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Mandala
Mandala – The New Epic in Andy Barron’s Om Universe
Enter the ever-evolving world of Om, where nature is cruel, power is absolute, and survival is never guaranteed. In Mandala, Andy Barron’s latest graphic novel, the delicate balance of this universe is shattered when a lowly creature discovers a way to overthrow the established order. As chaos spreads, the legendary Om must restore balance—but at what cost?
Enter the ever-evolving world of Om, where nature is cruel, power is absolute, and survival is never guaranteed. In Mandala, Andy Barron’s latest graphic novel, the delicate balance of this universe is shattered when a lowly creature discovers a way to overthrow the established order. As chaos spreads, the legendary Om must restore balance—but at what cost?
208 pages, Paperback
Published September 12, 2025
24 people want to read
About the author
Andy Barron
6 books10 followersAndy Barron is a London based cartoonist.
He's been drawing and writing comics based in the fantastical world of 'OM' since 2014.
His work has been published in two volumes by The Mansion Press:
2021's 'OM', collecting 8 years of previously self published stories, and 2025's 'Mandala', a standalone graphic novel.
He's been drawing and writing comics based in the fantastical world of 'OM' since 2014.
His work has been published in two volumes by The Mansion Press:
2021's 'OM', collecting 8 years of previously self published stories, and 2025's 'Mandala', a standalone graphic novel.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 31, 2025
Mandala, subtitled as "A Song from the World of Om, is Andy Barron's return to the same bizarre and striking world he established in the previous collection. Starring the titular character of Om, a misshapen and androgynous being, and a few other recurring characters, Mandala continues the same visual spectacle that enticed readers the first time around. The key players and species are introduced in the opening and closing flaps of the book - Om, Pea, Moe, Um - which spotlights Barron's goal of fleshing out his visually mesmerizing world a little further. Also found on the opening flap is a quick pull quote from
Frank
creator Jim Woodring, the cartoonist who clearly has played the most significant influence on Barron's art and storytelling.
Where Om was filled with shorter stories and strips centered on its titular character, Mandala is a much more continuous and straightforward narrative. A little disappointing to see Barron take this route for his mesmerizing storytelling, but it's more than made up for by his observable development as an artist here. The central narrative is Pea (so named for their appearance as a sentient and humanoid green pea being) gaining a little too much power and becoming a despotic ruler. The story isn't any more sophisticated than that, but Barron adds a lot of gorgeous sequences to layer the narrative further. Where Om didn't really have a centered narrative, the various vignettes emphasized a theme of destruction and creation, death and birth, etc., Mandala is a little less rich thematically. An emerging idea is that of family, belonging and nurturing, but Barron dwells little on this here. Instead, the story all builds up to a showdown between Um and Pea, one that is delivered in the glorious brand of psychedelia that Barron is honed to perfection here.
A change of pace I wasn't quite expecting from Andy Barron, Mandala strides into a bit more of a slapstick, cartoonish pacing. What Mandala does do fairly well is contextualizing the world more, and with that I would assume Barron's playground is more open for other great stories to continue. Though the storytelling here is far more simplistic, one still gets to really appreciate the eclectic linework and violently vibrant colors that go into crafting the uniquely grotesque world of Om.
Where Om was filled with shorter stories and strips centered on its titular character, Mandala is a much more continuous and straightforward narrative. A little disappointing to see Barron take this route for his mesmerizing storytelling, but it's more than made up for by his observable development as an artist here. The central narrative is Pea (so named for their appearance as a sentient and humanoid green pea being) gaining a little too much power and becoming a despotic ruler. The story isn't any more sophisticated than that, but Barron adds a lot of gorgeous sequences to layer the narrative further. Where Om didn't really have a centered narrative, the various vignettes emphasized a theme of destruction and creation, death and birth, etc., Mandala is a little less rich thematically. An emerging idea is that of family, belonging and nurturing, but Barron dwells little on this here. Instead, the story all builds up to a showdown between Um and Pea, one that is delivered in the glorious brand of psychedelia that Barron is honed to perfection here.
A change of pace I wasn't quite expecting from Andy Barron, Mandala strides into a bit more of a slapstick, cartoonish pacing. What Mandala does do fairly well is contextualizing the world more, and with that I would assume Barron's playground is more open for other great stories to continue. Though the storytelling here is far more simplistic, one still gets to really appreciate the eclectic linework and violently vibrant colors that go into crafting the uniquely grotesque world of Om.
April 5, 2025
Mandala is a fantastic addition to the world of Om.
The story follows a pea creature (I assume this is a species of creatures since it fits with the established Om universe) who obtains immense power and inevitably abuses it. The central theme - that power corrupts, drives the narrative forward in interesting ways.
Just like in Om, a colorful and vibrant read that adds significant depth to the Om universe and connects the characters together. You don't HAVE TO read Om before, but if you do, I believe you'll get rewarded from the story much more.
A must read for any Om fan. You’ll see the entire universe differently after this one.
The story follows a pea creature (I assume this is a species of creatures since it fits with the established Om universe) who obtains immense power and inevitably abuses it. The central theme - that power corrupts, drives the narrative forward in interesting ways.
Just like in Om, a colorful and vibrant read that adds significant depth to the Om universe and connects the characters together. You don't HAVE TO read Om before, but if you do, I believe you'll get rewarded from the story much more.
A must read for any Om fan. You’ll see the entire universe differently after this one.
March 26, 2025
Really enjoyed the world, the colours, the characters. It is not a 5 star review because I would have preferred a bit less violence. But very interested in future works in this world of Om!
May 7, 2025
This is surprisingly different from the comics collected in the “Om” book Barron released through the Mansion Press a couple of years ago. It's set in the same universe and features the same characters, but while that earlier material felt like a more sombre and introspective answer to Jim Woodring's “Frank” comics, this has moved in the opposite direction. With a straightforward, conflict-driven plot full of cartoonish action, “Mandala” relegates the transcendent surrealism of Barron's earlier work to its very fringes, to the point where there's scarcely any similarity to Woodring at all, apart from the lack of words. Instead, “Mandala” reminds me more of the wacky, cartoonishly violent fantasy of Spugna or Yann Taillefer. It's not the direction I wanted Barron to go, but it's still good fun. Moreover, the artwork is just as gorgeous as in the earlier work, with the same very polished style, reminiscent of contemporary animation – here all boldly, lusciously coloured.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews