Best Graphic Novels of the 21st Century
The modern classics — the best graphic novels since 2000.
By Web Admin
The 20th century gave comics Maus, Watchmen, and The Dark Knight Returns — the books that proved the medium could be literature. The 21st century has spent its first quarter proving that wasn’t a fluke. Since 2000, graphic novels have won Pulitzers, topped literary bestseller lists, and been assigned in university courses, all while getting weirder and more personal.
This is our guide to the best graphic novels of the 21st century: memoir, science fiction, formal experiments, and at least one book that comes in a literal box. Everything here was published in 2000 or later, and we’ve included US prices so you can build a shelf of modern classics without guesswork.
What counts as a 21st-century classic
A few things separate this era’s best from the capes-and-cowls canon. Autobiography went mainstream. Formal experimentation — playing with page architecture, color, and time — became a selling point rather than a gimmick. And the audience widened: bookstores now shelve graphic novels in general fiction and memoir, not just a back corner. The books below reflect that range. If you want the deeper canon that includes pre-2000 titles, see our best graphic novels list.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2000–2003, ~US$25 complete)
Marjane Satrapi’s black-and-white memoir of growing up during and after the Iranian Revolution is one of the century’s defining graphic novels. Its stark, almost folk-art linework makes enormous historical events intimate and human. The one-volume “Complete Persepolis” collects both books for around US$25 and is a perfect first serious graphic novel — accessible, moving, and unforgettable.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (2006, ~US$17)
Subtitled “A Family Tragicomic,” Fun Home is Alison Bechdel’s dense, allusive memoir about her closeted father, her own coming out, and the family funeral home she grew up in. It’s structured like literature — looping through time, layering in references to Joyce and Fitzgerald — and it became a Tony-winning Broadway musical. If you read one book off this list, make it this one.
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (2012–, ~US$10/vol)
Not every century-defining book is a solemn memoir. Saga is a sprawling, funny, filthy space opera about two soldiers from opposite sides of a war who fall in love and go on the run with their baby. It’s the best on-ramp to modern comics we know, and its first volume costs about US$10. For the full breakdown, read our Saga Vol. 1 review.
Building Stories by Chris Ware (2012, ~US$30–50)
Chris Ware’s Building Stories is less a book than a box: fourteen separate printed pieces — pamphlets, a broadsheet, a hardcover, a fold-out board — that you can read in any order. It’s about the residents of a Chicago apartment building and the quiet texture of ordinary lives. Ambitious, melancholy, and utterly unlike anything else, it’s the boldest formal experiment of the century.
Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (2010, ~US$25)
Brazilian twins Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá built Daytripper around a haunting conceit: each chapter ends with the protagonist’s death at a different age, then resets, asking what makes a life complete at any point. It’s gorgeous, humane, and one of the most emotionally generous books in comics. A perfect standalone; see more like it in our best standalone graphic novels guide.
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris (2017, ~US$40 for both books)
Emil Ferris’s debut looks like a teenage girl’s spiral notebook — rendered entirely in ballpoint-pen crosshatching — and reads like a novel about horror, art, the Holocaust, and 1960s Chicago. It’s astonishing that a first work is this accomplished. Book Two finally arrived, so you can now read the whole thing. Buy it for the art alone.
Blankets, Asterios Polyp, and Here
Three more essentials in one stop. Craig Thompson’s Blankets (2003, ~US$25) is a 592-page first-love memoir with some of the most lyrical cartooning of the decade — a snowbound Wisconsin adolescence rendered with astonishing tenderness. David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp (2009, ~US$25) is a design masterpiece that uses color, line style, and lettering to represent character and worldview, so that the artwork itself argues with itself. Richard McGuire’s Here (2014, ~US$20) stays fixed on a single corner of a room across millions of years, jumping through deep time in overlapping panels — dinosaurs, colonists, a living room, a distant future — and was recently adapted to film by Robert Zemeckis.
What ties these three together is craft you can’t fake. Each one does something with the page — its rhythm, its color, its very shape — that only comics can do, and each rewards a slow second read. They’re the books to reach for once the memoirs have hooked you and you want to see how far the form can be pushed.
The modern classics at a glance
Use this table to match a book to your taste and budget.
| Book | Type | Year | Approx. price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persepolis | Memoir | 2000–03 | ~US$25 | First serious read |
| Fun Home | Memoir | 2006 | ~US$17 | Literary readers |
| Saga, Vol. 1 | Sci-fi/fantasy | 2012 | ~US$10 | Beginners |
| Building Stories | Experimental | 2012 | ~US$30–50 | Formal adventurers |
| Daytripper | Drama | 2010 | ~US$25 | Emotional payoff |
| My Favorite Thing Is Monsters | Mystery/art | 2017 | ~US$40 | Art lovers |
How to build a modern shelf on a budget
If you’re starting from zero, here’s a sensible buying order that balances cost and impact:
- Start cheap and accessible: Saga, Vol. 1 (~US$10).
- Add a literary heavyweight: Persepolis or Fun Home.
- Get an emotional gut-punch: Daytripper.
- Splurge on a showpiece: Building Stories or My Favorite Thing Is Monsters.
A note on content: several of these deal frankly with sexuality, death, and historical trauma. They’re written for adult readers, though none are gratuitous. For long-form serialized comics from the same era, our best comic book runs guide is the natural companion piece.
Pros
- Genuine literary heavyweights — Pulitzer- and Eisner-level work
- Enormous range: memoir, sci-fi, formal experiment
- Most are standalone — no continuity homework
- Several are affordable single-volume buys
Cons
- Mature themes throughout — mostly adult reading
- Showpiece editions (Building Stories) get pricey
- Less action-driven than superhero fare
The verdict
If the 20th century proved comics could be art, the 21st has been busy showing how many kinds of art they can be. Fun Home and Persepolis are the memoir peaks, Building Stories the boldest experiment, and Saga the most fun. Any of them will change how you think about the medium. Browse more in our best graphic novels hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best graphic novel of the 21st century?
Critical consensus tends to land on Fun Home or Persepolis as the century’s defining literary graphic novels, though Building Stories and My Favorite Thing Is Monsters have passionate advocates.
Are these good for someone who’s never read a graphic novel?
Several are ideal starters — Persepolis and Saga especially. If you want the gentlest possible on-ramp, our best graphic novels list flags the most beginner-friendly picks.
Do I need to read them in any order?
No. Every book on this list is a standalone work. Read whichever premise appeals to you most.
Are these appropriate for teenagers?
Most are written for adult readers and deal with sexuality, death, or historical violence. Persepolis is often taught in schools; the others are best for mature teens and up.
Keep going with our best standalone graphic novels guide or the full best graphic novels hub.
