Best Graphic Novels of All Time

Graphic novels have produced some of literature's most ambitious, emotional, and visually extraordinary works. These are the essential reads that prove the medium can achieve anything prose can — and often much more.

✦ Earn while you vote$0.10/vote · $1.00/approved submissionCreate free account →

Pick your favorites · Every vote moves the ranking · Results update live

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

A memoir about Bechdel's father, her own coming out, and their complex relationship — Fun Home won the Eisner Award and became a Tony Award-winning musical.

▲ Rising·Score +32

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

A dystopian Britain under fascist rule versus an anarchist masked freedom fighter — Moore's political graphic novel has never been more relevant than it is today.

▲ Rising·Score +26

From Hell by Alan Moore

A comprehensive examination of the Jack the Ripper murders from the killer's perspective — Moore's most ambitious work is a dense, extraordinary portrait of Victorian London.

▲ Rising·Score +23

March by John Lewis

Congressman John Lewis's autobiography of the civil rights movement in graphic novel form — a firsthand account of one of American history's most transformative periods.

▲ Rising·Score +23

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan

An epic science-fantasy space opera about two soldiers from warring species falling in love and raising a child — Saga is the most ambitious ongoing graphic novel of the modern era.

▲ Rising·Score +23

Black Hole by Charles Burns

A 1970s suburban teen horror about a sexually transmitted mutation — Burns' precise, disturbing artwork and allegorical story of adolescent anxiety is a graphic novel masterpiece.

▲ Rising·Score +22

Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust memoir depicting Jews as mice and Nazis as cats — Maus proved graphic novels could tackle the most serious subjects with profound power.

▲ Steady·Score +19

Watchmen by Alan Moore

The deconstruction of superhero mythology — Moore and Gibbons created a densely layered Cold War thriller that remains the most critically acclaimed graphic novel ever written.

▲ Steady·Score +18

Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware

The loneliest graphic novel ever made — Ware's formally innovative story of a sad, isolated man across generations uses the medium in ways that prose could never replicate.

▲ Steady·Score +17

The Complete Sandman by Neil Gaiman

Gaiman's mythological masterwork about Dream, one of the seven Endless — Sandman elevated comic book storytelling into literary mythology over 75 issues.

▲ Steady·Score +13

Building Stories by Chris Ware

A graphic novel published as 14 separate items in a box — an extraordinarily experimental narrative about loneliness, regret, and urban life told from a building's perspective.

▲ Steady·Score +12

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

A memoir of growing up during the Iranian Revolution in black and white — Satrapi's graphic autobiography is both intimately personal and politically essential reading.

▲ Steady·Score +11

“Fun Home by Alison Bechdel”

Currently ranked #1. Where will it be in 7 days?