See my other post for favourite words books - this is the Comics Yelling Zone.
2025 Favourite graphic novels
(released as YA):
Look, I’m just going to say it: a lot of my favourite graphic novels are by webcomics people. They’ve gone through the gauntlet, they know how to make a comic that sucks you in, and at their best, webcomics are unusual and ambitious and passionate and weird and unconstrained by genre or publishing trends. I actually do not want focus-grouped IP media reinventions honed into smooth technical competence and homogeneity, I want to feel something. Also, a lot of webcomics are really queer.
Am I biased? Undoubtably. Am I right that there were some absolute GN bangers out this year from people who began or indeed were massive in webcomics? YES.
Hunger’s Bite - Taylor Robin
Hey are you on the side of service workers crushed under the boot of capitalism? Do you love to see society’s horrors literalised through the supernatural?
Literally what ELSE could anyone want to read but characters struggling against insiduous horror-capitalism with a gay vampire mystery investigator on a (20thC historical-ish) ship?? The answer is, that there’ll be a second one which is on a TRAIN!!!!
Incredible comic flow and use of the form, art that perfectly serves the themes, plot & character, brilliantly creative use of shape languages that draws from pulp and sometimes at key times, cubism. Also, if you’ve ever been overworked by a terrible boss it’ll emotionally punch you in the face (compliment).
FLIP - Ngozi Ukazu
Although this author is very famous for her webcomic, I actually love her recent graphic novels more - they feel so grounded and personal and I devoured this one in one sitting.
In Flip, a nerdy Black girl on scholarship at a fancy school body-swaps with her white boy crush and it kind of forces her to reckon with her self-loathing. Such an ambitious concept requires the reader to pay a bit of attention, but it’s really powerfully explored as well as just extremely fun to read. The MC’s struggles with self-scrutiny are SO tangible and heartbreaking - really HITS emotionally, goes places that are emotionally messy and hard and even dark, certain scenes have these layers of nuance the reader is left to unpack fully, which I absolutely loved.
Strange Bedfellows - Ariel Slamet Ries
Atmospheric dreamy future-romance where a trans college dropout / gardener manifests his mysteriously lost crush into reality somehow out of his dreams.
Another absolute banger, deeply ambitious concept that goes wild places and demands you pay a little attention. You’re really thrown into the world at the start, but trust the storytelling and it all links together and becomes clearer and incredibly emotionally intense towards the end, genuinely heart-pounding. Really fun actually-hopeful sci fi world, imaginative story and emotions that go incredibly hard, I just love this author’s comics.
Hello Sunshine - Keezy Young
GRIPPING, genuinely scary, both heavy in parts and beautiful and made me cry, I stayed up very late reading. Everyone should read this to understand severe mental illness better - ESPECIALLY any fan of the horror genre - but it’s also just a ride.
Almost 400 pages with a juicy amount of panels per page, this deliciously rich graphic novel gives you the chance to get to know each member of the cast as they look for their missing friend, finding increasingly unnerving things in his house. The art style and texture is perfect for horror. The story both nails the supernatural genre stuff AND extremely cleverly and clearly delineates the reality of the MC’s mental illness.
No book I’ve ever read has had such a vivid and empathetic portrayal of psychosis, which is brought to life with a masterful use of the comics medium. (To the extent that imo you might want to make sure you’re in the right headspace before reading, especially if you experience those things in whatever capacity.) Truly a testament to what comics can do, truly hope it reaches as many teens & adults as possible.
Honourable mentions I might not be the target for but enjoyed a lot:
On Starlit Shores - Bex Glendining
A very beautiful melancholy/ haunting debut, magical realist in a seaside town energyAngelica & the bear price - Trung Le Nguyen
Young-ish YA feeling, great for anyone who wants something comforting that looks amazing and still feels nuanced, grounded and emotional
Honourable mentions: art I’m obsessed with
The raven cycle #1 GN adaptation, drawn by Sas Milledge
It’s hard to adapt beloved YA prose to comics and you have to let them be their own thing, but this worked very well imo. I’m particularly in love with this artists’ style of Everything.
Verse #3, by Sam Beck
This cycle of graphic novels was originally a webcomic, and just has the most beautiful evocative fantasy landscapes and world to get lost in. The 3rd and last book was finally out this year, honestly I just love looking at them when I want to feel inspired about fantasy as a genre!!
pics by Sas Milledge and @ablueboxfullofbooks
Favourite manga
The guy she was interested in wasn’t a guy at all - Sumiko Arai (2023-)
Really lovely art!! Sweet gay friendship+ between two girls who love old US rock music, probably enjoyed more than any other high school manga I’ve read. Gets deep into the everyday but overwhelming emotions and their love of music (enough that you won’t even mind they’re listening to something considered alt in Japan but not here, like… the Foo Fighters).
Favourite MG / kid-friendly
GO-MAN #1 by Hamish Steele.
He’s done it again… just incredibly well plotted and entertaining to read, effortlessly combining pop references while feeling like its own cool new thing. Made me laugh out loud, so much heart and depth. If you like fun or have ever enjoyed, I don’t know, any shounen or godzilla ever, you should try this - even if you don’t usually read comics in this age range.
Honourable mention: Sea Legs
This looks so breezy but it’s DEEP. Based on the writer’s own childhood living on a boat - which I think you can tell from the depth of experience and emotion - the story centres around the isolating and sometimes dangerous experience that could be, and her changing childhood friendships. Made me cry and think about the people who drift in and out of contact in our lives. Just empathetic and real and flows beautifully as a comic, really recommend.
Best non-fiction
Favourite memoir: Brittle Joints - Maria Sweeney (2024)
Full of stuff I wish everyone without longterm pain or physical limitations understood. My disability’s not similar, but lots of things resonated: everyday pain, struggles, sensory nightmare stuff, difficulties navigating barriers, reactions to ambulatory wheelchair use, dehumanising and inaccessible hospital visits.
Even the parts I don’t relate to myself all feel vital and vulnerable for everyone, and particularly vivid and real through comics. The medium gets so much depth of experience across in a way few others could.
Favourite NF comic:
Trans History: A Graphic Novel - Alex L. Combs, Andrew Eakett
WISH I COULD MAKE EVERYONE READ THIS! Gender is so deeply-integrated into society, it’s revealing to see how people seen as crossing or defying its boundaries have lived and been treated - and how deeply it links with those in power trying to control women, race and sexuality.
I truly believe understanding that history would make everyone’s world richer, and this book is a great way to do that. Very easy to read, accessible and not too text-heavy - but also thoughtful, VERY well-sourced, full of stuff I didn't know. Great for teens or literally anyone who doesn’t want or have time to parse a dense textbook.
Favourite illustrated nonfiction: CARVED IN STONE!!!!!
Atmospheric worldbuilding / ttrpg book meets an incredible easy-to-read but deeply researched very-illustrated history. Most of all, the book is incredibly FUN to delve into or flick through - if you’ve ever played a fantasy game where you travel across a landscape eat or stew round a campfire, read this book. It’s a treasure trove of beautiful, evocative detail that will answer questions about how people lived in the past here you didn’t even know you had: what did people really eat, what were their houses and hairbrushes and storytellers like - how did blacksmithing actually work?
Full disclosure: I know and am good friends with a few of the people involved - naturally many are also based nearby in Scotland, and some (Anine Bösenberg, Letty Wilson, Sajan Rai & Tiff Baxter) are artists I’ve commissioned for guest art for Into the Dungeon, Tower and/or my Vampire Castle books, because I’m deeply obsessed with their work. Many of us in adjacent scenes have been watching with huge excitement as this project was developed over the last few years. Even then, the final result blew all my expectations out of the water.
This illustration by Letty Wilson
The many wonderful illustrations and evocative, playful and flexible text give such a powerful sense of how it might FEEL to be living in the 7th century here: cold Scottish rainforests, misty shorelines, smoky byrehouses. Produced in partnership with various academics and called ‘the best book on the Picts ever written’ by someone at the National Museum of Scotland, it has a real depth of knowledge, but also the MOST fantastic illustrations that - and I know this is a cliche - genuinely bring the past to life in a way I’ve not seen before.
In a depressing age where genAI ‘slop’ is word of the year, there’s nothing I appreciate more than the thoughtful, intentional human labours of love this book - and all the books in this blog - represent.
See also:
For more illustrated books, I ought to mention for anyone who missed it, my choose-your-own romance Night at the Vampire Castle just came out, my own queer regency romance graphic novel I Shall Never Fall in Love was up for some awards this year (thank you!!) and you can hear about my upcoming books (I believe soon) in my newsletter.
