As a kid, I used to pour over Herge's "Tintin" series. Those books were like two books in one; I spent the same amount of time on the story as I did studying the drawings, and I marvelled at the special way they allowed me to travel all over the world. The graphic novel is a format which can present a story in a resonant and satisfying way under the hands of a skilled storyteller/artist.
These days, thanks to groundbreaking work by people like Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner, and Harvey Pekar, the format has been elevated and is recognized as a unique art form often targeted to adult readers. Many still focus on a superhero theme, and the worldwide popularity of manga and other Japanese styles has been influential. This list, however, focuses (with one exception) on the more personal/confessional style of graphic novel.
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
by Francois Voltaire
Quite simply, this book is a masterpiece -- not just in the graphic novel genre, but, in my opinion, the "book" genre.
Extraordinarily detailed color drawings chronicle (non-chronologically) the Corrigan family living in the American Midwest from the 1880's to the 1980's. Some of the drawings are heartbreaking -- how can a picture be both detailed and stark? Ware manages that. You will find yourself gazing for a long time at little pictures, marveling at what Ware is able to convey within the limitations of the graphic novel format. His depiction of family relationships is cringe-worthy and realistic, and he is especially good at conveying the passage of time.
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380 page paperback
|$13.57
|118 reviews
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Blankets
by Craig Thompson
582(!) pages and you won't put it down. A very personal, confessional tale about growing up in a fundamentalist Christian family and being conflicted about love, religion, and past regrets -- drawn in an almost cinematic style, all black & white. I have never met anyone who read this book and was not taken with it.
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592 page paperback
|$19.77
|124 reviews
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Black Hole
by Charles Burns
A satisfyingly strange story about a bizarre plague that befalls Seattle-area teens in the 1970's. It's filled with sex, drugs, and odd bodily disfigurements. His drawings are foreboding and white-against-black. Like all great graphic novels, the art is as beguiling as the story.
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368 page paperback
|$12.21
|43 reviews
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken
by Seth
Almost every single drawing in this book could be blown up and hung on the wall as its own work of art. Seth has a very distinctive, nostalgia-heavy, old-fashioned black & white style which is very appealing. The story and drawings are inspired by the chilly desolation of urban and suburban Canada, and underscored by a love of cartooning.
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176 page paperback
|$22.45
|8 reviews
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Stop Forgetting to Remember: The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz
by Peter Kuper
A great story about creativity and choices in life that just zooms along. Clearly autobiographical, the art is half black & white, half sepia tone. Kuper has a crude drawing style which incorporates photographs and homages to other artists and comics like R. Crumb, Archie... even Richie Rich.
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208 page hardcover
|$15.56
|3 reviews
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">American Born Chinese
by Gene Luen Yang
On the surface the story seems like a humorous
fantasy about Chinese-American identity, but by the end the reader realizes that this is a touching, poignant story, very well-told. It moves back-and-forth -- with colorful, stylized drawings -- between Chinese folklore and a modern-day tale. Not only is it about personal identity, but also stereotypes, teen life, and in a broader sense, the Asian-American experience. But it is so well-told (with a cool twist at the end) and well-drawn, that any reader will get something out of it.
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240 page paperback
|$14.53
|49 reviews
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Watchmen
by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons
Kind of like "The Incredibles" without the humor but with trippy artwork. The ultimate "superhero" story, taking its inspiration from all that came before it in that genre. A truly imaginative narrative about the burdens of both power and nostalgia, with super-saturated color drawings and heavy themes.
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416 page paperback
|$11.99
|462 reviews
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onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
by Art Spiegelman
Maybe the most famous graphic novel of all, and deservedly so. A watershed, Pulitzer-prize winner about Jewish life under the Nazis, moving from Poland to Queens, and based on the author's own family. The Jews are mice, the Nazi's are cats, and the book is maybe the most engaging book ever written about the horrors of the Holocaust and its aftermath among the European Jewish diaspora.
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296 page hardcover
|$23.10
|186 reviews
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