It's About to Get Weird: Surreal Manga and Graphic Novels
The illuminated pleasures, Salvador Dalí, 1935. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1564983
Tired of the same old tired storylines of your usual genres? Ready to go down the rabbit hole and just get weird? Then you’re in the right place! Our librarians have scoured our collection to bring you some of the trippiest, dreamiest, weirdest surreal manga and graphic novels.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, surrealism is defined as “the principles, ideals, or practice of producing fantastic or incongruous imagery or effects in art, literature, film, or theater by means of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations.” The paintings of Salvador Dalí are typically the first images that pop into people’s minds when thinking about surrealism, but surrealist media is much too varied to be categorized under one distinctive approach.
Surreal art blends fantasy and reality in a way that can be disorienting, chaotic, eye-opening, or even slightly uncomfortable. If you’re feeling a little humdrum and need a palette cleanser to refresh your mind and imagination, then it might be time to pick up something a little bizarre. Luckily we have just the booklist for you!
Below is a selection of manga and graphic novels whose storylines blur the line between the subconscious and conscious. Some go further than others, but each of these titles will make you ask yourself, “What just happened?” at least once.
Note: These titles are intended for adults.
Surreal Manga
Blood on the Tracks
by Shuzo Oshimi; translation by Daniel Komen
Ordinary middle school student Seiichi Osabe receives love and care from his mother Seiko. Until one summer an incident changes the family dynamic forever. This is a story of a mother, a love that has gone too far. This series of thriller comics centres on the theme of a toxic parent and it is a tale of a seemingly normal family suddenly swallowed up by the creeping horror of everyday life.
Recommended by Elaine Liew
Cats of the Louvre
by Taiyo Matsumoto; translation and English adaptation by Michael Arias; touch-up art and lettering by Deron Bennett
A surreal tale of the secret world of the cats of the Louvre, told by Eisner Award winner Taiyo Matsumoto. The world-renowned Louvre museum in Paris contains more than just the most famous works of art in history. At night, within its darkened galleries, an unseen and surreal world comes alive--a world witnessed only by the small family of cats that lives in the attic. Until now…
Recommended by Rachel Kahn
Dementia 21
by Kago; translated by Rachel Matt Thorne
Yukie Sakai is a sprightly young home health aide eager to help her elderly clients. But what seems like a straightforward job quickly turns into a series of increasingly surreal and bizarre adventures that put Yukie’s wits to the test! Cartoonist Kago, who is well known for combining a more traditional manga style with hyper realistic illustration technique, an experimental visual storytelling approach, and outrageously sexual and scatological subject matter, has single-handedly created his own genre: “fashionable paranoia."
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Dorohedoro
story and art by Q. Hayashida; translated by AltJapan, Inc.; touch-up and lettering by Kelle Han
In a city so dismal it's known only as "the Hole," a clan of Sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious "experiments" in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they're hunting and killing the Sorcerers in the Hole, hoping that eventually they'll kill the right one. But when En, the head Sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of "cleaners" into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds. (Rated M for mature)
Recommended by Kami Kimmel
The Flowers of Evil
by Shuzo Oshimi; translation by Paul Starr
It follows the adventures of a lonely bookish teen struggling to find his identity through Baudelaire's poetry, until two girls—a beauty and a bully—help him find true love and friendship. Edgy, intense, and romantic, this new edition will give fans a chance to reconnect with Kasuga, Saeki, and Nakamura as it explores the issues of bullying, loneliness, individuality, and identity.
Recommended by Elaine Liew
Golosseum
by Yasushi Baba; translation, Kevin Gifford; lettering, Evan Hayden; editing, Ajani Oloye.
Scientists discover a new material that renders people immune to all existing weapons. But these "peacemakers" instead transform world war into a martial-arts free-for-all! Rasputin plots with Russian President Putinov to control the global supply. Opposing them are the unstoppable Axe Bogan, a certain master in a jumpsuit from China, and a slew of other muscular heroes!
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Goodnight Punpun
story and art by Inio Asano; translation by JN Productions; touch-up art and lettering by Annaliese Christman
A Japanese manga written and illustrated by Inio Asano about Onodera Punpun, a normal child depicted in the form of a bird. The story follows him as he copes with his dysfunctional family and friends, his love interest, his oncoming adolescence and his hyperactive mind.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Guardians of the Louvre
by Jiro Taniguchi; translated from the Japanese by Kumar Sivasubramanian.
After a group trip to Europe, a Japanese artist stops in Paris alone, intent on visiting the museums of the capital. But, bedridden in his hotel room with fever, he faces the absolute solitude of one suffering in a foreign land, deprived of any immediate or familiar recourse. When the fever breaks somewhat, he sets out on his visit and promptly gets lost in the crowded halls of the Louvre. Very soon, he discovers many unsuspected facets to this world in a museum in a journey oscillating between feverish hallucination and reality, actually able to speak with famous painters from various periods of history, led to crossroads between human and personal history by...the Guardians of the Louvre.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
I am a Hero
by Kengo Hanazawa; translation by Kumar Sivasubramanian; English adaptation by Philip R. Simon; lettering by Steve Dutro
The zombie apocalypse has never been more surreal! A mentally unhinged manga artist witnesses the beginning of a zombie outbreak in Tokyo, and he's certain of only two things: he's destined to be the city's hero, and he possesses something very rare in Japan—an actual firearm!
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Inside Mari
by Shuzo Oshimi ; translator: Sheldon Drzka.
College dropout Isao Komori wakes up one morning to find himself in the body of a high school girl, Mari Yoshizaki. How did this happen? Where is his body? And who exactly is this girl and what of the soul who previously inhabited the body he is possessing?
Recommended by Genee Bright
Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu
by Junji Ito; translated by Stephen Paul; lettering by Evan Hayden
Hell-o-kitty! Master of Japanese horror manga Junji Ito presents a series of hissterical tales chronicling his real-life trials and tribulations of becoming a cat owner. Junji Ito, as J-kun, has recently built a new house and has invited his financée, A-ko, to live with him. Little did he know ... his blushing bride-to-be has some unexpected company in tow—Yon, a ghastly-looking family cat, and Mu, an adorable Norwegian forest cat. Despite being a dog person, J-kun finds himself purrsuaded by their odd cuteness and thus begins his comedic struggle to gain the affection of his new feline friends.
Recommended by Kami Kimmel
Nichijou = My Ordinary Life
by Keiichi Awawi; translation by Jenny McKeon
In this just-surreal-enough take on the 'school genre' of manga, a group of friends (which includes a robot built by a child professor) grapple with all sorts of unexpected situations in their daily lives as high schoolers. The gags, jokes, puns and haiku keep this series off-kilter even as the characters grow and change. Check out this new take on a storied genre and meet the new ordinary.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud
by Kuniko Tsurita; translated by Ryan Holmberg; edited with an essay by Ryan Holmberg and Mitsuhiro Asakawa.
The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud' collects the best short stories from Kuniko Tsurita s remarkable career. While the works of her male peers in literary manga are widely reprinted, this formally ambitious and poetic female voice is like none other currently available to an English readership. A master of the comics form, expert pacing and compositions combined with bold characters are signature qualities of Tsurita's work. Tsurita's early stories 'Nonsense' and 'Anti' provide a unique, intimate perspective on the bohemian culture and political heat of late 1960s and early 70's Tokyo.
Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror
by Junji Ito; translation and English adaptation by Yuji Oniki; touch-up art and lettering by Susan Daigle-Leach
Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: UZUMAKI, the spiral—the hypnotic secret shape of the world. The bizarre masterpiece horror manga is now available all in a single volume. Fall into a whirlpool of terror!
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Graphic Novels
Black Hole
by Charles Burns
The setting: suburban Seattle, the mid-1970s. We learn from the outset that a strange plague has descended upon the area’s teenagers, transmitted by sexual contact. The disease is manifested in any number of ways—from the hideously grotesque to the subtle (and concealable)—but once you’ve got it, that’s it. There’s no turning back.
As we inhabit the heads of several key characters—some kids who have it, some who don’t, some who are about to get it—what unfolds isn’t the expected battle to fight the plague, or bring heightened awareness to it , or even to treat it. What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself—the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety and ennui, the longing for escape.
And then the murders start.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Daytripper
by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá; with coloring by Dave Stewart; lettering by Sean Konot ; introduction by Craig Thompson
Daytripper follows the life of one man, Bras de Olivias Dominguez. Every chapter features an important period in Bras’ life in exotic Brazil, and each story ends the same way: with his death. And then, the following story starts up at a different point in his life, oblivious to his death in the previous issue—and then also ends with him dying again. In every chapter, Bras dies at different moments in his life, as the story follows him through his entire existence—one filled with possibilities of happiness and sorrow, good and bad, love and loneliness. Each issue rediscovers the many varieties of daily life, in a story about living life to its fullest—because any of us can die at any moment.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan and Antonio Cuneo
Giden Falls: The Black Barn
by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, and Dave Stewart
The legend of the Black Barn tells of an otherworldly building that has appeared and reappeared throughout history, bringing death and madness in its wake. Now its mystery ensnares and entwines the lives of two very different men. One: a young recluse, obsessed with finding hidden clues within the city's trash. The other: a washed-up Catholic priest, finding his place in a small town that hides dark secrets. Neither of them are prepared for what's inside the Black Barn. (Rated M for mature)
Recommended by Antonio Cuneo
A Glance Backward
script by Pierre Paquet; art and colors by Tony Sandoval; translated by Mike Kennedy
Eleven-year-old Pepe's world turns inside-out when he finds himself pulled inside the walls of his own home, seemingly trapped in a strange and surreal place. As he searches for a way out, he discovers a myriad of strange, intriguing, and frightening characters, who ultimately lead him to complete the greatest journey of them all: growing up.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
The Wrenchies
by Farel Dalrymple
Sherwood and Orson should never have gone into that cave. That day, a door was opened from our world into a dark and profane realm...and earth's destiny was changed forever. In this demented future, whatever life remains on earth is oppressed by the evil shadowsmen. Only a gang of ruthless and powerful children called the Wrenchies can hope to stand against them. When Hollis, a lonely boy from our world, is magically given access to the future world of the Wrenchies, he finally finds a place he belongs. But it is not an easy world to live in, and Hollis's quest is bigger than he ever dreamed of.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
The Manhattan Projects
by Jonathan Hickman, written by Nick Pitarra, art by Jordie Bellaire, colors by Rus Wooton, letters
What if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs?
Recommended by Antonio Cuneo
Mind MGMT
created, written, and illustrated by Matt Kindt
Reporting on a commercial flight where everyone aboard lost their memories, a young journalist stumbles onto a much bigger story—the top-secret Mind Management program. Her ensuing journey involves weaponized psychics, hypnotic advertising, talking dolphins, and seemingly immortal pursuers, as she attempts to find the flight's missing passenger, the man who was MIND MGMT's greatest success—and its most devastating failure. But in a world where people can rewrite reality itself, can she trust anything she sees?
Recommended by Antonio Cuneo
The Motherless Oven
by Rob Davis
In Scarper Lee’s world, parents don’t make children—children make parents. Scarper’s father is his pride and joy, a wind-powered brass construction with a billowing sail. His mother is a Bakelite hairdryer. In this world it rains knives, and household appliances have souls. There are also no birthdays—only deathdays. Scarper’s deathday is just three weeks away, and he clings to the mundane repetition of his life at home and high school for comfort. Rob Davis’s dark graphic novel is an odyssey through a bizarre, distorted teenage landscape. When Scarper’s father mysteriously disappears, he sets off with Vera Pike (the new girl at school) and Castro Smith (the weirdest kid in town) to find him. Facing home truths and knife storms at every turn, will Scarper even survive until his deathday?
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Mister Miracle
written by Tom King; art and coloring by Mitch Gerads; lettering by Clayton Cowles; original series cover art by Nick Derington
Mister Miracle is magical, dark, intimate and unlike anything you've read before. Scott Free is the greatest escape artist who ever lived. So great, he escaped Granny Goodness' gruesome orphanage and the dangers of Apokolips to travel across galaxies and set up a new life on Earth with his wife, Big Barda. Using the stage alter ego of Mister Miracle, he has made quite a career for himself showing off his acrobatic escape techniques. He even caught the attention of the Justice League, who has counted him among its ranks. You might say Scott Free has everything—so why isn't it enough? Mister Miracle has mastered every illusion, achieved every stunt, pulled off every trick—except one. He has never escaped death. Is it even possible? Our hero is going to have to kill himself if he wants to find out.
Recommended by Antonio Cuneo
Nod Away
by Joshua W. Cotter
Nod Away is set on a near-future version of earth. A deep space transport has been developed to take a small crew to an earth-like, habitable planet in a nearby system in an attempt to begin colonization/repopulation. The internet is now telepathic and referred to as the “innernet.” When the hub is revealed to be a human child, Melody McCabe is hired to develop the new nexus on the second International Space Station. Working within the structure of sci-fi, Nod Away moves back and forth between physical and psychological worlds, utilizing traditional and abstract storytelling styles to explore what consciousness could be, where it could possibly be located, and what function or point it might serve.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
Skip
by Molly Mendoza
A colorful, unpredictable post apocalyptic world comes alive in Skip, when two unlikely friends, Bloom and Gloopy, find themselves tossed from dimension to dimension. Gloopy is running toward adventure, and away from their home and friends who don't understand their creative talent. Bloom is desperately trying to return home to their lake, and avoid the terrible violence of the city. Instead, both Bloom and Gloopy find what they need in each other, and bravely return home to challenge their fears and create beauty in their own worlds.
Recommended by Hal Schrieve
The Wrenchies
by Farel Dalrymple
Sherwood and Orson should never have gone into that cave. That day, a door was opened from our world into a dark and profane realm...and earth's destiny was changed forever. In this demented future, whatever life remains on earth is oppressed by the evil shadowsmen. Only a gang of ruthless and powerful children called the Wrenchies can hope to stand against them. When Hollis, a lonely boy from our world, is magically given access to the future world of the Wrenchies, he finally finds a place he belongs. But it is not an easy world to live in, and Hollis's quest is bigger than he ever dreamed of.
Recommended by Amanda Pagan
