In 1992, the comic book world found itself in unprecedented territory when Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize for his stunning Holocaust survival story, Maus. Since that watershed event, the mainstream acceptance of comics and graphic novels has only grown. Recently, comics and graphic novels have attained a new level of literary acceptance and acclaim. Recognition from such respectable outlets as the National Book Foundation, TIME Magazine, Booklist, Library Journal, NPR and Publishers Weekly — as well as countless awards — has proven the merit of comics and graphic novels as a literary form.
Some award-winning and critically acclaimed comics include:
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Alabaster: Wolves by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Dark Horse Comics)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award (Best Graphic Novel category) for 2013
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (First Second)
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for 2007
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland (DC Comics)
Winner of the Harvey Award for 1988
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (DC Comics)
Winner of the Kirby Award (Best Graphic Album category) for 1987
Batman: War on Crime by Paul Dini and Alex Ross (DC Comics)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work category) for 2000
Beowulf (First Comics)
Winner of the Kirby Award (Best Graphic Album category) for 1985
Black Hole by Charles Burns (Pantheon)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Anthology or Collection category) for 2006
Blankets by Craig Thompson (Top Shelf Productions)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Graphic Novel category) for 2004
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work) for 2004
Cages by Dave McKean (Kitchen Sink)
Winner of Ignatz Award (Outstanding Graphic Novel category) for 1999
The Cartoon History of the Univers III: From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance by Larry Gonick (W.W. Norton)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work category) for 2003
Demon by Jason Shiga (First Second)
Winner of the Eisner Award (Best Graphic Album - Reprint) for 2017
Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man by John Porcellino (La Mano)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Anthology or Collection) for 2005
Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
Winner of the Hugo Award (Best Graphic Story category) 2012
Ed the Happy Clown by Chester Brown (Vortex)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album category) for 1990
El Deafo by Cece Bell (Harry N. Abrams)
Winner of the American Library Association's Newbery Medal for 2015
Essex County: Tales from the Farm by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf Productions)
Winner of the American Library Association's Alex Award for 2008
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde by Oscar Wilde and P. Craig Russell (NBM Publishing)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work category) for 1993
Fax from Sarajevo by Joe Kubert (Dark Horse Comics)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work category) for 1997
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (Eddie Campbell Comics, Top Shelf Productions)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Graphic Novel category) for 2000
Fun Home: A Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)
Time Magazine's Best Book of 2006
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Graphic Novel category) for 1998
Ghosts by Raina Telgemier (Graphix)
Winner of the Dwayne McDuffie for Kids' Comics Award for 2017
Girl Genius, Vol 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones by Kaja & Phil Foglio (Studio Foglio)
Winner of the Hugo Award (Best Graphic Novel category) for 2009
Girl Genius, Vol 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm by Kaja & Phil Foglio (Studio Foglio)
Winner of the Hugo Award (Best Graphic Story category) for 2010
Girl Genius, Vol 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Nyse by Kaja & Phil Foglio (Studio Foglio)
Winner of the Hugo Award (Best Graphic Story category) for 2011
The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Strum (Drawn & Quarterly)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work category) for 2002
The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis (Harry N. Abrams)
Winner of SEE-It Award for 2017
It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken by Seth (Drawn & Quarterly)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Oustanding Graphic Novel category) for 1997
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
Winner of the Guardian First Book Award for 2011
Kolchak The Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe by James Chambers, Luis Czerniawski, Felipe Kroll, Jim Fern, and E. M. Gist (Moonstone Publishing)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award (Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel) for 2017
Last Day in Vietnam by Will Eisner (Dark Horse Comics/Maverick)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work category) for 2001
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol 1 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill (DC Comics)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award (Best Illustrated Narrative category) for 2000
March: Book Three by John Lewis (Top Shelf Productions)
National Book Award winner for 2016
Winner of the Cybils Award for 2016
Winner of the Eisner Award (Best Reality-Based Work) for 2017
Winner of the Glyph Award (Story of the Year) for 2017
Maus, A Survivor's Tale — My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (RAW Books and Graphics)
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for 1992
Neonomicon by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows (Avatar Press)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award (Best Graphic Novel category) for 2011
Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner and Frank Stack (Four Walls Eight Windows)
Winner of the Harvey Award (Best Graphic Album of Original Work category) for 1995
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon)
Winner of the American Library Association's Alex Award for 2004
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi (Patheon)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Graphic Novel category) for 2005
The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens (Eclipse)
Winner of the Kirby Award (Best Graphic Album category) for 1986
Roller Girl by Victoria Jaimeson (Dial Books)
Winner of the American Library Association's Newbery Medal for 2016
Saga, Volume One by Brian K. Vaughn (Image Comics)
Winner of the Hugo Award (Best Graphic Story category) for 2013
Winner of the Eisner Award (Best Continuing Series) for 2017
Same Difference and Other Stories by Derek Kirk Kim (Self-published)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Promising New Talent category) for 2003
The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (Vertigo)
Winner of the World Fantasy Award (Best Short Fiction category) for 1991
The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman (Vertigo)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award (Best Illustrated Narrative category) for 2003
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse (Paradox)
Winner of the Harvey Award for 1996
Superman: Peace on Earth by Alex Ross (DC Comics)
Winner of the Harvey Award 1999
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (First Second)
Winner of the American Library Association's Caldecott Medal for 2015
Three Fingers by Rich Koslowski (Top Shelf Productions)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Graphic Novel category) for 2003
To the Heart of the Storm by Will Eisner (Kitchen Sink Press)
Winner of the Harvey Award for 1992
Tricked by Alex Robinson (Top Shelf Productions)
Winner of the Ignatz Award (Outstanding Graphic Novel category) for 2006
Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels
Winner of the Dwyane McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics for 2017
Watchmen by Alan Moore and David Gibbons (DC Comics)
Winner of the Hugo Award (Other Forms category) for 1988
Why I Hate Saturn by Kyle Baker (Piranha Press)
Winner of the Harvey Award 1991
Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times by Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton (McFarland)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award (Best Graphic Novel category) for 2012
Wonder Woman: The True Amazon by Jill Thompson (DC Entertainment)
Winner of the Esiner Award (Best Graphic Album - New) for 201
The Woods by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas (BOOM! Studios)
Winner of the GLAAD Award (Outstanding Comic Book) for 2017
You Are Here by Kyle Baker (Paradox)
Winner of the Harvey Award for 1999