The Ideal Comic Section of a Bookstore/Library/etc.
A reading list that doubles as a how-to guide for becoming obsessed with comics.
The graphic sections of bookstores are almost always weak. They usually look like this:
["Comics”] ← sign
- superhero comics by Marvel and D.C. (80% of shelf space)
- a copy of Maus by Art Spiegelman (a memoir by the son of a Holocaust survivor)
- the Bone series by Jeff Smith in its entirety (9 books)
- <book by Instagram cartoonist, such as Strange Planet or Loudest and Smallest>
And don’t get me wrong — I love every single one of these books except for Marvel and D.C. comics because I think they’re boring, predictable, etc. It’s just such a small, random selection of books. Imagine if you walked into a bookstore and the only books you could find were copies of War and Peace, James Patterson’s complete collection, and Crying in HMart. Are any of those books terrible? Yes, James Patterson No. But overall, is that a great collection of books? No. Is it even decent? No.
Hypothesis: most people don’t see comics as literature because 1) they use “pictures” as well as words and 2) they don’t take as long to read. These two factors have convinced certain people that comics are “easier” or “sillier” than “normal books.” As a result, bookstores don’t feel the need to build an inventory, which, in turn, perpetuates the idea that comics are one of two things: Superhero-Corporate-Franchises or Exceptions*, like Maus.
Comics don’t take as long to read, and they do use pictures. But just because something has pictures doesn’t mean it’s not profound, beautiful, complicated, dark, etc. Society tends to view movies and TV shows as intellectual, and sometimes literary, even when there is no reading involved. I will say that writing comics is different from “writing” in the purest sense — there is a different rhythm. But comics require far less of a stretch to include in the literary world than film because of the simple fact that you read comics. You read comics the same way you would read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. You might tear through a copy of Sabrina by Nick Drnaso “quickly,” but like any good novella, poem, short story or work of art, it will stay with you afterwards for a long, long time.
I’ve organized my list of comic books by age, but it’s more of a content-conscious decision. For example, I listed Roz Chast in the middle school section, but she writes comics and cartoons for the New Yorker.
Quick Definitions
Cartoons: Single panel joke. What you see in the New Yorker.
Comics: Multiple panels, told in “strips”
Graphic Novel/Memoir/Long form: A continuous story told in panels
Amazon links attached.
For Elementary School Readers
Cartoons
The Far Side Gallery by Gary Larson
Comics
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Peanuts by Charles Schultz (the original ones)
B.C. On the Rocks by Johnny Hart
Graphic Novels
The Adventures of Tintin (series) by Herge**
Bone by Jeff Smith
The Olympians by George O’Connor
Little Lit (short story collection by various authors)
**while Tintin was the first graphic novel I ever loved, it needs a content warning: Tintin was written in the 60s. Some of the books are very racist.
For Middle School Readers
Cartoons
Theories of Everything by Roz Chast
Excuse Me by Liana Finck
Comics
Underworld Comics by Kaz
Graphic Novels/Memoirs/Long form
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosch
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast
For High School + Beyond
Comics
Wendy by Walter Scott
King Cat Comix by John Porcellino
Graphic Novels/Memoirs/Long form
Ghost World by Dan Clowes
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Sabrina by Nick Drnaso
Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine
Passing for Human by Liana Finck
Black Hole by Charles Burns
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
The End of the World by Don Hertzfeldt
If you end up reading something from this list and loving it, I recommend looking up the rest of the authors’ work. It was hard to keep this list so short and light on doubles.
*Whenever the New York Times reviews a comic book, they characterize it as a “game-changer” or “different from the rest of the entire comics genre” when, in fact, they are very similar to a lot of comics. I’ve attached an example here (link to Love and Rockets article, a fantastic series by the Hernandez Brothers).