely lived up to the hype. With Druig as Prime Eternal, he declares mutants as Deviants, setting the full force of the Eternals against mutantkind. The Avengers try to help, resurrecting a dead Celestial, who then decides to test all of Earth. Will they be worthy of survival or all perish together?

Surely when you think of The Walking Dead, you think of young readers, right? With Clementine, that’s exactly what you get. Set in Robert Kirkman’s zombie universe, Clementine is a teenager trying to put her past trauma behind her. Then she meets Amos, and the two try to make it to Vermont with dreams of a walker-free zone run by like-minded teens.

I wrote extensively about this comic a while back, and it still holds up as one of the best comics of 2022. This 100-page special contains a dozen eight-page stories about LGBTQIA+ characters, written and drawn by LGBTQIA+ creators. This book is as ambitious as it is good.

While not quite as expansive as AXE: Judgment Day, Devil’s Reign is pretty epic even as it focuses on Marvel’s New York City. Years of planning have paid off for Kingpin, who has successfully won the seat of the mayor of NYC. Now he’s targeting the heroes of the Big Apple like Daredevil and Spider-Man. Oh, and he has an army of supervillains and his own Thunderbolts at his command.

The Flash has been around in DC Comics for a long time. Like any long-running character, there have been up and down years, and 2022 was one of the best for DC’s speedster. Adams and company put Wally West back in the red jumpsuit and recaptured the magic of the Flash family, speeding through worlds and time with brilliant storytelling.

The X-Men are a perennial favorite of mine. When Jonathan Hickman decided to step aside after breathing new life into the mutants, many were skeptical. I should have trusted Kieron Gillen, who navigated the change by leaning into how controversial the X-Men’s newfound immortality can be, as well as how it can be leveraged in fascinating ways.

Feminism and horror collide in this wild and gruesome ride of a horror comic. Marion Angela Weber needs to escape the booze, so she and her sister head to a feminist retreat. An assault on their first night changes everything, though, awakening a hunger in Marion and a horrifying transformation. Will anyone survive Marion’s monstrous new form?

This story is so weird and so genius — similar to Chew, if I think about it. The Monkey Meat company has built a corporate empire out of selling cans of, you guessed it, monkey meat. Now they have their own private, hyper-capitalistic island where they perform bizarre, supernatural experiments. Needless to say, the citizens of this island are…interesting.

Chip Zdarsky again? Yes, he had a banner year, and you need to read this detective comic ASAP. Easton Newburn is a PI with unusual clientele. He works for rival crime families, loyal to none, and that means every case is more dangerous than the last.

If you don’t know about Saga already, you’re living under a comic book rock. It’s one of the absolute best comics out there, blending science fiction, fantasy, and family drama in perfect balance. After a long hiatus, Saga made its return early in 2022, and the comic book world is better for it.

Whether you enjoyed Disney’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series or not, Rainbow Rowell’s take on the character has been an incredible ride. No longer “savage” (that’s a whole other story), Jen Walters is trying to be a superhero and rebuild her life as a lawyer and friend. We all know how well that tends to go for most superheroes, and Jen is no exception.

The most recent Midnight Suns is set to end with issue #5 in January, and it’s a fun ride.

Hey, I was just talking about this. Herein lies the origin story of our supernatural loners trying to work together for the first time. A present and former Ghost Rider, a living vampire, and a vampire hunter. Sounds like the setup for a joke, but it’s a great team and read.

Sadly, you won’t find a collection of this story to purchase at this moment. You can, however, find these issues from 1993 on Marvel Unlimited. Blade receives a mysterious letter from Darkhold Dwarf and proceeds to go on a rampage against the occult. But how far is too far? When does the hunter become the monster?

Like Midnight Massacre, there’s no collection of this story in print, so head to Marvel Unlimited! This story really feels like the culmination of the original Midnight Suns team-up. The unholy combination of Zarathos and Lilith threatens everything, and only a cohesive team of the Midnight Suns has any chance of stopping them.

This book from Richard Morgan sparked a great, if short-lived, Netflix series. Takeshi Kovacs is an ex–United Nations envoy long dead. Except in this galaxy, people back up their minds, and so Takeshi wakes up in a new body, on a different planet, and given a dangerous mission from even more dangerous people.

Kiini Ibura Salaam is an essayist and writer of brilliant science fiction and fantasy short stories. This book collects several of the latter, all of which use magic and science and sexuality to challenge gender, myth, and the very nature of magic.

Do you see that list of awards? Ann Leckie burst onto the scene with Ancillary Justice, sweeping up awards like a Dyson. Justice of Toren was once a colossal starship, now a single ancillary — an AI in a human body — is all that remains. She’s determined to find out how the rest of her was destroyed and might unravel a galactic empire in the process.

This novel concludes Naam’s explosive Nexus Arc trilogy in an award-winning fashion. After you read Nexus and Crux, dive into this post-humanist novel in which people are connected, linking up like hive minds, and the next apex species has finally arrived.

While Delany might be better known for his novel Dhalgren, don’t sleep on Babel-17. Rydra is a poet with near-telepathic powers. When a new weapon based on sound enters the fray in a giant galactic war, the military calls in Rydra. She soon recognizes a language in that sound, but that’s only the beginning of what she’ll uncover.

This rock-and-roll-cyberpunk novel hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention. In a near-future England, a rock star befriends a guitarist and a techno-wizard against a backdrop of corruption and music festivals. But as this book and series roll along, something like a science fiction Arthurian retelling comes to life.

Yuri Terisov is wasting away in the brig of a pirate ship that he used to command. After aliens destroyed his home colony when he was 4, he was living in a refugee camp until a pirate came and took him away. But now he’s in the brig, at least until a military black ops agent offers him a way out. There are strings attached, of course. Dangerous strings.

N.K. Jemisin is well-known for her Broken Earth trilogy, but that’s fantasy. These are the best award-winning sci-fi books. In The City We Became, New York City is a living life form with six children: the city and its five boroughs. In Brooklyn, a politician can hear the song this great city sings. In Manhattan, a student steps off a train and remembers nothing about himself, but he can feel the pulse of the city. Characters and city combine for a cool exploration.

Time travel and both of the major science fiction awards? This classic has it all. Kivrin is a 21st-century student studying a 14th-century plague. Oh, and she uses time travel to do it. But things go wrong, however, forcing Kivrin’s fellows to launch a rescue attempt. Now Kivrin’s vow to not change the past is conflicting with her ability to save it.

Sometimes award-winning sci-fi books can be based on classics like this. Canterbury Tales…in space. That’s the setup magnificently executed in this novel. Seven pilgrims are journeying to Hyperion on the eve of the end of everything. On Hyperion live the Shrike, creatures that are worshipped and feared. These pilgrims have their tales, their secrets, and one may change the course of human history.

Living on the moon is hard. Taking over a massive company and building it into an empire on the moon? Even harder. But Adriana Corta did it. Now, as her life nears its end, her five children must fight to keep that company going. They’ll have to fight outsiders and each other. Should be fun.

Looking for oppressive aliens and anti-utopian themes? Look no further. Charley wants to be the fastest runner in the world, just like his father. But Charley doesn’t run at track and field meets. He’s a mount for the Hoot, an alien invader. If he ever wants his freedom, he’ll need to find the other free humans and understand what that even means.

It’s hard to overstate just how good Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series is. So when she released the fourth book, which also happened to be the first novel-length book in the series, of course it grabbed both of the big awards. Murderbot is a robot with an A.I. that, well, just wants to kill people. But their human associates are just always so needy, even when Murderbot just wants to sit at home and watch TV.

Namwali Serpell took the world by storm with her debut novel. Beginning in 1904, a feud breaks out between three Zambian families, and thus begins this tale of retribution that spans generations, out of the past and all the way into the future. Romance, history, fairytale, and science fiction all blend together in this one.

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is a book I recommend often, though this sequel was the one to win a Nebula Award. Having survived the destruction of her home and founded a new religion, Lauren has established a peaceful community. But when an ultra-conservative president takes power, his followers see Lauren’s people as a target.

This highly imaginative, hard sci-fi adventure set the genre world on fire in 1971 and still holds up today. Louis Wu is given a job to visit Ringworld, an artificially constructed ring the diameter of Earth’s orbit. Along with a couple of aliens and a woman named Teela, they soon crash land on the ring and start unraveling its mysteries as they desperately try to find a way off of it.

This incredible novel blends fantasy, science fiction, and astute observations of social issues into a novel that should have won even more awards. Ezili has the powers of an Afro-Caribbean goddess of sexual desire and love. Now she’s traveling time and space to inhabit other women, struggling against a man’s world and unaware of this holy presence.

Idris was created during the war after Earth was destroyed. Strong, fast, not needing sleep, and able to communicate telepathically with each other and the enemy: the Architects. But when the Architects vanished, people like Idris became obsolete. But something strange has appeared in space, obviously made by the Architects. Now Idris and his crew will have to find answers.

Here’s another one from the way-back machine that wasn’t just part of the pantheon of award-winning sci-fi books, but part of a sexual revolution. Valentine Michael Smith is a human raised on Mars by Martians. His homecoming is a heralded event. When he starts to display powers no other human has and espouses a radical philosophy, the world will never be the same.

This book, which begins a series, has captured sci-fi imaginations since it came out, and it’s soon coming to Netflix. In the midst of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, an experiment sends a message to space. An alien species facing their own destruction receives it and plans to invade Earth. Now, as the invaders close in, humanity is crumbling into even more factions.

It’s a rare thing for a science fiction novel to also be historical, and this novel did it with aplomb. Imagine that the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War was a LITERAL underground railroad. That’s what this novel does. The genre is speculative. The human drama and tragedy of slavery are very real.

You knew I’d put a Batman comic on here somewhere. In this case, the darkest one I know of, and one that highlights the rogue’s gallery of Gotham City better than any other. Joker and the other villains have taken over Arkham Asylum, and Batman will have to face them and his inner demons to take it back.

This long-running manga features a brutal man who wields a sword that is far too big for anyone. Guts is marked, drawing the forces of darkness to him at all times. So he needs his giant sword and his iron hand, and he has earned every one of his many scars.

Is there any book that epitomizes the grimdark comic more than James O’Barr’s The Crow? In a bleak vision of urban America, Eric and his fiancée are gunned down by a street gang. Through the magic of a mysterious crow, Eric returns from the grave. He’s unkillable, has gorgeously emo makeup, and is set on vengeance.

This twisted take on the story of Noah takes place on Earth 1655 years after Eden, but before the flood. The world is violent and lawless, just the sort of place that a vengeful god might wipe clean with a flood. But first, Noah has to survive this apocalyptic landscape.

Insexts is the story of two Victorian women who suddenly discover the ability to transform into horrifying and rich creatures. These forms come with a price, however, descending them into intertwining worlds of high culture and dark occult forces.

I did say these grimdark comics get basically all of the content warnings, right? In this case, Dylan is a young man struggling with mental illness who attempts suicide. Trapped in a mental institution, he’s approached by a demon who offers him an escape, but only if he kills and kills and kills. Dylan only wants to kill evil people, but people are so complicated, and violence begets violence.

This manga is a suspenseful thriller. While it doesn’t take place in a dystopian world, the minds it explores are dystopian, indeed. Dr. Kenzo Tenma has devoted his life to saving lives, no matter who those lives belong to. When childless couples start disappearing and dying, Tenma realizes one of his own patients is behind it, and only he can stop it.

Grimdark doesn’t mean the comics have to be ugly, that’s for sure. While none of these comics are, Monstress is one of the most gorgeous comics I’ve ever read. Set in a matriarchal fantasy 1900s Asia, a teenage girl with a mystical connection to a great monster is traumatized by war and trying to survive in a world that wants her dead.

Red Sonja is a classic of the brutal, high-fantasy comic book genre. They’re all pretty grimdark, and Gail Simone’s run on this book is my favorite. One man has earned Sonja’s respect, and now she must repay him, even if that means joining the ill-fated side in a horrible war. And the other side has Dark Annisia, a foe who might just be Sonja’s equal.

This future story was the inspiration for the movie Logan, and boy, is it a grimdark comic. Wolverine is old and dying. He’s given up the fight, particularly since most everyone he ever knew or loved is dead. But when a friend comes asking a favor, he embarks on one last trek across America, one last fight. But this America is much darker than the one we know from the Marvel Universe.

Part of God of War: Ragnarok is the retelling of classic mythology. Jennifer Saint has recently hit the literary scene doing the same, starting with this novel. Ariadne was the princess of Crete, growing up with the horrendous minotaur thundering below the palace. When Theseus arrives, she finds herself torn between her family legacy and this young warrior.

Buff, brutal dude cutting through swaths of enemies? Kratos is just one in a long line that traces back to Conan. In this latest incarnation of the barbarian in comic books, superstar writer Jason Aaron takes the helm. By Krom, this saga takes Conan across the Earth against enemies new and old.

Kratos isn’t exactly a hero, more of an antihero. He’s violent, quick-tempered, and has done many terrible things in his long life. Sounds like Ari, the protagonist of The First Binding. This book begins the new series, with Ari telling the story of how he loosed his first evil upon the world.

This classic of historical military novels is full of swords and subterfuge, politics and betrayal. While not nearly as violent as God of War: Ragnarok, it spans the ancient world much like the earlier entries in the God of War series did. This is a must-read for historical fiction fans who want a little God of War flavor.

More armored, ancient men committing great violence! Helikaon, like Kratos, is a violent man with a dark past. He’s feared by enemies and allies alike. He’s driven by some dark magic that drives him to unheard-of brutality. Now he’s on a collision course against Argurios the Mykene, his archnemesis.

In God of War, the gods are immortal, but that doesn’t save them from Kratos’ wrath when he sets his sights. They are mortal against him. In Lore, nine Greek gods have to walk the earth as mortals every seven years, and they’re hunted each time. Lore Perseous long ago fled this cycle, but finds herself drawn back into it, this dangerous game.

Like Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja is a classic in the brutal swords-and-sorcery genre. Gail Simone and Walter Geovani’s run at the swordswoman brought a fresh take on the character. Owing a debt to the one man who gains her respect, Sonja joins the losing side of a war, bringing her face-to-face with the one opponent that might be her equal.

This one is a bit different and quite brilliant, imagining Yemaya, an ancient Nigerian ocean deity, in mid-1800s America. Traversing from West Africa to the New World, Yemaya rages against the injustices she finds there, joining the Underground Railroad, and blending mythology with brutal history.

This fantasy novel blends climate fiction into an action-packed adventure full of gods and monsters alike. These are gods and monsters of Navajo mythology, walking the flooded country, but Maggie hunts these monsters. When she discovers the truth behind these monsters, she has to ally with a medicine man and survive all sorts of dangers if she hopes to survive.