Welcome to the Graphic Novels Library Research Guide
Graphic novels are sequential art form book-length comics. They can be fiction or non-fiction, and memoirs are a very popular form. Take a look on this page at the graphic novels available in the Madison College Libraries, and also take a look at books, articles, and web resources about graphic novels.
Graphic Novels in the Madison College Libraries (A-H by title)
9-11 by Call Number: 973.931 N714DCISBN: 1563898810Publication Date: 2002Stories from a diverse array of writers and artists provoked by the events of September 11.
A. D. : New Orleans after the deluge by Call Number: 976.3 N482ISBN: 037571488XPublication Date: 2010Stories of survival in the days leading up to and following Hurricane Katrina.
Abandoned Cars by Call Number: 741.5973 L265ISBN: 1606993410Publication Date: 2010Noirish narratives.
Abina and the Important Men by Call Number: 306.362092 AB148ISBN: 9780199844395Publication Date: 2012Graphic history of a wrongfully enslaved West African woman named Abina.
Adulthood Is a Myth by Call Number: 741.5973 AN544ISBN: 9781449474195Publication Date: 2016Shares the awkwardness of young modern life such as body image, self-consciousness, and introversion.
American Born Chinese by Call Number: 741.5973 Y22ISBN: 0312384483Publication Date: 2008Chronicles a boy at a new school where he is the only Chinese-American student.
American Widow by Call Number: 741.5973 T693ISBN: 0345500695Publication Date: 2008September 11 as a personal tragedy.
Andre the Giant by Call Number: 741.5973092 AN555ISBN: 1596438517Publication Date: 2014Story of Andre Roussimoff , the lovable giant in The Princess Bride and a pro wrestler who died tragically young.
The Arrival by Call Number: 741.5973 T161ISBN: 0439895294Publication Date: 2007A story of the immigrant experience.
As the World Burns by Call Number: 363.7 J54ISBN: 1583227776Publication Date: 2008Graphic novel satire of modern environmental policy.
Asterios Polyp by Call Number: 741.5973 M478AISBN: 0307377326Publication Date: 2009Tale of a middle-aged man whose life is upended when he moves to a small town after his New York City apartment goes up in flames.
Autobiographix by Call Number: 741.5979 AU939ISBN: 1593070381Publication Date: 2003Graphic autobiographical short stories.
Barefoot Gen by Call Number: 940.5425 N163 V.1ISBN: 0867196025Publication Date: 2004Recounts the bombing of Hiroshima from the perspective of a young boy named Gen, focusing on how ordinary people suffer from war.
The Beats by Call Number: 810.90054 P379BISBN: 0809016494Publication Date: 2010Explores the generation that in the face of American conformity was known for its uprootedness, addictions, and creativity.
Black Panther: World of Wakanda by Call Number: 741.5973 G285BISBN: 9781302906504Publication Date: 2017The world building of Wakanda continues.
Blankets by Call Number: 741.5973 T469ISBN: 1891830430Publication Date: 2003A story of the sibling rivalry of two brothers and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers in Wisconsin and Michigan's U.P.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Call Number: 741.5973 D325ISBN: 0375421912Publication Date: 2002In 1933 Teddy Mishkin is hard at work on his latest cartoon short for Waldo the Cat. In his head, Waldo is real and his helpful assistant.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Call Number: MACKESY, CISBN: 9780062976581Publication Date: 2020Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book, the tale of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox and a wise horse.
Breakdowns by Call Number: 741.5 SP75BISBN: 0375423958Publication Date: 2008Seminal works by Spiegelman that changed how comics are made and appreciated today.
Buddha by Call Number: 741.5952 T356ISBN: 193223456XPublication Date: 2006Follows the prince Siddhartha as he runs away from home, travels across India, and questions Hindu practices.
Burma Chronicles by Call Number: 741.5971 D354BISBN: 177046025XPublication Date: 2010Examines a country using concealment and isolation as social control.
Cairo by Call Number: 741.5973 W746ISBN: 1401217346Publication Date: 2008Follows four humans and a genie as they navigate Cairo's streets and spiritual underworld to find a stolen hooka.
Charles Darwin's on the Origin of Species by Call Number: 576.82 K29ISBN: 1605299480Publication Date: 2009Graphic adaptation of Darwin's classic.
A Chinese Life by Call Number: 951.05092ISBN: 1906838550Publication Date: 2012Chronicles the rise and reign of Chairman Mao Zedong against the backdrop of the creation of the People's Republic of China.
Climate Changed by Call Number: 551.6 Sq23cISBN: 1419712551Publication Date: 2014Looks at our planet and how we live on it as it explores global warming.
Combustion by Call Number: 741.5 L287ISBN: 1560973145Publication Date: 2000Part "The Thin Red Line," part "All Quiet On the Western Front," part Vietnam War, and part something else.
Cyclopedia Exotica by Call Number: 741.5971 D533ISBN: 9781770464377Publication Date: 2021The struggle of the cyclops unfolds in metaphors for race, sexuality, gender, and disability, tangling with ideas about interracial and representation.
Crude by Call Number: 363.7382098 F175ISBN: 9780271088068Publication Date: 2021Recounting of the battle indigenous Ecuadorians and their allies waged against Texaco/Chevron over the energy company's destruction of portions of the Amazon.
A Dangerous Woman by Call Number: 335.83092 G619ISBN: 1595580646Publication Date: 2007Retelling of the famous anarchist and radical icon Emma Goldman's extraordinary life.
Dante's Divine Comedy by Call Number: 741.5973 H477ISBN: 1608190846Publication Date: 2010Graphic novel version of "Dante's Divine Comedy."
David Boring by ISBN: 0375714529Publication Date: 2002Things go awry for a nineteen-year-old security guard with a tortured inner life when he meets the girl of his dreams.
Decade by Call Number: Short StoriesISBN: 1569711798Publication Date: 1997Short stories produced to celebrate the tenth anniversary of noted graphic novel publisher Dark Horse Comics.
Drinking at the Movies by Call Number: 741.5973 W499ISBN: 9781927668269Publication Date: 2015Wrenching coming-of-age tale.
Egon Schiele by Call Number: 741.5944 C839ISBN: 9781770859401Publication Date: 2017Evocative depiction based on the life of the Austro-Hungarian artist known for drawing nudes whose short career spanned the turn of the 20th century.
Epileptic by Call Number: 741.5944 B111ISBN: 0375714685Publication Date: 2006Hailed as one of Europe's most important and innovative comics artists, David B. writes about growing up with an epileptic brother.
Footnotes in Gaza by Call Number: 956.04 SA119ISBN: 0805092773Publication Date: 2010Sacco immerses himself in Rafah, a town at the bottommost tip of the Gaza Strip, has long been a notorious flashpoint in the bitter Middle East conflict.
Fun Home by Call Number: 741.5973 W746ISBN: 0618871713Publication Date: 2007Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father.
Gauguin by Call Number: 759.4092 D696ISBN: 9781910593271Publication Date: 2017Biography of an artist whose whose talents as a painter would have an enormous influence on the art of Picasso, Matisse, and many more.
Genius, Isolated: the Life and Art of Alex Toth by Call Number: 741.53973 T717MISBN: 1600108288Publication Date: 2011Eisner Award-winning team's biography of Alex Toth.
Ghost World by Call Number: 741.5 C648ISBN: 1560974273Publication Date: 2004Quasi-autobiographical story following the adventures of two teenage girls facing the prospect of growing up and apart.
Glacial Period by Call Number: 741.5944 D278ISBN: 1561634832Publication Date: 2007Story set thousands of years hence in a glacial period where human history has been forgotten and a small group falls upon the Louvre, buried in snow.
The Golem's Mighty Swing by Call Number: 741.5973 ST936ISBN: 1896597459Publication Date: 2002Follows a barnstorming Jewish baseball team in the 1920's who travel from town to town earning a living by playing local squads.
The Handmaid's Tale (Graphic Novel) by ISBN: 9780385539241Publication Date: 2019In Margaret Atwood's dystopian future, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War. The result is the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women.
The Harlem Hellfighters by Call Number: 741.5973 B873ISBN: 0307464970Publication Date: 2014Story of the highly decorated, barrier-breaking, historic black regiment--the Harlem Hellfighters of World War I.
Hostage by Call Number: 364.154092 D354ISBN: 9781770462793Publication Date: 2017Story of Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe Andr, who was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination.
Hyperbole and a Half by Call Number: 741.5973 B874ISBN: 1451666179Publication Date: 2014Showcases Brosh's unique voice, wit, and ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations.
Graphic Novels in the Madison College Libraries (I-Z by title)
I Moved to Los Angeles to Work in Animation by ISBN: 9781684152919Publication Date: 2019When artist Tally Nourigat left her life in Portland to move to Los Angeles and pursue a job in animation, she realized that despite her research, nothing truly prepared her for the wild world that awaited in the studios of Southern California.
I Was Their American Dream by Call Number: 741.5973 G411ISBN: 9780525575115Publication Date: 2019I Was Their American Dream is at once a journal of growing up and a reminder of the thousands of immigrants who come to America in search for a better life for themselves and their children.
Imagine Wanting Only This by Call Number: 741.5973 R131ISBN: 9781101870839Publication Date: 2017After the sudden death of a beloved uncle and the sight of an abandoned mining town, the author begins a lifelong fascination with ruins and people left behind.
Incognegro by Call Number: 741.5973 J665ISBN: 140121097XPublication Date: 2008In the early 20th century, when lynchings were commonplace in the American South, a few brave reporters - light-skinned African-Americans - risked their lives to expose the truth, known as 'going incognegro'.
In the Shadow of No Towers by Call Number: 973.931 SP742ISBN: 0375423079Publication Date: 2004Spiegelman bore witness to the attacks in his lower Manhattan neighborhood.
The Initiates by Call Number: 741.5 D266ISBN: 9781681121338Publication Date: 2018Examines why we choose to spend one's life creating comics or producing wine.
Introducing Fascism by Call Number: 335.6 HOODISBN: 1848316127Publication Date: 2013Graphic guide to the political movements and philosophical roots of fascism.
It Was the War of the Trenches by Call Number: 741.5944 T181ISBN: 1606993534Publication Date: 2010Illustrates the day to day of the grunts in the trenches during World War I.
J. Edgar Hoover: a Graphic Biography by Call Number: 363.25092 H789ISBN: 0809095033Publication Date: 2008J. Edgar Hoover's life becomes a timely and pointed guide to everything from Prohibition to cold war espionage.
Jerusalem by Call Number: 741.5 D971ISBN: 1770460713Publication Date: 2012Offers a cultural road map of contemporary Jerusalem.
Journalism by Call Number: 355.0209 SA119ISBN: 0805097937Publication Date: 2013Takes readers from the smuggling tunnels of Gaza to war-crimes trials in The Hague, from the lives of India's "untouchables" to the suffering in Iraq, and more.
Killing and Dying by ISBN: 9781770462090Publication Date: 2015"One of the most gifted graphic novelists of our time." --Wired
Logicomix by Call Number: 741.5 D752ISBN: 1596914521Publication Date: 2009Recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Love Is Love by Call Number: 741.56973 L897ISBN: 9781631409394Publication Date: 2017In honor of those killed in Orlando, some of the greatest talent in comics offer stories mourning the victims and supporting the survivors.
Lumberjanes to the Max Edition Vol. 1 by Call Number: 741.5 W973ISBN: 9781608868094Publication Date: 2016Eisner Award-winning series presented in a deluxe hardcover for the first time follows the adventures of a group of women at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types.
March. Book One by Call Number: 741.5 L674ISBN: 1603093001Publication Date: 2013Vivid first-hand account of John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, including his key roles in the historic 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 Selma-Montgomery March.
March. Book Two by Call Number: 741.5 L587ISBN: 9781603094009Publication Date: 2015Congressman John Lewis, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, continues his award-winning graphic novel trilogy.
Maus by ISBN: 0394747232Publication Date: 1986Story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.
Notes from a Defeatist by Call Number: 741.5973 SA119ISBN: 1560975105Publication Date: 2003The story of Sacco's mother's harrowing experiences in Malta in WWII, and his impassioned reflection on the Gulf War.
Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Call Number: 741.5 M952ISBN: 1770460411Publication Date: 2011Semi-autobiographical account from the preeminent figure of Gekiga about the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of World War II.
Other Lives by Call Number: 741.5973 B144ISBN: 1401219020Publication Date: 2010Explores people's identities and how the two become confused through the Internet and role-playing games.
Over Easy by Call Number: 741.5973 P773ISBN: 9781770461536Publication Date: 2014A fast-paced semi-memoir about diners, drugs, and California in the 1970s.
Pablo by Call Number: 759.6 P58bISBN: 9781906838942Publication Date: 2015Award-winning graphic biography of Pablo Picasso.
Palestine by Call Number: 956.94054 SA119ISBN: 156097432XPublication Date: 2001Based on Sacco's visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s, where he interviewed Palestinians and Jews.
Pedro and Me by Call Number: 362.1969792 W772ISBN: 0805089640Publication Date: 2009Pedro Zamora, the HIV-positive AIDS educator who appeared on MTV's The Real World: San Francisco, is remembered by Pedro's roommate on the show.
Persepolis by Call Number: 955.0542092 SA253CISBN: 0375714839Publication Date: 2007Here, in one volume is Satrapi's best-selling, internationally acclaimed graphic memoir of her unforgettable childhood and coming of age in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution.
The Photographer by Call Number: 070.4909581ISBN: 1596433752Publication Date: 2009Reporter's record of a journey through Afghanistan accompanying Doctors Without Borders.
Pride of Baghdad by Call Number: 741.5973 V371ISBN: 1401203159Publication Date: 2008In 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during an American bombing raid. Lost and confused, hungry but free, the four lions roamed the decimated streets of Baghdad.
Pulp Affliction by Call Number: 741.5973 L657ISBN: 9781973217169Publication Date: 2018Artwork done by Madison College Student Michael Edwards.Satirical story about contemporary society, superhero narratives, and life in general.
Pyongyang by Call Number: 741.5971 D354ISBN: 1897299214Publication Date: 2007Observations from Delisle, one of the few Westerners to be allowed access to the fortress-like country of North Korea.
The Quitter by Call Number: 741.5973 P367QISBN: 140120399XPublication Date: 2005Pekar's work, memorialized in the movie American Splendor, is an ongoing chronicle of his life.
Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling by Call Number: 364.973 J79ISBN: 1595585419Publication Date: 2013Argues against mass incarceration in the United States by showing the impact on communities of color.
Relish by Call Number: 741.5973 K71ISBN: 1596436239Publication Date: 2013Traces key episodes in the suthor's life, framed by what she was eating at the time and lessons learned about food, cooking, and life.
Saga by Call Number: 741.5973 V364ISBN: 9781632150783Publication Date: 2014Hugo Award-winning story.
Showa, 1938-1944: A History of Japan by Call Number: 741.5973 MizISBN: 1770461515Publication Date: 2014Details Japan in World War II.
Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives From Black History by Call Number: 973.0496 G41ISBN: 9781938486296Publication Date: 2014Collection of stories highlighting African American history.
Tale of One Bad Rat by Call Number: 741.5973 T138ISBN: 1595824936Publication Date: 2010Follows Helen Potter, sexually abused as a child, on a journey through urban and rural England along the same path author Beatrix Potter once took.
They Called Us Enemy by Call Number: 940.531773 T136ISBN: 9781603094504Publication Date: 2019Graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II.
Threadbare by Call Number: 364.1551 M821ISBN: 9781621067399Publication Date: 2016Draws the connections between the international sex and garment trades and human trafficking in an illustrated comics series.
Unflattening by Call Number: 741.5 S725uISBN: 9780674744431Publication Date: 2015Defies conventional forms of scholarly discourse to offer readers both a work of graphic art and an inquiry into the ways humans construct knowledge.
Vincent by Call Number: 759.3 G557ISBN: 9781906838799Publication Date: 2015Documents the brief and intense period of creativity Van Gogh spent in Arles.
Watchmen by Call Number: 741.5973 M821ISBN: 0930289234Publication Date: 1995Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes.
We Stand on Guard by Call Number: 741.5973 V371WISBN: 1534301410Publication Date: 2017Set 100 years in our future, the story follows a heroic band of Canadian civilians turned freedom fighters who must defend their homeland from invasion by a technologically superior opponent...the United States of America.
Will Eisner Reader by Call Number: 741.5973 EI36ISBN: 0393328074Publication Date: 2008Short stories from a graphic novels icon.
Yo, Miss by Call Number: 741.5973 W644ISBN: 9781621062196Publication Date: 2015Takes readers inside a second-chance high school in New York City where all the students are considered at-risk.
