Anzuelo Is One of 2024's Most Beautiful Graphic Novels

2024 may be rapidly drawing to a close, but that doesn't mean all the year's biggest comic book releases are behind us. We've been eagerly awaiting the release of Anzuelo, the latest project from Pretty Deadly artist Emma Ríos, and now it's arrived just in time for the holiday season.

Anzuelo is a new fantasy graphic novel that easily ranks among the most visually stunning comics released this year. But don't take our word for it. Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive preview of Anzuelo:

Here's the official description for Anzuelo:

The Sea, secretly more complex than anyone imagined, rises one day. The horizon folds as the Sea absorbs the world and transforms everything that's been pulled inside it. Three kids find themselves unmoored and lost, but brought together by the physical and mental changes wrought by the tides and a desire to avoid harming any living creature.

"In this scene I wanted to express the emotional toll that Nubero has taken to reach this point, and how Lucio was crucial for him to make it happen," Ríos tells IGN about the preview pages above. "It pains Lucio seeing Nubero so self-centered, unable to acknowledge his own deeds so far, and finds the struggle rather selfish."

Ríos continues, "I’m not very interested in writing about romance and family as some ultimate goal where happiness is taken for granted. So I try to be careful depicting connections and ties, to look for perhaps a more intentional and dynamic love that can be understood independently of those more traditional ideas. The worms are Nubero’s way to show how he wanted to feel less to be less hurt, while the birds’ ability to fly is a metaphor of a way out, that has accompanied me through the whole narrative. This first cormorant’s journey finally introduces environmental horror as a theme."

These pages certainly create a specific sense of atmosphere and mood, and Ríos explains that this is pivotal to her mission as an artist. It's all about immersing the reader in the story.

"As a cartoonist I think I’m particularly fond of building atmospheres because I firmly believe immersion helps stories stay with you. I try to make the world physical, talking about smells or the weather, or carefully drawing creatures, sickness or changes in bodies and psyche. The evocative memories from which you can own a story playfully, by becoming an accomplice building the narrative, are precious and make them last longer even if you can’t recall the details years after experiencing them."

Anzuelo is available now in comic shops and will be released in bookstores on November 19. You can preorder a copy on Amazon.

For more on what's coming in the comic book world, find out which Star Wars characters are getting married in December and check out an exclusive preview of Fantastic Four: Full Circle (Expanded Edition).

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.