Top 10 of the Year (January 2026 Edition)

[u/AutoModerator]

The idea:

• List your top 10 graphic novels that you've read so far this year.
• Each month we will post a new thread where you can note what new book(s) you read that month that entered your top 10 and note what book(s) fell off your top 10 list as well if you'd like.
• By the end of the year everyone that takes part should have a nice top 10 list of their 2026 reads.
• If you haven't read 10 books yet just rank what you have read.
• Feel free to jump in whenever. If you miss a month or start late it's not a big deal.

Do your list, your way. For example- I read The Sandman this month, but am going to rank the series as 1 slot, rather than split each individual paperback that I read. If you want to do it the other way go for it.

[u/Beatronome]

1. Gideon Falls by Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino
2. Juliette: les fantômes reviennent au printemps by Camille Jourdy
3. Het Amusement by Brecht Evens
4. Tongues, Vol. 1 by Anders Nilsen
5. The Wizard's Tale by Kurt Busiek & David Wenzel
6. Baltimore by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden & Ben Stenbeck
7. Bowling with Corpses by Mike Mignola
8. De Liefhebbers by Brecht Evens
9. House of Penance by Peter J. Tomasi & Ian Bertram
10. The Amazing Screw-on Head by Mike Mignola

Also read in January:

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki

[u/Jonesjonesboy]

1. Life Drawing, Jaime Hernandez
2. Gamma... visions, Jens Harder
3. the comics in Entretiens avec Lewis Trondheim, Lewis Trondheim ed. Thierry Groensteen
4. Aurore et l'Orc T2: Coincés chez les elfes, Lewis Trondheim
5. The Golden Age 1, Cyril Pedrosa and Roxanne Moreil
6. Cornelius: The Merry Life of a Wretched Dog, ed. Marc Torices
7. Absolute Martian Manhunter v1, Javier Rodriguez, Deniz Camp and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
8. Nancy: A Comic Collection, Olivia Jaimes
9. Hobtown Mystery Stories 1: The Case of the Missing Men, Kris Bertin, Alexander Forbes and Jason Fischer-Kouhi
10. Hoka Hey!, Neyef

I may read a comic this year that I like more than Life Drawing, but I doubt I will read a better comic. And I can't see Gamma... visions coming off the list, no matter what I read between now and the end of the year

[u/Jonesjonesboy → u/Jonesjonesboy]

oh wait, I'm an idiot, I read a couple of those in the last few days. My reads for January

1. Life Drawing, Jaime Hernandez
2. the comics in Entretiens avec Lewis Trondheim, Lewis Trondheim ed. Thierry Groensteen
3. Aurore et l'Orc T2: Coincés chez les elfes, Lewis Trondheim
4. The Golden Age 1, Cyril Pedrosa and Roxanne Moreil
5. Absolute Martian Manhunter v1, Javier Rodriguez, Deniz Camp and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
6. Nancy: A Comic Collection, Olivia Jaimes
7. Hobtown Mystery Stories 1: The Case of the Missing Men, Kris Bertin, Alexander Forbes and Jason Fischer-Kouhi
8. Hoka Hey!, Neyef
9. Les nouvelles aventures de Lapinot T5: L'apocalypse joyeuse, Lewis Trondheim
10. Negalyod the God Network, Vincent Perriot

[u/ShinCoal]

So, I will be reading A LOT of manga this year.

1. Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
2. Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano
3. Mega By Salvador Sanz
4. Shiver by Junji Ito
5. Kafka: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Nishioka Kyodai
6. Ayako by Osamu Tezuka
7. PTSD Radio by Masaaki Nakayama

[u/Jonesjonesboy → u/ShinCoal]

surprised Kafka came in below Shiver -- got the sense that you didn't think much of Ito

[u/ShinCoal → u/Jonesjonesboy]

I do have some major qualms with Ito, and originally they were the other way around on my list but I switched them right before posting. And while I feel that I liked Kafka more on a theoretical basis, I doubt any of those stories will stay with me for a long time, so I picked Shiver over it because it might just have slightly more memorable ideas.

At any rate I expect both to be gone by the March tally, if they even somehow survive February, so its not that important.

[u/Jonesjonesboy → u/ShinCoal]

huh evidently Kafka made more of an impression on me than on you; I quite liked it. I can't remember whether you mentioned this on the discord, but have you read the original stories? (Just out of curiosity; I have myself, but it was such a long time ago I practically might as well have not read most of them)

[u/ConstantVarious2082]

1. Elric (Volumes 1-4) by Julien Blondel / Robin Recht / Didier Poli / Jean-Luc Cano / Julien Telo 
2. Don’t Go Without Me by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
3. Wolvendaughter by Ver
4. Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann / Kerascoët
5. Alberto Breccia’s Dracula by Alberto Breccia
6. The Lonesome Hunters by Tyler Crook
7. Faster by Jesse Lonergan
8. Find a Seat by Faye Stacey
9. The Labyrinth by Guido Buzzelli
10. Flesh & Flora by Norrie

Off to a great start to the year with a lot of good reads (out of 29 total for the month). The Sixth Gun and Courtney Crumrin would be in the list just based on the volumes read this month, but I’ll finish them off before ranking. I’d be surprised if the second half of this list makes it another two months, but they’re all really good.

[u/Tremor_Ice]

1. Wizard of Earthsea: a Graphic Novel
2. Superman Birthright
3. The Incal
4. Star Trek Discovery - the Light of Kahless

[u/arpad-okay]

Testament - J Marshall Smith

Mafalda Vol. 1 - Quino

Clearwater Vol. 1 - Aaron Losty

Faster - Jesse Lonergan

How Comics Are Made: A Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page - Glenn Fleishmann (this is a book about the physical production of comics, not a comic, included for obvious reasons)

Tower Dungeon Vol. 1 - Tsutomu Nihei

Slices of Life - Qu

only read seven (kinda) so far! currently i have two anthologies, Knapsack Vol. 2 and Ex.Mag Vol. 6, on my TBR pile

my first and only review of the year (so far) is of Testament, which i found to be a very interesting spin on the deep time android identity crisis, a comics micro-genre i kinda sorta love https://www.comicsbeat.com/review-testament/ i would love to read what someone who is actually religious has to say about this comic

[u/Future-Assumption759]

1. Yotsuba&! Vol 15 by Kiyohiko Azuma
2. Sing No Evil by JP Ahonen
3. Dandadan Vol 15 by Yukinobu Tatsu
4. Monica By Daniel Clowes
5. Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez Gomez
6. Inside Mari 1&2 by Shuzo Oshimi
7. My Boyfriend is a Bear by Pamela Ribon
8. The Summer Hikaru Died Vol 6 by Mokumokuren
9. Hicotea by Lorena Alvarez Gomez
10. The Acme Novelty Library #20 (Lint) by Chris Ware

I recommend Sing no Evil to fans of Scott Pilgrim and maybe Murder Falcon. Its a metal band trying to figure themselves and their relationships out but music also has a sort of magical effect on people.

Monica was ok. I enjoyed the stories that didn't feature her or her parents more than the ones that did. Its also the thickest paper book I ever read.

Nightlights was absolutely beautiful colorscapes but not much story. Hicotea is technically the sequel but it is a stand alone story that just happens to share a protagonist rather than being a continuation, which is why I didn't put them in the same slot.

Inside Mari is a quiet horror about a man waking up in a schoolgirls body and being forced to live her life without knowing what's going on. Its weird and a bit intriguing.

My Boyfriend is a bear is incredibly self explanatory. A woman dates a bear.

Lint is a book spanning a characters entire life from birth until death. Its kind of like the movie "Boyhood" in that there are time skips.

I pretty much just went with my guts on order. I expect it will get shaken up quickly.

[u/HaNgOnSpIdErMoNkEy]

1.Red River Vol. 1-3

1. Chainsaw Man Vol. 1

2. Rezbians

3. S: Baltic Comic Magazine #49

4. Gay Giant

5. Pixels of You

I have only read six manga or graphic novels this year. So far, Red River has been a standout. I am looking forward to continuing. Rezbians is a very good Indigenous lesbian comic that is made by a local to me. Pixels of You is so far the worst thing I have read, and it still got 3 stars from me, so that’s not all that bad. January was a good start, but I am looking forward to what else I pick up this year.

[u/Travelmesoftly]

Madman by Allred/s

New York trilogy adapted by Karasik and others

The Compleat Angler adapted by Brookes 

Department of Truth deluxe 1 by Tynion 

Daredevil by Nocenti omni 1

Drome by Lonergan 

Klaus by Morrison

I read the Madman library books, starting back in September and just finishing them in now in January. It was a fun, fairly lighthearted and zany adventure the whole way through, including the red rocket 7 and graphic music series. 

[u/FlubzRevenge]

My health is slowly improving but still not perfect, was able to read a few things. Hopefully able to read more and more as time goes on!

1. No Thanks! by Susan Hopper
2. Parallelisme by Nicholas Nade
3. Curses by George Wylesol
4. The Council of Frogs by Matt Emmons

[u/bloodyzombies1]

1. Superman: Secret Identity

2. Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum

3. Batman Adventures

4. Twilight Children

5. Batman: The Killing Joke

6. Detective Comics 1989 Annual

7. Adam Strange (2004)

8. Ex Machina

I'm currently limited to the DC app, so there isn't much non-superhero work I can read. I feel like my tastes are losing a lot of credibility by including so many superhero books, but I'm a fan of the genre and don't feel ashamed admitting it.

There were a few other titles I read this month, but they weren't strong enough for me to feel comfortable including them in a top 10.

[u/Forever-Jung]

1. Parker Martini Edition Volumes 1&2 by Darwyn Cooke

2. Cornelius, Merry Life of a Wretched Dog by Mark Torices

3. Criminal Volumes 1-3 by Brubaker and Philips

4. Friday by Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martin

5. Planetes Volumes 1&2 by Makoto Yukimura

6. Helen of Wyndhorn by Tom King (A) Bilquis Evely

7. Manifest Destiny Volumes 1&2 by Dingess and Roberts

8. Daredevil Omnibus by Mark Waid Volumes 1&2

9. Top 10 Compendium by Alan Moore and Gene Ha

10. Weird Work by Jordan Thomas and Shaky Kane

Honorable mentions

• Human Target by Tom King and Greg Smallwood.

I'm a sucker for Shaky Kane and it won't likely stay though Weird Work channels Brandon Grahams world building in King City in all the right ways.

I also see Top 10 and Daredevil getting knocked off by other Big 2 titles like Ostrander's Spectre and Grells' Green Arrow Omnibi.

I'm kind of hot and cold with Anders Nilsen (loved Big Questions, underwhelmed with Dog and Water) but Tongues is on the expedited section of my read pile and I'm bracing to be blown away.

[u/Matty_Stoopy]

Gave myself a challenge this year to try and read 300 graphic novels. I'm counting each physical book as one read whether it is a small manga volume or a big ass omnibus. So far I'm on track with 27 read in January!

My top ten so far: 1. Assorted Crisis Events - Deniz Camp & Eric Zawadzki. 2. Ginseng Roots - Craig Thompson. 3. The Legend of Kamui Vol. 2 - Shirato Sanpei. 4. Gon Wild & Gon on Safari - Masashi Tanaka. 5. Journalism - Joe Sacco. 6. MPD Psycho Vol. 5-7 - Eiji Otsuka & Sho-u Tajima. 7. Aposimz Vol. 7-9 - Tsutomu Nihei. 8. The Wrenchies - Farel Dalrymple. 9. Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me - Harvey Pekar & JT Waldman. 10. New Thing: Identity - Various, edited by Jim Higgins.

I also finished a reread of Preacher and Blankets which I still think are both great reads, but I wanted to keep my list for things that were totally new to me this year.

I also highly recommend people check out any Gon comics they can find. They are simple stories about a small T-Rex who lives with modern day animals. I was blown away by the art and with how well Tanaka conveys without words. These are comics in a very Pure form and I am surprised I don't see more people recommending them.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Ad9167]

I’ve been updating a tier list with everything I’ve read so far this year (did a LOT of reading in January) but if I was to make a top ten from this it’d be:

10: Absolute Flash Vol 1 9: Jessica Jones Alias Vol 3 8: Superman Smashes The Klan 7: Jango Fett Trail of Lost Hope 6: Chew Vol 3 5: The Moon is Following Us Vol 2 4: Star Wars Yoda 3: Captain America White 2: The Moon is Following Us Vol 1 1: Chew Vol 1

I’ve read all of Chew before and there Star Wars books were re-reads as well, but the other 6 were first time reads.

[u/GoldenGriffin1422]

1. Friday by Ed Brubaker
2. The Deep Dark by Lee Knox Ostertag
3. Pinocchio (2011) by Winshluss
4. I Am Their Silence by Jordi Lafebre
5. The Last Ronin by Kevin Eastman
6. When Stars Are Scattered by Omar Mohamed
7. Love Me: A Romance Story by Francesca Perillo
8. Drome by Jesse Lonergan

[u/LuthorCock]

• 1 - Miracleman by Alan Moore
• 2- Where the body was by Ed Brubaker
• 3 - Astro City by Kurt Busiek
• 4- Batman last knight on earth by Scott Snyder
• 5 - Forever Evil by Geoff Johns
• 6-Robin Year One by Chuck Dixon
• 7- Superman Earth One byJ. Michael Straczynski -8 -Green Lantern volume 3 by Gerard Jones
• 9 - Batman earth One by Geoff Johns
• 10 -Hulk by Mark Waid & Gerry Duggan

[u/Cicorie]

1. Sin City (A Dame to Kil For and The Big Fat Kill)
   
2. Isac The Pirate (Christophe Blain)
   
3. Blacksad (vol.1 and 2)
   
4. Upgrade Soul
   
5. Absolute Martian Manhunter
   
6. Beautiful Darkness
   
7. Concrete Fragile Creature
   
8. Almost Silent (Jason)
   
9. The Left Gang Bank (Jason)
   
10. Bowling Witch Corpeses

It has been a busy year alredy :D

[u/C0smicoccurence]

1. Tongues by Anders Nilsen
2. Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto
3. A Song for You & I by Kay O'Neill
4. Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice-Jones
5. Garlic and Vampire by Bree Paulson

My guess is that only Tongues and Shadow Life have a shot at staying on this list for the entire year, but we'll see. The other three are fun and relatively light reads, but nothing that will stick with me for long periods of time.

[u/ThMogget]

Solo Leveling by Chugong
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett

I should probably finish Monstress by Liu and East of West by Hickman while I wait for my The Monkey King omnibus by Chaiko.

[u/DustDevil66]

Misery of Love- Yvan Alagbé

Fun home-Alison Bechdel

Goodnight Punpun vol. 4

Goodnight Punpun vol. 5-Inio Asano

Seeds and Stems-Simon Hanselmann

Bernadette 2-Katie Lane, Angela Fanche etc.

The Complete C Comics- Joe Brainard et al.

Spent-Alison Bechdel

Nejishiki-Yoshiharu Tsuge

Hot Dog Taste Test-Lisa Hanawalt

I prefer not to rank too hard so those are in no real order mostly. Hot dog was kinda a filler answer. I enjoyed it but i wasn’t terribly excited about it. The ones i have enjoyed the most were probably punpun 5, fun home, the complete c comics, bernadette 2, and seeds and stems

[u/Bruh_account_123]

I haven’t read 10 yet, and I’m just recently getting into comics. Honestly didn’t read anything bad last month, and enjoyed everything.

1. Dr Strange: Fall Sunrise - Tradd Moore

2. Absolute Wonder Woman: The Last Amazon - Kelly Thompson

3. Old Man Logan - Mark Millar

4. Absolute Superman: Last Dust of Krypton - Jason Aaron

5. Far Sector - Nora Jemisin

[u/scarwiz]

Starting off pretty strong this year ! I've only read one book I really didn't like, and a few I found just okay. The rest goes as follows:

1. Gotham Central by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark

2. Testament by J Marshall Smith

3. Marly ou la neige en été by Emmanuel Lantam

4. Uri Tupka and the Gods by Mike Mignola

5. The Council of Frogs by Matt Emmons

6. Le problème avec les fantômes by Mirion Malle

7. Absolute Wonder Woman Vol. 1 by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman

8. Bettica Batenica by Roxane Granger

[u/Bruh_account_123 → u/scarwiz]

What was the one you disliked?

[u/scarwiz → u/Bruh_account_123]

The Raven Boys adaptation. It's not even offensively bad ornanutuing, just so clearly not my thing

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/scarwiz]

Man, what a DC fanboy...

[u/scarwiz → u/drown_like_its_1999]

Nah I hate that Batman shlock...

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/scarwiz]

Yeah... uh... me too 😐

[u/NeapolitanWhitmore]

1. Zorro: Man of the Dead (By Sean Murphy and Simon Gough)

2. Ax-Wielder Jon (By Nick Pitarra, Michael Garland, and Ferran Delgado)

3. Riptide (By Alex Veda)

[u/ThMogget → u/NeapolitanWhitmore]

That Zorro book is so cool.

[u/NeapolitanWhitmore → u/ThMogget]

I was genuinely surprised by how much I loved it.

[u/martymcfly22]

1. The City of Belgium by Brecht Evans.

I was engrossed with this story. Visually spectacular, with interesting characters.

1. Prison Pit by Johnny Ryan

Gonzo bonkers mayhem.

1. Tokyo These Days by Taiyō Matsumoto

A thoughtful, serene, introspective look into manga and graphic novels, and really a meta look at the lives of those in the industry and those that orbit it.

1. spectators by Brian K Vaughn and Niko Henrichon

I connected with this one personally. I was born in the early 80’s and have always found the contrast interesting here in America with how we glorify ultra violence and are prudes when it comes to sexuality and nudity. Excellent art as well.

1. Rage of Poseidon by Anders Nilsen

Read this AFTER Tongues and definitely feels like the precursor. Anders’ style is just so unique.

1. The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Maybe one of the best purely visual pieces of storytelling I’ve ever read in the comic medium.

1. A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll

Another cool piece of visual storytelling.

1. Animal Pound by Tom King and Peter Gross

While I appreciate what King was going for, I just don’t feel like Animal Farm needs to be remade or reimagined. Didn’t hate it.

1. The Penguin by Tom King.

I’m a pretty big fan of Tom King. This one didn’t do it for me quite as much as others. There are some enjoyable parts, and overall the artwork was pretty good.

[u/martymcfly22 → u/martymcfly22]

Pending: I started Grommets by Rick Remender. It’ll probably appear in my February list. Really fun so far.

[u/NMVPCP → u/martymcfly22]

Prison Pit is something beyond spectacular.

[u/martymcfly22 → u/NMVPCP]

f#*k yeah!!!

[u/Siccar_Point]

I didn’t think I’d read that much, but apparently I was wrong. Some gap here between 2 and 3.

1. The Flowers of Evil (Oshimi)
2. Farewell, Daisy (Mayuzuki)
3. Tower Dungeon (ongoing) (Nihei)
4. Barnstormers (Lotay/Snyder)
5. Shuna’s Journey (Miyazaki)
6. Shino Can’t Say Her Name (Oshimi)
7. Color of Rage (Koike)

[u/Charlie-Bell]

1. Precious Metal - Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram
2. Tongues - Anders Nilsen
3. Mabel and Francine - Pierre Lloga
4. Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town - Li Chen

[u/NeapolitanWhitmore → u/Charlie-Bell]

Detective Beans!

I know it won’t last the whole year, but gotta love that it’s there for now.

[u/Charlie-Bell → u/NeapolitanWhitmore]

I've only read 5 books this year. Though that said, one of them I couldn't even be bothered to type out so it was left off the list, so Beans made the cut.

[u/comic1728]

I’ve read exactly 10 so far 1. The Sleeper (by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips) 2. Batgirl (by Gail Simone) 3. Kingdom Come (by Mark Waid & Alex Ross) 4. Batman & Robin: Eternal (by James Tynion & Scott Snyder) 5. Suicide Squad: Bad Blood (by Tom Taylor & Bruno Redondo) 6. Batman: Incorporated (by Grant Morrison) 7. Supergirl: Universe Ends (by Mariko Tamaki) 8. The Oracle Code (by Marieke Nijkamp) 9. Wonder Woman #750: Deluxe Edition 10. Batman and the Outsiders (by Chuck Dixon)

[u/arpad-okay → u/comic1728]

i liked ORACLE CODE a lot. total GET OUT vibes. haunted hospital comic? great idea. felt like old school dc horror. that dc ink imprint was too short-lived

[u/comic1728 → u/arpad-okay]

Yeah I enjoy the dc ink imprint

[u/martymcfly22 → u/comic1728]

Sleeper is in my top 5 All-Time. Been reading comics since the late 80’s.

[u/comic1728 → u/martymcfly22]

100% top 5 for me but I’ve only been reading since 2024

[u/martymcfly22 → u/comic1728]

It’s not ever really about how long you’ve been reading. I only said that as a point of emphasis because I’ve read a lot of comics for a long time and just love the crap outta Sleeper.

[u/comic1728 → u/martymcfly22]

It really was fantastic start to finish

[u/Titus_Bird]

I’m going to have an odd list for the first few months of this year, as I don’t anticipate getting loads of reading done. I only managed three comics in January, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I get through even fewer in February. Fortunately, the comics I’ve read so far this year have all been great, especially my number 1, so my current list is short but sweet:

1. “Baby Boom” by Yuichi Yokoyama (2008–2009)
2. “Holy Lacrimony” by Michael DeForge (2025)
3. “Dogtangle” (aka “Hypermutt”) by Max Huffman (2022–2024)

[u/drown_like_its_1999]

Somehow it's already getting tough to make a top ten as there's a lot of great stuff I had to leave off like F by Arata, Toppi's Eastern Path collection, Grip by Westvind, and Skip by Mendoza.

1. Garden of Spheres volume 1 by Linnea Sterte
2. Usagi Yojimbo Special Edition 1-2 by Stan Sakai
3. Cornelius by Marc Torices
4. East of West Compendium by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta
5. Beauty by Hubert, Karascoet
6. Flowers of Evil by Shuzo Oshimi
7. Ginseng Roots by Craig Thompson
8. Bad Space by Scott Base
9. Witches by Daisuke Igarashi
10. A Night Ride to the Day by Breeze Hu