Graphic Novels for Adults

In celebration of Free Comic Book Day (annually on the 1st Saturday of May), GVPL asked staff what their favorite graphic novels are. Here are some of the ones we love and think you might love too!

Updated August 16, 2024
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Ducks : two years in the oil sands
Beaton, Kate
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable book! One of Barack Obama's favorite books of 2022! Winner of Canada Reads 2023! "An exceptionally beautiful book about loneliness, labor, and survival."--Carmen Maria Machado Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times...
Hark! : a vagrant
Beaton, Kate
Paper Book
FEATURED ON MORE THAN TWENTY BEST-OF LISTS, INCLUDING TIME, AMAZON, E! AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY! Hark! A Vagrant is an uproarious romp through history and literature seen through the sharp, contemporary lens of New Yorker cartoonist and comics sensation Kate Beaton. No era...
Are you my mother? : a comic drama
Bechdel, Alison
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Fun Home, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama is a brilliantly told graphic memoir of Alison Bechdel becoming the artist her mother wanted to be. A New York Times, USA Today, and Time Best Book of the Year
Fun home [graphic novel]: a family tragicomic
Bechdel, Alison
Paper Book
A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel's sweetly gothic...
Hobtown mystery stories. 1, The case of the missing men
Bertin, Kris
Paper Book
"Kris Bertin's stories are a revelation, a triumph--each stamped with the mark of a new and rising genius." --David Adams Richards The Case of the Missing Men is the first part of an ongoing mystery thriller set in a strange and remote East Coast village called Hobtown. The...
Hyperbole and a half : unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened
Brosh, Allie.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller "Funny and smart as hell" (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations. FROM THE PUBLISHER...
Monstress. Volume one, Awakening
Liu, Marjorie M.
Paper Book
2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Writer"" open="" /> 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist"" open="" /> 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Continuing Series"" open="" /> 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Publication for Teens"" />
V for vendetta
Moore, Alan
Paper Book
In an alternate future in which Germany wins World War II and Britain becomes a fascist state, a vigilante named "V" tries to free England of its ideological chains.
The handmaid's tale : the graphic novel
Nault, Renée
Paper Book
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. She serves in the household of the Commander and his wife, and under the new social order she has only one purpose: once a month, she must lie on her back and pray that the...
Persepolis
Satrapi, Marjane
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book A Time Magazine “Best Comix of the Year” A San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Best-seller Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in...
The Arab of the future. a graphic memoir / [1], A childhood in the Middle East (1978-1984)
Sattouf, Riad
Paper Book
The Arab of the Future, the #1 French best-seller, tells the unforgettable story of Riad Sattouf's childhood, spent in the shadows of 3 dictators--Muammar Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father In striking, virtuoso graphic style that captures both the immediacy of...
Stitches : a memoir --
Small, David
Paper Book
The prize-winning children's author depicts a childhood from hell in this searing yet redemptive graphic memoir. One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat...

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