by Stefano Jun,
Renegade Arts Entertainment, 2026
Stefano Jun started Modern Asian Family as a webcomic in 2014. Grande Prairie with an E, the second book in the series by the Calgary based Korean-Canadian author and illustrator, collects 100 comics originally created between 2020 and 2023, when Jun worked in Grande Prairie. Each page features a four-panel comic with funny anecdotes from Jun’s life. The everyday details create a colourful collage of his family and friends, drawn in a clean and expressive style, with a special level of detail given to the occasional building or mechanical dinosaur. A common thread in Jun’s “unhinged wisdom” is food, including comics about Korean cakes, banana-flavoured milk and Costco hotdogs. Jun even meets his girlfriend at a local ramen bar. While Jun’s mom might ask, “Why can’t you act like a normal person?” readers will likely find these comics utterly relatable.
by Jarrett Sitter,
Annick Press, 2026
What do a raccoon, a mushroom, a robot and a young girl have in common? They all love music, of course! This middle-grade graphic novel by Alberta author and illustrator Jarrett Sitter is very retro—from the clothes to the local arcade to swapping mixtapes. The backgrounds even use patterned screentones to recreate the look of classic comics. Our protagonist, Melody Li, plans on spending the summer alone, listening to her favourite band “Pure Trash.” But when she misses out on their latest album, she ends up meeting Snackwich, Taki and Atikus. Together they compete in a battle of the bands against the local bully. With lyrics like “It’s a showdown / so show up / it’s either throw down / or throw up,” there’s no way they can lose! Right?
Quin Lancaster is Alberta Views’s circulation manager.
