Fantastical YA “The October Girl – Volume 1” Gets October Release!

Described as a moody, coming-of-age tale, the fantasy YA The October Girl – Volume 1 by Matthew Dow Smith will be released come October 21, 2025.

According to the promotional material, The October Girl will appeal to fans of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and Nimona. The story follows the lead character, Autumn Ackerman, whose life drastically changes when she meets her childhood imaginary friend. It was recently named a Fall 2025 Top Ten Most Anticipated YA Comic by Publishers Weekly.

Autumn grew up believing in magic, fairies, and princesses capable of defeating dragons. However, now being eighteen years old and struggling with her current job at a coffee shop while pondering her future, fantasy has understandably taken a backseat.

But one night, an injured Barbany appears in front of Autumn in the alley behind the town’s coffee shop. Getting to meet her childhood imaginary friend, who isn’t imaginary anymore, draws Autumn to the strange and mysterious world of the Night Folk. The fictional supernatural world has been described as the reason behind influencing humanity’s myths about gods and monsters.

With help from Barnaby and Evan Fade (a boy who inherited the local bookstore), Autumn has to protect herself from the terrifying Mr. Balloon while doing her best to learn the truth about the Night Folk as well as her past.

Matthew Dow Smith shared that The October Girl has been a very special project for him. “It’s a story I’ve wanted to tell for more than 30 years, and now, thanks to Mad Cave/Maverick, I finally can. I’ve spent the last 30 years drawing people in tights fighting each other, and as much fun as that can be, my head was full of people in long coats and skeleton trees and strange little creatures. There just wasn’t a place for the kinds of stories I wanted to tell. But now, with a growing audience for comics outside of tights and capes, I could finally let all these things out of my head.”

Narratively, Dow Smith wanted to share a tale that captured the feeling of being young and looking at the future ahead, wondering if there’s anything more out there than what’s currently around you. “I’ve been a reader and a dreamer all my life and I often find myself wishing our world was as magical and full of wonder as the worlds in the books I read. This book asks the question, ‘Well, what if it was?’”, he added.

Dow Smith did the art of the book along with writing it. The Editor is Christina Harrington, with the Book Designer being Diana Bermudez.

The October Girl – Volume 1 graphic novel is currently available for preorder from wherever books are sold, including Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Bookshop.

The paperback price is $14.99 for a page count of 184. (Not bad!)

As for writer and comic book artist Matthew Dow Smith, his work has appeared in Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, DC’s Starman, and many others. He wrote the X-Files: Origins comic book series, the third volume of the Dark Crystal: Creation Myths graphic novel series, and several Doctor Who comic book stories for IDW, the BBC, and BBC America.

Dow Smith is also the writer and artist of DC’s middle-grade graphic novel Misfits of Magic, and creator-owned digital comics Amelia Shadows: Daughter of Darkness, Johnny Chaos, and Arch-Nemesis.

You can learn more about indie publisher Mad Cave Studios (a parent company of Maverick, Nakama Press, and Papercutz) by visiting the official website.

Are you into checking out The October Girl – Volume 1 graphic novel?

Let us know.

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(via Press Release)

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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