Must-Read Comic Classics

These essential graphic novels are must-reads for anyone interested in the medium. I would recommend them to anyone who wants to understand what comics can do. This list doesn’t include manga; my recommendations there can be found on my list of suggested manga starting points.

You may also want to see my years’ best recommendations:

Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships | Eric Shanower’s gorgeous retelling of the Trojan War.

Castle Waiting | Linda Medley’s expertly illustrated take on a fairy tale community.

The Complete Peanuts | Collections of the most important American comic strip.

Finder | An aboriginal science fiction series by Carla Speed McNeil.

From Hell | Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell explore the Jack the Ripper mystery.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic | Alison Bechdel’s memoir of her childhood, focusing on her father’s life in the closet.

Hicksville | Dylan Horrocks creates a town where everyone reads comics in order to show how the medium’s unexplored potential can break your heart.

Locas and Palomar | Massive collections of the Brothers Hernandez’ Love and Rockets stories capturing Hispanic life in California with a punk mentality.

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale : My Father Bleeds History/Here My Troubles Began | The Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust biography by Art Spiegelman, symbolically using mice and cats.

Persepolis | Marjane Satrapi’s story of her childhood in Iran.

The Plastic Man Archives | Wonderfully funny and inventive tales of the stretchy superhero by Jack Cole.

The Sandman | A modern fantasy classic written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by a number of talented artists.

The Spirit Archives | Will Eisner establishes a graphic language all his own in this collection of short crime stories with wide-ranging subjects.

Stuck Rubber Baby | Howard Cruse’s semi-autobiographical story of a man coming to terms with his homosexuality during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The Tale of One Bad Rat | A thoughtful and powerful exploration of an abused girl’s trip to reclaim her life by Bryan Talbot.

Understanding Comics | Scott McCloud explains how the medium works — a must-read!

Watchmen | Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons deconstruct the superhero in an incredibly influential work for its time.

Why I Hate Saturn | Everyday urban life takes a fantastic turn in this tale by Kyle Baker.

For another take, see Paul Gravett’s Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know, a coffee table-style book about his list of the best reads.




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