Staff Picks
#BroaderBookshelf 2021 - One Word Titles (Graphic Novels)
- Mahogany S.
- Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Collection
Books with One Word Titles span genres. Here are some graphic novel titles that are only one word.
Learn more about the Broader Bookshelf challenge and see more lists here.
Tetris
The Games People Play
Published in 2016
"It is, perhaps, the perfect video game. Simple yet addictive, Tetris delivers an irresistible, unending puzzle that has players hooked. Play it long enough and you'll see those brightly colored geometric shapes everywhere. You'll see them in your dreams. Alexey Pajitnov had big ideas about games. In 1984, he created Tetris in his spare time while developing software for the Soviet government. Once Tetris emerged from behind the Iron Curtain, it was an instant hit. Nintendo, Atari, Sega--game developers big and small all wanted Tetris. A bidding war was sparked, followed by clandestine trips to Moscow, backroom deals, innumerable miscommunications, and outright theft. In this graphic novel, New York Times--bestselling author Box Brown untangles this complex history and delves deep into the role games play in art, culture, and commerce. For the first time and in unparalleled detail, Tetris: The Games People Play tells the true story of the world's most popular video game"--Page 2 of cover.
Shoplifter
Published in 2014
"Corinna Park used to have big plans. While studying English Literature in college, she imagined writing a successful novel and leading the ideal life of an author. After graduation, she moved to a big city and took a job at an advertising agency--just to pay off her student loans--but now she's worked in the same office for five years and the only thing she's written is ... copy. She longs for companionship (other than her cat), receives no satisfaction from her job, and feels numbed by the monotony of a life experienced through a series of screens. But whenever she shoplifts a magazine from the corner store near her apartment, she feels a little, what? A little more alive. Yet Corinna knows there must be something more to life, as she faces the question everyone of her generation is right now: how to find it?"-- Provided by publisher.
Patience
Published in 2016
"A cosmic timewarp deathtrip to the primordial infinite of everlasting love"--Page [4] of cover.
Blacksad
Published in 2010
"Private investigator John Blacksad is up to his feline ears in mystery and intrigue, digging up the backstories behind murders, child abductions, and nuclear secrets during the 1950s Red Scare in the United States" -- p. [4] of cover.
Sabrina
Published in 2018
"When Sabrina disappears, an airman in the U.S. Air Force is drawn into a web of suppositions, wild theories, and outright lies. Sabrina depicts a modern world devoid of personal interaction and responsibility, where relationships are stripped of intimacy through glowing computer screens. An indictment of our modern state, Drnaso contemplates the dangers of a fake news climate."-- Provided by publisher.
Octavia E. Butler's Kindred
A Graphic Novel Adaptation
Published in 2017
Octavia E. Butler's bestselling literary science-fiction masterpiece, Kindred, now in graphic novel format. More than 35 years after its release, Kindred continues to draw in new readers with its deep exploration of the violence and loss of humanity caused by slavery in the United States, and its complex and lasting impact on the present day. Adapted by celebrated academics and comics artists Damian Duffy and John Jennings, this graphic novel powerfully renders Butler's mysterious and moving story, which spans racial and gender divides in the antebellum South through the 20th century. Butler's most celebrated, critically acclaimed work tells the story of Dana, a young black woman who is suddenly and inexplicably transported from her home in 1970s California to the pre-Civil War South.
Moonstruck. Vol. 01
Published in 2018
"Werewolf barista Julie and her new girlfriend go on a date to a close-up magic show, but all heck breaks loose when the magician casts a horrible spell on their friend Chet. Now it's up to the team of mythical pals to stop the illicit illusionist before it's too late." -- Amazon.com.
Preacher, Book One
Published in 2013
Merging with a bizarre spiritual force called Genesis, Texan Preacher Jesse Custer becomes completely disillusioned with the beliefs that he had dedicated his entire life to. Now possessing the power of "the word," an ability to make people do whatever he utters, Custer begins a violent and riotous journey across the country. Joined by his gun-toting girlfriend Tulip and the hard drinking Irish vampire Cassidy, the Preacher loses faith in both man and God as he witnesses dark atrocities and improbable calamities during his exploration of America.
Reunion
Published in 2011
"Reunion is a semi-autobiographical book that recounts the events of the summer of 2009, when Pascal Girard received an invitation to attend his ten-year high school reunion. Initially dismissing the idea of attending, he quickly changes his mind when he receives an email from Lucie Coté, the girl he had a huge crush on in high school. She tells Pascal that she will be at the reunion and wonders if he would like to accompany her. Pascal becomes flustered with joy, except two problems remain: he must keep his almost uncontrollable infatuation a secret from his girlfriend, Julie, and he must do something about his weight. At 252 pounds, he frets that his weight will put him in the 'loser' category among his former classmates, but most of all, he must do something to impress Lucie. He decides on a drastic plan of action: he takes up jogging every day until he reaches his goal of shedding fifty pounds. Three months pass as Pascal dutifully jogs and fantasizes about meeting Lucie, until finally he reaches his weight goal on the eve of the reunion. The now-slender Pascal arrives at the big event, full of fervent anticipation. However, one by one, his fantasies of moving into the 'winner' category become cruelly deflated with each conversation he has with his former classmates" -- from publisher's web site.
Megahex
Published in 2014
"Megg is a depressed, drug-addicted witch. Mogg is her black cat. Their friend, Owl, is an anthropomorphized owl. They hang out a lot with Werewolf Jones. This may sound like a pure stoner comedy, but it transcends the genre: these characters struggle unsuccessfully to come to grips with their depression, drug use, sexuality, poverty, lack of work, lack of ambition, and their complex feelings about each other" -- from publisher's web site.
UR
Published in 2014
UR is a collection of work that has appeared in various comic anthologies. Dark, absurdist, and deadpan, these stories reflect the apocalyptic undercurrent of the modern era.
Gloriana
Glenn Ganges Comics
Published in 2012
"In Gloriana, Kevin Huizenga exposes the mechanics that underpin everyday life. His protagonist, Glenn Ganges, has conversations about dish soap and library visits that are both faithful depictions of mundane interactions and existential dissections of the units that construct our lives. Huizenga has an understated, quiet approach to story writing that allows his characters (and his readers) the self-awareness to recognize the humor and tragedy of every moment. Huizenga's much-lauded work is finely detailed, and in its innovative use of form, it explores the boundaries of the comic medium, deconstructing and reconstructing panels to express temporality and lived experience more fully. Presented in this expanded edition, Gloriana employs familiar settings and thorough, sometimes scientific explanations to reach thoughtful conclusions"--Provided by publisher.
Sacrifice
Published in 2013
What happens when a young man is plucked from modern society and thrust through time and space on a psychedelic journey into the heart of the Aztec civilization-one of the most epic and bloodthirsty eras in human history?
Incognegro
Published in 2008
"The early 20th Century: an era when lynchings were commonplace throughout the American South. To most of the press, this epidemic of racial murder wan't even news. But a few courageous reporters from the North risked their lives to expose these atrocities. They were light-skinned African-American men who could 'pass' for white. They called this dangerous assignment 'going incognegro.' Zane Pinchback, a reporter for the New York-based New Holland Herald, barely escapes with his life after his latest 'incognegro' story goes bad. But when he returns to the sanctuary of Harlem, he's sent on a new story-- the arrest of his own brother, charged with the brutal murder of a white woman in Mississippi" -- from dust jacket.
Relish
My Life in the Kitchen
Published in 2013
"Lucy Knisley loves food. The daughter of a chef and a gourmet, this talented young cartoonist comes by her obsession honestly. In her forthright, thoughtful, and funny memoir, Lucy traces key episodes in her life thus far, framed by what she was eating at the time and lessons learned about food, cooking, and life. Each chapter is bookended with an illustrated recipe-- many of them treasured family dishes, and a few of them Lucy's original inventions" -- from publisher's web site.
Mercury
Published in 2010
Tara is forced to move in with her cousins after her house burns down. She faces a difficult adjustment while her mother is away trying to earn money. Interwoven with this story is that of Tara's ancestors, who in 1859 were convinced by a mysterious stranger to put all their money into searching their property for gold.
Chew
Taster's Choice
Published in 2009
Tony Chu, a detective with the power to receive psychic impressions from whatever he eats, works with the Special Crimes Division of the FDA to solve their most bizarre cases.
Frogcatchers
Published in 2019
"Experience a surreal descent into one man's psychosis in this haunting and chilling graphic novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Roughneck and Sweet Tooth, "the Stephen King of comics" (Maclean's). A man wakes up alone in a strange room with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. The padlocked doors and barren lobby reinforce the strangeness of this place. This is--as he reads from an old-fashioned keychain beside his bed--the Edgewater Hotel. Even worse, something ominous seems to be lurking in one of the rooms. But when he meets a young companion--the only other soul in this vast, enveloping emptiness--his new friend begs him not to unlock the door. There must be something behind it
Monstress. Vol. 01, Awakening
Published in 2016
"Set in an alternate world of art deco beauty and steampunk horror, Monstress tells the epic story of Maika Halfwolf, a teenage survivor of a cataclysmic war between humans and their hated enemies, the Arcanics. In the face of oppression and terrible danger, Maika is both hunter and hunted, searching for answers about her mysterious past as those who seek to use her remain just one step behind... and all the while, the monster within begins to awaken..."--Page [4] of cover.
SideScrollers
Published in 2006
When high school students, Brian, Brad, and Matt learn that the new girl is going to the local rock show with Richard, the bully football jock, they decide to put aside their night of video games and junk food, and steer her away from him.
Berlin
Published in 2018
"Berlin is an intricate look at the fall of the Weimar Republic through the eyes of its citizens--Marthe Müller, a young woman escaping the memory of a brother killed in World War I, Kurt Severing, an idealistic journalist losing faith in the printed word as fascism and extremism take hold; the Brauns, a family torn apart by poverty and politics. Lutes weaves these characters' lives into the larger fabric of a city slowly ripping apart. The city itself is the central protagonist in this historical fiction. Lavish salons, crumbling sidewalks, dusty attics, and train stations: all these places come alive in Lutes' masterful hand. Weimar Berlin was the world's metropolis, where intellectualism, creativity, and sensuous liberal values thrived, and Lutes maps its tragic, inevitable decline. Devastatingly relevant and beautifully told, Berlin is one of the great epics of the comics medium."-- Amazon.com.
Here
Published in 2014
"Richard McGuire's Here is the story of a corner of a room and the events that happened in that space while moving forward and backward in time. The book experiments with formal properties of comics, using multiple panels to convey the different moments in time. Hundreds of thousands of years become interwoven. A dinosaur from 100,000,000 BCE lumbers by, while a child is playing with a plastic toy that resembles the same dinosaur in the year 1999. Conversations appear to be happening between two people who are centuries apart. Someone asking, "Anyone seen my car keys?" can be "answered" by someone at a future archeology dig. Cycles of glaciers transform into marshes, then into forests, then into farmland. A city develops and grows into a suburban sprawl. Future climate changes cause the land to submerge, if only temporarily, for the long view reveals the transient nature of all things. Meanwhile, the attention is focused on the most ordinary moments and appreciating them as the most transcendent"-- Provided by publisher.
Daytripper
Published in 2011
Presents key moments in the life of Brás de Oliva Domingos, a Brazilian writer, sometime journalist, and the son of a prominent author, as if each episode would turn out to be the day in which he was about to die.
Watchmen
Published in 1987
This stunning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all too human failings. The concept of the super hero is dissected and inverted as strangely realistic characters are stalked by an unknown assassin. Originally published as a 12 issue series in 1986 and 1987, WATCHMEN remains one of DC Comics' most popular graphic novels.
LaGuardia
A Very Modern Story of Immigration
Published in 2019
"In an alternate world where aliens have integrated with society, pregnant Nigerian-American doctor Future Nwafor Chukwuebuka has just smuggled an illegal alien plant named Letme Live through LaGuardia International and Interstellar Airport... and that's not the only thing she's hiding. She and Letme become part of a community of human and alien immigrants; but as their crusade for equality continues and the birth of her child nears, Future -- and her entire world -- begins to change."-- Provided by publisher.
Seconds
Published in 2014
"Katie's got it pretty good. She's a talented young chef, she runs a successful restaurant, and she has big plans to open an even better one. Then, all at once, progress on the new location bogs down, her charming ex-boyfriend pops up, her fling with another chef goes sour, and her best waitress gets badly hurt. And just like that, Katie's life goes from pretty good to not so much. What she needs is a second chance. Everybody deserves one, after all--but they don't come easy. Luckily for Katie, a mysterious girl appears in the middle of the night with simple instructions for a do-it-yourself do-over: 1. Write your mistake 2. Ingest one mushroom 3. Go to sleep 4. Wake anew. And just like that, all the bad stuff never happened, and Katie is given another chance to get things right. She's also got a dresser drawer full of magical mushrooms--and an irresistible urge to make her life not just good, but perfect. Too bad it's against the rules. But Katie doesn't care about the rules--and she's about to discover the unintended consequences of the best intentions" -- from publisher's web site.
Fence. Vol. 01
Published in 2018
"Nicholas, the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion, is a scrappy fencing wunderkind, and dreams of getting the chance and the training to actually compete. After getting accepted to the prodigious Kings Row private school, Nicholas is thrust into a cut-throat world, and finds himself facing not only his golden-boy half-brother, but the unbeatable, mysterious Seiji Katayama... Through clashes, rivalries, and romance between teammates, Nicholas and the boys of Kings Row will discover there's much more to fencing than just foils and lunges. " -- Unedited summary from page 4 of cover.
Americus
Published in 2011
Oklahoma teen Neal Barton stands up for his favorite fantasy series, The Chronicles of Apathea Ravenchilde, when conservative Christians try to bully the town of Americus into banning it from the public library.
IZombie
Dead to the World. Vol. 01
Published in 2010
Every time Gwen, a zombie, eats someone's brains she also inherits some of their memories and the latest morsel she devoured gives her memories of a murder she and her friends need to solve.
Pumpkinheads
Published in 2019
"Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together at the world's best pumpkin patch. They say good-bye every Halloween, and they're reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different. Josiah and Deja are finally seniors. It's their last season at the Patch, their last shift together--their last good-bye. Josie's ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. (He's the melancholy type.) But Deja has a plan: What if, instead of moping and instead of the usual--slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut--they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! Maybe Josie could even talk to that cute girl he's been mooning over for three years ... What if their last shift was an adventure?"--Provided by publisher.
Doctors
Published in 2014
"What if--just before everything fades, permanently, to black--you unconsciously create the afterlife you want, or feel you deserve? Wouldn't that be better than reality, and no less meaningful than life itself? The Charon is a medical device that gains entrance into this afterlife, by taking the form of a memory from a patient's consciousness, and using it to revive his or her life."--Back cover.
Maus
A Survivor's Tale. Vol. 01, My Father Bleeds History
Published in 1986
An autobiographical and biographical cartoon in which the author explores his strained relationship with his father, an Auschwitz survivor, while also relating the story of his parent's experiences as Jews in wartime Poland, as told to him by his dad during a series of conversations they had years later in New York and Vermont.
Gast
Published in 2014
Helen is an amateur bird watcher and naturalist who lives in a rural community in Wales. When a local farmer Bill tells Helen that a "rare bird" named Emrys killed himself at Cuddig farm, she decides to investigate. One of the dogs at the farm tells her, by way of explanation, that Emrys "had no feathers and couldn't fly." She plucks an old cosmetic kit from a dumpster and discovers it belonged to Emrys. Inventorying the kit's contents, she finds a spent .12 gauge shotgun shell. Her attempt to learn more about Emrys turns into a journey of self-discovery and ultimately a hard-fought reconciliation with the world as it is. Carol Swain's Gast is the rare kind of contemporary graphic novel critics are conjuring when they exult over the promise of the art form; a philosophically mature vision, uniquely executed by an artist wholly in control of her craft. In Gast, Helen's inner life is slowly revealed through a mixture of naturalistic detail and phantasmagoric occurrences.
Saga. Vol. 01
Published in 2012
"When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe" -- p. [4] of cover.
Spinning
Published in 2017
Ignatz Award winner Tillie Walden's powerful graphic memoir captures what it's like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know. It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark. Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again. She was good. She won. And she hated it. For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden's life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. Skating was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she'd outgrown her passion--and she finally needed to find her own voice.
Dumb
Living Without a Voice
Published in 2018
"Dumb's protagonist Georgia lives the relatively carefree and ordinary life of a twentysomething in Montreal: working at a café, volunteering at a local bike co-op, and going out on the town with friends. But when a sudden unanticipated throat injury forces her into months of silence, her life is thrown into disarray. Unable to work her customer service job, she must find new income. Conversing with friends becomes complicated and exhausting. And she is forced to give up a hobby she loves -- singing! Navigating a world that appears to be closing in on her seems more and more impossible. Part memoir, part medical cautionary tale, Dumb tells the story of how the book's author copes with the everyday challenges that come with voicelessness."-- Provided by publisher.
Cannonball
Published in 2019
"Kelsey Wroten's Cannonball fires the reader straight into the messy life of Caroline Bertram: aspiring writer, queer, art school graduate, near alcoholic, and self proclaimed tortured genius. Wroten tells the story of an artist struggling with the arrival of adulthood and the Sisyphean task of artistic fulfillment. Stunningly drawn in a classic style, with big truths and biting wit, Wroten's debut graphic novel is Art School Confidential for the Tumblr generation"--Amazon.
Boxers
Published in 2013
In China in 1898 bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants. Little Bao has had enough: harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers--commoners trained in kung fu who fight to free China from "foreign devils."
Saints
Published in 2013
"China, 1898. An unwanted and unwelcome fourth daughter, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name by her family when she's born. She finally finds friendship-- and a name, Vibiana -- in the most unlikely of places: Christianity. But China is a dangerous place for Christians. The Boxer Rebellion is in full swing, and bands of young men roam the countryside, murdering Westerners and Chinese Christians alike. Torn between her nation and her Christian friends, Vibiana will have to decide where her true loyalties lie-- and whether she is willing to die for her faith" -- front flap.