Graphic novels for grown-ups

Books I hand to people who say, quite firmly, that they do not read comics.

Bookmarks

1. Maus

   5/5

   Spiegelman. A survivor told to a son who cannot bear him. The frame is the book.

2. Persepolis

   5/5

   Satrapi. Tehran, then exile, in flat black and white that never asks for pity.

3. Fun Home

   5/5

   Bechdel. A family, a funeral parlour, and Joyce read as evidence.

4. Watchmen

   5/5

   Moore and Gibbons. The nine-panel grid used as an argument, page after page.

5. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters

   5/5

   Emil Ferris. Ballpoint pen on lined paper, Chicago 1968, a girl drawn as a beast.

6. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

   4/5

   Chris Ware. Diagrammatic, cool to the touch, and quietly the saddest one here.

7. Asterios Polyp

   4/5

   Mazzucchelli. Line, colour and lettering all carry story. A design lesson.

8. Berlin

   4/5

   Jason Lutes. Twenty years of work on the Weimar years, drawn like a newsreel.

9. Ghost World

   4/5

   Clowes. Two friends after high school, drifting apart over one summer.