The 13 best graphic novels with mature themes for adults
What’s that? The Paw Patrol graphic novel isn’t mature enough for you? Those dogs deal with REAL PROBLEMS, not whatever grimdark fantasyland woes Alan Moore dreamed up. But if you’re looking for adult graphic novels, you’ve come to the right place.
1. Maus
Hailed as one of the greatest graphic novels ever written, Art Spiegelman’s Maus recounts the horrors of the Holocaust with Jewish people reimagined as mice fleeing from vicious Nazi cats. As brutal as it is beautiful, Maus delivers all the terror and pathos of Elie Wiesel’s Night in a similarly short amount of pages. The first volume, My Father Bleeds History, tells the story of the author’s complicated relationship with his aging father, with whom he must struggle to survive and seek safety.
2. Akira
Akira is another contender for the greatest graphic novel ever written, and it’s easy to see why. Katsuhiro Otomo’s opus is one of the most seminal works ever produced, inspiring thousands of anime and manga titles in the decades to come. Without the dystopian sci-fi meets spirituality mashup of Akira, we would have no Ghost in the Shell or Neon Genesis Evangelion. The story takes place in Neo Tokyo, built upon the ruins of the old city destroyed during World War III. A group of lawless biker kids come in contact with a paranormal government experiment sprung loose, and their lives are forever altered.
3. Watchmen
Alan Moore’s Watchmen is often proclaimed to be the greatest super hero story ever told. The story revolves around the titular group of supes whose fall from grace shocked the nation. Now one of their number has been mysteriously murdered, and the splintered old gang come together once more to get to the bottom of things. It’s essentially the more complex version of The Boys, a tale about what happens when a small group of fallible individuals is given power unchecked. Hint: nothing good.
4. Persepolis
Persepolis is the story of author Marjane Satrapi’s experiences growing up as a young girl during the Islamic Revolution. What was the Islamic Revolution? Essentially it was a right-wing reactionary response to the left leaning White Revolution that occurred decades prior. The young protagonist must now contend with the new, religiously informed laws instated by the nation, including a mandatory conservative dress code for women. Persepolis is a coming-of-age tale about adolescent rebellion and one young girl’s struggle to reconcile her differences with her family and her country.
5. The Walking Dead
Before it was a decade-long AMC series, Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead was arguably the greatest zombie graphic novel ever penned, and a contender for one of the greatest pieces of zombie fiction ever conceived. Police officer Rick Grimes awakens in a hospital bed to find that the world has been overrun by the walking dead, and he has to fight his way back to his family and lead a group of survivors to safety. If you thought the show was brutal, wait until you get a load of the source material.
6. The Dark Knight Returns
Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is hailed by many as the greatest Batman story ever told, rivaled only by all time greats like Year One and The Killing Joke. The story begins with Batman in the twilight of his career. His spirit is willing, but his flesh is weak, and his aging body isn’t able to keep up with his unchanging ideals. After being forced to use a gun to save his life, he hangs up the cape and cowl for good … until on old foe resurfaces and the Dark Knight must … spoiler alert: RETURN.
7. Saga
Saga is NUTS. It’s a fantasy sci-fi romp about a baby named Hazel who is born to two warrior parents who find themselves embroiled in a galactic war. While the premise sounds cartoony, the execution is anything but. People get BODIED in this series, and the brutal action is only broken apart by the steamy, witheringly romantic scenes of love and passion between Hazel’s young parents. Oh and there are robots with TVs for heads attempting to create a galactic monarchy, fyi.
8. Superman: Red Son
What would happen if baby Superman’s spaceship didn’t land in rural Kansas? If he didn’t grow up to be the corn-fed all-American defender of the Western World that his parents raised him to be? Mark Millar’s Superman: Red Son imagines what would happen of Kal-El instead crash landed in the Soviet Union, and became the pride of Russia at the height of the Cold War.
9. Black Hole
Before there was It Follows, there was another high school STD horror story on the market. Charles Burns’ Black Hole centers around a group of teenagers in 1970s suburban Seattle who have fallen victim to a hideous plague. The disease—transmitted by sexual contact—causes mutations ranging from subtle to Cronenburg grotesque. Black Hole is an ugly comic about the ugly realities of bumping uglies in an ugly world.
10. Uzumaki
When most horror authors sit down to imagine a monster, their brains go to undead horrors, faceless killers, and hideous aliens. But Uzumaki creator Junji Ito is not most authors. What’s the villain of his novel? A shape—a spiral, to be precise. A Japanese town is plagued by grim manifestations of an everyday shape turned sinister, resulting in one of the best—and grossest—cosmic horror stories ever penned.
11. V for Vendetta
Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta is the 1984 of the graphic novel world. The story takes place in a totalitarian England, where a brutal right-wing government terrorizes the populace into subjugation. But a certain man with a penchant for classical music, knife throwing, and the letter “V” will not be silenced. He will lead a revolution.
12. The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower series is Stephen King’s most ambitious novel. I say “novel” because although the story is split over seven separate books, it’s really just one giant mega-novel. The Dark Tower graphic novel reimagines the post-apocalyptic world of gunslinger knight errant Roland Deschain and his quest for the mysterious Dark Tower in stunning visual detail.
13. The Road
The Road is Cormac McCarthy’s toughest novel to stomach, and that’s saying something. This is Cormac McCarthy we’re talking about, the author of the nightmarish Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men. It’s the story of an unnamed father and son who are attempting to survive in a dying post-apocalyptic world. The pair’s journey facing off against cannibals, thieves, and the never-ending road before them has never looked bleaker or more beautiful.
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