The Best Graphic Novels of All Time: Storytelling at its finest!
What's the first thing that comes to mind when somebody mentions graphic novels?
Best Graphic Novels of All Time: Our picks for the top 9 books that are a true testament to masterful storytelling. Photo Credit: Unsplash.
For the majority of people over 25, they instantly imagine comic book magazines with colourful stories typically released by either Marvel or DC Comics. Up until about 7 or 8 years ago, the same could have been said of me.
It should be mentioned here that up until the age of 18 I used to live in Bulgaria. For those of you that don't know where that is (or tend to confuse it with Hungary, Russia or "insert generic Eastern European country"), Bulgaria is a country located on the Balkan peninsula in Europe and up until 1991 was ran by its prime communist party. As the reign of communism fell, more and more Western goods became gradually available to the masses. Therefore, my first interactions with the artform I now love and enjoy happened with a very different type of comics. The most commonly accessible ones back in the day were those released daily (or weekly) in most newspapers, usually featuring beloved characters like Garfield, the Pink Panther, Asterix and Obelix, Peanuts and Tin Tin.
Around the time I was ten is when comic books really took off in the country. I remember going to an actual comic book store and seeing comic book sections pop-up in every bookstore. Around that time is when I was also introduced to characters like Thor, Iron Man, Batman and Spider-Man. These characters were so popular in the 90s that each had their own widely successful animation adaptations, which glued children to their TVs every day, barely holding their excitement at catching the next episode of their favourite character's story.
Unfortunately, my allowance didn't allow for more than one comic book a month, so for the majority of my early teen years my knowledge of the vast Marvel and DC Universes was gathered by watching animated series and the occasional movie adaptation. Later on, when I found out that most of these weren't even cannon, I had something that might be likened to a tantrum episode but that's a whole different story.
Over the next several years, my interest in comic books had only spiked. I'd learned to enjoy their complex and entertaining plots, as well as their aesthetically pleasing artworks, but it wasn't until about 2008 or 2009 that I got my first true graphic novel - V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. My god, was I in for a wild ride! Not only was the artwork much more sophisticated and strikingly different from the comic books I was used to, but the themes explored there were more akin to actual fictional novels I'd read. I was blown away, as for the first time in my life somebody had combined a mature, literary exciting story with a visual representation that suited it perfectly.
Best Graphic Novels of All time: What is your favorite graphic novel? Let us know in the comments below! Photo credit: Unsplash.
“The term ‘graphic novel’ is commonly used to dissociate works from the juvenile or humorous connotations of the terms comics and comic book, implying that the work is more serious, mature, or literary than traditional comics.”
It has been many years since I first purchased that first copy of V for Vendetta, and since then my collection of graphic novels has significantly expanded. Below, I'd like to share several picks that have had significant impact on the medium, as well as on storytelling and the visual arts movement in general. And yes, I am fully aware that Alan Moore is featured in several of these titles, yet the impact of all his listed works is so massive in scale that it would be an offense to the genre not to include them. But don't worry - while my list does contain a few titles (mainly by Moore) with predominantly fantasy and science fiction elements (as the progenitors of graphic novels), the second part of it takes a much different direction. So without further ado, here are my picks for the best graphic novels of all time, which represent storytelling at its finest!
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Set in a futuristic totalitarian England, the novel tells the story of a mysterious man in a white porcelain mask who strikes back against the chains of oppression and gives voice to the voiceless.
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Watchmen presents a drastically different history of the United States - with the help of superheroes they have managed to win the Vietnam war, avoid the Watergate scandal and establish themselves as the undisputed superpower in the world. Yet how far can these super-heroes really be trusted to avoid a global apocalypse from war with the rising power of the Soviet Union?
From Hell by Alan Moore
Another one of Moore's greatest hits, From Hell tells the story of Jack the Ripper, one of the most notorious serial killers of all time. Taking a much darker tone than his previous works, From Hell is still considered as one of the most grotesque and chilling crime fiction graphic novels of all time.
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman by Alan Moore
The last work on this list by Alan Moore, some of you might be familiar with the title from the grandly envisioned, yet poorly executed film adaptation, starring Sean Connery. The story takes place around the end of the nineteenth century and introduces us to brilliant re-imaginings of several beloved fiction characters - Captain Nemo, Dr Jekyll and Dorian Gray, amongst others, who must work together to avert a catastrophe of global proportions.
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
Yet another different take on a bleak apocalyptic future, Y: The Last Man tells the story of the last two surviving males in the world - Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand.
The Rime of the Modern Mariner - Nick Hayes
A fascinating retelling of Samuel Coleridge's classic epic 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', this graphic novel is set in modern-day and touches upon pressing topics like environmental waste and the climate crisis.
Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
The only title on our list (and in history) to win a Pulitzer Prize, Maus is a second-hand account about the experiences of a Polish Jew and Holocaust Survivor, deeply exploring the themes of guilt, memory and racism as it tracks one man's journey from the concentration camps to freedom.
Black Hole by Charles Burns
Set in 1970s Seattle, Black Hole is the disturbing tale of a sexually transmitted disease that infects the entire world population.
The Sandman - Neil Gaiman
Rounding up the list is one of the most acclaimed graphic novel series of all time, created by Neil Gaiman. The story follows Dream (also known as Morpheus), one of the seven Endless, who is captured and enslaved, and must sub-sequentially learn that sometimes change is inevitable, even for one who is eternal.
I hope this brief selection has sparked some interest in you to give graphic novels a try. You might be surprised by how much you enjoy them. Their sheer potential for storytelling, combined with unlimited aesthetic possibilities, means that there is a graphic novel out there for everyone to enjoy.
Do you agree with our picks for the best graphic novels of all time? Did we miss any of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
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