ACROSS THE WIDEST SEA Coming This Summer From Maverick

APR. 24, 2026 (PORTLAND, OR) — This summer, Maverick, the YA imprint of Mad Cave Studios, brings readers ACROSS THE WIDEST SEA, a visually arresting and emotionally grounded graphic novel exploring what it means to be cast into adulthood before you’re ready.

Created by author and illustrator Jean Cremers(After the Storm), with lettering by award-winning letterer Taylor Esposito and translation by Joe Johnson, who brings the story seamlessly to English-language readers.

Across the Wildest Sea sits in the in-between, where nothing is fully formed and nothing feels certain. Cremers’ fluid, expressive artwork carries that tension, letting the disorientation of growing up live on the page without forcing resolution.

Abandoned in the middle of the ocean by her parents to learn to fend for herself, Leonie must find dry land. She meets Balthazar, a teenager whose canoe is taking on water, and Agatha, who lets herself be carried by the current and no longer has any hope of landing. They join forces to find a shore. A metaphorical story about the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Reflecting on the origins of the book, Jean Cremers said:

“I started making comics with my first album published by Éditions Le Lombard, Vague de froid/Cold Front, which didn’t earn me enough to make a living. I began looking for storyboard work, but that search was interrupted by floods that struck my village in July 2021. Three days after the water receded, I received an email from Robin Jolly, who would become my editor at Glénat. I wrote this story from that moment, drawing from both the disaster and my own transition into adulthood, which is why it takes place entirely on the water.

This album is my favorite of the three I’ve created. I wrote it quickly, trusted myself, and became deeply attached to the characters. It represents what I hope is the best side of my work: impulsive, fast-paced, and colorful.

More than anything, I hope it inspires readers to read more comics, a medium that brings together the best of words and art.”

Cremers, born in Liège in 1996, trained at Saint-Luc Liège and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he earned his Master’s degree in comics with great distinction. His work has already been recognized with the young talent grand prize at the Quai des Bulles festival in Saint-Malo.

Blending quiet character work with visual metaphor and atmosphere-driven storytelling, Across the Wildest Sea is perfect for readers drawn to introspective, emotionally grounded YA storytelling.

Across the Widest Sea arrives July 14, 2026, in paperback (ISBN: 9781545827314 | $19.99).