Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan

On one ordinary day more than 20 years ago, all at once, every chicken on Earth gained sentience and human-level intelligence. This is Filipino chicken Elmer's story, told from a journal left to his son, Jake. From those first hellish days hiding from furious humans, to the fight for human rights, to his middle years trying to provide for his family, Elmer dealt with traumatic experiences and tried his best throughout his life. This story is so real you can feel the heat of the fires and hear Elmer's panic during the burning of the slaughterhouse where he gained sentience.

Appeal: Stories about discrimination, chickens, realistic, racism

Art: Black and white, realistic, grounded

Text: Narrative, argumentative

Other: The story was inspired by the chickens that wandered the streets of Gerry Alanguilan's hometown of San Pablo City during his childhood. Elmer was originally published in the Phillippines, and was released in English and French in 2010.

Awards: Elmer won the Prix Ouest-France Quai des Bulles and the Prix Asien de la Critique ACBE in 2011.

Alanguilan, Gerry. Elmer: A Comic Book. San Jose, CA : SLG Pub. ; 2010. Prin

Mixed Myth by Robin Meyer

Mixed Myth

Mixed Myth is a parody of every fantasy trope you can name. Is the main character, Keeva, a half-elf? She is indeed, but the other half is goblin, and since goblins and elves are mortal enemies, family reunions are awkward. Does Keeva have a drunken sidekick? Yes she does, and he's a literal nightmare, a demon horse named Puck. Does Keeva meet an attractive stranger? How did you know? Aidan is a half-selkie werewolf assassin who quickly gives up his mission to kill Keeva as impossible. 

Keeva is a firebrand, seizing the day and all the explosive phoenix eggs she can find, as likely to blow something up as she is to save world. Unfortunately, saving the world just became her responsibility, so along with Puck, Aidan, and Tamit (a sphinx so mysterious she can barely remember her own name), they set out to save the world from a fate so dramatic you'll be shocked-- shocked! The plot is intricate and brilliant, the characters are deep, and the wit is biting. 

Mixed Myth is available online.

Appeal: Fantasy, parody, good female characters, elves, puns

Art: Grayscale, detailed, flowing, fantastical

Text: Humorous, dramatic, ironic

Other: Robin Meyer's other projects since Mixed Myth's completion include Metrophor and Real Life Fiction.

Meyer, Robin. "Mixed Myth." mixedmyth.comicgenesis.com. Web. 4 May 2014.

El Goonish Shive by Dan Shive

El Goonish Shive

As the author describes it, this is a "strange comic about a group of teenagers and the bizarre, often supernatural, situations that they face". Tedd and Elliot are typical high schoolers-- except that Tedd's dad works at a secret government agency devoted to covering up the existence of magic and aliens and brings home alien technology for Tedd to modify. By contrast, Elliot can only summon a number of martial arts-based fighting spells--until he accidentally gets turned into a girl and accidentally clones himself trying to turn back. 

Soon after that, Elliot, Ellen (the clone), and Tedd befriend Grace, an alien-squirrel-human hybrid lab escapee; Nanase, Eliot's former girlfriend and martial arts partner; Justin, another martial artist with a crush on Elliot; Susan, an aloof classmate who can summon magic hammers; and Sarah. Sarah is normal. This comic ranges from funny to dramatic as the characters handle high school, changing relationships, evil teachers, evil laboratory experiments, and evil magic-users. Readers who enjoy Percy Jackson and the Olympians will enjoy the magic, drama, and action of El Goonish Shive.

It is available at EGScomics.com. Read it from the beginning here.

Appeal: Fantasy, magic realism, science fiction, action, drama, high schoolers, queer representation

Art: Develops over time from 

Other: El Goonish Shive began in 2002 and is ongoing as of May 2014. Its name comes from Dan Shive's inability to summarize the comic in a short title. The "goon" comes from a high school nickname, the "Shive" is the author's last name, and the rest is gibberish conceived of in Spanish class.

Shive, Dan. "El Goonish Shive." egscomics.com. Web. 4 May 2014.

Aya by Marguetire Abouet and Clément Oubrerie

Aya

Aya is a serious-minded 19-year-old living in the Ivory Coast in the 1970s. It's a time of prosperity for the country, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Aya tries to give her friends good advice and resigns herself to helping them manage the fallout of bad choices. In this first book of six, for example, Aya helps her friend Adjoua raise her newborn son as they try to prove his paternity so that Adjoua's boyfriend will marry her. Aya joins in the parties, and the gossip around her but always with an eye toward her future. This is a realistic, funny, soap operatic story about middle-class life from a talented storyteller.

Appeal: Ivory Coast, Africa, family relationships, adult relationships, drama, humor, high school plus

Art: Caricature, cinematic

Text: Conversational, vernacular, argumentative

Other: Aya was originally published in French. The comic was adapted into an animated film in 2012, co-directed by the authors.

Awards: Aya won the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book in 2006, the Children's Africana Book Award in 2008, and several Glyph Awards.

Abouet, Marguerite. Oubrerie, Clément. Dascher, Helge. Aya. Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly ; 2007. Print

Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang and Lark Pien

Boxers & Saints

Little Bao's village is terrorized by Westerners claiming to be missionaries working for God, who steal and rob the Chinese peasants. Little Bao is inspired by his own visions of Chinese gods and legends to stand up to the Westerners, and to fight back.

Four-Girl was born doubly unlucky as the fourth girl in her family: the number four is bad luck, and her family has no use for yet another daughter. Her home life is miserable, so when Christian missionaries working in China give her a safe place to belong, she converts and goes to live with them. Visions of Joan of Arc guide her in her new life.

Four-Girl's and Little Bao's lives take very different paths, intersecting twice and ending the same way, governed by religious and political wars, conflict, and intolerance. Readers who enjoyed American Born Chinese will find value in this book as well.

Appeal: history, China, religion, war, high school and up

Art: Bold, definite, fantastical, symbolic

Text: Elements of traditional Chinese storytelling, mostly narration.

Other: Gene Luen Yang has also written American Born Chinese, Level Up, and The Eternal Smile: Three Stories. American Born Chinese wong the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album, and the 2006 Reuben Award for Best Comic Book. It was an ALA Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2007.

Awards: Boxers & Saints had a starred review in Kirkus Reviews and Publisher's Weekly. In 2013 it won the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Young Adult Literature and was a Booklist Top Ten Religion and Spirituality Book for Youth.

Prince of Cats by Ron Wimberly

Prince of Cats

Romeo and Juliet is re-imagined in a futuristic, Afro Samurai-like Brooklyn, where the fashions are radical and the gang wars are fought with swords. Tybalt is the main character in this adaptation and the plot follows his role in the larger story, his part in the conflict between Montague and Capulet. The cast is largely black and the dialogue is occasionally, wittily, adapted to the setting.

Appeal: Classics, Shakespeare, action, black representation

Art: Chaotic, colorful, graffiti-like, with manga influences

Text: A stylized synthesis of the original Shakespeare and urban slang.

Other: Ronald Wimberly has also adapted Something Wicked This Way Comes into a graphic novel. He lives in Brooklyn.

Wimberly, Ronald and Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation. New York : Hill And Wang, 2011. Print.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis

The first volume is the author's memoir of her childhood in Iran, just before and after the revolution in the 1980s. Marji was a little girl during the Iranian Revolution, living through several years of war, watching as her freedom to play and learn was curtailed by the religious government. Her family was educated and liberal, and constantly discussed current events, feeding her interest in politics, social class, gender, and religion. Marjane leaves Iran for Austria at the end of the first volume. In the second volumes, she details her disappointing years in Europe, used by a boyfriend, abused by her landlady, alienated by Western culture, and her later return to Iran. Humorous, heartfelt, and biting.

Appeal: History, Iran, female narrator, humor

Art: Dark black and white cartooning, subtly expressive

Text: Political, sharp, reminiscent

Other: Persepolis was originally written in French,  Marjane Satrapi has written another comic about her adult life in Iran, Embroideries, as well as a fairy tale comic, The Sigh. Satrapi wrote and directed the animated film adaptation of her comic in 2007.

Awards: Satrapi has won three Angouleme awards for Persepolis, the Coup de Coeur, the Prize for Scenario, and the Best Comic Book Award, in 2001, 2002, and 2005, respectively. The animated film won several awards of its own.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York : Pantheon Books, 2003. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2: The Story Of A Return. New York : Pantheon Books, 2004. Print.

The Invincible Iron Man: Extremis by Warren Ellis

The Invincible Iron Man: Extremis

Tony Stark faces a threat he might not be able to overcome: an American rebel augmented with a powerful new technology. Tony gets help from an old friend and a fellow scientist to defeat this enemy, as well as another enemy hiding behind the scenes.

Appeal: Action, science fiction, superheroes.

Art: Colors could have more depth, and faces could be more expressive, but overall a good match to the storyline.

Text: Scientific, philosophical

Other: Anecdotally considered one of the best Iron Man storylines, this arc was partially adapted into the movie Iron Man 3 and the television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ellis, Warren, et. al. The Invincible Iron Man: Extremis. New York : Marvel, 2010. Print.

Amethyst (New 52 series)

Amethyst

American teenager Amy Winston's life is suddenly turned upside down one day when her mother reveals that she is a queen from another, more magical world, and that Amy is a powerful magical princess. Amy must learn to use her new powers to save Gemworld from her scheming aunt and other ambitious royals with the help of the House of Topaz and the House of Diamond, among others.

Appeal: Magical girl, fantasy, political intrigue, friendship, good female characters, high school plus.

Art: Beautiful, colorful, fantastical, and detailed. Conveys a sense of realism even when depicting magic.

Text: Expository, sarcastic (on Amy's part)

Other: The series was cancelled after 8 issues. Amethyst was animated as a series of shorts in 2013.

Marx, Christy. Lopresti, Aaron. Sword of Sorcery Vol. 1: Amethyst (The New 52). New York : DC Comics, 2013. Print.

Bloom County by Berke Breathed

Bloom County

A political commentary and satire starring the residents of a small-town boarding house. Characters include Milo, a ten-year-old newspaper editor, his pop culture-obsessed friend Binkley, womanizing lawyer Steve, wheelchair-bound veteran Cutter John, Bill the (mostly braindead), and Opus, a naive and optimisitic penguin. Throughout the strips they run for president, form heavy metal bands, protest unfair treatment of comic strip characters, die, come back to life, and generally lampoon 1980s politics. It is available online at gocomics.com.

Appeal: Political humor, 1980s pop culture references, absurdism, talking animals, satire adults.

Art: Dynamic expression and composition, fine use of color in Sunday strips.

Textual style: Sarcastic, ironically juvenile, loquacious.

Other: Steve and Cutter John starred in Berke Breathed's earlier comic The Academia Waltz. Breathed followed Bloom County's run with two related strips, Outland and Opus.

Awards: Breathed won the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning in 1987. 

Breathed, Berke. Tales Too Ticklish To Tell: Bloom County. Boston : Little, Brown, 1988. Print.

Dilbert by Scott Adams

Dilbert

A gag-a-day strip about computer engineers at the office. Characters include the titular Dilbert, his lazy coworker Wally, his more competent coworker Alice, their a clueless boss, Dilbert's megalomaniacal dog Dogbert, and various stereotyped professions (the accounting department, for example, is staffed by trolls). Dilbert has visited Elbonia, a technologically disadvantaged country waist-deep in mud; weathered his own dog's hostile takeover of his company; and struggled to find a woman interested in dating an engineer. It is available online at Dilbert.com.

Appeal: Work humor, sarcasm, cute animals in absurd situations, working life, for adults, revenge fantasies

Art: Absolutely clear lines, static, almost copy and paste.

Textual style: Sarcasm, pointing out the obvious to the oblivious.

Other: Scott Adams worked in banking and for AT&T for many years, office experiences that inspired Dilbert. He won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award in 1997.

Awards: 1997 Harvey Award for best syndicated comic strip. 1998 Max & Moritz Prize for best international comic strip. 1996 and 1997 Zombie Award for best comics strip.

Adams, Scott. Casual Day Has Gone Too Far. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews And McMeel, 1997. Print.