last update -- 10/29/2003
This list is for those of you who are just starting
to collect graphic novels for young adults and are trying to figure out
which ones to buy first. My main list has gotten quite long, so here
are 30 selections to start with.
For excellence:
1. Kingdom Come
2. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
3. Marvels
4. Watchmen
5. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (you need all four volumes)
6. Astro City (start with the first volume, Life in the Big
City)
7. X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga
8. Superman: Peace on Earth
9. Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man #1-10 and Amazing Fantasy
#15
10. Concrete (start with Complete Short Stories 1986-1989)
These are some of my top favorites, and they've all been acclaimed by
others as well. Zot! and the Elfquest color hardcovers
would also be listed here, if they were still in print.
For popularity:
11. Fushigi Yugi (start with Vol. 1)
12. Bone (start with the first one)
13. The Simpsons (any one will do)
14. Star Wars (the Dark Empire trilogy, the Timothy Zahn
adaptations, and/or the manga movie adaptations)
15. The Avengers (start with The Morgan Conquest, the
first of the new Busiek/Perez series)
16. Ultimate Spider-Man (start with the first volume, Power
and Responsibility, or the hardcover Vol. 1)
17. some other Batman (try The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told
Vol. 1 or Haunted Knight)
18. some other X-Men (try Days of Future Past or From the
Ashes)
These are all consistently popular in my library system.
For quality and diversity:
19. Akiko (start with Vols. 1-3)
20. Archie Americana Series (Best of the Fifties is a
good one to start with)
21. Groo (start with the Houndbook)
22. The Books of Magic (by Neil Gaiman -- not to be confused
with the later series of the same name, by others)
23. The Tale of One Bad Rat
24. Usagi Yojimbo (book 8, Shades of Death, is the obvious
starting point, as the earlier volumes are only sporadically available)
25. Marmalade Boy or Peach Girl
(or any true-to-life
manga romance, basically)
This wide variety of unique books will broaden the appeal of your collection.
So what are numbers 26 to 30? Well, I freely admit that my own tastes, and my own reading, are not all-encompassing. And since a public library collection should strive to be as all-inclusive (of excellent and popular material) as possible, I recommend that the last four be titles that are highly recommended by somebody else. Seek ye the wisdom of others, as well as my own. (For the record, my own library system's collection includes hundreds of graphic novels not listed on my website at all.)
A final note: my library system keeps titles marked
"suggested for mature readers" in the adult collection, so those aren't
covered here, with this exception: one of your first graphic novel purchases
for the adult collection should absolutely be Neil Gaiman's Sandman
series.