Free Comic Book Day - 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 April 28, 2026
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All our ordinary stories : a multigenerational family odyssey
Wong, Teresa
Paper Book
Beginning with her mother's stroke in 2014, Teresa Wong takes us on a moving journey through time and place to locate the beginnings of the disconnection she feels from her parents. Through a series of stories - some epic, like her mother and father's daring escapes from communes during China's...
Degrees of separation : a decade north of 60
McCreesh, Alison
Paper Book
At age 21, Alison hitchhiked to the Yukon and spent the summer living in a tent. 10 years later, in the deep of winter and seven months pregnant, she returns. Degrees of Separation is about what happened in between. Over the course of a decade, artist Alison McCreesh lived,...
Displacement
Knisley, Lucy
Paper Book
In a book that is part memoir, part travelogue and part family history, Knisley not only tries to connect with her grandparents, but to reconcile their past and present selves. She is aided in her quest by her grandfather's World War Two memoir, which is excerpted. Readers will identify with Knisley...
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...
Exquisite corpse
Bagieu, Pénélope
Paper Book
Zoe isn't exactly the intellectual type, which is why she doesn't recognize world-famous author Thomas Rocher when she stumbles into his apartment . . . and into his life. Zoe doesn't know Balzac from Batman, but she's going to have to wise up fast . . . because Rocher has a terrible...
Girl Town
Nowak, Carolyn
Paper Book
Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist Casey Nowak (Lumberjanes) finds powerful truths in fantasy worlds. This solo debut collection celebrates the ascent of a rising star in comics. Diana got hurt -- a lot -- and she's decided to deal with this fact by purchasing a life-sized...
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: ...
JAJ : a Haida manga
Yahgulanaas, Michael Nicoll
Paper Book
With gorgeous imagery, visual artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas brings to life the tumultuous history of first contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples and the early colonization by the Europeans of the northern West Coast. Yahgulanaas uses a blend of traditional and modern art,...
Kw
Pauls, Cole
Paper Book
Indigenous Voices Award winner Cole Pauls returns with a robust collection of stories that celebrate the cultural practices and experiences of Dene and Arctic peoples. Gathering Pauls's comics from magazines, comic festivals and zine making workshops, these comics are his most personal...
March. Book 1
Lewis, John
Paper Book
#1New York TimesBestseller Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon and key figure of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to...
Of Swamp and Sea Volume 1
Paper Book
Lore Olympus meets The Witcher in the first volume of this supernatural graphic novel series! Of Swamp & Sea is a stirring and binge-worthy tale of monsters, magic, and romance. Mercy Gray Harding's troubles all started in the swampland on the outskirts of...
Revenge of the librarians
Gauld, Tom
Paper Book
Confront the spectre of failure, the wraith of social media, and other supernatural enemies of the author Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist's signature brand...
Roaming
Tamaki, Mariko
Paper Book
"Gloriously rendered... An ode to traveling as friends when you're both young and carefree and every new experience is exciting and wondrous."―Robert Ito, The New York Times Book Review Spring Break, 2009: Five days, three friends, and one big city. ...
Sabrina
Drnaso, Nick
Paper Book
THE FIRST EVER GRAPHIC NOVEL NOMINATED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE! A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK! ON 20 BEST OF 2018 LISTS INCLUDING THE WASHINGTON POST, NPR, NEWSWEEK, AND THE GUARDIAN! "Sabrina is the intimate story of one man's suffering, but it also captures the...
Thirsty mermaids
Leyh, Kat
Paper Book
The Eisner and Lambda Literary Award nominated graphic novel about a group of mermaids trapped on dry land--from prolific comic artist and writer Kat Leyh, creator of the acclaimed Snapdragon and coauthor of the bestselling Lumberjanes series! Fresh out of shipwreck wine,...
Transitions : a mother's journey
Durand, Élodie
Paper Book
When Anne learns that her 19-year-old is a transgender man, she struggles to understand her son's new identity. A new landmark in nonfiction comics, Transitions is a sympathetic, informative, and moving story of a family's journey to acceptance. "I thought I was open...
We stand on guard
Vaughan, Brian K.
Paper Book
SAGA writer BRIAN K. VAUGHAN teams with artistic legend and Hollywood storyboard artist STEVE SKROCE for a subversive, action-packed military thriller. Set 100 years in our future, WE STAND ON GUARD follows a heroic band of Canadian civilians turned freedom fighters who must defend their homeland...

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