Inspired by Free Comic Book Day, we at the Mid-Manhattan Library asked readers to share their favorite comics and graphic novels at our Open Book Hour in May. From a love story featuring time-traveling assassins to moving graphic memoirs, here are our patron and staff picks.

Before we get to the list, don't forget that we want your recommendations, too! If you have a favorite graphic novel or nonfiction comic, please feel free to share in the comments section below.

If you enjoy swapping book recommendations with other readers, we hope you'll check out an Open Book Hour at Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd Street! We meet on the second Friday of every month at 2 PM—here's information on upcoming meetings and themes. You can also find links to our past reading lists here.
 

Antonio started off the recommendations with I Killed Adolf Hitler by Norwegian author-artist, Jason. He appreciated the humor in this tale, which is also a love story, about assassins traveling back through time. Antonio found the minimalist art to be very effective in telling the story, reminiscent of a silent film.

 

 

 

The mention of Hitler brought us to a work that's completely different in tone: Art Spiegelman’s classic telling of his father’s experience during the Holocaust and his own difficult relationship with his parents. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale was the first comic to win a Pulitzer Prize, in 1992.

 

 

 

Discussing Maus called to mind a book that some consider to be the first graphic novel, Will Eisner’s The Contract with God trilogy, set in a fictional Bronx tenement at 55 Dropsie Avenue during the Depression, World War II, and post-war years. Fun fact: The Eisner Awards, the "Oscars" for comics, are named after Eisner.

Read more about The Contract with God Trilogy in this Reader's Den blog post.

 

Bernie told us about his favorite classic comic, Supersnipe, created by writer-artist Gregory Marcoux, published between 1942 and 1949. "A boy who liked to think he was a superhero and, who through dumb luck, would actually catch crooks. His associates were Morlock Domey, who had everything in his coat; Ulysses Q. Wacky, inventor and genius; and Roxy Adams, girl guerilla."

Supersnipe’s tagline was "The boy with the most comic books in America," and according to The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes by Gina Misiroglu, Supersnipe was the first comic to include comic books as subject matter.

Unfortunately, SuperSnipe is out of print, but covers and issue information can be found in the Grand Comics Database (GCD). Readers interested in other classic comics can sign into BiblioBoard with their NYPL library card and PIN to browse Golden Age Comics from the 1940s and 50s, published by Fiction House.
 

Bernie is also a fan of the Manga series Prison School, written and illustrated by Akira Hiramoto. Five boys are admitted to an elite boarding school for girls, which seems like a dream come true until they soon learn about the Prison Block at Hachmitsu Academy. Prison School has been adapted into an anime series.

 

 

 

Joan stepped out of her comfort zone and tried reading a graphic novel for the first time as an adult. She choseThe Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy’s Great Idea, a graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier, adapted from the novel by Ann M. Martin.

The experience reminded Joan of reading comic book adaptations of classic novels as a teenager. She found Kristy’s Great Idea to be "an entertaining graphic adaptation of a novel about girls and their experience with starting a baby-sitting club. How it develops their relationships and how they solve some of their problems."
 

Helen recommended Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel’s darkly funny and moving memoir of her relationship with her father. "This was a great story of a woman’s experience growing up in rural Pennsylvania in the 70’s and her relationship with her father," Helen said. "The illustration is wonderful and adds to your understanding."

Fun Home was adapted into a musical, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015, as well as an Obie Award. It's the first Broadway musical to feature a lesbian protagonist.

 

 

Helen also recently visited the Society of Illustrators and was impressed by their exhibition, The Art of March: A Civil Rights Masterpiece. The three volumes of March tell the story of the Civil Rights movement through the eyes of the author, U.S. Representative, John Lewis. March has won a National Book Award, an Eisner Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award, among other honors. Antonio told us he discovered March because he was familiar with the work of illustrator Nate Powell.

 

 

Louisa shared an illustrated edition of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. She found that the illustrations by French artist, writer, and cartoonist Moebius (Jean Giraud) enhanced her appreciation of the fable.

"This book is a fable about following your dreams," she said. "The first time I read this book, I read it in one sitting. I’ve never done this before, ever. It’s easy to read in one sitting because of the storyline and the length, but had it been longer, I would have still read it in one sitting. Originally written in Portuguese, it doesn’t lose anything in the translation."

Louisa also passed along an irresistible reading recommendation from an eleven-year-old reader she met on a bus: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. NYPL librarians agree!

To end our discussion, Antonio also recommended a couple of his favorite high-concept series:

Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan is a ten-volume series featuring Yorick Brown and his Capuchin monkey, the only male survivors on the planet after all mammals with a Y chromosome die. 

100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello is a noir series that explores characters' willingness to kill for vengeance when given a reasonable chance of not being caught.