American Library Association Best Graphic Novels 2022

The American Library Association’s Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table created “2022 best graphic novels for adults reading list” which highlights the best graphic novels and nonfiction for adults published in late 2021 and through 2022. If you’re new to reading graphic novels or a long time reader you’ll find something interesting on this list. Many of these titles are also available electronically on Hoopla and Libby. If you’re looking for more book suggestions please check the booklists created by librarians at Robbins and our book recommendation page.

• Days of Sand by Aimee de Jongh. A moving and unforgettable tale, inspired by real-life stories of courage and perseverance during the Dust Bowl of 1930s AmericaUnited States, 1937. In the middle of the Great Depression, 22-year-old photographer John Clark is brought in by the Farm Security Administration to document the calamitous conditions of the Dust Bowl in the central and southern states, in order to bring the farmers’ plight to the public eye. When he starts working through his shooting script, however, he finds his subjects to be unreceptive. What good are a couple of photos against relentless and deadly dust storms? The more he shoots, the more John discovers the awful extent of their struggles, and comes to question his own role and responsibilities in this tragedy sweeping through the center of the country.
• Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story by Catherine Piolo. When Catherine is diagnosed with acute leukemia, a deadly form of cancer that attacks the immune system, her life is turned upside down. Young and previously healthy, she now finds herself catapulted into the world of the seriously ill―constantly testing and waiting for results, undergoing endless medical treatments, learning to accept a changing body, communicating with a medical team, and relying on the support of her partner, family, and friends.
• Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush-part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed. Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Vol. 1 by Kanehito Yamada. Art by Tsukasa Abe. The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about. Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her? Decades after their victory, the funeral of one her friends confronts Frieren with her own near immortality. Frieren sets out to fulfill the last wishes of her comrades and finds herself beginning a new adventure.
• Hakim’s Odyssey trilogy by Fabien Toulmé
  • Hakim’s Odyssey Book 1: From Syria to Turkey. In Hakim’s Odyssey, we see firsthand how war can make anyone a refugee. Hakim, a successful young Syrian who had his whole life ahead of him, tells his story: how war forced him to leave everything behind, including his family, his friends, his home, and his business. After the Syrian uprising in 2011, Hakim was arrested and tortured, his town was bombed, his business was seized by the army, and members of his family were arrested or disappeared. This first leg of his odyssey follows Hakim as he travels from Syria to Lebanon, Lebanon to Jordan, and Jordan to Turkey, where he struggles to earn a living and dreams of one day returning to his home.
  • Hakim’s Odyssey Book 2: From Turkey to Greece. In exile and far from his homeland, Hakim finds a bit of hope in the birth of his son. But between unstable jobs and selling what he can in the streets, it’s hard to survive–and impossible for the family to stay together. Reluctantly separated from the woman he loves and alone with his child, Hakim will have to overcome incredible odds and seemingly impossible obstacles to reunite his family, which leads him to make the most difficult decision of his life. Captivating and deeply moving, this second book of the critically acclaimed Hakim’s Odyssey follows the true story of a Syrian refugee as he tries to find his way in Turkey and then makes the perilous trek to what he hopes will be a more settled life in Europe.
  • Hakim’s Odyssey: Book 3: From Macedonia to France. After being rescued from the Mediterranean, Hakim and his son reach European soil, full of hope. But before they can get to France, they face a new series of challenges: overcrowded detention centers, run-ins with border police, and a persistent xenophobia that seems to follow them almost everywhere they go. Will Hakim’s determination and the kindness of strangers be enough to carry him to the end of his journey and reunite his family? By turns heart-warming and heart-wrenching, this final installment in the Hakim’s Odyssey trilogy follows Hakim and his son as they make their way from Macedonia to the south of France.
• The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere by James Spooner. Scene: Apple Valley, California, in the late eighties, a thirsty, miserable desert. Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom are back in town after years away. The few Black kids here seem to be gangbanging, and the other kids fall on a spectrum of microaggressors to future neo-Nazis. Mixed-race and acutely aware of his Blackness, James doesn’t know where he fits until he meets Ty, a young Black punk who introduces him to the school outsiders — skaters, unhappy young rebels, caught up in the punk groundswell sweeping the country. A haircut, a few Sex Pistols, Misfits and Black Flag records later, and suddenly, James has friends, romantic prospects, and knows the difference between a bass and a guitar. But this desolate landscape hides brutal, building undercurrents: a classmate overdoses and a friend must prove himself to his white-supremacist brother and the local Aryan brotherhood through a show of violence. And everything and everyone are set to collide at one of the year’s biggest shows in town… Weaving in the Black roots of punk rock and a vivid interlude in New York’s thriving DIY scene, this is the memoir of a budding punk, artist, and activist.
• Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe. Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love — witness what the gods do after dark in this stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of mythology’s best-known stories from creator Rachel Smythe. Persephone, young goddess of spring, is new to Olyumpus. Her mother, Demeter, has raised her in the mortal realm, but after Persephone promises to train as a sacred virgin, she’s allowed to live in the fast-moving, glamorous world of the gods. When her roommate, Artemis, takes her to a party, her entire life changes: she ends up meeting Hades and feels an immediate spark with the charming yet misunderstood ruler of the Underworld. Now Persephone must navigate the confusing politics and relationships that rule Olympus, while also figuring out her own place — and her own power.
• The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V. Art by Filipe Andrade. Humanity is on the verge of discovering immortality. The avatar of Death is cast down to Earth to live a mortal life in Mumbai as twenty-something Laila Starr. Will Laila take her chance to stop mankind from permanently altering the cycle of life?
• The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu. Art by Sana Takeda. Chinese American twins, Milly and Billy, are having a tough time. On top of the multiple failures in their personal and professional lives, they’re struggling to keep their restaurant afloat. Luckily their parents, Ipo and Keon, are in town for their annual visit. Having immigrated from Hong Kong before the twins were born, Ipo and Keon have supported their children through thick and thin and are ready to lend a hand–but they’re starting to wonder, has their support made Milly and Billy incapable of standing on their own? When Ipo forces them to help her clean up the house next door–a hellish and run-down ruin that was the scene of a grisly murder–the twins are in for a nasty surprise. A night of terror, gore, and supernatural mayhem reveals that there is much more to Ipo and her children than meets the eye.
• What is Home, Mum? by Sabba Khan As a second-generation Pakistani immigrant living in East London, Sabba Khan paints a vivid snapshot of contemporary British Asian life and investigates the complex shifts experienced by different generations within immigrant communities, creating an uplifting and universal story that crosses borders and decades. Race, gender, and class are explored in a compelling personal narrative creating a strong feminist message of self-reflection and empowerment which is illuminated in stunning artwork.

Best Graphic Fiction

• Adrastea. Written and illustrated by Mathieu Bablet. After 1000 years on his throne, the immortal former king of Hyperborea sets out for Mount Olympus to ask the gods why he was cursed with such a condition, and how he might finally be allowed to die to be with the one he once loved. On his way, he will meet men, women, gods, and goddesses who will influence and reveal truths to the traveler that he has long since forgotten.
• After Lambana: Myth and Magic in Manila. Written by Eliza Victoria. Art by Mervin Malonzo. Art by Mervin Malonzo. On the shadowy, noir-tinged streets of Manila, two friends seek a cure for a mysterious malady. To add to their problems, the Magic Prohibition Act has been adopted, and Lambana – the supernatural realm of the Diwata – has fallen. Slinky sirenas and wraith-like spirits populate this parallel universe of lurking danger and corruption. Will Lambana spill its secrets and provide the healing balm that’s needed? Or will Conrad and Ignacio fail in their quest and perish in the process?
• Always Never. Written by Jordi Lafebre. Art by Jordi Lafebre After forty years of being madly in love, Ana and Zeno are finally retiring and giving their romance a chance to bloom while they both still have time left. A unique but relatable love story told in reverse, with each chapter stepping further back through the decades of touch and go courting, showing both the heartbreaking moments that kept the two lovers apart and the beautiful moments that kept their flame alive.
• Amazona. Written by Canizales. Art by Canizales ; translated from Spanish by Sofía Huitrón Martínez. Andrea, a young Indigenous Colombian woman, has returned to the land she calls home. Only nineteen years old, she comes to mourn her lost child, carrying a box in her arms. And she comes with another mission. Andrea has hidden a camera upon herself. If she can capture evidence of the illegal mining that displaced her family, it will mark the first step toward reclaiming their land
• Animal Castle. Written by Xavier Dorison. Art by Felix Delep. On the Farm all animals were equal. In the Castle some are more equal than others. … Nestled in the heart of a farm forgotten by men, the Animal Castle is ruled with an iron hoof by President Silvio. The bull and its dog militia savor their power, while the other animals are exhausted by work, until the arrival of the mysterious Azelard, a traveling rat who will teach them the secrets of civil disobedience.
• Black Paradox. Written by Junji Ito. Art by Junji Ito. Four people intent on killing themselves meet through the suicide website Black Paradox: Maruso, a nurse who despairs about the future; Taburo, a man who is tortured by his doppelganger; Pii-tan, an engineer with his own robot clone; and Baracchi, a woman who agonizes about the birthmark on her face. They wander together in search of the perfect death, fatefully opening a door that leads them to a rather bizarre destiny …
• Chivalry. Written by Neil Gaiman. Art by Colleen Doran. An elderly British widow buys what turns out to be the Holy Grail from a second-hand shop setting her off on an epic visit from an ancient knight who lures her with ancient relics in hope for winning the cup.
• Cryptid Club. Written by Sarah Andersen. Art by Sarah Andersen. Do you hate social gatherings? Dodge cameras? Enjoy staying up just a little too late at night? You might have more in common with your local cryptid than you think! Enter the world of Cryptid Club, a look inside the adventures of elusive creatures ranging from Mothman to the Loch Ness Monster. This humorous new series celebrates the unique qualities that make cryptids so desperately sought after by mankind (to no avail). After all, it’s what makes us different that also makes us beautiful.
• Days of Sand. Written by Aimee de Jongh. Art by Aimee de Jongh. United States, 1937. In the middle of the Great Depression, 22-year-old photographer John Clark is brought in by the Farm Security Administration to document the calamitous conditions of the Dust Bowl in the central and southern states, in order to bring the farmers’ plight to the public eye. When he starts working through his shooting script, however, he finds his subjects to be unreceptive. What good are a couple of photos against relentless and deadly dust storms? The more he shoots, the more John discovers the awful extent of their struggles, and comes to question his own role and responsibilities in this tragedy sweeping through the center of the country.
• Demon Days. Written by Peach Momoko. Art by Peach Momoko. English Adaptation and dialogue by Zack Davisson. Acclaimed artist Peach Momoko reimagines the Marvel Universe! A wandering swordswoman with a psychic blade arrives at a village targeted by demons. One is black-and-white with a horrifying tongue, and another may be the strongest demon there is! Mariko Yashida hears mysterious voices and has strange dreams that feel real. Maybe her redheaded maid who dresses all in black might know more than she lets on? But as Mariko embarks on a wondrous journey, deadly creatures lurk in the woods – including a mysterious, blue-skinned woman and a giant with super-strength and claws! Enter a creative and mysterious new world of demons, monsters, mutants, and magic!
• Dirtbag Rapture. Written by Christopher Sebela. Art by Kendall Goode. She’s stoned. She’s selfish. She’s all that stands between us and the end of the world. Where do you go when you die? Kat, a stoner with a flexible moral code, can answer that, and the answer is: not very far. Unfortunately for Kat’s peace of mind, a near-death experience left her with the ability to see and hear ghosts, as well as take them into her “mindscape” so she can bring them to locations of their choosing, essentially playing transporter to the deceased. But when Kat discovers she’s inadvertently played into a demonic plan to screw up the whole world, she is forced to take an active role in the battle between good and evil. And she’s not thrilled about it.
• Fantastic Four: Full Circle. Written by Alex Ross. Art by Alex Ross. It’s a rainy night in Manhattan and not a creature is stirring except for … Ben Grimm. When an intruder suddenly appears inside the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four — Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm) — find themselves surrounded by a swarm of invading parasites. These carrion creatures composed of Negative Energy come to Earth using a human host as a delivery system. The Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter, risking not just their own lives but the fate of the cosmos!
• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Written by Kanehito Yamada. Art by Tsukasa Abe. The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about. Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her? Decades after their victory, the funeral of one her friends confronts Frieren with her own near-immortality. Frieren sets out to fulfill the last wishes of her comrades and finds herself beginning a new adventure…
• Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith. Written by Grace Ellis. Art by Hannah Templer. Flung Out of Space opens with Pat begrudgingly writing low-brow comics. A drinker, a smoker, and a hater of life, Pat knows she can do better. Her brain churns with images of the great novel she could and should be writing—what will eventually be Strangers on a Train— which would later be adapted into a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951. At the same time, Pat, a lesbian consumed with self-loathing, is in and out of conversion therapy, leaving a trail of sexual conquests and broken hearts in her wake. However, one of those very affairs and a chance encounter in a department store give Pat the idea for her soon-to-be beloved tale of homosexual love that was the first of its kind—it gave the lesbian protagonists a happy ending.
• The Good Asian Volume Two. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote. Art by Alexandre Tefenkgi. Following Edison Harkï, a haunted, self-loathing Chinese-American detective on the trail of a killer in 1936 Chinatown, The Good Asian is Chinatown noir starring the first generation of Americans to come of age under an immigration ban–the Chinese.
• Halina Filipina: A New Yorker in Manila. Written by Arnold Arre. Art by Arnold Arre. In a cross-cultural collision, a New Yorker discovers love among the locals! When Halina Mitchell makes her first trip to Manila, the eye-opening immersion in her homeland turns all her assumptions on their head. With the film critic Cris as her guide, she’s given a vivid glimpse of a teeming city few others get to see. Will her growing affections include the irreverent writer? Captured in Arnold Arres’s distinctive style, Halina Filipina is about finding one’s place in the world or in two worlds at once!
• Hawkeye: Kate Bishop. Written by Marieke Nijkamp. Art by Enid Balám. Art by Oren Junior & Robert Poggi. Kate Bishop has her sights set on the Big Apple! But a lot has changed since she was last in New York. So before she completes her journey back, she’s taken on a pit-stop case first. A confidence-booster, to prove to herself that she’s making the right decision and not going to backslide into her old ways just by changing time zones. Besides, the case is perfect: Swanky resort? Check. Jewel heist? Check. Almost definitely 100% a trap? Check! But when Kate learns who invited her to Resort Chapiteau in the first place, she has a triple mystery on her hands: Can she find a missing girl, discover what the resort is hiding…and work out what all of it has to do with her family? Get ready for your favorite Hawkeye in a high-octane thriller!
• House of Slaughter: The Butchers Mark. Written by James Tynion IV & Tate Brombal. Art by Chris Shehan. Discover the inner workings of the House of Slaughter in this new horror series exploring the secret history of the Order that forged Erica Slaughter into the monster hunter she is today. You know Aaron Slaughter as Erica’s handler and rival. But before he donned the black mask, Aaron was a teenager training within the House of Slaughter. Surviving within the school is tough enough, but it gets even more complicated when Aaron falls for a mysterious boy destined to be his competition.
• The Journey of Marcel Grob. Written by Philippe Collin. Art by Sébastien Goethals. Translated by Joe Johnson. In the dead of night, eighty-three-year-old Marcel Grob is sequestered by an investigating judge who questions him about his past. Particularly beginning on June 28, 1944, the day when “Marzell,” like ten thousand of his German-speaking peers from the French borderland province of Alsace, became a member of the Nazis’ infamous Waffen SS. But did the teenager volunteer, or was he conscripted by the Nazis? To establish the truth of his troubled past, Marcel Grob will have to revisit painful memories as an adolescent forced to fight in Italy with the sinister Reichsfuhrer division. Determined to prove his innocence, Marcel begins the story of a long journey into night.
• The Keeper. Written by Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes. Art by Marco Finnegan. Aisha, a young black girl, has lost her parents to a car crush. She moves in with her grandmother, but the old woman is dying. The grandmother summons a spirit that has protected their family and asks it to watch over Aisha. At first, it seems as though the spirit, the Keeper, is doing what the grandmother asked. But soon it begins stealing life from others, becoming an uncontrollable monster.
• Keeping Two. Written by Jordan Crane. Art by Jordan Crane. A young couple is stuck in traffic, reading a book aloud to each other to pass the time. The relationship is already strained, but between the encroaching road rage, and a novel that hits way too close to home, tensions are running especially high by the time they arrive back at their apartment. When one of them leaves to get takeout and a movie, each of the young lovers is individually forced to confront loss, grief, fear, and insecurities in unexpected and shocking ways.
• Liebestrasse. Written by Greg Lockard. Art by Tim Fish. Liebestrasse tells the heart-wrenching, poignant tale of forbidden love and survival through the rise of hatred. During the final years of the Weimar Republic, Sam meets Philip in Berlin and they fall in love. Their romance is hit with an unspeakable reality as the Nazis come to power and fascism makes them a target.
• Lore Olympus. Written by Rachel Smythe. Art by Rachel Smythe. Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love — witness what the gods do after dark in this stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of mythology’s best-known stories from creator Rachel Smythe. Persephone, young goddess of spring, is new to Olyumpus. Her mother, Demeter, has raised her in the mortal realm, but after Persephone promises to train as a sacred virgin, she’s allowed to live in the fast-moving, glamorous world of the gods. When her roommate, Artemis, takes her to a party, her entire life changes: she ends up meeting Hades and feels an immediate spark with the charming yet misunderstood ruler of the Underworld. Now Persephone must navigate the confusing politics and relationships that rule Olympus, while also figuring out her own place — and her own power.
• A Man’s Skin. Written by Hubert. Art by Zanzim. Translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger. In Renaissance Italy, Bianca, a young lady from a good family, is of marriage age. Her parents find her a fiancé to their liking: Giovanni, a rich merchant, young and pleasant. The wedding looks set to go smoothly even though Bianca can’t hide her disappointment at having to marry a man she knows nothing about. But before the marriage, she learns the secret held and bequeathed by the women of her family for generations: a “man’s skin”! By donning it, Bianca becomes “Lorenzo” and enjoys all the attributes of a young man of stunning beauty. She can now visit the world of men incognito and get to know her fiancé in his natural environment. In her male skin, Bianca frees herself from the limits imposed on women and discovers love and sexuality.
• The Many Deaths of Laila Starr. Written by Ram V. Art by Filipe Andrade. Humanity is on the verge of discovering immortality. The avatar of Death is cast down to Earth to live a mortal life in Mumbai as twenty-something Laila Starr. Will Laila take her chance to stop mankind from permanently altering the cycle of life?
• The Me You Love in the Dark. Written by Skottie Young. Art by Jorge Corona. An artist named Ro retreats from the grind of the city to an old house in a small town to find solace and inspiration without realizing the muse she finds within is not what she expected.
• The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night. Written by Marjorie Liu. Art by Sana Takeda. Chinese American twins, Milly and Billy, are having a tough time. On top of the multiple failures in their personal and professional lives, they’re struggling to keep their restaurant afloat. Luckily their parents, Ipo and Keon, are in town for their annual visit. Having immigrated from Hong Kong before the twins were born, Ipo and Keon have supported their children through thick and thin and are ready to lend a hand–but they’re starting to wonder, has their support made Milly and Billy incapable of standing on their own? When Ipo forces them to help her clean up the house next door–a hellish and run-down ruin that was the scene of a grisly murder–the twins are in for a nasty surprise. A night of terror, gore, and supernatural mayhem reveals that there is much more to Ipo and her children than meets the eye.
• Nubia and the Amazons by Vita Ayala & Stephanie Williams. Written by Vita Ayala & Stephanie Williams. Art by Alitha Martinez, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Darryl Banks, & Mark Morales. After the thrilling events of Infinite Frontier, Nubia becomes queen of Themyscira, but the new title also brings challenges. With the unexpected arrival of new Amazons, our hero is forced to reckon with her past and forge a new path forward for her sisters. Little does she know, a great evil grows beneath the island and it’s up to this former guardian of Doom’s Doorway to unite her tribe before paradise is lost forever!
• One Beautiful Spring Day. Written by Jim Woodring. Art by Jim Woodring. A mesmerizingly mind-bending, wordless 400 page comics odyssey by a contemporary master of the form. Jim Woodring has been chronicling the adventures of his cartoon Everyman for almost 30 years. These stories are a singular rarity in the comics form – both bone-chillingly physical in their depictions of Frank’s travails but profoundly metaphysical at the same time. One Beautiful Spring Day places Congress of the Animals, Fran, and Poochytown in a radically new light by surrounding them with 100 pages of dazzling new material, providing context, backstory, and a deeply satisfying conclusion to compose a single epic tale.
• Ripple Effects. Written by Jordan Hart. Art by Bruno Chiroleu. In a world that is no stranger to superheroes, George Gibson is invulnerable to physical harm but fights every day to stay alive due to an acute case of type 1 diabetes. But treating his invisible illness and concealing his powers seem easy compared to his demoralizing case of writer’s block.
• Sleeping While Standing. Written by Taki Soma. Art by Taki Soma. In this series of short autobiographical strips, acclaimed comics creator Taki Soma gently guides us through her early childhood in Japan in the 80s, moving to Minnesota, the separation of her parents, childhood trauma, teenage angst, death, drugs, comics, health issues, love, fertility, pets and zombies! We drop in at important events throughout her life that shaped who she is today, told in a compelling and humorous authorial voice with an accomplished cartoonist’s eye for visual play, meaningful details and imaginative interludes. It’s a picture of a highly regarded creator, with an unflinching look at some particularly harrowing moments, but threaded through with levity and love.
• Space Story. Written by Fiona Ostby. Art by Fiona Ostby. Two people fall in love on earth and have a child together. But as the planet becomes uninhabitable and everyone starts evacuating to the space station orbiting above, the family gets separated. Told in three interwoven stories, this graphic novel follows the journey of Hannah, Leah, and Bird as they experience love and loss, joy, loneliness, desperation, and hope for a new future.
• Step by Bloody Step. Written by Si Spurrier. Art by Matias Bergara. There is a girl. She has no memory and no name. Nothing but a Guardian. An armored giant who protects her from predators and pitfalls. Together they walk across an extraordinary fantasy world. If they leave the path, the air itself comes alive, forcing them onwards. Why? The girl doesn’t know, but there’s worse than beasts and bandits ahead. Civilization, with its temptations and treacheries, will test their bond beyond its limits.
• Strange Adventures. Written by Tom King. Art by Evan Shaner & Mitch Gerads. This new science fiction epic written by bestselling author Tom King reinvents one of DC’s classic adventure characters, Adam Strange. Born on Earth and hero of the distant planet Rann, Adam Strange is famous throughout the galaxy for his bravery and honor. After leading his adopted home to victory in a great planetary war, Adam and his wife, Alanna, retire to Earth, where they are greeted with cheers, awards, and parades. But not all is as it seems, as the decisions Adam made during battles on Rann come back to haunt his family. It will take an investigation by one of the most brilliant heroes in the DC Universe, Mr. Terrific, to uncover the truth and reveal whether Adam Strange is a hero or a disgrace
• Talk to My Back. Written by Yamada Murasaki. Art by Yamada Murasaki. Set in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Tokyo, Murasaki Yamada’s Talk to My Back (1981-84) explores the fraying of Japan’s suburban middle-class dreams through a woman’s relationship with her two daughters as they mature and assert their independence, and with her husband, who works late and sees his wife as little more than a domestic servant.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. Written by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, & Tom Waltz. Art by Esau Escorza, Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, & Kevin Eastman. In a future, battle-ravaged New York City, a lone surviving Turtle embarks on a seemingly hopeless mission seeking justice for the family he lost. What terrible events destroyed his family and left New York a crumbling, post-apocalyptic nightmare? All will be revealed in this climactic Turtle tale that sees longtime friends becoming enemies and new allies emerging in the most unexpected places. Can the surviving Turtle triumph?
• Tuki: Fight for Fire Written by Jeff Smith. Art by Jeff Smith. The ancient world was filled with restless spirits and powerful forces. 2 million years ago, human evolution made its move. It chose Fire. At the dawn of humanity, during a period of tremendous change and drought, three lost children meet a mysterious traveler named Tuki. Together, their search for the Motherherd of all Buffalo leads them far north through the dangerous territory of a rival species called the Habiline. The Habiline hunt and kill anyone found using fire. Tuki’s reputation precedes them and soon they find themselves at the center of unwanted attention not only from Habiline warriors, but of tribal spirits and giants!
• Walk Me to the Corner. Written by Anneli Furmark. Art by Anneli Furmark. Translated by Hanna Strömber. A loving home and husband; two grown sons; a lakeside cabin with a picnic table where their initials are carved; and the chance encounter at a party that destabilizes it all. Elise is in her mid-fifties and is satisfied with life. But the moment she sees Dagmar, she’s entranced. What begins as eye contact transitions to harmless texting, and quickly swells into the type of lust and yearning Elise did not know her life was lacking. Both are happily married and there’s trepidation, but they can’t resist. The two arrange to meet, changing the course of Elise’s stable and consistent life forever. Though Elise’s husband attempts to support her exploration, he also begins an affair with a much younger woman―a postgraduate student in her thirties. The cliché of it all is too much for Elise to bear. As her marriage unravels, Elise’s love for Dagmar grows stronger. But with Dagmar content to stay in her marriage, Elise is stranded, adrift, completely alone for the first time in her adult life, and searching for someone to blame―the other woman. In the blur of a breakdown, she’s left facing the reality that, after all, she started it.
• Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser. Wash Day Diaries tells the story of four best friends—Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie—through five connected short story comics that follow these young women through the ups and downs of their daily lives in the Bronx. The authors pay tribute to Black sisterhood through portraits of shared, yet deeply personal experiences of Black hair care. From self-care to spilling the tea at an hours-long salon appointment to healing family rifts, the stories are brought to life through beautifully drawn characters and different color palettes reflecting the mood in each story.
• Witches: The Complete Collection by Daisuke Igarashi. On a visit to a city in the far west of Asia, a British girl named Nicola falls in love. The object of her affection is Mimar, a man who works at the city’s bazaar– yet despite her attempts, he turns her down. Upon returning home to England, the ache of her unrequited love festers. After years spent obtaining wealth, fame, and the Secret of the World, Nicola returns to the bazaar to exact her deadly revenge upon Mimar and those he holds dearest. This story is one of many in this haunting collection that features tales of witches and dark magic set around the globe and in outer space

Best Graphic Nonfiction

• Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story by Catherine Piolo. When Catherine is diagnosed with acute leukemia, a deadly form of cancer that attacks the immune system, her life is turned upside down. Young and previously healthy, she now finds herself catapulted into the world of the seriously ill―constantly testing and waiting for results, undergoing endless medical treatments, learning to accept a changing body, communicating with a medical team, and relying on the support of her partner, family, and friends.
• Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush-part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed. Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
• Everything is OK. by Debbie Tung . Art by Debbie Tung. Everything Is OK is the story of Debbie Tung’s struggle with anxiety and her experience with depression. She shares what it’s like navigating life, overthinking every possible worst-case scenario, and constantly feeling like all hope is lost. The book explores her journey to understanding the importance of mental health in her day-to-day life and how she learns to embrace the highs and lows when things feel out of control. Debbie opens up about deeply personal issues and the winding road to recovery, discovers the value of self-love, and rebuilds a more mindful relationship with her mental health. In this graphic memoir, Debbie aims to provide positive and comforting messages to anyone who is facing similar difficulties or is just trying to get through a tough time in life. She hopes to encourage readers to be kinder to themselves, to know that they are not alone, and that it’s okay to be vulnerable because they are not defined by their mental health struggles. The dark clouds won’t be there forever. Everything will turn out all right.
• Free Speech Handbook by Ian Rosenberg. In this volume of the World Citizen Comics series, Ian Rosenberg and Mike Cavallaro create a practical framework for appreciating where our free speech protections have come from and how they may develop in the future. Freedom of speech is fiercely defended in America and has been since the First Amendment was written. But how does it work, and what laws shape it? Drawing on parallels between ten seminal Supreme Court cases and current events, Free Speech Handbook lays out the fundamentals of First Amendment law in an accessible and engaging way.
• Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing. As Rhea Ewing neared college graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender? This obsession sparked a quest in their quiet Midwest town, where they anxiously approached both friends and strangers for interviews to turn into comics. A decade later, their project has exploded into a fantastical and informative portrait of a surprisingly vast community spread across the country. Questions such as How do you identify? invited deep and honest accounts of adolescence, taking hormones, changing pronouns-and how these experiences can differ depending on culture, race, and religion. Amidst beautifully rendered scenes emerges Ewing’s own visceral story growing up in rural Kentucky, grappling with their identity as a teenager, and ultimately finding themself through art-and by creating something this very fine.
• Hakim’s Odyssey by Fabien Toulmé.
  • Book 1: From Syria to Turkey. n Hakim’s Odyssey, we see firsthand how war can make anyone a refugee. Hakim, a successful young Syrian who had his whole life ahead of him, tells his story: how war forced him to leave everything behind, including his family, his friends, his home, and his business. After the Syrian uprising in 2011, Hakim was arrested and tortured, his town was bombed, his business was seized by the army, and members of his family were arrested or disappeared. This first leg of his odyssey follows Hakim as he travels from Syria to Lebanon, Lebanon to Jordan, and Jordan to Turkey, where he struggles to earn a living and dreams of one day returning to his home.
  • Book 2: From Turkey to Greece. In exile and far from his homeland, Hakim finds a bit of hope in the birth of his son. But between unstable jobs and selling what he can in the streets, it’s hard to survive―and impossible for the family to stay together. Reluctantly separated from the woman he loves and alone with his child, Hakim will have to overcome incredible odds and seemingly impossible obstacles to reunite his family, which leads him to make the most difficult decision of his life.
  • Book 3: From Macedonia to France. After being rescued from the Mediterranean, Hakim and his son reach European soil, full of hope. But before they can get to France, they face a new series of challenges: overcrowded detention centers, run-ins with border police, and a persistent xenophobia that seems to follow them almost everywhere they go. Will Hakim’s determination and the kindness of strangers be enough to carry him to the end of his journey and reunite his family?
• The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere by James Spooner. Scene: Apple Valley, California, in the late eighties, a thirsty, miserable desert. Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom are back in town after years away. The few Black kids here seem to be gangbanging, and the other kids fall on a spectrum of microaggressors to future neo-Nazis. Mixed-race and acutely aware of his Blackness, James doesn’t know where he fits until he meets Ty, a young Black punk who introduces him to the school outsiders — skaters, unhappy young rebels, caught up in the punk groundswell sweeping the country. A haircut, a few Sex Pistols, Misfits and Black Flag records later, and suddenly, James has friends, romantic prospects, and knows the difference between a bass and a guitar. But this desolate landscape hides brutal, building undercurrents: a classmate overdoses and a friend must prove himself to his white-supremacist brother and the local Aryan brotherhood through a show of violence. And everything and everyone are set to collide at one of the year’s biggest shows in town…
• Iranian Love Stories by Jane Deuxard. In a series of vignettes based on clandestine interviews, this award-winning graphic novel explores the politics and love lives of ten young Iranian men and women from diverse backgrounds. The result is an honest portrait of Iranian youth today and a rare glimpse into a society where the sexes are strictly segregated―and Western journalists aren’t welcome. Through testimonies from across the country, we learn about traditional marriages, the pressures of living under the regime, and how young people escape the police and defy tradition to live their love stories.
• It Won’t Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib. It’s hard enough to figure out boys, beauty, and being cool when you’re young, but even harder when you’re in a country where you don’t understand the language, culture, or social norms. Nine-year-old Malaka Gharib arrives in Egypt for her annual summer vacation abroad and assumes it’ll be just like every other vacation she’s spent at her dad’s place in Cairo. But her father shares news that changes everything: He has remarried. Over the next fifteen years, as she visits her father’s growing family summer after summer, Malaka must reevaluate her place in his life. All that on top of maintaining her coolness! Malaka doesn’t feel like she fits in when she visits her dad–she sticks out in Egypt and doesn’t look anything like her fair-haired half siblings. But she adapts. She learns that Nirvana isn’t as cool as Nancy Ajram, that there’s nothing better than a Fanta and a melon-mint hookah, and that her new stepmother, Hala, isn’t so different from Malaka herself.
• Pinball: A Graphic History of the Silver Ball by Jon Chad. In this dynamic, nonfiction graphic novel, Jon Chad illustrates the little-known story of pinball―how it works and why it all matters in an age of special effects and on-screen gaming. Tracing pinball’s roots back to the Court of King Louis XIV, through the immigrant experience of early 20th century America, the post-War boom and bust, right up to the present day, Chad charmingly ushers readers through the myriad facets of this most American of pursuits―capturing not just the history but also the artistry, cultural significance, and even the physics of the game.
• Policing the City: An Ethno-Graphic by Didier Fassin & Frédéric Debomy. Adapted from the landmark essay Enforcing Order, this striking graphic novel offers an accessible inside look at policing and how it leads to discrimination and violence. What we know about the forces of law and order often comes from dramatic episodes that make the headlines, or from sensationalized versions for film and television. These gripping accounts can obscure a crucial aspect of police work: the tedium of everyday patrols and paperwork, under a constant pressure to meet numbers. Around the time of the 2005 French riots, anthropologist and sociologist Didier Fassin spent fifteen months observing up close the daily life of an anti-crime squad in one of the largest precincts in the Paris region. His unprecedented study, which sparked intense discussion about policing in the largely working-class, immigrant suburbs, remains acutely relevant in light of all-too-common incidents of police brutality against minorities. This new, powerfully illustrated adaptation clearly presents the insights of Fassin’s investigation, and draws connections to the challenges we face today.
• The Poorcraft Cookbook by Nero Villagallos O’Reilly. The Poorcraft series is the essential comic book guide to practical urban and suburban frugality! We’ve shown you how to live better, travel better, and now? Get ready to learn how to eat better on the cheap with THE POORCRAFT COOKBOOK, a comprehensive guide featuring recipes from around the world, vegetarian and vegan meals, food shopping guides, equipment ideas — even a few cocktail mixers! Whether you’re new to independent living, a recent college graduate, or just downshifting to a simpler lifestyle, Poorcraft comics can help you with everything from finding a home to finding a hobby, dinner to debt relief, education to entertainment.
• Radium Girls by Cy. A stunning graphic novel retelling of the shocking and inspiring true story of the Radium Girls, who fought for their lives and for workers’ rights after horrific management failures led to extreme cases of radiation poisoning in 1918. It’s 1918 in Orange, New Jersey, and everyone knows the “Ghost Girls.” The proud holders of well-paying jobs at the local watch factory, these working-class young women gain their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift painting watch dials. The soft, greenish glow even stains their lips and tongues, which they use to point the fine brushes used in their work. It’s perfectly harmless… or so claims the watch manufacturer. When teeth start falling out, followed by jawbones, the dial painters become the unprepared vanguard on the frontlines of the burgeoning workers’ rights movement. Desperate for compensation and acknowledgement from the company that has doomed them, the Ghost Girls must fight, not just for their own lives but the future of every woman to follow them.
• Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank by Eric Orner. What are the odds that a disheveled, zaftig, closeted kid with the thickest of Jersey accents might wind up running Boston on behalf of a storied Irish Catholic political machine, drafting the nation’s first gay rights laws, reforming Wall Street after the Great Recession, and finding love, after a lifetime assuming that he couldn’t and wouldn’t? In Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank one of America’s first out members of Congress and a gay and civil rights crusader for an era is confirmed as a hero of our age. But more than a biography of an indispensable LGBTQ pioneer, this funny, beautifully rendered, warts-and-all graphic account reveals the down-and-dirty inner workings of Boston and DC politics.
• What is Home, Mum? by Sabba Khan. As a second-generation Pakistani immigrant living in East London, Sabba Khan paints a vivid snapshot of contemporary British Asian life and investigates the complex shifts experienced by different generations within immigrant communities, creating an uplifting and universal story that crosses borders and decades. Race, gender, and class are explored in a compelling personal narrative creating a strong feminist message of self-reflection and empowerment which is illuminated in stunning artwork.
• Yellow Cab by Benoit Cohen. After twenty years working on film and series shoots, Benoît Cohen is drained. His enthusiasm gone, a desire to stop writing and put down the camera takes over. In the city for a year, he still wonders about how best to absorb the rich diversity of the cosmopolitan metropolis, settling on a simple idea: he will become a taxi driver. Behind the iconic Yellow Cab, behind the fantasy of freedom and independence, behind the faces of his thousands of passengers, Benoît discovers a world to which he is a stranger. He dives into his new life with the idea of turning it into a screenplay for a future film, but the material he collects from this social experiment marks him deeply, leading down unsuspected paths: First, the administrative maze that leads to the taxi driver’s license. Then the world behind the scenes. And finally, the prejudices that surround the profession and lead customers, cops, and the entire city to look at it—quite randomly—either with indifference, kindness, or aggression.

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