Mariko Tamaki is back at First Second with a new young adult graphic novel, this time around in tandem with Rosemary Valero-O'Connell, who delivers some well paced comics replete with a feeling of openness. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Mecreates a welcoming environment with a diverse and likeable cast of characters and puts them all together to tell a contemporary tale of young love, with a twist. 

Secrets of all sorts are explored in this issue.  The center stage here is reserved for secrets of the personal sort – many of which involve painful struggles.  Alongside of these are the larger, social secrets including those involving espionage, political intrigues, secret societies and more. Sometimes different kinds of secrets overlap, as with those involving international adoptions and DNA testing.  

Worthy of special note here: This issue contains "Slow Release" by erstwhile Pittsburgher (and Copacetic customer) Asia Bey, a feature story that shares the experience of a gradual cathartic abreaction of personal trauma in a finely crafted comics work that fully embodies this issue's theme.

Here's an overview of the entire issue:

Paper Fictions, Social Realities by Meg O'Shea, who investigates her own history as an international adoptee.

It’s All Relatives: How Consumer DNA sites may mean the end of family secrets by Kjerstin Johnson and Alexandra Beguez.

Trickster, Traitor, Dummy, Doll: How the CIA tried to trick the Soviets with Sex Dolls (but ultimately got screwed) by Triple Dream Comics.

Covering Up Hate by Ally Shwed and Gerardo Alba, on the tattoo artists helping people cover up their bigoted past.

Slow Release by Asia Bey on learning to move through a history of sexual abuse.

With Dispatches, Strips, and other contributions from:

For The Response, family secrets from Edward Flynn, Eleri Harris, Anonymous & Aki Ruiz, and John Leavitt.

Secret stats by Maki Naro, Archive editorial cartoons on government wiretapping with writing from Jenny Robb, and in our letters to the editor Katie Wheeler illustrates our readers’ darkest confessions.

Dispatches from Rachel Dukes, Jess Ruliffson and Ernesto Barbieri, Apollo Baltazar, Micah Lee and Jamie Noguchi, Miriam Libicki, Max Loh and Sage Coffey.

Strips by Joey Alison Sayers, Gemma Correll, Mattie Lubchansky, Brian McFadden, Niccolo Pizarro, Mariah-Rose Marie, Emily Flake, Matt Bors, Julia Bernhard, and E.S. Glenn.

With illustrations by Andrew Greenstone and Mark Kaufman.