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Gosh! names its best graphic novels of 2025
You know, for kids. Gosh! is the best comics shop in London - and possibly in the whole UK. They also have a best of 2025 list for adults. There's no ranking here to fight about, just alphabetical lists.
The only book I've read on either list is Craig Thompson's Ginseng Roots, which I heartily recommend.
posted by Paul Slade on Dec 06, 2025 at 12:03 PM
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thanks for this! some of the books on the kids list look like they'll be perfect for my niblings
posted by emmling at 2:13 PM
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I just picked up Angelica and the Bear Prince at Gosh this week, having also loved Nguyen's The Magic Fish.
In the afterword, the author says "I decided to write a lighter, fluffier story that didn't dig so deep into my feelings... and I failed." But Angelica does feel lighter, though no less beautiful or thoughtful. The Magic Fish was set among fairy tales, and like them it dealt with cruelty and peril (though also beauty, resourcefulness and courage). Angelica deals with grief, loneliness, anxiety and burnout, but it's also very sweet and uplifting.
I'll send my sister a copy for her kids, but I'm keeping mine.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:36 PM
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Soho isn't like being opposite the British Museum, surrounded by booksellers of all kinds, and fitting delightfully in, but I'll take it. Honourable mention to my local Raygun, a descendant of They Walk Among Us.
I still need to get through Providence before I can even think of looking at the list though. Don't tempt me.
posted by bookbook at 8:11 PM
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For those who don't know, Gosh! used to be in Great Russell Street, directly opposite the British Museum. A good few years ago now, it moved to a larger shop in Berwick Street, right in the heart of what was once the heart of London's sleazy sex industry. That side of Soho was mostly a thing of the past by the time Gosh! got there, having been replaced mostly by movie production companies, shops and restaurants.
That said, when Gosh! first made the move, there was one of Soho's last surviving peep shows on the same corner, together with the entrance to Walkers Court, where Raymond's Review Bar was once based. There are stories of the lady who ran the peep show finding her customers reluctant to enter because they were put off by the comics fans queueing outside Gosh! at popular signings there. It was a mix of people you don't often see in such close proximity.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:59 PM
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OK, so here's my Gosh story:
Back when Gosh! was in Great Russell Street, I went one evening to a reading-and-signing by [an author I regret having liked] at the TUC building down the road. But before the event, I decided to pop into Gosh! since I had an excuse to make one or two purchases.
Having bought my books, I was waiting outside the building in a line of geeks, goths and assorted mostly amiable weirdos when I noticed a man walking down the line looking intensely at people. "Oh god," I thought, "what..."
But when he got to me, he said "Ah!" and handed me back my debit card, which I'd left in the shop. It was the manager from Gosh, and (these being the days when bank cards had your photo on them) he'd accurately guessed where I'd be and come all that way to return my card.
Right then and there I swore I would henceforth buy all my comics from Gosh!. And so I have, to this day.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:51 AM
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Soho was home to Dark They Were And Golden Eyed, which was the original UK comic-book shop in the 1970s (St Anne's Court, between Dean Street and Wardour Street, and before that it was at 10 Berwick Street). When I visited London in the late 70s, I'd run between there and the newly-opened Forbidden Planet in Denmark Street (a.k.a. Tin Pan Alley, just the other side of Charing Cross Road from Soho). So, in some ways, Gosh! moving there is kind of like coming home.
Oh, and the late 70s were grim.
Anyway, Rainbow's End opened on the Cowley Road in Oxford, so I didn't need either shop quite so much.
Didn't comic-book shops have great names?
posted by Grangousier at 5:15 AM
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Don't forget Comics Showcase!
posted by Paul Slade at 5:40 AM
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please fix the apostrophe error in the headline
posted by graywyvern at 7:54 AM
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much as I'm enjoying the content of the OP, i came here to spot the hudsucker proxy reference
posted by okayturnip at 10:36 AM
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