Comic books have grown in stature and appeal, especially in the long form known as the graphic novel. Here are a few great examples of graphic novels that are not just for kids.
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Asterios Polyp / |
Asterios Polpy, an architect who has never built anything, is on a journey of self-discovery in this experimental, complex graphic novel. |
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The night bookmobile : [a graphic novel] / |
Niffenegger tells a dark, romantic tale of a young woman's obsession with books. |
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Batman : the Dark Knight returns / |
Ten years after Batman was last seen, Gotham has deteriorated. Still plagued with the memories of his parents' murders and a vigilante spirit, Bruce Wayne brings the Dark Knight out of retirement to face off against Gotham's most frightful villains. |
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Blankets : an illustrated novel / |
Thompson's autobiographical work revisits his youth. Raised devoutly Christian, he must reconcile his religious beliefs with his desire to find his own identity by pursuing his love of drawing and a relationship with the only person who understands and accepts him. |
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Epileptic / |
David B.'s memoir documents his family's struggle to find a cure for his brother's epilepsy. Panels of striking, fantastical scenes depict the impact the disease had on his family and the inner turmoil B. faced which led him to become the artist he is today. |
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Fun home : a family tragicomic / |
Alison Bechdel, of Dykes To Watch Out For fame, has produced a compelling graphic memoir that is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Alison recounts her childhood and the complex relationships she shares with both her closeted gay father and her understandably tortured mother. Bechdel's own sexual and intellectual awakening are central to this engrossing narrative, and her drawings only add to the richness of this layered, moving memoir. |
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The book of Genesis / |
Legendary artist Robert Crumb illustrated The Book of Genesis in his characteristic cartooning style, and the result was a bestseller. |
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Maus : a survivor's tale / |
Art Spiegelman's very personal story of his relationship with his father and of his father's survival of the Holocaust in war torn Poland won a Pulitzer Prize. The horrors depicted in grim and graphic form served to elevate the medium to the level of literature and proved that comics are not just for kids. |
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Persepolis / |
The great-granddaughter of one of the last Emperors of Iran and the daughter of Marxist parents, Satrapi grew up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. She beautifully recounts the story of her childhood through simple yet powerful black-and-white illustrations. |
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Stitches : a memoir-- / |
A moving, coming-of-age memoir about a young, sensitive boy whose selfish parents subject him to x-ray treatments and then a seemingly harmless surgery that results in the loss of his voice. Stitches is a powerful story, beautifully illustrated. |
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The sandman : preludes & nocturnes / |
In this first collection in Gaiman's award winning Sandman series a man who attempts to summon and imprison Death instead captures the Lord of Dreams. Dream's absence has wreaked havoc on the dreamworld and now he must set things right. |
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Wilson / |
Wilson is a lonely, pessimistic middle-aged loser whose only authentic relationship seems to be with his dog, Pepper. Over a span of years, he faces the declining health of his father, locates his ex-wife and a daughter he didn't know he fathered, and ends up in jail. Each page is a small vignette in Wilson's life in the style of a newspaper strip in this darkly humorous graphic novel. |
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Watchmen / |
Alan Moore's critically acclaimed Watchmen introduces a world where costumed superheroes are a reality. The Crimebusters are a group of masked avengers that have disbanded and are now threatened to become extinct when a plot to murder and discredit them is set in motion. |