Hey Kids! Comics! Advent(ur)ing
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Below are some comic and cartoon books scheduled for December 2025 release (or so).
Images and links from a variety of publishers and outlets,
though ordering through your local comic shop or independent book store is a good idea.
The Smythes by Rea Irvin (update: much more about The Smythes and Rea Irvin)
Rea Irvin was The New Yorker’s first art editor and creator of the magazine’s iconic mascot, the butterfly enthusiast Eustace Tilley. In 1930, he ventured into new territory with the comic strip The Smythes. The Smythes—comprised of John, Margie, and their two forgettable children, Willie and Maudie—are a niceish suburban family, restless in their social stature, and eager to climb a sometimes wobbly social ladder. Irvin’s distinct, graceful line renders the Smythes in all their glory and hilarity as they navigate ill-fated dinner parties with pompous socialites, fend off robbers dressed as Santa, and get chased out of restaurants by cleaver-wielding chefs.
An unsung masterpiece of cartooning, The Smythes is finally available to a new generation of readers ready to marvel at the full reach of Irvin’s artistic abilities
Garfield Crash Diet: His 78th Book by Jim Davis
Garfield is finally on a diet he can stick to . . . and it involves lots of lasagna! Garfield’s back in this brand-new full-color compilation comic strip book—truly a must-have for fans!
Garfield is best known for his insatiable appetite for lasagna, donuts, pizza, coffee, and ice cream, but he has also been known to “diet,” if only to have an excuse to obsess about food even more. Fans of the fat cat will not want to deprive themselves of this latest batch of scrumptious comics.
Daily and Sunday strips from 2023.
Conversations with Lynn Johnston edited by Jeff McLaughlin
Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston (b. 1947) is best known for creating the comic strip For Better or For Worse.
This book, presented in sequential order, offers a collection of interviews with Johnston ranging from 1980, shortly after the debut of her best-known work, to a conversation with Kate Beaton and Raina Telgemeier at the 2014 Toronto Comic Arts Festival, to a new, unpublished interview with editor Jeff McLaughlin conducted in 2023. Many of the early interviews were published in Canada and are presented to US readers for the first time. These interviews explore the evolving narrative of For Better or For Worse, including the introduction of a gay character—a historical moment in comics—in the early 1990s and the death of the beloved family’s dog.
Wes Slade: Deputy US Marshal by George Stokes (Limited Edition) [In U.S.]
Regarded by comic aficionados as the finest western strip ever published, Wes Slade ran from 1961 until 1981. Written and drawn by George Stokes, the artwork is very special. All the stories show a fresh and authentic treatment of the role of the Native Americans in the West.
Here we present 10 never-before reprinted tales of Wes Slade written and drawn by George Stokes between 1962 and 1974 and scanned directly from the original artwork held in the Express newspaper archives.
Not only does it portray the plight of the various tribes at the hands of the encroaching white settlers, it does so with some of the most accomplished Western artwork ever to grace a newspaper on both sides of the Atlantic.
Twilight Years with the Totterings by Annie Tempest [In U.S.]
Annie Tempest’s wonderful cartoon strip about a fictitious English village, with the eccentric Lord and Lady Tottering and their family who reside at Tottering Hall is much lauded and internationally loved. For more than thirty years, Tottering-by-Gently has appeared weekly in Country Life magazine to the delight of readers.
In this latest book, Annie Tempest has brought together her favourite cartoons on the subject of growing older in a fast, glitchy and disrupted world where everything the aged Tottering types do is translated into a boomer meme to be giggled at. Unapologetically, the Totterings grapple with the new order of social media, mindfulness and ‘me-time’, while continuing to hold out for meat, two veg and Chianti, over tahini, tofu and kombucha.
Twilight Years with the Totterings is perfect for anyone who is on the wrong side of fifty.
Fantastic Adventures in the Comics by William Schoell
Science fiction and fantasy comics present colorful if disparate visions of the future, from post-apocalyptic nightmare scenarios and prophetic explorations of technical advances to startling stories of space colonization. This book analyzes the genre from the 1940s to the 1980s, examining works such as tales of virile adventurers and their space “babes” to more thought-provoking stories of the clash of alien cultures and frightening, ironic looks at the results of outer space travel.
This volume scrutinizes the output of publishers such as DC Comics (Strange Adventures and Tales of the Unexpected, etc.); EC comics (Weird Science and Weird Fantasies); Marvel Comics (various series with monsters and grotesque alien creatures); Charlton (numerous fantasy magazines); American Comics Group (Forbidden Worlds and Adventures into the Unknown); as well as comics from Dell, Gold Key, Avon, Fiction House, and many others.
Adam Ames by Elliot Caplin and Lou Fine
The story of widower Adam Ames and his family as they navigate life in mid 20th century America. Unusual for its edgy narratives, writer Elliott(sic) Caplin and artist Lou Fine make an impactful mark with this short lived and beautifully drawn newspaper strip.
Rusty Riley Volume 3 by Frank Godwin
Classic Comics Press continues it’s reprinting of Frank Godwin’s Rusty Riley, reprinting dailies from August 6, 1951 to July 5, 1953. Reprinting what many believe are some of Frank Godwin’s best work in the world of newspaper comic strips. Godwin’s pen-and-ink technique, heavily influenced by illustrative realism, reached some of its most detailed and elegant forms during these years, solidifying him as one of the masters of the American newspaper comic strip.
Ask a Cat by Charles Brubaker
Ask a Cat is a comic strip where people can finally get answers from a cat. Ever wondered why cats love boxes? Or what cats think of humans? Or what they really think of dogs? Wonder no more, as Cat answers them all.
Laptops Are So Warm: An Ask a Cat Collection by Charles Brubaker
In this second “Ask a Cat” book Cat explores the secret of success, cat cafes, anime, black holes, and many more. Over 120 pages of comics, including a bonus story “The Ghost Cat”!
feature image from Rose is Rose by Don Wimmer
Post Script:
Checking in on the current comic strip best sellers from Amazon shows it is that time of year:
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