Comic Crush Saturday: November 7th, 2026

Welcome to Comic Crush Saturday, our feature focused on the graphic elements of the book world. Comics became a huge part of my life a few years ago when I started reviewing them (and comic related TV shows) on Forever Young Adult. You’ll find mini-reviews, what we’ve read recently, and more so check it out!

We’ve got a nonfiction look at early humans, a memoir that made me rethink my own work, a middle grade story about figuring out who you are, a haunted house I’m still puzzling over, and a tango camp romance to close things out!

My Beloved Other: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Optimism in a Time of Denial

by Nick Abadzis, Angela Watson
Published by: 23rd Street
on August 11, 2026
Bookshop
Goodreads

A timely graphic memoir about the far-reaching impact of racism in today’s society, as seen through the lens of one couple’s interracial marriage.

Where does the concept of “the other” come from? And who truly benefits when we allow fear of the other to steer our society? Through charming banter and illuminating anecdotes from their personal lives, writer-artist Nick Abadzis and psychotherapist Angela Watson chronicle their nearly forty-year interracial relationship, their respective family histories, and their ongoing experiences with anti-Black racism in Britain and America, from the overt racial taunts of childhood bullies to the more subtle biases of the adult workplace.

In the midst of a dangerous political backlash that threatens to derail decades―if not centuries―of movement towards a more equitable and diverse world, My Beloved Other puts questions of race front and center, and turns a critical eye to the systems that seek to exploit our differences. Above all else, it challenges readers to do what can sometimes feel keep hope alive for a future where difference is embraced as a source of unity, not division.

On the Page

My Beloved Other by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson

This graphic memoir follows Nick, a cartoonist, and Angela, a mental health therapist, through their interracial marriage. They met in Britain, moved to the United States, where they’ve lived for nearly fifteen years. The book covers the racism they’ve experienced, from childhood taunts to the subtler biases of the adult workplace, and it asks where the idea of “the other” comes from and who benefits when fear of the other steers a society.

I read it as someone who leads a nonprofit, and one storyline in the book speaks to my field directly. White, privileged people in charge refuse to listen to the people doing the work on the ground. Those staff members are underpaid, have no power, and are often people of color themselves. Angela spent years working in the nonprofit sector in London and New York before she became a therapist, and spoke to this frustration, as a middle manager hired to do DEI work but not empowered to do so.

The nonprofit industrial complex was on my mind the whole time. Our sector’s leadership is still overwhelmingly white, and so many of us sit far from our direct service teams and from the people the work is meant to serve. It was a good reminder to stay human centered, to keep the people we serve in the room when decisions get made, and to check myself on that regularly. It also reminded me that all of this operates inside a system built on capitalism, something I grapple with every day.

Early Man Was a Woman: Reclaiming Prehistory by Ulli Lust

If you grew up with the caveman version of history, this book wants to have a word with you. Ulli Lust takes the assumption that early human history belongs to strong men and rebuilds the picture around everyone in those communities, including women, children, and nonbinary people. She spent years reading ice age archaeology before she started drawing, which is clear as you read the book.

I loved how directly it challenges the patriarchal view of ancient history. It is text heavy, so it asks you to slow down and read, and I think that’s a good thing. This would make a great textbook in a gender studies class.

Opting Out by Maia Kobabe and Swati “Lucky” Srikumar

I loved this middle grade story about uncovering who you are. Saachi starts seventh grade as a confident kid who loves storytelling and dreams of being published, and then the social rules change overnight. Everyone suddenly cares about crushes and boyfriends, including Saachi’s best friend Lyla, who has less time for the stories they used to make together. Saachi doesn’t want to date, doesn’t love the changes in a growing body, and says out loud that they’d like to opt out of both genders when the class splits up for sex ed.

What won me over were the affirming adults. Saachi’s family is warm and supportive, with an upbeat younger sister and a dad who knows how to talk about change. One conversation at a temple, where he reminds Saachi that even the gods take new forms, stuck with me. The art is colorful and full of life, and the book finds real humor alongside the heavy moments.

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll

I’ll start with this: this book is smarter than I am. A young woman marries a kind dentist after years of loneliness and slowly realizes there’s possibly something dark behind the death of his first wife. Emily builds so much dread out of the art and the atmosphere that I felt it long before I understood it. The style keeps shifting, with black and white pages giving way to surreal bursts of color.

I finished with questions, and when I looked around, plenty of other readers did too. It leaves you with more mysteries than it resolves, and some people needed a good while after the last page to piece the ending together. I think that’s part of the fun. It’s an adult horror graphic novel with a gothic, Rebecca-like feel, and it’s worth rereading with others you can talk to about it.

Too Hot to Tango by E.E. Salo, with art by Megan Kearney

I enjoyed this one so much. It’s Dirty Dancing meets High School Musical, and those comps are perfect. Honey is a soccer superstar headed to Stanford on a full ride, and she’s the coach at an elite sports camp for the summer. Soccer is all she knows, so learning to tango takes real practice. You get rivalry, opposites attract, camp shenanigans, steamy routines, and a high-stakes competition coming up fast.