2024 is at a close, and Iowa City Public Library Staff reflected on some of the literary highlights of the year, voting for new favorites in a variety of genres. In this list, you'll find the staff picks for Graphic Novels released in 2024. "Ash's Cabin" by Jen Wang was the standout title among staff, earning the greatest number of votes for this genre.
Ash's cabin
Wang, Jen, 1984- author, illustrator.
GRAPHIC NOVEL Wang
Ash has always felt alone. Adults ignore the climate crisis. Other kids Ash's age are more interested in pop stars and popularity contests than in fighting for change. Even Ash's family seems to be sleepwalking through life. The only person who ever seemed to get Ash was their Grandpa Edwin. Before he died, he used to talk about building a secret cabin, deep in the California wilderness. Did he ever build it? What if it's still there, waiting for him to come back...or for Ash to find it? To Ash, that maybe-mythical cabin is starting to feel like the perfect place for a fresh start and an escape from the miserable feeling of alienation that haunts their daily life. But making the wilds your home isn't easy. And as much as Ash wants to be alone...can they really be happy alone? Can they survive alone?.
Beneath the trees where nobody sees
Horvath, Patrick (Filmmaker), author.
GRAPHIC NOVEL Horvath
This is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong's cardinal rule. After all, there's a sea of perfectly ripe potential victims in the big city just beyond the forest, and when you've worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie...the last thing you want is to disturb the peace. So you can imagine her indignation when one of Woodbrook's own meets a grisly, mysterious demise--and you wouldn't blame her for doing anything it takes to hunt down her rival before the town self-destructs and Sheriff Patterson starts (literally) barking up the wrong tree.
Julie and the blue guitar
Gilly, Casey, author.
jGRAPHIC NOVEL American
An American Girl Mystery unravels across time! Join Emma Dhillon in 2024 as she befriends Julie Albright through her 1977 journal and uncovers a mystery. Ten-year-old Emma is excited to explore her new home of San Francisco, but making new friends is difficult. That is, until she meets Julie. Well, she discovers her journal from 1977 in a local thirft shop and quickly becomes enraptured with a mystery unfolding in Julie's time. Though half a century separates them, Emma and Julie are united by their shared home, their passion for the environment, and a missing blue guitar. As Julie investigates stolen artifacts and works to help animals after an oil spill, Emma sets to work uncovering Julie A.'s identity, documenting the whole process on video for her school project.
Lunar New Year love story
Yang, Gene Luen, author.
GRAPHIC NOVEL Yang
Graphic novel superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham join forces in this heartwarming rom-com about fate, family, and falling in love. Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed--no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love. But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever?
My favorite thing is monsters (Book 2)
Ferris, Emil, author, illustrator.
GRAPHIC NOVEL Ferris My
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late '60s Chicago, and narrated by 10-year-old Karen Reyes, Monsters is told is told through a fictional graphic diary employing the iconography of B-movie horror imagery and pulp monster magazines. As the precocious Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her beautiful and enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, we watch the interconnected and fascinating stories of those around her unfold.
Plain Jane and the mermaid
Brosgol, Vera, author, artist.
GRAPHIC NOVEL Brosgol
Jane is incredibly plain. Everyone says so: her parents, the villagers, and her horrible cousin who kicks her out of her own house. Determined to get some semblance of independence, Jane prepares to propose to the princely Peter, who might just say yes to get away from his father. It's a good plan! Or it would've been, if he wasn't kidnapped by a mermaid. With her last shot at happiness lost in the deep blue sea, Jane must venture to the world underwater to rescue her maybe-fiancé. But the depths of the ocean hold beautiful mysteries and dangerous creatures. What good can a plain Jane do?
The marble queen
Kopp, Anna, writer.
GRAPHIC NOVEL Kopp
A sapphic YA graphic novel with sword fighting, political intrigue and magic where the princess needs a marriage alliance for the welfare of her kingdom, but she unknowingly accepts a proposal from a mysterious country, having come not from the prince, but his sister.
The midnight : shadows
Kaplan, Zack, author.
GRAPHIC NOVEL Kaplan
A cyberpunk-inspired, ultra-nostalgic OGN about growing up and embracing responsibility.
Viewfinder
Chung, Christine D. U., author.
jGRAPHIC NOVEL Chung
Arriving on an Earth devoid of people, a young space traveler discovers a viewfinder that reveals how the planet used to be, in this wordless, adventure-filled graphic novel about resilience and the extraordinary place we call home.
Woman, life, freedom
Satrapi, Marjane, 1969- creator, author, artist.
305.420955 /Satrapi
On September 13, 2022, a young Iranian student, Mahsa Amini, was arrested by the morality police in Tehran. Her only crime was that she wasn't properly wearing the headscarf required for women by the Islamic Republic. At the police station, she was beaten so badly she had to be taken to the hospital, where she fell into a deep coma. She died three days later. A wave of protests soon spread through the whole country, and crowds adopted the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom"--words that have been chanted around the world during solidarity rallies. In order to tell the story of this major revolution happening in her homeland, Marjane Satrapi has gathered together an array of journalists, activists, academics, artists, and writers from around the world to create this powerful collection of full-color, graphic-novel-style essays and perspectives that bear witness.
"Ash's Cabin" was ranked the Best of Graphic Novels by ICPL Staff for 2024.
- Becky