Staff Picks
2020's Hottest Comics & Graphic Novels For Teens
- Thomas M.
- Wednesday, December 02, 2020
Collection
From superheroes to memoirs to D&D campaigns, the past year was full of great graphic novels for teens. Some are standalone while others lead to series, making gift ideas as compact or stacked as your recipient would like.
Be Gay, Do Comics!
Queer History, Memoir, and Satire from The Nib
Published in 2020
The dream of a queer separatist town. The life of a gay Jewish Nazi-fighter. A gender reveal party that tears apart reality. These are the just some of the comics you'll find in this massive queer comics anthology from The Nib. Be Gay, Do Comics is filled with dozens of comics about LGBTQIA experiences, ranging from personal stories to queer history to cutting satire about pronoun panic and brands desperate to co-opt pride. Brimming with resilience, inspiration, and humor, an incredible lineup of top indie cartoonists takes you from the American Revolution through Stonewall to today's fights for equality and representation. Featuring more than 30 cartoonists including Hazel Newlevant, Joey Alison Sayers, Maia Kobabe, Matt Lubchansky, Breena Nuñez, Sasha Velour, Shing Yin Khor, Levi Hastings, Mady G, Bianca Xunise, Kazimir Lee, and many, many more!
Miles Morales
Published in 2019
"Miles Morales swings back into the spotlight! Balancing a normal life, school, friends, family and super-heroing has never been easy for Miles, but when the rampaging Rhino and a cadre of mysterious criminals start plaguing Brooklyn, things take a dark turn for the young Spider-Man! And Miles doesn't even know the half of it yet. What mystery lurks under the surface of this newest villainous uprising? " -- Amazon summary of volume 1..
Ms. Marvel. Vol. 01, Destined
Published in 2019
Ms. Marvel is back - and she's magnificent! But there's no such thing as business as usual in Jersey City. Aliens are wreaking havoc in Kamala's corner of the world, and they seem weirdly interested in Ms. Marvel...and her family! Kamala is about to face a devastating loss - but with an alien invasion ravaging her neighborhood, she's not going to have much time to grieve. Even if Kamala saves her hometown, will her life ever be the same? And what's all this business about a "Chosen One"? Eisner Award-winner Saladin Ahmed (BLACK BOLT, EXILES) and rising star Minkyu Jung take the reins of one of Marvel's most beloved new characters, with the shocking start of an all-new era!
Wonder Woman
Tempest Tossed
Published in 2020
Princess Diana of Themyscira's 16th birthday celebrations are cut short when refugees break through to her island home and she defies her Amazon elders by trying to bring the outsiders to safety, but a stormy sea sweeps her away to where she must learn tosurvive in a foreign world full of danger and injustice.
Batman
Universe
Published in 2020
"Batman is pushed to his limit as he sets off in search of an item with the potential to destroy the universe as we know it! Batman isn't the only one looking for this item though. It's a race to the finish line with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance! The Riddler has stolen a priceless jeweled egg, and Batman is on his trail, chasing him from Gotham to Gorilla City and points beyond. But when Batman catches up with the crook, he realizes something is wrong with his old foe. The egg is possessed of some strange power that is scrambling Riddler's brain. The clue to what this is may lie in who hired Riddler to steal the egg: Vandal Savage. What does the immortal mastermind want with it? Batman's quest is like a tour of the DC Universe, spanningspace and even time. Guest stars include Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Deathstroke, Jonah Hex and more! Brian Michael Bendis (Action Comics, Young Justice, Pearl) and Nick Derington (Doom Patrol) weave a tale that leads the Dark Knight on a wild-goose chase across the DC Universe, tracking down a mysterious artifact that contains the literal key to humanity's survival!"-- Provided by publisher.
Critical Role. Issue 1-6, Vox Machina Origins.
Published in 2019
From the creators of the hit show "Critical Role" comes Vox Machina's origin story! Writers Matthew Mercer and Matthew Colville team with artist extraordinaire Olivia Samson and colorist Chris Northrop to bring you the story of where the heroes' journey began. The band of adventurers known as Vox Machina will save the world. Eventually. But even they have to start somewhere. Six would-be heroes on seemingly different jobs find their paths intertwined as they investigate shady business in the swamp town of Stilben. They'll need to put their heads-- and weapons--together to figure out what's going on...and keep from being killed in the process. Even then, whether or not they can overcome what truly lurks at the bottom of the town's travails remains to be seen!
Almost American Girl
An Illustrated Memoir
Published in 2020
"A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life--perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo. For as long as she can remember, it's been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn't always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation--following her mother's announcement that she's getting married--Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn't understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends in Seoul and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn't fit in with her new stepfamily, and worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to--her mother. Then one day Robin's mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined"--Amazon.com.
Beetle & the Hollowbones
Published in 2020
Twelve-year-old goblin and witch-in-training Beetle enlists her former best friend, Kat Hollowbones, to help stop Kat's sorceress aunt from demolishing the mall where Beetle's friend Blob Ghost is trapped.
Snapdragon
Published in 2020
When Snap rescues a family of baby opossums, she asks the town witch, Jacks, for help caring for them, but as Snap starts to get to know Jacks, she realizes that Jacks may have a connection with Snap's family past.
The Adventure Zone. Vol. 02, Murder on the Rockport Limited!
Published in 2019
"In the second Adventure Zone graphic novel (adapted from the McElroy family's wildly popular D&D podcast), we rejoin hero-adjacent sort-of-comrades-in-arms Taako, Magnus, and Merle on a wild careen through a D&D railroad murder mystery. This installment has a little of everything: a genius child detective, an axe-wielding professional wrestler, a surly wizard, cursed magical artifacts, and a pair of meat monsters. You know, the usual things you find on a train"-- Publisher's website.
The Adventure Zone. Here There Be Gerblins
Published in 2018
"Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it's based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance." -- Amazon.com.
Long Way Down
Published in 2020
Jason Reynolds's Newbery Honor, Printz Honor, and Coretta Scott King Honor–winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novel Long Way Down is now a gripping, galvanizing graphic novel, with haunting artwork by Danica Novgorodoff. Will's older brother, Shawn, has been shot. Dead. Will feels a sadness so great, he can't explain it. But in his neighborhood, there are THE RULES: No. 1: Crying. Don't. No matter what. No. 2: Snitching Don't. No matter what. No. 3: Revenge Do. No matter what. But bullets miss. You can get the wrong guy. And there's always someone else who knows to follow the rules...
DCeased
Published in 2019
"What happens to the World's Finest if the world ends? With death spreading across the planet, who will live and who will turn in this apocalyptic tale of heroism, sacrifice and annihilation? It's the end of the world as we know it! Six hundred million people worldwide are instantly turned into violent, monstrous engines of destruction when their minds are recoded with a corrupted Anti-Life Equation from Apokolips. The heroes of Earth are fighting a losing battle to save humanity, save the world and save themselves, in one of the most shocking tales ever told in the DC Universe. Fighting time, each other and all of humanity, Earth's greatest heroes must rally together for what may very well be their last chance to save the world from the most terrible plague humanity has ever seen. The Anti-Life Equation has been released and is ravaging the world at the viral speed of social media. Once exposed, victims lose their minds, violently attacking all around them. The heroes of Earth are fighting a losing battle to save the world...and themselves! With time running out, who will live and who will die in this apocalyptic tale of heroism, sacrifice and annihilation?"-- Provided by publisher.
DCeased
Unkillables. Issue 1-3
Published in 2020
When heroes fall, villains rise! The next chapter of the hit DCeased saga is the villains' story of survival during the zombie apocalypse! Led by Red Hood and Deathstroke, DC's hardest villains and antiheroes fight with no mercy to save the only commodity left on a dying planet of the undead-life! Heroes and villains collide with one epic purpose: to escape the coming of the infected population of Gotham City and a monstrous Wonder Woman!
Bitter Root. Vol. 01, Family Business
Published in 2019
In the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance is in full swing, and only the Sangerye Family, once known as the greatest monster hunters of all time, can save New York -- and the world -- from the supernatural forces threatening to destroy humanity. But those days are fading and the once-great family that specialized in curing the souls of those infected by racism and hate has been torn apart by tragedies and conflicting moral codes. A terrible tragedy has claimed most of the family, leaving the surviving cousins divided between by the desire to cure monsters or to kill them; they must heal the wounds of the past and move beyond their differences ... or sit back and watch a force of unimaginable evil ravage the human race.
Superman Smashes the Klan
The Graphic Novel
Published in 2020
When Dr. Lee moves his family to Metropolis, his son Tommy adjusts to the new neighborhood while daughter Roberta feels out of place, so when the evil Klan of the Fiery Cross begins a string of terrorist attacks on the city, Superman fights them, and Roberta and Superman soon learn to embrace their own unique features that set them apart.