The graphic novel format is used to tell a variety of stories. When I looked at my favorite comics that didn’t have people in capes, superpowers, or anything blowing up, I realized many had a common theme: growing up. They also have wonderful art and characters you can root for. I’m excited to share them with you. (Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links.)
PLEASE NOTE: These were NOT curated as comics recommendations for children or teens. Some may be appropriate for a young adult audience, but some are not.
I originally posted my graphic novel rec lists in 2012-15, but they’re being refreshed and then expanded in 2023-24 as I re-read most of the older books to make sure I’m still enthusiastic about recommending them. However, please let me know via my contact form if you find something yikes in a book I recommend.
Eat, and Love Yourself by Sweeney Boo (Amazon / Goodreads)
I really enjoyed this graphic novel about a twenty-something woman struggling with an eating disorder and body dysmorphia who finds a magical candy bar that can take her back to observe key moment in her life. It’s a contemporary story with just that one touch of magic that allows the main character to look at her past while she’s struggling with her present, and take what she needs from each of the moments she visits in order to move forward with more hope.
To me it felt quiet and contemplative, and the artwork really fit with that tone. It’s not about her recovery journey, it’s about the moment in time when she’s taking stock of where she is and where she wants to go, and I thought it ended perfectly for that. I wasn’t familiar with Sweeney Boo before reading this but now I’m really interested to see what she does next.
Finding Molly: An Adventure in Catsitting by Justine Prado, art by Jenn St. Onge, colors by Cary Pietsch (Amazon / Goodreads)
A fun new adult comic about a biracial young artist who’s flailing around about what to do with her life, when she’s offered a job catsitting the feline from hell. Her clients are pleased with both her sitting and the cartoons she’s drawn of their little furball, and Molly becomes internet famous for her cat drawings. That’s not the artistic vision she had for her life, and it doesn’t meet her goal of moving out of her parents’ place and into the city to start Real Life ™, but what else can she do?
Molly starts the book a bit immature, but she grows quite a bit during this book with support and tough love from her friends and family. I really enjoyed watching her find her way from directionless young grad to confident adult. The art, like the story, is bold and fun. Definitely a feel-good comic!
The series Incredible Doom by Matthew Bogart and Jesse Holden (Amazon / Goodreads)
School Library Journal’s review of this 1994-set graphic novel about teenagers involved with BBS culture calls it “achingly poignant” and I have to agree. The artwork has a moody vibe, and many of the topics it takes on are very serious: child abuse, runaways, bullying, etc. But across the two books in the series so far, it also celebrates the saving potential of internet friendships, punk houses, finding a place where you can be yourself, and has queer rep I really appreciated.
I can’t possibly know how much of my emotional resonance with this series is because I so clearly remember the tech era it’s set in. I do feel like this series hits the mark perfectly on how it feels to be a teenage outcast, to want to escape your family, and to crave creating a new kind of space with other like-minded people – be that online or offline. Wonderful read, and I’m looking forward to the third book.
Sumo by Thien Pham (Amazon / Goodreads)
After failing at the American professional football career he hoped for, Scott take a big step. He moves to Japan to try and become a professional sumo wrestler. It sounds like the stuff jokes are made of, but this book is an extremely quiet, reflective coming of age story. The reactions of his friends and his girlfriend to his decision. What he finds inside himself in an unfamiliar environment, hoping this second chance will actually pan out, because he doesn’t know what to do if it doesn’t.
Pham is such a genuine, delicate storyteller. The art complements the mood of the book perfectly. C-Man and I barely discussed this book after we read it, because all we could do was look at each other and say “Whoa. That was REALLY good.” (This is why I don’t do video reviews. You’re welcome.)
Solanin by Inio Asano, translated by JN Productions (Amazon / Goodreads)
A manga about a couple in their early 20s, Meiko and Naruo, and their friends, as the various members of the group drift about and struggle to figure out this whole adulting thing. Insecurity and inner conflicts about selling out versus success plague many of the characters, until a tragedy acts as kind of a wake-up call to put at least some of them onto different paths. It’s character-driven rather than plot-driven, but things are quite different at the end than the beginning. Almost a snapshot of a time and place, culturally and economically, as well as the new adult stage. It’s very emotional without being overly dramatic, and I didn’t stop thinking about it for days after I finished reading it. I’m not even a fan of slacker-type or disaffected/apathetic characters! Totally recommend this one.
Empire State: A Love Story (Or Not) by Jason Shiga, colors by John Pham (Amazon / Goodreads)
A story about love, but there’s a reason the subtitle has “(Or Not)” at the end. Chinese-American geek Jimmy has always been in love with his Jewish best friend Sara, but after college she left for New York while Jimmy stayed in Oakland and got a job at the library. Several years later, his life stagnant, he takes a bus cross-country to see Sara in a grand romantic gesture. It was pretty obvious, from the scenes in both past and present, that Jimmy’s barking up the wrong tree. IMHO, he’s also looking to Sara to solve his feeling of being in limbo in general, no longer a child but not yet an adult.
I loved how compassionate Sara was in her rejection, and by the end I anticipated that the two would still be friends, though I wasn’t sure how or if Jimmy was going to fix his life. So it didn’t leave me with a happy positive vibe, but that’s okay! Not every book has to. The storytelling was top notch, and I recommend giving this a shot.
Level Up by Gene Yuen Lang, art by Thien Pham (Amazon / Goodreads)
Gene Luen Yang is a comics superstar, but this book doesn’t seem to get as much attention as his other work. In this amazing book, Dennis Ouyang struggles between his love for video games and his parentally-motivated medical school attendance. The angels helping him get through school are a little weird. They get even weirder when he starts doubting his career path in gastroenterology. It’s about figuring out if you have a destiny or a mission or a calling, however you want to think of it. It’s also about family, and what makes a meaningful life. Pham’s drawing and watercolor people are deceptively simple. The range of emotions they convey through facial expressions and body language is amazing to a stick figure drawer like myself.
There’s a 2016 paperback edition with a different cover that’s also very cute, but I stuck with the 2011 cover in this post because nostalgia.
The series A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima, translated by Steven LeCroy (Amazon / Goodreads)
The depth of understanding this author has for the main characters and her skillful writing about them are both outstanding. A Silent Voice follows Shoya, a middle-school boy, who spends his days goofing off and looking for entertainment. He’s not particularly smart, interesting, studious, or popular, but he has some friends and a good mother. When a deaf girl named Shoko transfers into his class at school, he sees in the new and different an opportunity for entertainment. With demonstrated impatience from the teacher and growing resentment from classmates who feel Shoko’s needs are a burden, Shoya embarks on a long-term group bullying campaign against the girl that includes, among other things, destruction of multiple expensive hearing aids.
When Shoko’s family finally publicly complains while removing her from the school, the class turns on Shoya instead. He’s made the scapegoat for everyone’s participation in Shoko’s ostracism, in a turnaround that effectively ruins his school life for the next six years.
Watching Shoya lead the torment of Shoko is painful. It’s clear he has absolutely no empathy. It’s terrifying. But the giant lie created by the teacher and other students, that Shoya was the only one responsible for hurting her, is even more chilling. No one will take any responsibility for their own actions. Shoya ends up completely socially isolated and even contemplates suicide.
If this was just a book about horrible people doing horrible things to each other, I wouldn’t be recommending you start reading this series. It’s what happens at the end of this first volume that’s important. Shoya meets Shoko again, and feels a spark that he may be able to atone for his behavior. So he tries. By the end of the seven volume series, both of their lives are completely different.
Masterful, important, deeply satisfying.
Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks (Amazon / Goodreads)
The story of Maggie, who has been homeschooled with her brothers her whole life. Now her mother (who taught them) has abandoned the family, and Maggie’s starting public high school. Figuring out friends and enemies is hard enough, but what about when you see ghosts?
The characters are pitch perfect, and you can feel with Maggie even if you’ve never been in her exact situation. (Who has, really?) Hicks is one of our favorite comics writers and artists because she’s great with emotions, great with young female characters, and great with characters who are socially awkward, so this is peak Hicks.
On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (Read as a webcomic / Amazon / Goodreads)
Long but well worth it, a space-based sci-fi journey about a young woman finding her lost love while also finding/making her own future. Mia signs on with a ship that travels to sites and renovates/restores them. She makes friends with the crew – one nonbinary person and the rest are women – and eventually enlists them to travel to a forbidden planet so she can say goodbye to the girl she loved at school but was abruptly separated from.
It’s told in a combination of present events and flashbacks to Mia’s school romance, and I felt like both parts were in good balance. The secondary characters are well developed. There’s so much lovely queer rep. This was my next Tillie Walden read after Spinning and it didn’t disappoint. It’s just so warm, and a gorgeous affirmation of the value of friendship, choosing your family, and claiming a place for yourself in the world.
And that’s the list!
These look awesome. I’m going to have to pick up that Box Office Poison one – sounds intriguing.