8 Captivating Comics About Cults

Get to know the real history of America’s cults in American Cult, presented in the form of comics by a variety of talented writers and illustrators. You’ll see the stories of 18 different cults throughout American history, from the 17th century to today, from Transylvanian monks to satanic coffee shops. Beyond the sensationalized aspects of cult history, the creators focus on the more human aspects of the cults and how they molded the people who joined them. It’s a fascinating book that will change the way you look at cults forever.

You can watch an iconic American superhero fight one of history’s most enduring cults, the KKK, in Superman Smashes the Klan. Written by American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang, it’s a graphic novel inspired by a 1946 radio drama. When the Lee family moves from Chinatown to Metropolis, the two Lee kids are excited to see Superman’s heroic actions up close. But danger comes closer than they hoped when the Lees catch the eye of the evil Klan. Not only does Superman fight to save them; he unveils the undercover villains secretly supporting the Klan. Gene Luen Yang is brilliant at writing layered graphic novels exploring race, identity, family, and coming of age alongside action-packed fantasy elements.

Amy Rose always thought there was something strange about the community where she grew up during the 1990s. Its leaders wouldn’t allow her to go to school or the public library, saying they couldn’t teach her anything about the looming end of the world. When the nearby Heaven’s Gate compound made national news, Amy not only learned the meaning of the word “cult,” she realized she was living in one. This graphic memoir tells the true story of a cult survivor and her path to escaping.

Recently-out trans femme artist Sammie has been named “best man” (ugh) by their college best friend, and now they must travel to a bachelor weekend on a dystopian party island where there are no rules, as long as you’ve got money. There’s a strange group holding a conference at the resort where they’re staying, and the more Sammie hears about it, the more they start to wonder if it’s more than the tech bro networking event it seems. It’s a wild satirical ride about the cult-like nature of toxic masculinity with lots of twists and turns.

As children, a group of boys in Japan created a secret society as part of a game. But decades later, as the end times approach and humanity faces extinction, the symbol of their secret society reappears with a connection to a doomsday cult. Can that same gang of boys come together again to save the world? This sprawling sci-fi comic series is full of adventure, danger, and big twists, plus plenty of cult drama.

This dark comic thriller set in the 1960s draws inspiration from Charles Manson and features a mystical hippie cult. Teresa is a young woman with a budding connection to the divine, touched by prophetic dreams that lead her to the Family of the Sun. She’s drawn into their promises of alchemy and immortality, but as she sees their seedy underbelly of drugs, sex, and cultish rituals with her own eyes, she falls into a world of dangerous secrets.

This coming-of-age YA graphic novel tells a haunting story set around Loving, Ohio, a small Midwestern town under the influence of an unusual new-age cult. One group of teenagers struggles to move forward after the death of a friend, but their grief is complicated by a strange series of murders. It’s a creepy, mysterious, and moving story about searching for truth while growing up in a town where you feel out of place.

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower is a 1993 dystopian sci-fi classic about a world wrecked by climate change and economic and social inequality, and if that’s not prescient enough, it’s set in the year 2024. You can see the story in a new light with the graphic novel adaptation by Damian Duffy and John Jennings. In a violent world falling apart at the seams, a powerfully empathetic teenager envisions a new religion called Earthseed shaped by the idea that “God is change”. While it’s not exactly a cult-centric story, it’s a fascinating look at the rise of a new religious ideology and the complicated web of consequences that stem from it.