I read a ton of graphic novels for kids this year. These are my favorites. Most of these came out in 2024, but a few (such as books in a series) did not. But that’s when I read them, so they made it on the list. So Time Police get lost.
YOUNG READERS
Hilda And Twig Hide From The Rain – Luke Pearson
The latest in the Hilda series. Luke Pearson has made another classic. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s about Hilda, an adventurous girl who lives with her mom on the edge of a magical forest. This entry centers around Twig, Hilda’s pet deer-fox. Is this book targeted at young readers? I’m not sure, but I read it to my 4-year-old and he loved it.
Drawn Onward – Daniel Nayeri & Matt Rockefeller
This could go either to young readers or middle grade. It’s a storybook graphic novel. No dialogue and sparse on text, the art does most of the storytelling. And you could pretty much frame any panel, the art is gorgeous. The story is about a young boy who sets off on a quest filled with fantastical creatures to deal with the loss of a parent.
Housecat Trouble | Lost and Found – Mason Dickerson
A couple of books about Buster, a naive housecat. In book one, Buster teams up with a pair of street cats to save his house from monsters. In book two, Buster sets out to help a lost kitten find its home. Very cute and slightly off-kilter.
The Mighty Bite – Nathan Hale
A talking prehistoric trilobite, his pet ambulocetus (a prehistoric walking whale) and a don’t-get-in-my-way paleo-newscaster must team up to try and win an internet video competition where each challenge is more absurd than the last. If that run-on sentence doesn’t get you on board, then I can’t help you. I got a Sponge-Bob vibe from this book and had a blast reading it. There is a second book out now with a 3rd coming later this year.
MIDDLE-GRADE
Brownstone’s Mythical Collection – Joe Todd Stanton
I love this series of books. Each is a self-contained story about a kid from the Brownstone family tree who goes on a mythical adventure. I would describe the format as something like a picture book-graphic novel. There are only about 50 pages each. I had assumed that creator Joe Todd Stanton was a grizzled veteran illustrator because his work is charming and flawless but he’s relatively young. That’s good news for us, he’s got a long career ahead of him. I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Mason Mooney – Seaerra Miller
Another series (3 books). Kid/teen paranormal detectives? I’m in. Mason Mooney is the (wannabe) world’s greatest paranormal detective. Egotistical Mason means well but his quest to be the best can cause him to be inconsiderate of others, particularly his friend Iris. She’s been relegated to sidekick status but is so much more. Offbeat and funny, this series was my favorite read of 2024.
Plain Jane and the Mermaid – Vera Brogsol
Vera is one of my favorite creators, so it’s no surprise that I loved Plain Jane. When Jane’s parents die, her awful cousin inherits her family home and kicks her out. (Women were not allowed to own property at the time). Jane hatches a plan to propose and marry Peter, her crush. With him, she’ll be able to get her life back a bit. Unfortunately, he gets kidnapped by a mermaid. (I think we all can relate). Now Jane must attempt to rescue Peter.
Uprooted – Ruth Chan
Ruth’s coming-of-age memoir of when she was in junior high and her family moved from Canada to Hong Kong, where her parents originally immigrated from. Ruth is not thrilled about the move and the adjustment is not easy for her. She tells her story alongside her father’s story about when he was born and his family was fleeing invading soldiers during the Sino-Japanese war. Ruth’s unique story is wrapped within the universal struggle to fit in and find one’s space in the world. Highly recommended!
The Wizerd! – Michael Sweater & Rachel Dukes
A wizard who just wants to tend her garden, an adventurer who no one wants to team up with, and a princess warrior who is the equivalent of a rabid Labrador puppy set out to get some ingredients for a potion. It should have been a simple errand but thanks to doofus goblins, a clueless knight, and an evil witch, things go sideways. Ridiculous chaotic fun.
TEEN/YA
Lunar New Year Love Story – Gene Luen Yang & Leuyen Pham
A romcom for high school. Beautifully drawn and a fantastic story. Val is pretty sure her love life is cursed but when she meets a pair of cute lion dancers, that could all change. Or maybe not.
Junior High – Tegan & Sara and Tillie Walden
Real life indie pop stars, Teagan and Sara chronicle their experience of moving to a new school, their identities being twins, what does it mean to be queer, navigating different friendships, growing apart, and discovering music. Great work and the follow up Crush (which I haven’t read yet) recently came out.
Mamo – Sas Milledge
Orla is a young witch who reluctantly returns home after the death of her grandmother who is now haunting the town. This is such an interesting update on witches. Magic in this contemporary town is low-key and just another part of life. Not a pointed hat or broom in sight in this modern take.
Friday Book One: The First Day of Christmas – Ed Brubaker & Marcos Martin
A fan of teen paranormal detectives you say? This series picks up when the 2 leads have graduated high school and have gone their separate ways. But when Friday Fitzhugh comes home for the holidays, she’s pulled back into that world. The first book was fantastic and I can’t wait to read the next.
Family Stuff and Business/Comic Stuff
Surprising no one, December was chaos. I had a birthday and got a little older. I went to a Bucs /Chargers game with my brother. Really enjoyed it. Sophia and I did a lot of cooking and baking. Ate too many sweets but don’t regret it. My parents came for Christmas which was wonderful. Half the family got sick though. Oh well. It’s really fun to celebrate Christmas with kids. They made out like bandits.
2024 was a weird year. My Woodland Hills book deal got canceled a month before the first book was scheduled to be turned in. My agent put it out on submission again but so far no bites. I moved it to the back of my head and shifted to figuring out the next thing. I narrowed it down to Trevor Astra, a middle-grade space comic and Taylor Rex, a younger reader dinosaur comic. I worked on both to varying degrees. I’ve now put them both on the back burner for the time being because of the following.
In the last third of the year I began ruminating on another idea. Something big. Way out of my wheelhouse. Too big honestly but I couldn’t get it out of my head. The more I thought about it, the more I knew it needed to happen. It was time to stop dreaming. Put up or shut up. I committed to this grand idea. I’ve already begun working on it. 2025 will be the year it happens. Stay tuned.
The secondary focus will be to finish Woodland Hills. I have 50 pages left to draw, plus coloring the whole thing. As mentioned, it is without a home. So where it ends up, traditional or self published, remains to be seen. But it is too close to being done for it to be digitally filed away and no one to ever see it.
So here’s to 2025—big swings and finishing long-standing projects.
Did you enjoy reading? Subscribe to The Kid’s Comics Creator newsletter and get articles like this directly in your inbox the first and third Wednesday of the month.
