Graphic Novel Review: ALTAMONT is one of the first excellent graphic novels of 2026

Altamont

Writer: Herik Hanna
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: January 2026

If I were to say that one of the best comics of 2026 came out right at the beginning of the year, you would probably tell me to slow my roll. January is largely (and often unfairly) seen as a dumping ground month for art and popular entertainment. And while I love a lot of art, it takes a lot to get me truly fired up and passionate about something, especially in comics. But here we are in January, and I am absolutely fired up about Herik Hanna and Charlie Adlard’s new Image Comics graphic novel, Altamont.

Altamont is a comic that firmly plants its audience in the culture of 1969, from the dialogue, fashion, pop culture references, to the looming shadow of the Vietnam War. We follow Matthew (Doc), Jenny, Samantha, Leo, and Schizo in their Volkswagen van as they journey to a real historical event, the massive music festival at the Altamont racetrack in Northern California–and the absolute pandemonium that erupted.

Structurally, the book is split in two. The first half is the road trip and the music festival itself. Matthew (Doc) is our POV character. While largely all dialogue, there are moments of internal monologue, as well as full page journal entries from Matthew that reveal his internal struggles and moments of PTSD after returning from Vietnam.

The road trip portion serves as a journey of friendship, shared histories, and self discovery for the gang, and like any great road trip story, there are many stops along the way. There are two important encounters of note. The first is at a gas station where Jenny and Samantha are confronted by an older conservative man before Doc intervenes. There are two important things of note here. This is the first time we learn about Doc’s time in Vietnam, and it’s also a perfect way to convey the political tension of late ’60s America without blatantly spelling it out to the reader. While it is a lapsed conservative man complaining about hippies, there’s a lot of silence, and the audience is able to interpret what is going on through facial expressions and body language, without it turning into a screaming match about ideologies.

Stop number two is where we meet Leo’s family, who we know have a complicated relationship during prior car conversations. We get a lot more character reveals and development that inform their politics and mindsets during the late ’60s, and, for my money, it is the best sequence in the first half of the comic.

The concert portion of the story goes to some truly insane places, as you’d probably expect from a story set at a violent event, and I believe it is best to go in knowing nothing. I do want to touch briefly on this comic’s relationship to music. To be quite frank, music is not something that I’m super passionate about, but the many, many references and homages to bands and artists is a treat for music nerds, and it has even piqued my interest into diving into some. Jimi Hendrix will be on full rotation for the foreseeable future. Speaking of Hendrix, there is a gorgeous splash page of him with vibrant pinks and purples that looks straight out of the 1960s.

Charlie Adlard’s art is absolutely stunning throughout the book, and I think it’s the best work of his career. To most comic book fans, he is known as the artist of The Walking Dead, starting from issue 7 on through to the final issue. His art in Altamont is seriously impressive. The characters all have distinct looks and show real emotion (there are a lot of great facial expressions on display here), beautiful establishing shots both on the road and during the concert, and there’s some really interesting color work too. Aside from minor changes with time of day, everything is colored true to life, but there are moments of drug-like haze where we see vibrant colors and blurred vision. It’s stunning work.

Altamont is an incredibly special comic. It’s got everything from emotionally deep three-dimensional characters, witty dialogue, gorgeous art, and twists and turns that will make your jaw hit the floor. It might take a whole lot to top this as my favorite comic of the year, even if it’s only January.

Altamont is out this month from Image Comics

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