Fishflies

2025 NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST NEW COMICS FOR ADULTS

"A beautiful, unsettling, and ultimately touching story about connection, transformation, and the possibility of moving forward in life, despite the burden of an unresolved past." —Library Journal (starred review)

"...Fishflies is a grotesquely addictive, trypophobic nightmare epic." —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"...a wretchedly detailed story of loyalty, trauma, and living on the outside." —Booklist (starred review)

A strange and surreal new tale of friendship and small town life from the creator of SWEET TOOTH and DESCENDER.

A small town crime sets off a chain of events that will permanently alter the lives of several residents of bucolic Belle River, Ontario. As the manhunt heats up, a lonely girl named Franny Fox forms an unlikely friendship with a fugitive that leads them both on an odyssey of discovery and redemption... a journey that also uncovers dark secrets from the town's eery past.

Collects all issues #1-7.

Select praise for Fishlies:
"A beautiful, unsettling, and ultimately touching story about connection, transformation, and the possibility of moving forward in life, despite the burden of an unresolved past." —Library Journal (starred review)

"Lemire’s interactions between the characters and dialogue are deftly crafted considering the strangeness of the story, displaying the personal, emotional weight each character is carrying and how this motivates how they deal with the bizarre. The art is strikingly muted, making effective use of darks and few colors, as well as black sound effect pages functioning as literary breaks. Lemire even makes use of the borders and the gutters of the pages, which features a fashionable yellow staining to mimic the pages degrading. At times moving and revolting, this is a wretchedly detailed story of loyalty, trauma, and living on the outside." —Booklist (starred review)

"Lemire’s singular style, with its uncanny figures and warm, bleeding inks, is a visual delight. The result is a tightly woven monster tale shot through with melancholy." —Publishers Weekly

"A grotesquely addictive, trypophobic nightmare epic." —ShelfAwareness (starred review)

"Equal parts Tales from the Crypt and Stand By Me... layers young tragedy and gruesome body horror to incredible effect." —AIPT

"Lemire fires on all cylinders to create an eerie masterpiece that entertains and unnerves in equal measure." ?CBR

"A great slow burn of a comic that keeps readers guessing." —Major Spoilers

"Psychological horror twists into something far more supernatural and deeply unsettling as the story progresses." —You Don't Read Comics

"Refreshing." —Comicon

"Brilliantly crafted... Eerie and Creepy till the final page, Fishflies is an absolute must-read for all fans of comics." —GWW

"Unquestionably memorable." —ComicBook.com

Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.