I Read Comic Books discussion

This is the discussion thread for IRCB's 2025 Recommended Reading Challenge. Use it to discuss the challenge books you're reading, ask questions, and announce when you've completed the entire list.

Those who finish the challenge by December 16th, 2025 will get a personal shout-out on the podcast, and will get to help pick our January 2026 Book of the Month which will be discussed on the podcast!

Also:
Progress Thread: for tracking your progress
Official Tracking Widget

RULES:
- You can join in at any point
- Books you have already read count towards the challenge
- Read any 24 comics from the podcasters and Goodreads mods, Patreon supporters, and your own picks for the Themes of the Month

From The Podcast Crew:
Danny - Avengers: Twilight
Erin - Navigating With You
Kait L - Global
Kara - Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Christmas on Bear Mountain
Kate S - Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir
Mike - The Power Fantasy Vol. 1
Nick - Blue Book Volume 1: 1961
Paloma - My Oh My, Atami-kun, Vol. 1
Paul - Batman: Ego and Other Tails
Zach - Okinawa

Patreon Supporters:
Stephanie - Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama
Paul G - In Utero
Geoff - All-Star Superman, Vol. 1
Ricardo -Daytripper
Kyle D - Akane-banashi, Vol. 1
Tom - The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler
Matt D - Motor Girl Omnibus

Mexikid is definitely in the group of my favourite comics I've read last year, great pick!! Can't wait to discover the rest, thanks to everybody for picking !

Yeah. +1 to Evilblacksheep. What a cool list! Can’t wait to dig in!

FYI after some discussion Stephanie's pick was updated!

kaitlphere wrote: "FYI after some discussion Stephanie's pick was updated!"

Thanks for the head's up, I totally missed that. I guess it's gonna be time to give another try on reading that one. (I never could get through it while Fun Home is probably one of my favourite GN ever)

Finished! 11/16/2025. What great reads this year!

Read All Star Superman sometime around July, it had quite an impact interesting concept, and though I can now see how the new movie takes some pointers from it, the book just wasn’t for me. It all felt a bit too old and boring, and it probably also didn’t help that I kind of hated the art.

Read the first volume of The Power Fantasy earlier this year. It’s a very refreshing take on extremely overpowered characters, that depends of drama, a plot-twisty story, and a delicate balance of coexistence between its characters, instead of epic fights and showdowns. Very great book with phenomenal art and colors, caught up with the second volume just last week.

Oh wow, The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler was amazing. It is likely to be my top choice of books new to me this challenge. Thank you, Tom!

Finished with a few weeks to spare!

I realized i finished a while ago but forgot to report that I did ^_^;

Just finished the challenge with 24 books, but I plan to read the others by the end of the year.

Kyle wrote: "Finished with a few weeks to spare!"

Wow good job! Which was your fav?

Evilblacksheep wrote: "I realized i finished a while ago but forgot to report that I did ^_^;"

Well done! Any stand outs?

Tom wrote: "Just finished the challenge with 24 books, but I plan to read the others by the end of the year."

Nice!

Jessica wrote: "Finished! 11/16/2025. What great reads this year!"

Wow well done that's so early! Did you have a favorite of the list?

Evilblacksheep wrote: "Mexikid is definitely in the group of my favourite comics I've read last year, great pick!! Can't wait to discover the rest, thanks to everybody for picking !"

Thank you! A good friend is a school librarian and recommended it to me, so I had high expectations going into it, but I was still blown away. The art and writing are both fantastic imo.

Kate wrote: "Evilblacksheep wrote: "I realized i finished a while ago but forgot to report that I did ^_^;"

Well done! Any stand outs?"

Of the ones I read for the challenge, Contrapaso. Los hijos de los otros and The Gulf were some of my favourites. My absolute favourite read of the year is El abismo del olvido (which is the one I started the year with, weirdly) but it didn't fit the challenge at the time.

I'm so glad you liked Mexikid!