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OK Comics' Top Twenty Graphic Novels Of The Year

Published Sun, 28 Dec 2014 14:00:00 -0600

Last updated Sun, 28 Dec 2014 14:15:53 -0600

I had a grand time visiting OK Comics in Leeds during this year's Thought Bubble Festival. And they seem to have had a grand year as well. Here is their top twenty list of graphic novel published in 2014. Bleeding Cool will have our own in the upcoming week… I expect plenty of crossover.

OK Comics' Jared writes,

We have a few guidelines when we put together our list. We try to include only books that were released after 1st January 2014, exclude reprints and exclude books that are volume number two (or later) of a series. (It's worth keeping in mind that OK Comics is a shop, in the business of selling comics and graphic novels. And our list reflects our effort to include something for everyone).

1 SUPERCRASH! Educational, Inspirational! Darryl Cunningham Investigates how society got in this financial mess! From Myriad Editions.

2 LOVE BUNGLERS Xaime/Jaime Hernandez's perfect study of a rekindled relationship. Great story, great art. From Fantagraphics

3 WRENCHIES by Farel Dalrymple. Brilliant, post-modern action adventure! Hits the target Moore and Morrison have been aiming at for years!

4 THIS ONE SUMMER by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. Canadian teenage, coming of age drama. Exceeds expectations for young adult fiction.

5 GRAPHIC INK: THE DC ART OF FRANK QUITELY. DC Comics present short stories and artwork from the greatest living comic artist.

6 BOXER by Reinhard Kleist published by SelfMadeHero. Touching story of Harry Haft, forced to box in the concentration camps, and what he did next.

7 SOUTHERN BASTARDS by Jason Latour and Jason Aaron, from Image Comics. Dirty! Rough! 'Robert Duvall' Vs 'Powers Boothe' in small town America.

8 MS MARVEL by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona. School-girl gets superpowers like her favourite Avenger! An ace, entry level Marvel comic!

9 HOW TO DRAW AWESOME COMICS. From pages of The Phoenix Comic, Neill Cameron provides a step by step guide to creating comics for all ages.

10 HERE by Richard McGuire from Penguin Books tells the history of one location, the corner of a room, throughout all time. Amazing!

11 ORDINARY by Rob Williams and D'Israeli. Everybody gets superpowers, only one guy remains ordinary. What makes him so special?

12 GARDENS OF GLASS by Lando from Breakdown Press. Mostly wordless, mostly sc-fi, completely alien. Moebius Vs Otomo!

13 MOTHERLESS OVEN by Rob Davis from SelfMadeHero. Very English story of school kids escaping inevitabilities of life, with Kitchen gods!

14 THE COLLECTOR by Sergio Toppi from Archaia. English language translation from the Italian comics master! Introduction by Sean Gordon Murphy

15 BEST OF ENEMIES by Jean-Pierre Filiu & David B, another from SelfMadeHero. Non-fiction account of the relationship between US and Middle East.

16 SUGAR SKULL from both Jonathan Cape or Pantheon Books. The final chapter in the Charles Burns masterpiece.

17 ROBERT MOSES by Pierre Christin Olivier Balez, From Nobrow. Biography of the Architect, bully and Master Builder of New York City.

18 SHOPLIFTER by Michael Cho, Pantheon Books. Beautifully illustrated tale of an aspirational writer stuck in a job she hates.

19 GAST by Carol Swain from Fantagraphics. Set in Wales, young girl turns detective to figure out why her neighbour killed himself.

20 BLACKSAD: AMARILLO by Juan Díaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido. Perfectly rendered, Noir detective comic from Dark Horse Comics.

Sooo, many great books this year! We also recommend checking out… Through the Woods, Just So Happens, White Death, Legends of the Tour, How to be Happy, Brass Sun, Corto Maltese, Dream Quest of the Unknown Kadath, 47 Ronin, Noah, Cigar That Fell In Love With a Pipe, X-Men: Battle of the Atom, Hip Hop Family Tree, True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, Black Science, Deadly Class, Robocop Vs Terminator, Moon Knight, Magneto, Snow Piercer, Sex Criminals, Secret Avengers.

Honourable mention has to go to Locke & Key, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. Volume six came out this year. It's a very near perfect comic series!

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