By Moa Romanova. Published by Fantagraphics. Hardcover, 240 pages, Colour, 2025. Eisner Award winner Moa Romanova returns with an autobiographical graphic novel about accompanying her rock star bestie on a U.S. tour, fueled only by alcohol, drugs and sex. How do you prevent history from repeating itself, and is it possible to protect the one you love from themselves? When cartoonist Moa Romanova joins her rock star bestie on a U.S. tour, life quickly turns chaotic, as adolescent trauma begins to haunt her. Buff Soul is a graphic novel about friendship and grief, and about finding oneself in relation to others. Buff Soul tackles addiction, friendship, and loss in a rollicking road trip adventure involving selling speed, breaking bones, massive hangovers, drug withdrawal, having your entire fist inside your best friend, and shooting guns in the desert. What begins as an insanely comical, hedonistic road trip in the spirit of Pineapple Express, takes a dark turn when her best friend disappears. This event triggers memories of an adolescent trauma she had yet to reckon with, along with fears that history is repeating itself, leading Romanova to confront the reality of how far she’s let her self-destruction go. PRAISE "Eisner winner Romanova follows Goblin Girl with another exceptional autofiction. ... Amid her candid reckoning with addiction and anxiety, Romanova is also bracingly witty, with nimble banter and blunt punch lines delineating the highs and lows of her central characters' fierce friendship." — Publishers Weekly Starred Review "A kaleidoscopic exploration of growth, friendship, and addiction." — Kirkus Reviews "The Hollywood lifestyle seems glamours until the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll get the better of you. Accompanying her rock star best friend to the United States, where she expects to have nothing but fun, Romanova's past begins to haunt her as she is thrust into darkly familiar moments that parallel traumatic childhood memories." — New York Public Library "Moa Romanova has indeed entered into a new phase of her life, one that sees her going from 'someone to keep an eye on' to 'someone who's arrived." — Four-Color Apocalypse
