The comic industry has gone through a lot of changes. While many still buy comics through single issues, collected editions have become the format of choice for many. For one thing, they hold less of the "childish" stigma that comics have accrued over the years, as the people who enjoy collected editions, trade paperbacks, hardcovers, or omnibuses like to call them graphic novels, a term without the negative connotations of the words "comic book."
Over the years, some truly remarkable graphic novels have been put out, taking the best the comic industry has to offer and putting them into a format that is more easily digestible than the monthly serialized comics that fans have devoured for decades.
10 Persepolis Took A Look At The Iranian Revolution
Persepolis, by writer/artist Marjane Satrapi, is an autobiographical comic telling of the creator's life in Iran during the Iranian Revolution, when ultra-conservative Shi'a rebels overthrew the Shah and the Ayatollah Khomeni took power, and her life afterwards in Austria. A highly personal work, it's one of the shining stars of the medium.
Satrapi created Persepolis as a way of putting down for posterity all of the things she witnessed and the effect these sweeping changes had on her and her homeland. It's the type of comic that shows people just how powerful the medium can be.
9 Preacher Is A Violent Travelogue Through The Heart Of America
Preacher, by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, was very different from its '90s Vertigo compatriots. Vertigo books had a reputation for being sophisticated, gothic horror books and while this wasn't always the case, that was how the line was perceived. Preacher was a massive change of pace and it would herald a big change for the line.
The story of Jesse Custer, his girlfriend Tulip, and their best friend Cassidy, an Irish vampire, Preacher was a look at the soul of America through the eyes of two Irish creators and they honestly got more right than one would expect. It was a hard look at Christianity, love, and friendship and the complications caused by the three, with humorous, heartbreaking, and life-affirming moments that one wouldn't expect from such a profane book.
8 The Dark Phoenix Saga Was A Different Kind Of Superhero Story
The Dark Phoenix Saga, by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, is one of the greatest triumphs of superhero storytelling. The story of Jean Grey's fall to darkness and how far her friends go to save her has become holy writ for X-Men fans and while it's an amazing superhero story, there's so much more to it than that.
Claremont was able to take superheroes, sci-fi, and elements of tragedy and mixed them together, giving the story the right amount of pathos and making it completely unlike anything done before. It's still a revelation all these years later as well, with Byrne's artwork the icing on the cake.
7 Crisis On Infinite Earths Set The Stage For Modern Comic Events
Crisis On Infinite Earths, by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez, is one of the greatest event books of all time. CoIE isn't high art; the tale of the DC Multiverse banding together against the Anti-Monitor is just a big superhero slugfest, starring nearly every DC character. What makes it so important is what it meant.
To begin, it was the true end of DC's Silver Age, doing away with Multiverse that had defined the publisher for decades. It also set down the formula that every event that came after it would use- a massive event that took all of the heroes to fight, an important death or two, and a status quo change. CoIE set the standard that everyone has used ever since.
6 The Invisibles Epitomized The '90s
Grant Morrison is one of the most important comic writers of the past forty years and their magnum opus is The Invisibles. Joined by a legion of artists including Jill Thompson, Phil Jimenez, Chris Weston, and more, The Invisibles told the story of the titular group as they battled against the Outer Church, a group of extradimensional demons that controlled the world in secret.
The Invisibles is an interesting book in that it is both of its time and timeless. It's very '90s but not in a bad way and its combination of magic, sex, drugs, and style make it a standout book with a unique vibe. Like an onion, it has layers upon layers and rewards obsessive re-reading.
5 All-Star Superman Is The Greatest Superman Story Of All Time
All-Star Superman, by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, is the greatest Superman story of all time. Frequent collaborators Morrison and Quitely took decades of everything that made Superman great and boiled it all down into one amazing story, an epic that made the super just as important as the man.
Morrison cast Superman as the perfect man and Quitely's pencils got it across as the Man of Steel took on labors to make the world a better place before he died, a la Hercules. Morrison made an argument for Superman as a modern-day myth in this comic and it's a sweeping, beautiful look at the comic's first hero.
4 The Dark Knight Returns Revitalized Batman
The Dark Knight Returns, by writer/artist Frank Miller, transformed Batman forever and cast him into the character modern fans would recognize. Taking place in a future Gotham overrun by crime, Batman comes out of retirement to clean things up but it's a very different world, one that doesn't appreciate his return.
1985 was a seminal year for comics and The Dark Knight Returns was a huge part of why. The book took Batman, for years played like the campy Adam West version, and transformed him into something else, a darker, more realistic character. It was one of the comics that brought maturity to the medium and changed its most popular character forever.
3 Maus Took A Look At The Horrors Of Nazi Germany
Maus, by writer/artist Art Spiegelman, is a harrowing tale of survival. Spiegelman interviewed his father, a survivor of the Nazi reign of terror in Poland, and adapted the events of his life, portraying Jews as mice, German as cats, and Poles as pigs. This anthropomorphization was a clever way to take a look at one of history's most terrible events.
While it may seem like Maus serves to sugarcoat events, it never pulls away from the terror and dread of the realities of the Holocaust. It remains one of the most powerful comics ever and the only one to win a Pulitzer Prize.
2 The Sandman Has Enchanted Generations Of Readers
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is one of the most well-known comics of the last thirty years. Working with a variety of artists like P. Craig Russel, Michael Zulli, Jill Thompson, Mark Hempel, and more, Gaiman created something truly special with this award-winning series.
Spanning eleven volumes and a prequel, it tells the story of His Darkness Dream of the Endless, his escape from imprisonment, and what comes next. Gaiman took the history of fiction and rolled it into this book, making something truly special, a comic beloved by fans of medium and people who would never read comics.
1 Watchmen Changed Comics Forever
By now, it's hard to say anything new about writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. It's one of the most important comics ever and completely changed the industry and the way people perceive it. There's a demarcation line in comics- before Watchmen and after Watchmen.
Watchmen works so well not just because it's a great story- and it's definitely that- but because of the medium of comics. So much of what Moore and Gibbons accomplish with the book is only possible because of the nature of comics and while it has been adapted or expanded in other mediums, they always pale in comparison to the original graphic novel.