Paste and The Guardian have listed their best comics of 2016, and both publications noted that this year was remarkable for the sheer number, diversity, and quality of titles published in the format.

Of the two, Paste had the most variety in genres and age of readership, incorporating superhero comics, independent titles, comics for younger readers, and universally acclaimed titles like March Book Three.

Paste’s 25 best comics of 2016:

  1. March Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
  2. The Sheriff of Babylon by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (Vertigo)
  3. Panther by Brecht Evans (Drawn & Quarterly)
  4. Dark Knight: A True Batman Story by Paul Did and Eduardo Risso (DC)
  5. Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image)
  6. Hot Dog Taste Test by Lisa Hanawalt (Drawn & Quarterly)
  7. The Vision by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, and Michael Walsh (Marvel)
  8. Big Kids by Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)
  9. The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (Image)
  10. Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier (Graphix)
  11. Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image)
  12. Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston (Dark Horse)
  13. Mooncop by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)
  14. The Legend of Wonder Woman by Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon (DC)
  15. Cosplayers by Dash Shaw (Fantagraphics)
  16. Patience by Dan Clowes (Fantagraphics)
  17. Midnighter / Midnighter and Apollo by Steve Orlando, ACO, Fernando Blanco, and various artists (DC)
  18. Harrow County by Cullen Bunn, Tyler Crook, and Carla Speed McNeil (Dark Horse)
  19. Nod Away by Joshua Cotter (Fantagraphics)
  20. Copra by Michel Fiffe (Bergen Street)
  21. The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, and various artists (Marvel)
  22. Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin, and Caanan Grall (BOOM! Box)
  23. House of Penance by Peter J. Tomasi and Ian Bertram (Dark Horse)
  24. Tetris: The Games People Play by Box Brown (First Second)
  25. Moon Knight by Jeff Lemire, Greg Smallwood, Francesco Francavilla, James Stokoe, Wilfredo Torres, and various artists (Marvel)

March Book Three and Ghosts also appeared on Amazon’s best of 2016 list (see “Amazon's Best Graphic Novels - 2016”), Publishers Weekly’s top graphic novels list (see “PW's Top Graphic Novels of 2016”), and Michael Cavna’s list of the top comics of 2016 for The Washington Post (see “'Washington Post' Names Best Graphic Novels Of 2016”).

Unsurprisingly, Rachel Cooke’s list of the best graphic novels of 2016 for The Guardian skewed toward memoirs, biographies, and reissues. The Guardian’s best graphic novels of 2016 are (in no particular order):

  • The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf (Metropolitan Books)
  • Notes on a Thesis by Tiphaine Riviere (Jonathan Cape)
  • Stan and Nan by Sarah Lippett (Jonathan Cape)
  • Saving Grace by Grace Wilson (Jonathan Cape)
  • Munch by Steffen Kverneland (SelfMadeHero)
  • One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (Little, Brown)
  • Patience by Dan Clowes (Fantagraphics)
  • Hubert by Ben Gijsemans (Jonathan Cape)
  • Irmina by Barbara Yelin (SelfMadeHero)
  • The Return of Honey Buzzard by Aimee de Jongh (SelfMadeHero)
  • In Search of Lost Time: Swann’s Way by Stephane Heuet (Liveright)
  • Spanish Fever, edited by Santiago Garcia (Fantagraphics)
  • Last Look by Charles Burns (Pantheon)
  • Mooncop by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Hot Dog Taste Test by Lisa Hanawalt (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay by Ben Katchor (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Soft City by Hariton Pushwagner (New York Review)
  • What Am I Doing Here? by Abner Dean (New York Review)

Check out Paste and The Guardian for the reasons for their choices.