Aug. 28, 2023 – If you could use a laugh and enjoy funny, poignant, and clever stories told with lovely art, this book list is for you.
Materials Librarian Allison Zordell curated this list of humorous graphic novels available to borrow from the library.
"I just love graphic novels" she said. "Everyone thinks comic books are flying and tights and capes, but they're also memoirs and grown up stories."
She picked two books by some authors, including Sarah Andersen, Kate Beaton and Allie Brosh.
"Kate Beaton is my favorite. Her 'Hark! A Vagrant!' stories are history-based. There's a nerdy aspect, with literature and history jokes. They're also just ridiculous," she said. "And Alli Brosh is absolutely hilarious. She explored mental illness, but it's also funny."
Scroll through the list below and click the titles to put the books on hold in our catalog today.
"Big Mushy Happy Lump: A 'Sarah's Scribbles' Collection" by Sarah Andersen
Containing illustrated personal essays on the author's real-life experiences with anxiety, career, relationships and other adulthood challenges, this collection of the hugely popular, world-famous Sarah's Scribbles comics are perfect for those of us who boast bookstore-ready bodies and Netflix-ready hair.
"Fangs" by Sarah Andersen
Upon meeting in a bar one night, Elsie and Jimmy are immediately attracted to each other, but there's a hitch – she's a vampire, and he's a werewolf. The two become involved (with a few minor annoyances and missteps), and they share memories of past lovers and swap gruesome tales of past exploits.
"Hark! A Vagrant" by Kate Beaton
"Hark! A Vagrant" takes readers on a romp through history and literature--with dignity for few and cookies for all--with comic strips about famous authors, their characters, and political and historical figures, all drawn in Kate Beaton's pared-down, excitable style. This collection features favorite stories as well as new, previously unpublished content. Whether she's writing about Nikola Tesla, Napoleon, or Nancy Drew, Beaton brings a refined sense of the absurd to every situation.
"Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection" by Kate Beaton
Ida B. Wells, the Black Prince, and Benito Juárez burst off the pages of "Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection," armed with modern-sounding quips and amusingly on-point repartee. Kate Beaton's second D+Q book brings her hysterically funny gaze to bear on these and even more historical, literary, and contemporary figures. Irreverently funny and carefully researched, no target is safe from Beaton's incisive wit in these satirical strips"
"Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened" by Allie Brosh
Collects autobiographical, illustrated essays and cartoons from the author's popular blog and related new material that humorously and candidly deals with her own idiosyncrasies and battles with depression.
"Solutions and Other Problems" by Allie Brosh
"Solutions and Other Problems" includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh's childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life.
"Revenge of the Librarians: Cartoons" by Tom Gauld
Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist’s signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones.
"The Adventures of Superhero Girl" by Faith Erin Hicks
What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores and have a weakness for kittens? Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks brings charming humor to the trials and tribulations of a young, female superhero, battling monsters both supernatural and mundane in an all-too-ordinary world.
"Love & Vermin: A Collection of Cartoons by The New Yorker's Will McPhail" by Will McPhail
With his shrewd eye for mundane absurdities and hysterically astute drawings of animals, Will McPhail is The New Yorker's most distinctive cartoonist. His cartoons delight in the everyday anxieties of modern life, skewer contemporary politics, and cut to the core of the most bizarre human behaviors. Now, in McPhail's first collection, new cartoons mix with old favorites: mischievous mice and opportunistic pigeons offer portals into McPhail's crackling curiosity, while Lady No-Kids' adventures continue with high-flying glee. With chapters ranging from the contemporary to the universal, and a classic black and white interior that evokes the timelessness of the craft, Love & Vermin proves why Will McPhail is one of the most cherished cartoonists of his generation.
"Strange Planet" by Nathan W. Pyle
Straight from the mind of New York Times bestselling author Nathan W. Pyle, "Strange Planet" is an adorable and profound universe in pink, blue, green, and purple, based on the phenomenally popular Instagram of the same name!