Top 6 Graphic Novels You Should Pick Up this Season

Graphic novels are revolutionizing literature in the 21^st century. It’s a most nuanced form of telling a story that combines art and writing in way that captivates readers and keeps them coming back for more.

A lot of people compare graphic novels to comic books. While they do share a lot of similar traits, these two mediums are quite different. Some would even say that graphic novels follow a more mature way of storytelling that appeals to a demographic different than that which laps up superhero stories.

If you’ve never read a graphic novel before, here are our top 6 picks to get you started.

1. Blankets by Craig Thompson

Combining a unique style of art with a fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking, story about a boy raised in a strict Christian family coming to terms with his own lack of faith, Blankets manages to be one of the finest works of fiction produced yet.

2. WE3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

At first glance, it might seem like a bizarre plot but WE3 is heartbreaking and thought-provoking all at once. It will definitely leave a mark on the readers’ minds and hearts.

3. Black Hole by Charles Blunt

Black Hole defies the norms of several genres and goes out of its way to tell a story that’s both mesmerizing and terrifying in its strangeness. It captures the mood of the 70s perfectly, and brings to life the other-worldly isolation and savagery of the high school years.

4. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware

The art of Jimmy Corrigan is simple but breathtaking, and perhaps the same can be said for the story. It’s a groundbreaking piece of fiction that works with the themes of loneliness and isolation, and does so with absolute perfection.

5. Maus by Art Spiegelman

The story is told through the eyes of a holocaust survivor and it explores the horror of Hitler’s regime with the kind of blank-faced terror it deserves. The art is unique but not only does it not distract from the story, it presents the perfect canvas to lay down the monstrosity experienced by a person of Jewish faith who faced the holocaust.

6. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

It’s a coming of age story that combines the universal struggle of the adolescent years with the personal experience of a girl growing up in a country where the personal and public lives have distinctly different rules. The novel has a dry sense of humor that is both entertaining and mildly horrifying in its cruel honesty. The artwork is simply extraordinary and exactly what this tale deserves.