A rakish law student inherits his dead mother’s practice, revealing beastly secrets in this sumptuous graphic novel debut from Riotbones, perfect for fans of James Tynion IV and procedural crime dramas.

In the wake of his attorney mother’s sudden death, dutiful law student Jude Aguilar returns to the town of Lazaro to take over her practice—but the only thing stranger than the peculiar cases she left behind are the clients themselves. As the mysterious cases unfold, Jude uncovers a tapestry of secrets. Can he save Lazaro, his mother’s legacy, and himself, before it all goes up in flames?

The atmospheric gloom of Emily Carroll meets the socio-political drama of Jose Rizal’s Noli me Tangere in Strange Cases, a coming-of-age gothic horror and legal procedural graphic novel. Set in an alternate-universe, anachronistic version of 19th-century colonial Philippines, it explores questions of morality, justice, and what truly makes a monster. Drawing inspiration from both European gothic tradition and Filipino literature and culture, debut author-illustrator Riotbones paints a surreal world that is both uncanny and comfortably familiar. Outwardly dark, oftentimes bizarre, but tender and human at the core, it is a somber but hopeful tale that interrogates the concept of “monstrosity” and asks us to rethink what “justice” is, ultimately revealing the soft underbelly of what it means to be human.