It’s a big 44-page chunk of humorous heartache, partly earnest and partly goofy. Read it with someone you... no, read it alone on the bus. It’s OK for you to do that, really.

2009 Ignatz Award winner for Outstanding Mini-Comic. Drawings and cartoons from somewhere in between daydreamland and hangoverville. Lisa Hanawalt has many fine lines at her command, which are deployed to illustrate major concerns of modern life: nicely dressed forest animals behaving badly at parties, what to fantasize about while stuck in traffic or at the dentist, etc.

A tiny romance, with birds and hats. Lushly painted in black and white and grey, accordion-bound.

There are sick cats. There are friends having babies. There are hawks trying to catch swifts. There are guest strips by Chris Cilla, Mike Getsiv, Julia Gfroerer, John Isaacson, Sarah Oleksyk, Zack Soto, and David Youngblood. There are four pages of mood charts. It’s the end of Jesse’s daily diary, and life will go on.

A basking shark slurps up some plankton, gets his picture taken, and gets lucky; guest appearances by remora and pilot fish. Rarely have halftone dots so convincingly stood in for brine and flesh. It’s all going on right now in an ocean near you.

Comics from work and school; a story about college radio; some sentimental moments that will sneak right up on you.

A selection of Calvin’s earlier stories provides more evidence that he is a very funny guy who likes to draw otherworldly creatures and cute girls.

Wait, there’s more to life than dating and footsie? Apparently so. MariNaomi has interrupted the usual confessional format of Estrus with a collection of early comics and repurposed playthings.

Sarah Oleksyk’s mini-epic of high-school distress is simple enough in its premise—angry girl wants art and love, clashes with friends and mom, pins all her hopes on a long-distance romance—but carried out with startling ambition, technique, and heart. Her calm, adult gaze manages to convey raw teenage emotion in context without judging or softening it. Beautifully rendered and so involving that you won’t know whether you want to scream at Ivy or be her, but you’ll want to know what happens next.

Jonas starts with an ordinary tale of time travel and imaginary friends, and as usual things get all wild and intricate before you know it. You may also find yourself getting teary by the end, unless you have a heart of stone.