Best Graphic Memoir
Maus is a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelman that depicts the Holocaust through the poignant metaphor of human figures as mice and Nazis. It’s notable for its innovative storytelling approach and deeply affecting portrayal of survival, loss, and intergenerational trauma. The book...
Marjane Satrapi’s *The Complete Persepolis* offers a powerful visual memoir detailing her childhood and adolescence in Iran from 1970 to 1992. This graphic novel chronicles her experiences navigating political upheaval during the Islamic Revolution and its aftermath. It is notable for its unique sto...
Alison Bechdel’s *Fun Home* is a groundbreaking graphic novel memoir detailing her coming-of-age story. It meticulously examines her fraught relationship with her closeted gay father and her own burgeoning lesbian identity through personal artwork and archival materials. The work offers profound ins...
Riad Sattouf’s “The Arab of the Future” is a poignant graphic memoir detailing his upbringing in Amman, Jordan during the lead-up to the Iraq War. The book offers a unique perspective on childhood experience through a distinctive visual style and explores themes of displacement identity and family....
Alec: The Years Have Pants is a graphic novel memoir by Eddie Campbell. It presents a sprawling, intensely personal account of Campbell’s life as both himself and his fictional alter ego, Alec. Through decades of illustrated storytelling, the book explores themes of identity, addiction, artistic str...
Craig Thompson’s Blankets is a poignant graphic memoir detailing his adolescence. The work explores themes of faith, sexuality, and self-discovery through a distinctive visual style. It resonates particularly with readers interested in personal narratives about identity formation and navigating comp...
Emmanuel Guibert’s *The Photographer* offers a stark and moving account of a Doctors Without Borders photographic mission to Afghanistan in 1986. The graphic novel utilizes mixed media elements alongside Guibert's original photographs to portray the realities faced by medical personnel during intens...
Seth’s *It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken* is a profoundly introspective graphic memoir. The book details the artist's decades-long pursuit of a forgotten cartoonist, revealing a complex meditation on obsession, memory, and the nature of artistic creation. It’s notable for its unique visual style...
Guy Delisle’s *Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City* offers a unique perspective on life within Israel and Palestine. This graphic novel memoir documents the author's time as an educator in Jerusalem, presenting a detailed observation of daily routines amidst significant political tensions. It i...
Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor offers a unique graphic novel experience. This autobiographical series documents the life of comic book store clerk Harvey Pfeffer, portraying his struggles and observations with unflinching honesty. Notable for its realistic depiction of working-class existence and...
"The Best We Could Do" is an illustrated graphic memoir by Vietnamese-American author and artist Thi Bui, published in 2017. The book chronicles her family's harrowing escape from South Vietnam following the collapse of the Saigon government in the 1970s, as well as their subsequent resettlement in...
"Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope" is a biographical graphic memoir created by French artist Emmanuel Guibert, published in English by First Second Books in 2008. The book chronicles the life and military service of Alan Cope, a young American soldier who deployed to Europe during World Wa...
A Contract with God is a seminal work by Will Eisner exploring themes of faith, poverty, and urban life through interconnected narratives within a New York City tenement. The graphic novel’s innovative use of sequential art established the modern graphic novel format and offered a powerful social co...
Are You My Mother? is a 2012 graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It serves as a companion to her earlier work Fun Home, shifting focus to her complex relationship with her mother and weaving in psychoanalytic theory, particularly the work of Donald Winnicott, al...
Why this score?
Critically serious Bechdel memoir companion; respected for craft, though less beloved and accessible than Fun Home.
Scoring methodology
"Hey, Kiddo" is an autobiographical graphic novel created by author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka, published by Graphix in 2018. The narrative details Krosoczka's childhood experiences being raised by his grandparents in Massachusetts while his mother struggled with heroin addiction. The work...
"Kampung Boy" is an autobiographical graphic novel by Malaysian cartoonist Lat, originally published in 1979. The book chronicles the author's early childhood experiences growing up in a traditional rural village, or kampung, in the state of Perak during the 1950s. Through detailed black-and-white i...
Pyongyang is a 2003 graphic travelogue by Canadian cartoonist Guy Delisle, published by Drawn and Quarterly. The book documents the two months Delisle spent in North Korea's capital while working as an animation supervisor for a French studio. Through simple black-and-white illustrations and dry, ob...
Stuck Rubber Baby is a 1995 graphic novel written and illustrated by Howard Cruse, originally published by Paradox Press. Set in a fictional Southern town during the 1960s, the story follows Toland Polk, a young white man coming to terms with his homosexuality while becoming entangled in the local c...
El Deafo is an autobiographical graphic novel written and illustrated by Cece Bell, published in 2014. The memoir details Bell's childhood experiences after contracting meningitis and suffering severe hearing loss at a young age, requiring her to wear a bulky Phonic Ear hearing aid. To cope with the...
Smile is an autobiographical graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier, published by Scholastic's Graphix imprint. The book recounts Telgemeier's experiences from sixth grade through high school, centered on the serious dental injuries and extended orthodontic treatment she received after accidentally losin...
In the Shadow of No Towers is a 2004 large-format graphic novel and broadsheet collection by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman. Reflecting on his personal trauma and acute anxiety, the work serves as a response to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, located near his home in Lower Ma...
"Town Boy" is an autobiographical graphic novel by the Malaysian cartoonist Lat, serving as the sequel to his acclaimed 1979 work, "Kampung Boy." The narrative follows the author's transition from a rural village to the bustling town of Ipoh during his adolescence, documenting his experiences in a m...
Out of Africa is a 1985 biographical drama directed by Sydney Pollack that won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Based on the autobiographical book by Danish author Karen Blixen, the film chronicles her experiences running a coffee plantation in colonial Kenya during the early 20th centu...
Why this score?
Best Picture winner with sweep and star power; modern consensus often sees it as handsome but slow.
Scoring methodology
Beautiful Boy is a 2018 biographical drama directed by Felix Van Groeningen, based on memoirs by journalist David Sheff and his son Nic Sheff. The film depicts the impact of Nic's methamphetamine addiction on their family over several years. It stars Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet and was screen...
Why this score?
Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell praised; addiction drama respected but considered repetitive and fragmented.
Scoring methodology
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is a 2009 nonfiction graphic novel by cartoonist and journalist Josh Neufeld. Developed from an online comics project, it follows seven real people before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina, showing experiences that include evacuation, displacement, survival, and...
Why I Killed Peter is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Olivier Ka and illustrated by Alfred. It recounts Ka's childhood relationship with a Catholic priest named Peter and the sexual abuse that shattered his earlier trust in the man and in religion. The title refers to the author's attem...
Burma Chronicles is an autobiographical travel comic by Guy Delisle, first published in French in 2007. It recounts the period Delisle spent in Myanmar with his young son while his wife worked there for Médecins Sans Frontières, observing everyday life under military rule. The book combines domestic...
Almost American Girl is a graphic memoir by Korean American cartoonist Robin Ha. It recounts Ha's unexpected move from South Korea to Huntsville, Alabama, during her adolescence and follows her experience of homesickness, cultural adjustment, and building a life in the United States. The book uses c...
War Is Boring is a 2010 work of graphic journalism by David Axe and Matt Bors, published by New American Library. It presents Axe's firsthand experiences as a reporter working in war zones, using comics to combine personal memoir with reporting about the conditions and routines of conflict coverage....
Guts is a 2019 autobiographical graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier, published by Scholastic. It recounts Telgemeier's childhood experience of anxiety and emetophobia, the fear of vomiting, and shows how those problems affect ordinary situations at home, at school, and with friends. The book presents...
