Take a look at these new adult graphic novels that hit our shelves in July!

This month, we also divided our adult graphic novels into young adult and adult. The young adult graphic novels will now be available in the Teen Room, and the adult graphic novels have moved upstairs to the left. If you haven’t been in since we moved these collections, make sure to take a look during your next visit.

Here are five new graphic novels we added to our collection in July:

Keeping Two by Jordan Crane

• New Graphic Novel under “Crane”
• Link to our catalog

Summary from the catalog:

20 years in the making, the long-awaited graphic novel masterpiece from acclaimed cartoonist Jordan Crane. A young couple is stuck in traffic, reading a book aloud to each other to pass the time. The relationship is already strained, but between the encroaching road rage, and a novel that hits way too close to home, tensions are running especially high by the time they arrive back at their apartment. When one of them leaves to get takeout and a movie, each of the young lovers is individually forced to confront loss, grief, fear, and insecurities in unexpected and shocking ways. Crane’s formal use of the comics medium — threading several timelines and the interior and exterior lives of its protagonists together to create an increasing, almost Hitchcockian sense of dread and paranoia — is masterful. But as the title hints, there are dualities at its core that make it one of the most exciting works of graphic literary fiction in recent memory, a brilliant adult drama that showcases a deep empathy and compassion for its characters as well as a visually arresting showcase of Crane’s considerable talents. Keeping Two is ostensibly a story about loss, but by the end, it just might also be about finding something along the way — something that had seemed irredeemable up to that point. In that way, it’s also a deeply romantic book.

Putin’s Russia: The Rise of a Dictator by Darryl Cunningham

• New Graphic Novels under 947.086 C917
• Link to our catalog

Summary from the catalog:

Darryl Cunningham (Billionaires) returns with the riveting life story of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s infamous autocrat. He traces Putin’s development from schoolyard thug in Soviet-era Leningrad, to KGB officer, to corrupt commodities dealer, all the way to his presidency and beyond. In this educational and frank biography, Putin’s journey is characterized by shifting loyalties, brutal treatment of detractors, and lawless financial dealings. Despite all of this, Putin has retained public support and tremendous importance in Russian society, due to his ever-tightening control over the media and harsh muzzling of critics. Born in 1952, Putin grew up idealizing the KGB, and he became a member of its ranks by early adulthood. Cunningham posits that the speed with which Putin advanced politically was a reflection of the KGB’s need to cement their control of the Russian political system after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since Boris Yeltsin appointed him to the presidency in 2000, Putin has annexed Crimea, rolled back democratic reforms, and led a life of luxury, all the while fostering a cult of personality.

Justice League Infinity by J.M. DeMatteis and James Tucker

• New Graphic Novel under “Justice League”
• Link to our catalog

Summary from the catalog:

There is a being wandering the universe searching for its true purpose, but what it finds out one the furthest edges of the cosmos will change not just our universe, but multiple universes! Across the globe, people begin disappearing, replaced with different but similar individuals. So where is Superman and who is his evil counterpart-the monstrous Overman? In order to get to the bottom of what’s happening, the Justice League will need to first take down the new villain! And what horrors are revealed in the twisted mirror room?! In the tradition of Batman: The Adventures Continue, this series returns to the world of the fan-favorite Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series, presenting fresh stories starring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter!

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End by Kanehito Yamada, volumes 1 and 2

• New Graphic Novel under “Frieren”
• Link to our catalog

Summary from the catalog:

The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about. Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her? Decades after their victory, the funeral of one her friends confronts Frieren with her own near-immortality. Frieren sets out to fulfill the last wishes of her comrades and finds herself beginning a new adventure.

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Thanks for reading!