The 15 Best Comics & Graphic Novels of 2024

As publishers, authors, and creators have faced increasing threats to the freedom to read, many have doubled down on their efforts to produce timely, important stories and to protect them from censorship. Comics, in particular, have leaned into the weird and wild, with indie creators and publishers producing some of the most incredible work we’ve seen in years.

Narrowing down the best comics and graphic novels of 2024 isn’t an easy task, and it’s one The Mary Sue takes very seriously. Below, find our definitive ranking of the industry’s best and brightest to hit shelves this past year.

15. Black Panther: Reign At Dusk

Writer Eve L. Ewing’s 10-issue run on Black Panther expands our understanding of Wakanda and introduces a frightening new villain, Kivu’Ma (co-created by Ewing and artist Mack Chater). Reign At Dusk follows T’Challa after he’s banished from the throne and attempts to continue protecting his country as the Black Panther, but not everyone is open to having him in their streets. Wakanda’s ruling crime families are about to go to war and when one summons the century-old spirit Kivu’Ma, the stakes heighten to a terrifying degree.

Deeply political and rich with new information about one of Marvel’s most interesting locations, Black Panther: Reign At Dusk is a self-contained story that’s worth the investment for Ewing’s excellent scripts and stunning work by artists Chris Allen, Craig Yeung, Chater, Matt Horak, and Oren Junior. Letterer Joe Sabino and colorists Jesus Aburtov and Andrew Dalhouse bring everything together for an excellent read.

14. Dawnrunner

When massive, seemingly unkillable monsters called the Tetza descend from a portal over Central America and best even the strongest military-grade weapons, humanity’s survivors build a wall to contain them and create huge mechs called the Iron Kings to fight the Tetza. In Dawnrunner, which takes place a century after the initial invasion, celebrated I-K pilot Anita Marr is paired with a brand new mech that goes beyond simple technology to bridge the gap between it and the human mind. The public goal? Stronger, faster response times, leading to quicker Tetza takedowns. The private goal? Learning what the Tetza want and what they say to each other behind the wall.

There have been many mech-meets-alien stories over the years, and Dawnrunner certainly honors its forbearers (particularly Pacific Rim and Giga). However, rather than simply revisiting beloved tropes, it pushes the concept into a high-value commentary on capitalism, compliance, connection, and generational grief. Writer Ram V and artist Evan Cagle are at the top of their game, with stunning color work by Dave Stewart and on-point lettering by Aditya Bidikar pushing the story to new heights.

13. Visitations

Corey Egbert’s graphic memoir, Visitations, examines a painful period in his young life when his mentally ill mother gave into her paranoia and drove him and his younger sister around the Nevada desert in their car, always citing God as their guiding light. Despite his loyalty to her, Egbert struggles to understand his mom’s goals and beliefs, especially after he begins receiving visits from the ghost of a young girl encouraging him to look beyond his mother’s assurances and find his own truth.

A stunning commentary on life in the Mormon church, being raised by someone with severe mental illness, and discerning the line between unquestioning faith and nuanced empathy and understanding, Visitations is a moving story that will stay with you for a long time.

12. Age 16

Rosena Fung’s YA debut, Age 16, draws on her family history to tell an intergenerational story about three women attempting to define their self-worth in deeply misogynist cultures. Roz struggles to find a prom dress that doesn’t make her feel terrible just as her estranged Por arrives for a surprise visit and shifts the balance of the home Roz shares with her single mother.

The story takes place across three time periods: Toronto in 2000, Hong Kong in 1972, and Guangdong in 1954 to explore intergenerational trauma, body image, and the ache of missed connections between three women who bear more similarities than they realize (or would like to admit). What results is a deeply empathetic and necessary work of fiction that showcases Fung’s heartfelt and brilliant writing and illustration work.

11. Sapphic Pulp

Heathen creator Natasha Alterici’s crowdfunded and self-published Sapphic Pulp is a gorgeous (adults-only) erotica collection featuring short comics about desire, gender, self-image, intimacy, and consent. Featuring Alterici’s writing and art, the book also showcases art by Rye Hickman, Chloe Brailsford, Chloé Stawski, Fell Hound, Sapphomet, and Rachel Merrill, with excellent lettering by Jodie Troutman and top-tier editing work from Michele Abounader.

This collection is as stunning as it is sexy, with welcome moments of levity and vulnerability.

10. Alas

A Grey, a Gnome (hard ‘g’), and a Shakespeare are trapped in an interplanetary prison—but not for long! Sajan Rai’s Alas, which debuted at the 2024 ShortBox Comics Fair, is a humor comic with an absurd premise that delivers on every single punchline for a rollicking good time. Rai’s sharp, witty writing and limited but still incredibly bright palette deliver a delightfully insular experience in the tradition of late-night cartoons, making for a wild but unforgettable read.

9. Cartoonists for Palestine

Following the launch of its online comics archive in March, Cartoonists for Palestine in partnership with Crucial Comix has released the Cartoonists for Palestine Anthology, collecting work from 50 creators from around the world. It’s a deeply moving book showcasing a variety of artistic and storytelling styles, beautifully edited into a cohesive anthology by Yazan al-Saadi, Tracy Chahwan, Shay Mirk, and Andy Warner.

In addition to the print book, from which proceeds are being donated to Palestinian aid organizations, the collective has also released a free PDF online.

8. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two

Emil Ferris once again blows readers’ expectations out of the water with My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two, a continuation of fictional 10-year-old Karen Reyes’s diary as she investigates the murder of her neighbor, a Holocaust survivor, and tries to figure out who she is in late ’60s Chicago.

Ferris’s ballpoint pen hatching is so detailed and dynamic, each oversized page drawing focus for minutes at a time. Pulpy horror drawings never feel out of place and contribute to Karen’s inner world. The story pacing is as solid as ever, showcasing Ferris’s unique approach to a charged and nuanced tale about growing up. This conclusion to My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is well worth the wait.

7. The Deep Dark

Molly Knox Ostertag has produced some incredible work in her career, including The Witch Boy trilogy and The Girl from the Sea. But her 2024 release, The Deep Dark, might be her best book yet.

Originally released serially in a newsletter format, The Deep Dark follows high school senior Mags Herrera, whose days are occupied with school, work, and taking care of her ailing abuela. She’s secretly hooking up with a girl who has a boyfriend, which works fine for her because she has a huge secret of her own—one that comes to light when her childhood best friend, Nessa, comes back with tons of memories and a few important but worrisome questions. As Mags and Nessa grow closer, Mags’s world shifts dramatically—but sometimes, that’s a good thing.

Ostertag is absolutely at the top of her game in every part of her craft. Told primarily through dialogue, text messages, and detailed drawings with a shifting color palette, The Deep Dark is a stunning exploration of safety, trust, identity, intimacy, and what it means to choose yourself over appeasing someone else.

6. Soft (Director’s Cut)

The summer Laura turns 15, she meets a mercurial girl named Carmilla whose existence becomes the center of Laura’s world. Simply put, she’s in love—and even when she realizes what Carmilla is and how dangerous their relationship has become, Laura struggles to imagine life without her.

Jane Mai’s Soft (Director’s Cut) is one of the best (if not the best) adaptations of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla to ever hit shelves. Through Laura’s diary entries, Mai carefully illustrates the highs and lows of finding and losing your first love without ever losing sight of the source material. This edition expands upon the original (2015) with an additional 30 pages of story, revised dialogue, and new art to create something even more tender, reflective, and unique in the vampire romance subgenre.

5. Sunflowers

In the autobiographical Sunflowers, cartoonist Keezy Young explores their experience of living with Bipolar I disorder. Combining lush colors, abstract illustrations, botanical imagery, and tight, expository narration with moments of total darkness, Young presents a breathtaking commentary on how mania is framed by people who don’t have it as something fun or whimsical or interesting—but it’s far more nuanced than that.

Sunflowers is sharp, succinct, and wildly vulnerable. It’s a staggering accomplishment.

4. Loving, Ohio

Someone (or something) is hunting teenagers in Loving, Ohio, and a tightly-knit friend group is struggling to move forward in the wake of one of their own dying by suicide before he was meant to depart for a mission trip on behalf of the Chorus, a local religious cult that’s rapidly indoctrinating everyone in town. Loving, Ohio is a haunting treatise on religious fervor, grief, and the nightmare of trying to survive what feels like a losing battle for your personhood.

Matthew Erman (whose Bonding made our list of the best comics and graphic novels of 2023) has written the best script of his career in Loving, Ohio. Combined with top-tier art by Sam Beck that masterfully combines elements of the mundane with the fantastical, this modern-day horror story is deeply unsettling and flawlessly executed.

3. Brittle Joints

Maria Sweeney’s graphic memoir, Brittle Joints, is one of the strongest additions to the disability literary canon of 2024. The book examines Sweeney’s lifelong relationship with chronic pain through the progression of her disability, Bruck Syndrome, which causes joint abnormalities and brittle bones.

Sweeney combines immersive, painterly illustrations, a mix of page layouts, first-person narration, and tons of texture to tell her story, bringing the reader into her complex emotions and the difficulties she faces as a patient with a rare disease who’s been forced to become an expert in her own care. Brittle Joints is, in a word, phenomenal, and its impact is sure to be felt for years to come.

2. Punk Rock Karaoke

Ariel Grace Jones and their besties/bandmates, Michele Covarrubias and Gael Certi, are done with high school and ready to make it big with their punk band, Baby Hares. Unfortunately, post-grad life is more complicated than any of them realized. When a local icon takes interest in the band (and more specifically, Ariel), his presence could rip them apart.

Bianca Xunise’s Punk Rock Karaoke is simultaneously a coming-of-age tale and a story about finding, forming, and strengthening community ties as an act of survival and resistance. Xunise channels their experience as a Black, non-binary, Chicago punk for the book’s story and aesthetics, which makes its world feel more lived-in. In addition to brightly-colored and at times chaotic art, a running soundtrack, and quick-witted dialogue, Xunise also provides moments of emotional connection and vulnerability, giving their characters realistic stakes as they navigate a tumultuous period in their lives.

1. Mary Tyler MooreHawk

Mary Tyler MooreHawk is one of the most unique comics to hit shelves in recent years, and creator Dave Baker swings for the fences with its storytelling and execution.

On one level, there’s the comic, which is a series of nine-panel, limited-palette vignettes in an ongoing sci-fi epic about a teenage girl and her ragtag family trying to save the world (again). On another, there’s an investigative magazine serial about the in-universe Dave Baker, who created a TV series titled Mary Tyler MooreHawk that aired for nine episodes on people’s dishwashers in the near-future and then was canceled, immediately developing a cult following in an era when personal belongings are minimal and thus, hoarded by so-called physicalists.

As Dave Baker the magazine writer gets ever-closer to finding Dave Baker the TV creator, Baker the IRL comics creator weaves a thrilling commentary on capitalism, materialism, connection, and the types of stories that haunt us even years after we last engaged with them. Mary Tyler MooreHawk is a wild ride from start to finish, and each re-read reveals something new. It’s also incredibly timely, making it our top pick for the best comics and graphic novels of 2024.