The Greatest Graphic Novels Of All Time
So many graphic novels, so little time. How do you sort through the mess to only read the good stuff? Easy: you print out this list, take it to your local comic book store, and tell the guy behind the counter "All of this, please."
 |
By K. Thor Jensen February 16, 2011 |
| 20 | Emperor Doom |
This one-off story is widely regarded to be the single best take on Marvel's iconic metal-masked villain. In Emperor Doom, the lord of Latveria employs the mind-controlling Purple Man to give him total domination over the Earth. Normally, these plans would be foiled by the Fantastic Four or the Avengers or something, but this time, Doom wins. He takes over the world and leads it to a new Golden Age of peace and stability - under his totalitarian rule, of course. But without conflict, Doom is bored, and the way the status quo returns to normal is something special.
| 19 | Why I Hate Saturn |
Kyle Baker is one of the most creative and prolific cartoonists working today, with credits ranging from Deadpool to Plastic Man. His big breakthrough came with the graphic novel Why I Hate Saturn in 1990. When neurotic New York writer Anne's life is turned upside down by the arrival of her sister Laura, bleeding from a gunshot wound and calling herself Queen of the Leather Astro-Girls of Saturn, what follows is an estrogen-drenched adventure that puts Thelma & Louise to shame.
| 18 | Fun Home |
Alison Bechdel's Fun Home wasn't just praised by the comics press - Time Magazine called it the best book of 2006. Not comic book - book book. That's a pretty staggering triumph for the graphic novel, I'd say. It really is that good - pioneering lesbian cartoonist Bechdel, best known for her Dykes To Watch Out For strip, ventures into her family's past to explore the unusual life and death of her father and how it related to her own discovery of her homosexuality. Literate, well drawn and touching, this is the real deal.
| 17 | Ronin |
Before he broke big with Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller stretched his chops with Ronin, an unusual sci-fi graphic novel heavily inspired by manga, most notably the classic Lone Wolf And Cub. Flashing back and forth between feudal Japan and a dystopian future, this intense story may get a little confusing at times, but there's no criticizing the sheer imagination at play here, not to mention the gritty reality of the fight scenes.
| 16 | The Complete Concrete |
One of the mainstays of the 1980s independent comics scene was Paul Chadwick's Concrete, the story of a speechwriter who found his brain involuntarily transplanted into a hulking stone body. He doesn't fight crime or anything - instead, he uses his new durability and lack of a need to breathe, eat, et cetera, to embark on a series of adventures including climbing Mount Everest. Chadwick's classically-informed art is nothing short of spectacular, and this series still holds up today.
