Top 5 Tuesday: Graphic Novels

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 Graphic Novels.

Admittedly if we’d been limited to only graphic novels for this week, I wouldn’t have been able to participate. BUT since we’re able to also include comics and webtoons, I definitely have a few to share!

1. The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way; Art by Gabriel Bá; Color by Dave Stewart

I’ve read both the first and second volumes of The Umbrella Academy but have yet to read the third. I also haven’t watched the Netflix show yet which is probably a cardinal sin since even people who haven’t read the comics enjoyed the show. Regardless, it’s such an interesting series filled with complex characters born with unique abilities who work as superheroes and who have a supremely dysfunctional family relationship with each other. The first volume has such a twist with who the villain turns out to be and so far the second volume has been my favorite which focuses on the Kennedy assassination as a backdrop for the story.

2. The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon; Art by Becky Cloonan

I loved the Killjoys series. It’s especially fun to read if you have heard or a fan of the music that came out first of the same name but regardless it’s a really interesting take on a post-apocalyptic California. It follows multiple characters as they struggle against the governmental control on their lives as well as one of the governmental enforcer’s struggle with what he is required to do for his job. The art is absolutely beautiful and it’s really fun to jump back and forth between the past and present as you read through the comics.

3. SAVE ME by Big Hit Entertainment and LICO

If you’re a Bangtan fan, you will have at least heard of this series. It brings words to the music videos and fills in the gaps from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series of soundtracks by BTS. The webtoon follows seven best friends whose lives are connected who all meet tragic ends except one. This lone survivor lives through a Groundhog day scenario of constantly getting the opportunity to save his friends from their fates but something still always goes wrong. Beware that it has an open ending if you’re not a fan of those!

4. Let’s Play by Mongié

This series is ADORABLE. There’s currently two seasons of it posted on Webtoons. The story follows an heiress who is currently working in her father’s commercial gaming company which builds video games for clients. While she’s stuck in the data entry portion of the company, her true dream is to be an indie video game designer and release her own games. She decides to release her very first game on a popular indie gaming website for free in order to get some feedback on it and a popular gaming YouTuber (or “ViewTuber” in this case) happens to come across it and plays it, uploading a video to his massive channel. He absolutely roasts the game because he doesn’t understand how it’s designed to be played and his fans tank her developer rating on her hosting site which absolutely crushes her. And things get even worse when said YouTuber ends up moving in next door to her and they become neighbors. There is so much humor in this series and some of the side characters constantly steal my heart (Link, I’m looking at you). Even if you’re not into video games, you should give this WebToon a try if you enjoy comics!

5. To Love Your Enemy by Jungyoon; Art by Taegeon

To Love Your Enemy follows the story of Yeonhee Bae as she decides to leave the working world to attend university at age 24. Yeonhee has recently changed her name to put some distance between her rough past which is filled with an embezzling father, a mother currently in jail for selling fake prescription medications, and her naive past of working for a pyramid scheme company. When she enters university however, her plan to become someone new is thrown a twist when one of the other students recognizes her since his mother was a victim of her prior employer. The story is a bit cliché in some aspects and the plot is a little slow but I’ve still really enjoyed all the parts I’ve read so far and the art is absolutely gorgeous! The webtoon is currently in its second season.

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What’s your favorite graphic novel/comic/webtoon? Let me know in the comments and happy reading!

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