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Home , Adrian Alphona, Alison Bechdel, Avatar Press, Becky Cloonan, Breed (comics), Chew (comics)

BOOK CLUBS

BOOKS TO GET YOU STARTED VERSION 2.0 • 2015 If you’re a fan, you know compiling a reading list of graphic novels for a Book Club is a daunt- ing task. With 75+ years of amazing stories and art, the comics medium is filled with absolute trea- sures. The staff of Comic-Con International got together and came up with a list of their favorite graphic novels. We hope that the books on this list, which we stress is just a starting point, will make for great discusssions. As a side note, we originally intended a list of 20 books; we stopped at 60, and could have easily continued. We think this list showcases the incredible diversity of comic books and graphic novels and the they embrace. We have selected books that are still in print; some of them are available in digital form via Kindle and comiXology. See the individual books in this listing for that availability. UPDATE: We’ve added 20 new suggestions for 2015!

As with most book clubs, you, the members, will pick the books your group reads. If you have a favorite graphic novel you’d like to suggest—and maybe even moderate—at a future club meeting, please bring your suggestion and a copy of the book (If you have it) to a club meeting. It doesn’t have to be on this list. Make your case for your favorite book and if your members agree, we’ll read it and discuss it at an upcoming meeting!

Please see page 11 of this list for local resources (comic and book stores) that may carry the books we suggest for consideration for discussion. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL STORE AND PUBLIC LIBRARY! MONTHLY MEETINGS • DOWNTOWN: 1st Tuesday of every month • MISSION VALLEY: 1st Wednesday of every month 6:00 pm at each location, except North Park (6:30) • NORTH PARK: 1st Wednesday of every month Meetings in JULY may be rescheduled or cancelled • LA JOLLA: 2nd Tuesday of every month HOLIDAY PARTY with all 5 clubs in December! • PACIFIC BEACH: 3rd Tuesday of every month 1 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB

CRIME/MYSTERY/ CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER Gotham Central, Book 1: In the Line of Duty Richard Stark’s Parker, Vol. 1: The Hunter , & The Police Dept. works Adapted from Richard Stark’s iconic overtime dealing with novels, Parker is a career ’s villains. looking for revenge.

DC Comics • 240 pages Eisner Winner! IDW • 144 pages

Available in print and on Kindle Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER Whiteout, Vol. 1: Definitive Edition : Out from Boneville, Vol. 1 Greg Rucka & U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko Jeff Smith’s all-ages fantasy follows is sent to Antartica to Bone and his cousins on an epic investigate a murder. Lord of the Rings like quest.

ONI Press • 128 pages Scholastic • 144 pages Winner! Available in print Available in print and on comiXology

FANTASY FANTASY , Vol. 1 Coraline: The Graphic Novel & P. Craig Russell This tale of an abandoned castle Coraline discovers a different set and its inhabitants has been called of parents when she moves to a new a “feminist’s fairy tale.” home and has to fight to get back to her real home. • 472 pages Eisner Award Winner! Eisner Award Winner! Harper Collins • 192 pages Available in print and on comiXology Available in print and on comiXology FANTASY FANTASY Friends with Boys The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 & Kevin O’Neill Maggie McKay goes to high school for the first , Famous literary characters band along with the sad who has together to fight villains her all her life. in Victorian England.

First Second • 224 pages ABC/DC Comics • 176 pages Eisner Award Winner!

Available in print Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology FANTASY HORROR The , Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes , Book 1: Chases Me Neil Gaiman & Ed Brubaker & The beginning of Gaiman’s epic tale An immortal woman inspires of , who escapes captivity to obsession in every man she search for his lost objects of power. comes across.

DC Comics/Vertigo • 240 pages Eisner Award Winner! • 144 pages Eisner Award Winner!

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on comiXology 2 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB

HORROR HORROR Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft The Sixth Gun, Book 1: Cold Dead Fingers & Gabriel Rodriguez & Brian Hurtt The sixth gun is from a set of weapons with Come inside Keyhouse, where every not of this world. When it surfaces in the Old West, door you open transforms you. But only one man stands in the way of the evil forces beware the who lives there! trying to possess it. IDW • 152 pages Eisner Award Winner! • 160 pages Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology HORROR HORROR , Vol. 1: Raise Them Bones The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone By & & Tony Moore The Swamp Thing is part of the Green, This is where it all began: An apocalyptic event which watches over the world. But a war turns much of the world’s population into zombies, as with the Red is brewing. the unafflicted struggle to survive. DC Comics • 168 pages Image Comics • 144 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology HUMOR HUMOR

The Archie Wedding: Archie in Will You Marry Me? Bandette, Vol. 1: Presto! Michael Uslan & Paul Tobin & Gaze into two possible futures for Archie, as he Bandette uses her skills as a thief on marries AND Veronica in this “?” scenario. both sides of the law. But someone evil wants the world’s greatest thief dead! • 168 pages Dark Horse • 144 pages Eisner Award Winner!

Available in print Available in print and on comiXology HUMOR REALITY-BASED , Vol. 1: Precious Little Life American Born Chinese Bryan Lee O’Malley Scott Pilgrim has to fight his way through Ramona Jin Wang just wants to be an all- Flowers’ seven evil exes in to date her. American boy, but a visit from his Chinese cousin causes him to transfer Oni Press • 192 pages to another school to start over. First Second • 240 pages Eisner Award Winner! Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED and More American Splendor The Dreamer , et al No one captures real life like Harvey Pekar. His classic Will Eisners’ autobiographical look at his stories–illustrated by some of the artists in beginnings in comics is also a history of the comics–are collected in these anthologies. early years of the industry. Ballantine Books • 320 pages W. W. Norton & Company • 54 pages

Available in print Available in print 3 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB

REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED The and Other Stories : A Family Tragicomic Joe Sacco reports on the Bosnian War Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical tale in comics form. of growing up with her father, the Drawn and Quarterly • 216 pages owner of the town’s funeral home. Mariner Books • 232 pages Eisner Award Winner!

Available in print Available in print REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED Gingerbread Girl Paul Tobin & Colleen Cover A series of stories chronicles the lives of teenagers Anna Billips might have a missing sister or she just and Becky, as they grow up and head might be insane. Is her twin imaginary or created by towards separate lives. her mad scientist father? Fantagraphics • 80 pages Top Shelf • 112 pages

Available in print Available in print and comiXology

REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED It’s A Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken Marble Season Seth’s obsession with a forgotten magazine Gilbert Hernandez’s semi-autobiographical graphic affects his personal life and novel about growing up and the power of story- relationships. telling and role-playing for youth. Drawn and Quarterly • 176 pages Drawn and Quarterly • 128 pages

Available in print Available in print REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History The New York Four & Art Spiegelman’s devastating account of Riley journeys from Brooklyn to to go to his parents’ lives in Nazi Germany and school, find love, and make new friends. concentration camps during WWII. DC Comics • 176 pages • 160 pages

Available in print Available in print REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED The Complete Persepolis Relish: My Life in the Kitchen Marjane Satrapi Lucy Knisley Marjane Satrapi’s coming-of-age story, set Lucy Knisley’s autobiographical tale of during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. growing up with her chef mom in a life Pantheon • 341 pages surrounded by food. First Second • 176 pages

Available in print Available in print and on Kindle 4 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB

REALITY-BASED , Vol. 1: Taster’s Choice & Rob Guillory Howard Cruse’s semi-autobiographical Tony Chu is a detective who gets story explores coming of age in the psychic impressions from what he 1960s south, and a search for identity. eats, including the corpse of a murder victim. DC Comics/Vertigo • 224 pages Eisner Award Winner! Eisner Award Winner! Image Comics • 128 pages Available in print Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SCIENCE FICTION SCIENCE FICTION Fashion Beast Alan Moore, Anthony Johnston & Facundo Percio & Alan Moore’s screenplay (written when he was writing Malaka Fray is a thief and a Slayer (ala in 1985), is a modern-day telling of Beauty ), in this tale and the Beast set in a dystopian future. set in the future. • 256 pages Dark Horse • 216 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology

SCIENCE FICTION SCIENCE FICTION Morning Glories, Vol. 1: For a Better Future , Vol. 1 & Joe Eisma Bryan K. Vaughan & Six new students fight for their lives amidst the A sweeping science fiction epic that sinister secrets of Morning Academy. unites two soldiers from opposing sides Image Comics • 192 pages who fall in love and have a baby. Image Comics • 160 pages Eisner Award Winner!

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SCIENCE FICTION SCIENCE FICTION The Welder Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned Bryan K. Vaughan & Jack deals with the pressures of impending What happens when every man on fatherhood and his work undersea in this story that is earth–except one–dies? equal parts science fiction and character study. DC Comics/Vertigo • 128 pages Top Shelf • 224 pages Eisner Award Winner!

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SUPERHERO All-New X-Men, Vol. 1: Yesterday’s X-Men , Vol. 1: The Trench & & Ivan Reis The original X-Men time travel from the past to Aquaman fights a long-buried race of encounter their modern day counterparts and a undersea creatures in this new imagining future they could never imagine. of the classic hero. • 136 pages DC Comics • 144 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology 5 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB

SUPERHEROSUPERHERO SUPERHEROSUPERHERO Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1: Gifted Batman: Joss Whedon & & Lee Joss Whedon reinventss the X-Men A new menace from Batman’s past (Hush) threatens with a new team led by and the Dark and the people he loves. . DC Comics • 320 pages Marvel Comics • 152 pages Eisner Award Winner!

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SUPERHERO SUPERHERO Batman: Year One : The Winter Soldier, Vol. 1 Miller & Ed Brubaker & In this ground-breaking story which changed the Captain America’s life is changed when he confronts Batworld forever, find out how Bruce Wayne became a Cold War-era assassin from the former Soviet Union. Batman. Marvel Comics • 168 pages DC Comics • 136 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology

SUPERHERO SUPERHERO , Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight The Death of Kelly Sue DeConnick, Dexter Soy, & Emma Rios , Ordway, et al , the superhero formerly known as Superman vs. Doomsday, a malevolent creature from Ms. Marvel, takes on a new mission as Captain Marvel. another world, who destroys everything in its path. Marvel Comics • 136 pages The title tells the outcome. DC Comics • 160 pages

Available in print and on comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SUPERHERO SUPERHERO Five Weapons: Make the Grade : Secret Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis 13-year-old Tyler is the son of a legendary hitman, How became the Green Lantern and enrolled in a school for assassins. But Tyler is a of Space Sector 2814. pacifist ... DC Comics • 176 pages Image Comics • 144 pages

Available in print and on comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SUPERHERO SUPERHERO , Vol. 1: My Life As a Weapon : The Midnight Circus & & What does Hawkeye do when he’s not being an Young Hellboy runs away and discovers a circus, Avenger? He gets into a lot of trouble! inhabited by five demons from Hell. Marvel Comics • 136 pages Dark Horse • 56 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology 6 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB

SUPERHERO SUPERHERO , Vol. 1: Family Matters , Vol. 1 Robert Kirkman & & Peter Krause Mark Grayson’s dad is the most What if the world’s greatest superhero decided powerful superhero on the planet, and to become the world’s greatest ? Mark is following in his footsteps. BOOM! Studios • 128 pages Image Comics • 120 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on comiXology SUPERHERO SUPERHERO Kingdom Come Mark Waid & & Alex Ross The DC Universe heroes come out of The history of the retirement to stop a new of unfolds through the eyes of a heroes who stop at nothing to newspaper photographer. achieve their goals. DC Comics • 232 pages Eisner Award Winner! Marvel Comics • 248 pages Eisner Award Winner! Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology

SUPERHERO SUPERHERO , Vol. 1: and Joy The Amazing Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt Brian K. Vaughan and J. . DeMatteis & A group of super-powered kids go on “kills” Spider-Man and the run when they realize their dons his costume, while Spidey fights back parents are super-villains. to reclaim his identity.

Marvel Comics • 142 pages Eisner Award Winner! Marvel Comics • 168 pages

Available in print Available in print and on comiXology (6 invid. issues) SUPERHERO SUPERHERO The Spider-Man, Vol. 1: Superman: Red Son My Own Worst Enemy , Dave Johnson & Killian Plunkett and Ryan Stegman What would happen if Superman’s rocket from Doctor has taken over Peter Parker’s body and landed in Soviet Russia rather than the becomes the Superior Spider-Man! ? Marvel Comics • 120 pages DC Comics • 160 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SUPERHERO SUPERHERO The , Vol. 1: Super-Human , Vol. 1: Blood Mark Millar & & The Ultimates (The in Marvel’s Ultimate This new imagining of Wonder Woman places emphasis Universe) band together to fight evil. This version is on her mythological roots as Diana finds out closest to the movie version of The Avengers. who her real father is. Marvel Comics • 160 pages DC Comics • 160 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology 7 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB • NEW FOR 2015!

CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER FANTASY Lucifer, Book 1 Blacksad: Amarillo , , et al Juan Diaz Canales & Cast out of Heaven, thrown to rule in Hell, Lucifer Feline detective Blacksad drives a Morningstar has resigned his post and abandoned his yellow Cadillac Eldorado across 1950s kingdom for the mortal city of , where he America and gets mixed up in murder. now owns a piano bar. Dark Horse • 63 pages DC/Vertigo• 392 pages Available in print and on Kindle Available in print and on comiXology and Kindle FANTASY FANTASY The Sculptor Seconds Scott McCloud Bryan Lee O’Malley David Smith makes a deal with the Devil to be able Katie needs a second chance to make everything to sculpt anything with his hands. Now he has 200 in her life right again. Unfortunately, she has too many days left to live. second chances at her fingertips. First Second • 496 pages Ballantine Books • 336 pages

Available in print Available in print and on Kindle FANTASY HORROR The Wicked + The Devine , vol. 1: You’re Among Friends & Jamie McKelvie Tim Seely & Every 90 years, 12 gods come to life on earth. This time For one day in Wisconsin, the dead came back to they’re pop stars. In 2 years they’ll all be dead. life. Now Officer Dana Cypress has to deal with the repercussions. Image Comics • 144 pages Image Comics • 128 pages Available in print and on comiXology Available in print and on comiXology HUMOR REALITY-BASED

Sex Criminals, vol. 1: One Weird Trick Drama Matt Fraction & Raina Telgemeier Suzie and Rob have the power to stop time they Callie deals with the onstage and off stage drama orgasm. And during that time, they rob banks. of her middle school’s play. Image Comics • 128 pages Scholastic Graphix • 240 pages

Available in print and on comiXology Available in print and on comiXology and Kindle REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED In Real Life Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong & Jen Wang Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks Anda spends most of her spare time gaming on Nate and Charlie try to remain friends in a world of Coarsegold Online. There she meets a gold farmer who high school class warfare and robot death matches. illegally sells objects from the game, and the line First Second • 288 pages between right and wrong suddenly blurs. First Second • 192 pages Available in print and on Kindle Available in print and on Kindle 87 NEW FOR 2015! • COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB

REALITY-BASED REALITY-BASED Shoplifter The Cute Girl Network Michael Cho Greg Means, MK Reed, & Joe Flood Corinna Park’s soul-crushing job makes her find another Jane’s new in town and when she meets Jack, she outlet for excitement: shoplifting magazines from the relies on her friends and the “Cute Girl Network” to find local convenience store. out all about him. Pantheon • 96 pages First Second • 192 pages

Available in print and on Kindle Available in print REALITY-BASED SCIENCE FICTION The Bunker This One Summer & Joe Infunari & Five friends discover a metal bunker buried in the ground and Windy spend a summer of secrets, with letters from their future selves addressed to sorrow, and growing up at a lake hour in Awago Beach. each of them. First Second • 320 pages Oni Press • 128 pages

Available in print and on Kindle Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SCIENCE FICTION SCIENCE FICTION The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys Maggie the Mechanic: A Love and Rockets Book , Shaun , & Girl, the surviving member of the Killjoys, takes on The adventures of Maggie, Hopey, and Penny Century in Better Living Industries to continue the fight some of the earliest, punkiest, and most science for freedom. fiction-tinged stories fromLove and Rockets. Dark Horse • 160 pages Fantagraphics • 272 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and on comiXology Available in print and on comiXology

SCIENCE FICTION SUPERHERO The Manhattan Projects, vol. 1: Science Bad All Star Superman & & What if the secret project that created the atomic bomb Superman returns to the basics in this award-winning was actually just a front for more unusal projects? series that recaptures the charm and excitement of Image Comics • 144 pages some of Superman’s best tales. DC Comics • 320 pages

Available in print and on comiXology Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology SUPERHERO SUPERHERO Forever Evil The Umbrella Academy, vol. 1: Suite Geoff Johns & Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba Evil superheroes from an alternate Earth take over A dysfunctional family of seven children with super- our planet and defeat the . powers take on the evil Eiffel Tower, controlled by the DC Comics • 240 pages fearsome robot Gustave Eiffel. Dark Horse • 184 pages

Available in print and on Kindle and comiXology Available in print and on Kindle 97 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB • READ IN 2014

Both the Downtown and Mission Valley book clubs had a busy 2014, reading 9 books from March through November, and taking time out to visit together at Comic-Con in July and at our holiday party in December! Here’s what each club read in 2014. DOWNTOWN MISSION VALLEY MARCH MARCH Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, vol. 1 Y: the Last Man, vol. 1 by Matt Fraction and David Aja by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra DOWNTOWN BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER! APRIL APRIL Fashion Beast The Underwater Welder by Alan Moore, et al by Jeff Lemire MAY MAY Locke and Key vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft Bandette: Presto! by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover MISSION VALLEY BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER!

JUNE JUNE Locke and Key vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez by , et al

JULY JULY Fray Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 1 by Joss Whedon and Karl Moline by Brian Michael Bendis, et al

AUGUST AUGUST Level Up! Get Jiro! by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham by Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose, and Langdon Foss

SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER Astonishing X-Men Ultimate Collection, vol. 1 Sex Criminals, vol. 1 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky

OCTOBER OCTOBER Hellboy: Conqueror Worm Chew, vol. 1: Taster’s Choice by Mike Mignola by John Layman and Rob Guillory

NOVEMBER NOVEMBER Pretty Deadly, vol. 1 , vol. 1: by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey and Peter Gross

10 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB RESOURCES

We’ve made an effort to include books on this list that are currently in print and available digitally. We would like to suggest you support your local comics shops and we provide this list as a resource for finding the books listed here. Check their websites for more information about hours and locations.

SAN DIEGO AREA COMIC BOOK SHOPS USED BOOKSTORES

Comickaze Comic Books & More On Comic Ground These bookstores each 5517 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Suite AB 1629 University Avenue have a selection of San Diego, CA 92117 San Diego, CA 92103 used graphic novels. (858) 278-0371 (619) 683-7879 www.comickazeonline.webs.com www.oncomicground.50webs.com Book • Off 4260 Kearny Mesa Road Comics-N-Stuff Rising Sun Creations #128 1020 El Cajon Blvd 1640 Camino Del Rio North Suite 1478 San Diego, CA 92111 El Cajon, CA 92020 San Diego, CA 92108 (858) 627-9600 www.comics-n-stuff.com (619) 291-5264 www.bookoffusa.com Locations also at www.rsc-online.com • Carlsbad Westfield Mall Superstore 5th Avenue Books • Chula Vista Center Southern California Comics 3838 5th Avenue • Horton Plaza 8280 Clairemont Mesa Blvd #124 San Diego, CA 92103 • North County Fair Westfield Mall San Diego, CA 92111 (619) 291-4660 • Otay Ranch Town Center (858) 715-8669 • Parkway Center Shopping Center www.socalcomics.com

Crazy Fred’s Cards & Comics Villainous Lair Comics 5648 Lake Murray Blvd 3220 Adams Avenue Plus don’t La Mesa, CA 91942 San Diego, CA 92116 (619) 303-6597 (619) 281-1600 forget www.crazyfreds.com www.villainouslair.com to check Galactic Comics Yesteryear Comics 4981 Newport Avenue 9353 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Suite D2 your San Diego, CA 226-6543 San Diego, CA 92123 (619) 226-6543 (828) 279-6121 LOCAL www.galacticcomics.com www.facebook.com/yesteryearcomics LIBRARY!

Cover art is © respective owners and used solely for informational purposes.

Don’t forget to check our TOUCAN blog for regular Book Club updates! www.comic-con.org/toucan

MISSION STATEMENT Comic-Con International: San Diego is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating aware- ness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular artforms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture. 11