Previous Best of 2015 graphic novel lists have evaluated choices based on total sales (see “Amazon's Best Graphic Novels - 2015,”), educational expert panel votes (School Library Journal) or reader popularity (Goodreads) (see “Top Graphic Novel Lists of 2015 Round-Up.”); here we present lists from The Guardian and Salon, which offer individual critics' perspectives on what it means to be the “best of” 2015.

The Guardian’s Rachel Cooke offers an British perspective on the graphic novel market with her top picks:

  • Drawn & Quarterly: Twenty-Five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics and Graphic Novels (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Killing and Dying by Andrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Space Dumplins by Craig Thompson (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld , illus. by Joe Sumner (Pantheon)
  • The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf (Metropolitan Books)
  • The Art of Flying by Antonio Altarriba (Cape)
  • Invisible Ink by Bill Griffith (Fantagraphics)
  • The Inflatable Woman by Rachael Ball (Bloomsbury)
  • Pablo by Julie Birmant and Clement Oubrerie (Self Made Hero)
  • Red Rosa by Kate Evans (Verso)
  • Hysteria by Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate (Self Made Hero)
  • Step Aside, Pops by Kate Beaton (Drawn and Quarterly)
  • SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki (Drawn and Quarterly)
  • Lucia by Andy Hixon (Cape)
  • The Pillbox by David Hughes (Random House UK/Cape)
  • Death of the Artist by Karrie Fransman (Cape)
  • Wheels of Terror: The Graphic Novel by Sven Hassel, illus. by Jordy Diago (Orion)
  • Dispossession by Simon Grennan (Cape)

Salon’s Mark Peters created his own personal “best of” awards:

  • Best Writer: Jason Aaron for Southern Bastards, The Goddamned, Thor, Doctor Strange, Weirdworld, and Star Wars (various publishers)
  • Most Necessary Hero: Ms. Marvel (Marvel Comics)
  • Best Artist: Tom Scioli for Transformers vs. G.I.Joe (IDW Publishing)
  • Best Piss-take on Superheroes: All-Star Section 8 by Garth Ennis, illus. by John McCrea (DC Comics)
  • Best Single Issue by a Disappointing Company: Superman #39 by Geoff Johns,  illus. by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson (DC Comics)
  • Two Marvel All-New All-Different Titles That Actually Live Up to the Billing: Karnak  by Warren Ellis, illus. by Gerardo Zaffino; and The Vision by Tom King, illus. by Gabriel Hernandez Walta (Marvel Comics)
  • Best Publisher: Image Comics