An autobiographical comic (also autobio, graphic memoir, or autobiocomic) is an autobiography in the form of comic books or comic strips. The form first became popular in the

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

movement and has since become more widespread. It is currently most popular in Canadian, American and French comics; all artists listed below are from the U.S. unless otherwise specified. Autobiographical comics are a form of biographical comics (also known as biocomics).

1880s

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (21 March 1846 – 23 January 1905; spelled Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro in older Portuguese orthography) was a Portuguese artist known for his illustration, caricatures, sculpture, and ceramics designs. Bordalo Pinheiro ...

(1846–1905) "made an attempt of an autobiographical comics exercise"Marcos Farrajota
"Desassossego"
(reprinting his article of introduction to Portuguese comics for ''Š!'' magazine) in his 1881 graphic reportage book ''No Lazareto de Lisboa'' ("The Lazaretto of Lisbon"), by including himself and personal thoughts. Some of Bordalo Pinheiro's panels and strips were also autobiographical, such as self-caricatures of personal anecdotes from his travel in Brazil.

1910s

Cartoonist's Confessional - Fay King, 1918

* Fay King (1910s–1930s newspaper cartoonist) drew herself as a character later used as Olive Oyl in autobiographical strips portraying her reportages, opinions, and personal life. *

Hinko Smrekar Hinko Smrekar (13 July 1883 – 1 October 1942) was a Slovenian painter, draughtsman, caricaturist, graphic artist, and illustrator. Smrekar was a member of the Vesna Art Club, which was active in Vienna, and a partisan in the Liberatio ...

(1883–1942, Slovenian painter, newspaper cartoonist) drew and wrote a 24-page booklet '' Črnovojnik'' about his experience in the army and army prisons. This self-ironical proto comic has been published in 1919 – two years after he finished it. All of the pages have up to four illustrations, some include typical comic book balloons. The complete text was handwritten.

1920s

Carlos Botelho Carlos Botelho (18 September 1899, in Lisbon – 18 August 1982, in Lisbon) was a Portuguese painter, illustrator, comics artist, political cartoonist, satirist and caricaturist, whose works are shown at the Chiado Museum and at the ...

(1899–1982) had a weekly comic page in a "style that mixed up chronicle, autobiography, journalism, and satire" running from 1928 to 1950 in the Portuguese magazine ''Sempre Fixe''.

1930s

* Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama's ''

The Four Immigrants Manga ''The Four Immigrants Manga'' (1931), also known as , is a Japanese-language manga written and illustrated by Henry Kiyama (born , 1885–1951). It is an early example of autobiographical comics. The manga was created around 1924–1927 as 52 " ...

'' (drawn 1924–1927, exhibited 1927 in San Francisco, self-published 1931). These 52 two-page strips drew from the experiences of Kiyama and three friends, mostly as Japanese student immigrants to San Francisco between 1904 and 1907, plus material up to 1924.

1940s

* The artist

Taro Yashima was a Japanese-American artist and children's book author. He immigrated to the United States in 1939 and assisted the U.S. war effort. Early life Iwamatsu was born September 21, 1908, in Nejime, Kimotsuki District, Kagoshima, and raised there o ...

(born Atsushi Iwamatsu) published his autobiographical graphic works ''The New Sun'' in 1943 and ''The New Horizon'' in 1947 (both written in English). The first book describes his early life as well his as his wife

Mitsu Yashima was an artist, children's book author, and civic activist. World War II and later years Mitsu was the daughter of a shipbuilding company executive. She attended Kobe College, and later enrolled at Bunka Gakuin in Tokyo. In the 1930s, she join ...

's imprisonment and brutalization by the Tokkō (special higher police) in response to their antiwar, anti-Imperialist, and anti-militarist stance in the 1930s. The second book describes their post-prison life in Japan under

militarist Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mil ...

rule up until the time they emigrated to the United States in 1939. *

Miné Okubo Miné Okubo (; June 27, 1912 – February 10, 2001) was an American artist and writer. She is best known for her book ''Citizen 13660'', a collection of 198 drawings and accompanying text chronicling her experiences in Japanese American internment ...

published ''Citizen 13660'', a collection of 198 drawings and accompanying text chronicling the author's experiences in Japanese American internment camps during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Named after the number assigned to her family unit, the book contains almost two hundred of Okubo's pen-and-ink sketches accompanied by explanatory text. Published in 1946, the book has been in print for more than 75 years.

1960s

1960s in Japan

* Shinji Nagashima created ''Mangaka Zankoku Monogatari'' ("Cruel Tale of a Cartoonist") in 1961. *

Yoshiharu Tsuge is a Japanese cartoonist and essayist. He was active in comics between 1955 and 1987. His works range from tales of ordinary life to dream-like surrealism, and often show his interest in traveling about Japan. He has garnered the most atte ...

published in 1966 his autobiographical story "Chiko" ("Chiko, the Java sparrow"), depicting his daily life as a struggling manga artist living with a bar hostess making most of their money. Published in the seminal magazine ''

Garo Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...

'', it started the movement of ''Watakushi manga'' ("I manga", or "comics about me"). These short graphic nonfictions (including memoirs, chronicles, travel or dream diaries) were also represented by Yu Takita, Tadao Tsuge, and Shinichi Abe (see below). * Yu Takita (1932–1990) started in 1968 his ''Terajima-cho'' stories ("Terajima neighborhood mystery tales"). They were series of vignettes about 1930s life in this Tokyo district where his parents ran a tavern. * Tadao Tsuge started in 1968 his personal stories, later collected in '' Trash Market''.

USA

* Justin Green In 1969, Justin Green published his first autobiographical comic strip in Gotham Blimp Works #3 titled, "When I Was Sixteen 'Twas a Very Bad Year."

1970s

Sam Glanzman Samuel Joseph Glanzman (December 5, 1924 – July 12, 2017) was an American comics artist and memoirist. Glanzman is best known for his Charlton Comics series ''Hercules'', about the mythological Greek demigod; his autobiographical war stories abo ...

started in April 1970 his ''U.S.S. Stevens'' autobio stories (1970–1977) about his war service, as 4-pagers in

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

's title ''

Our Army at War ''Our Army at War'' was an American comic book anthology published by DC Comics that featured war-themed stories and featured the first appearances of Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace. The series was published from August 1952 to February 1977, then ...

''. Beside memoirs of war actions he witnessed, many are personal vignettes of embarrassing moments, including as an artist. As comics historian John B. Cooke noted, those "autobiographical tales about the sometimes mundane, frequently horrifying experiences aboard a ''Fletcher''-class U.S. navy destroyer during World War II were beginning to appear regularly, debuting two years before '' Binky Brown''." * Shinichi Abe (born 1950) started in 1971 his autobiographical series ''Miyoko Asagaya kibun'' ("The Miyoko Asagaya feeling" or "Miyoko, Asagaya's feeling") for ''

'' magazine. It chronicled his 1970s bohemian life with his model girlfriend Miyoko in the Asagaya district of Tokyo. (The manga was adapted into the 2009 film ''Miyoko''.) * Justin Green, though not the first author of autobio comics, is generally acknowledged to have pioneered the confessional genre in English-language comics, because of the immediate influence of his "highly personal autobiographical comics" on other creators ( Kominski, Crumb, Spiegelman, Pekar, see below). This was done through the veiled autobio of his alter ego's "Binky Brown" stories, notably the March 1972 comic book ''

Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary ''Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary'' is an autobiographical comic by American cartoonist Justin Green, published in 1972. Green takes the persona of Binky Brown to tell of the " compulsive neurosis" with which he struggled in his youth a ...

'', an extremely personal work dealing with Green's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish background and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Binky Brown continued his adventures in "Sacred and Profane" with a story called ''Sweet Void of Youth''. * In October 1972, Japanese manga artist

Keiji Nakazawa was a Japanese manga artist and writer. Biography Nakazawa was born March 14, 1939 Naka-ku, Hiroshima, Japan and was in the city when it was destroyed by an atomic bomb in August 1945. Most of his family members who had not evacuated died as ...

created the 48-page story "

I Saw It ''I Saw It: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: A Survivor's True Story'', titled in Japanese, is a one-shot manga by Keiji Nakazawa that first appeared in 1972 as a 48-page feature in the magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Jump''. The story was later pu ...

" ("Ore wa Mita"), which told of his firsthand experience of the

bombing of Hiroshima The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...

. (This was followed by the longer, fictionalized work ''

Barefoot Gen is a Japanese historical manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen Nakaoka liv ...

'' (''Hadashi no Gen''), later adapted into three films.) *

Aline Kominsky Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 201 ...

followed Green in November 1972 with her veiled autobio 5-pager "Goldie, a Neurotic Woman" (in ''

Wimmen's Comix ''Wimmen's Comix'', later titled ''Wimmin's Comix'', is an influential all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992. Though it covered a wide range of genres and subject matters, ''Wimmen's Comix'' focused more than other ...

'' #1). *

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...

followed Green in 1973 with his 4-page "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" (in ''Short Order Comix'' #1), about his feelings after the suicide of his Holocaust-survivor mother (a strip later included in '' Maus'', see below). *

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

and

released in 1974 '' Dirty Laundry Comics'' #1, a joint confessional comic book documenting their budding romance, though depicted aboard a fantasy spaceship. * In 1976,

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...

began his long-running self-published series ''

American Splendor ''American Splendor'' is a series of autobiographical comic books written by Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the last one in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular interv ...

'', which collected short stories written by Pekar, usually about his daily life as a file clerk, and illustrated by a variety of artists. The series led to Pekar meeting his wife

Joyce Brabner Joyce Brabner (born March 1, 1952) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', June 10, 2005. Retrieved January 1, 2011WebCitation archive is a writer of political comics and the widow of Harvey Pekar. Biography Br ...

, who later co-wrote their graphic novel '' Our Cancer Year'' (1994) about his battle with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enla ...

. * In 1977, the Italian magazine ''Alter Alter'' starts publishing

Andrea Pazienza Andrea Pazienza (; 23 May 1956 – 16 June 1988), was an Italian comics artist and painter. Biography Early life Pazienza was born in San Benedetto del Tronto, province of Ascoli Piceno, in 1956. Growing up in his father's town of San Severo ...

's ''Le straordinarie avventure di Pentothal'' (Pentothal's Extraordinary Adventures), in which the author details in a

stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First L ...

his own experiences with drugs, arts, politics,

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

, and the

Movement of 1977 The movement of 1977 was a spontaneous political movement that arose in Italy in 1977. It grew primarily out of the extra-parliamentary left; in form and substance, it was completely unlike previous student movements such as the protests of 1968. ...

, through a thinly veiled alter ego. * In 1978,

Eddie Campbell Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist and cartoonist who now lives in Chicago. Probably best known as the illustrator and publisher of ''From Hell'' (written by Alan Moore), Campbell is also the creator of the semi-au ...

started his autobio strip "In the Days of the Ace Rock 'n' Roll Club" (March 1978 – March 1979). (This led to his ''Alec'' stories, see below.) * In 1979, Malaysian cartoonist

Lat Lat or LAT may refer to: Places * Lat, Fuman, village in Gilan Province, Iran * Lat, Rasht, village in Gilan Province, Iran * Lat, Mazandaran, village in Iran * Lat-e Disar, village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Lat, Qazvin, village in I ...

published his childhood memoir '' The Kampung Boy'' (drawn 1977–1978). * In the late 1970s,

Jim Valentino Jim Valentino (born October 28, 1952) is an American writer, penciler, editor and publisher of comic books, best known for his 1990–1992 work on '' Guardians of the Galaxy'' for Marvel Comics, and for co-founding Image Comics, a company publis ...

began his career with some autobio minicomics, released in the early 1980s. In 1985, he published his autobio series ''Valentino'' (later collected in ''Vignettes''). In 1997, he created the semi-autobio series ''A Touch of Silver'' about a boy coming of age in the 1960s. In 2007, he revisited autobio with ''Drawings from Life'' (also collected in ''Vignettes''). * Throughout the 1970s, autobiographical writing was prominent in the work of many female underground cartoonists, in anthologies such as ''

'', ranging from comical anecdotes to feminist commentary based on the artists' lives.

1980s

* In 1980,

combined biography and autobiography in his Pulitzer Prize-winning '' Maus'' (serialized 1980–1991), about his father's

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

experiences, his own relationship with his father, and the process of interviewing him for the book. This work had a major effect on the reception of comics in general upon the world of mainstream prose literature, awakening many to the potential of comics as a medium for stories other than adventure fantasy. * In 1982,

's ''Alec'' stories started with the Scottish/Australian artist as a young man drifting through life with his friends, and followed him through marriage, parenthood, and a successful artistic career. (They were later collected in ''The King Canute Crowd'', ''Three Piece Suit'', and other books.) * Campbell's English colleague Glenn Dakin created the ''Abraham Rat'' stories (collected in ''Abe: Wrong for All the Right Reasons''), which began as fantasy and became more contemplative and autobiographical. *

Spain Rodriguez Manuel Rodriguez (March 2, 1940 – November 28, 2012), better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, was an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the motorcycle club, the Road Vultures M ...

drew a number of stories, collected in ''My True Story'', about being a

motorcycle gang An outlaw motorcycle club is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, ...

member in the 1950s. *In the early 1980s,

Carol Tyler Carol Tyler (born November 20, 1951) is an American painter, educator, comedian, and eleven-time Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist known for her autobiographical comics. She has received multiple honors for her work including the Cartoonist Studi ...

shifted from making autobiographical paintings to comics. Her first published comics piece appeared in '' Weirdo'' in 1987. * Underground legend

focused increasingly on autobiography in his 1980s stories in '' Weirdo'' magazine. Many other autobiographical shorts would appear in ''Weirdo'' by other artists, including his wife,

Aline Kominsky-Crumb Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 20 ...

Phoebe Gloeckner Phoebe Louise Adams Gloeckner (born December 22, 1960), is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and novelist. Early life Gloeckner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a librarian and her father, David Gloeckner, was ...

(see below in 1990s section), and Dori Seda. * In 1987,

released his WWII graphic memoir ''A Sailor's Story'' (

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

), a more personal extension of his 1970s ''U.S.S. Stevens'' war stories. *In 1988,

releases ''Pompeo'', his last graphic novel, depicting the gradual downfall of a heroin addict (a largely autobiographical character), up to his eventual suicide. *

Jim Woodring James William Woodring (born October 11, 1952) is an American cartoonist, fine artist, writer and toy designer. He is best known for the dream-based comics he published in his magazine '' Jim'', and as the creator of the anthropomorphic cartoo ...

's unusual "autojournal" ''

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

'' combined

dream art Dream art is any form of art that is directly based on a material from one's dreams, or a material that resembles dreams, but not directly based on them. History The first known reference to dream art was in the 12th century, when Charles Coop ...

with occasional episodes of realistic autobiography. * David Collier, a Canadian ex-soldier, published autobiographical and historical comics in ''Weirdo'' and later in his series ''Collier's''. * In 1987,

' anthology ''

Wasteland Wasteland or waste land may refer to: * Desert or barren area * an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not Art, entertainment, and media Comics * ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horror/ ...

'' (1987–1989) featured, unusually for a mainstream title, as well as more conventional forms of

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

and horror, semi-autobiographical stories based on the life of co-writer

Del Close Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was ...

. One of the stories also parodied the autobiographical stories of Harvey Pekar, portraying a version of Pekar's famous appearance on '' Late Night with David Letterman'', in which Pekar's vehement critique of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

had earned him a longtime ban from the program. * In 1989,

John Porcellino John Porcellino (born September 18, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois) is a popular creator of minicomics. Porcellino's self-published, photocopied, mostly autobiographical series '' King-Cat Comics'' is among the best-known and longest-running minicomi ...

started in his long-running autobio series ''

King-Cat Comics ''King-Cat Comics and Stories'' is a long-running, photocopied mini-comic series, authored and self-published by John Porcellino. It is among the longest continually-published mini comics in existence. Publication history Porcellino (publishing ...

'' (still ongoing).

1990s

Autobiographical work took the English-speaking

alternative comics Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which ...

scene by storm during this period, becoming a "signature genre" in much the way that superhero stories dominated American mainstream comic books. (The stereotypical example of an alternative autobiographical comic recounted the awkward moment which followed when, the cartoonist sitting alone in a coffee shop, their ex-girlfriend walks in.)

Slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a characte ...

comics and comics strips gained popularity during this period as well. However, many artists pursued broader themes. * Maltese-American

Joe Sacco Joe Sacco (; born October 2, 1960) is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. He is best known for his comics journalism, in particular in the books '' Palestine'' (1996) and '' Footnotes in Gaza'' (2009), on Israeli–Palestinian rela ...

appeared as a character in his journalistic comics, beginning with ''Yahoo'' (collected in ''Notes from a Defeatist'') and '' Palestine''. * In the anthology series ''Real Stuff'',

Dennis Eichhorn Dennis P. Eichhorn (August 19, 1945 – October 8, 2015) was an American writer, best known for his adult-oriented autobiographical comic book series ''Real Stuff''. His stories, often involving, sex, drugs, and alcohol, have been compared to tho ...

followed Pekar's example of writing true stories for others to illustrate, but unlike Pekar, emphasized unlikely tales of sex and violence. Many of the ''Real Stuff'' stories took place in Eichhorn's native state of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. In 1993, Eichhorn received an Eisner Award nomination for Best Writer and his ''Real Stuff'' series received nominations for both Best Continuing Series and Best Anthology. In 1994, ''Real Stuff'' again received an Eisner Award nomination for Best Anthology. * One of the most popular self-published

mini-comic A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 (105&n ...

s of the 1990s in America, '' Silly Daddy'', depicted Joe Chiappetta's parenthood and divorce, sometimes realistically and sometimes in a parallel fantasy story. The story continued in trade paperbacks and as a

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be c ...

. *''The Job Thing'', 1993.

details her troubles with low paying jobs. A collection of stories originally published in Street Music Magazine. *

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

's series ''

Dirty Plotte ''Dirty Plotte'' is a comic book series by Julie Doucet, published by Drawn & Quarterly from 1991–1998. Most of the oddball stories in ''Dirty Plotte'' were autobiographical, often about the struggles of being a woman and being an alternative ...

'' (1991–1998), from Canada, began as a mix of outlandish fantasy and dream comics, but moved toward autobiography in what was later collected as ''My New York Diary''. * A trio of Canadian friends, Seth ''( Palookaville)'',

Chester Brown Chester William David Brown (born 16 May 1960) is a Canadian cartoonist. Brown has gone through several stylistic and thematic periods. He gained notice in alternative comics circles in the 1980s for the surreal, scatological '' Ed the Happy Cl ...

''( Yummy Fur, The Playboy, I Never Liked You)'', and

Joe Matt Joe Matt (born September 3, 1963) is an American cartoonist, best known for his autobiographical work, '' Peepshow''. Early life Matt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He started drawing comics in 1987. Career In his autobiographical c ...

(''

Peepshow A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...

''), gained rapid renown in North America for their different approaches to autobiography. Brown and Matt were also notorious for depicting embarrassing personal moments such as masturbation and

nose-picking Nose-picking is the act of extracting nasal mucus with one's finger (rhinotillexis) and may include the subsequent ingestion of the extracted mucus (mucophagy). In Western cultures, this act is generally considered to be social deviant; parent ...

. Seth created some controversy by presenting realistic fictional stories as if they had actually happened, not as a ploy to fool writers but as a literary technique. However some readers did get fooled. * Keith Knight's weekly comic strip '' The K Chronicles'' began in the early 1990s, exploring themes relevant to Knight's racial heritage, as well as current events, both personal to Knight and general to the world. *

Howard Cruse Howard Cruse (May 2, 1944 – November 26, 2019) was an American alternative cartoonist known for the exploration of gay themes in his comics. First coming to attention in the 1970s during the underground comix movement with ''Barefootz'', he wa ...

's graphic novel ''

Stuck Rubber Baby ''Stuck Rubber Baby'' is a 1995 graphic novel by American cartoonist Howard Cruse. He created his debut graphic novel after a decades-long career as an underground cartoonist. It deals with homosexuality and racism in the 1960s in the southern U ...

'' (1995) told a fictionalized version of Cruse's young adulthood as a gay man in the South during

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

conflicts. *

created a series of semi-autobiographical stories drawing on her adolescent experiences with sex and drugs in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, collected in '' A Child's Life and Other Stories''. She later revisited similar material in her 2004 illustrated novel '' The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures''. * ''Seven Miles a Second'', written by painter

David Wojnarowicz David Michael Wojnarowicz ( (September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992) was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and AIDS activist prominent in the East Village art scene. He incorp ...

and illustrated by

James Romberger James Romberger (born 1958) is an American fine artist and cartoonist known for his depictions of New York City's Lower East Side. Romberger's pastel drawings of the ravaged landscape of the Lower East Side and its citizens are in many public ...

and

Marguerite Van Cook Marguerite Van Cook (née Martin) (born 1954) is an English artist, writer, musician/singer and filmmaker. She was born in Portsmouth, England and now resides in New York City on the Lower East Side, in the East Village. She attended Portsmouth ...

, was based on Wojnarowicz's life and his response to the AIDS epidemic. * The graphic novel ''David Chelsea in Love'' described the eponymous author's romantic difficulties in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. *

Rick Veitch Richard Veitch (born May 7, 1951) is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics. Early life Rick Veitch is a native of the small town of Bellows Falls, Vermont. One of six children, he ...

told the story of his twenties entirely through a dream diary in the ''Crypto Zoo'' volume of ''Rare Bit Fiends''. *

Ariel Schrag Ariel Schrag (born December 29, 1979) is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an early age for her autobiographical comics. Her novel ''Adam'' provoked controversy with its theme of a heterosexual tee ...

's tetralogy ''Awkward'', ''Definition'', ''Potential'', and ''Likewise'', about discovering her sexual identity in high school, was unusual in having been mostly completed ''while'' in high school. *

's ''A Touch of Silver'' ( Image Comics, 1997) portrayed his unhappy youth in the 1960s. * English artist

Raymond Briggs Raymond Redvers Briggs (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story ...

, best known for his children's books, told the story of his parents' marriage in '' Ethel & Ernest'' (1998). *

James Kochalka James Kochalka (born May 26, 1967, in Springfield, Vermont) is an American comic book artist, writer, animator, and rock musician. His comics are noted for their blending of the real and the surreal. Largely autobiographical, Kochalka's carto ...

started to turn his daily life into a daily four-panel strip starting in 1998, collected in ''Sketchbook Diaries'', and later in the

''American Elf''. * Swedish cartoonist

Martin Kellerman Martin Kellerman (born 1973 in Växjö) is a Swedish cartoonist, known for the comic strip ''Rocky''. He was influenced by American and Swedish underground cartoonists such as Peter Bagge, Max Andersson, Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, Joe Matt an ...

launched the autobiographical comic strip ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...

'' in 1998, focusing on an anthropomorphic dog and his friends in their everyday life in Stockholm. ''Rocky'' is based on Kellerman's own life. The comic has since been translated into

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

, Serbian, English, Spanish, and French, either as a running strip or collected in book form. * '' Bread and Wine: An Erotic Tale of New York'' (1999), written by Samuel R. Delaney and illustrated by Mia Wolff, is an autobiographical graphic novel about a gay science-fiction writer (Delaney) meeting a homeless man who becomes his partner. * Brian Michael Bendis' three-issue American comic book

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

'' Fortune and Glory'' (

Oni Press Oni Press is an American independent comic book and graphic novel publisher based in Portland, Oregon. In 2019, it became an imprint label following the company's merger with Lion Forge Comics. The merged company, Oni–Lion Forge Publishing Grou ...

, 1999–2000) is the story of the author's attempts to break into Hollywood by writing screenplays for his

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

comics (such as ''

Jinx A jinx (also jynx), in popular superstition and folklore, is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck. The word ''"jynx"'' meaning the bird wryneck and sometimes a charm or spell has been in use in English since the seventeen ...

'', '' A.K.A. Goldfish'', and ''

Torso The torso or trunk is an anatomical term for the central part, or the core, of the body of many animals (including humans), from which the head, neck, limbs, tail and other appendages extend. The tetrapod torso — including that of a huma ...

''). The series was nominated for

Eisner Awards The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

in three categories.

1990s in France

This period also saw a rapid expansion of the French small-press comics scene, including a new emphasis on autobiographical work: * Fabrice Neaud's acclaimed ''Journal'' was the first lengthy autobiographical series in French comics. *

David B. Pierre-François "David" Beauchard (; born 9 February 1959), also known by the pen name David B., is a French comic book artist and writer, and one of the founders of . Biography After studying advertising at the Duperré School of Applied Arts i ...

, another artist who had first published fantasy comics stories, produced the graphic novel ''L'ascension du haut mal'' (published in English as ''

Epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

'') applied B.'s distinctive non-realistic style to the story of his equally unusual upbringing, in which his family moved to a

macrobiotic A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics) is a fad diet based on ideas about types of food drawn from Zen Buddhism. The diet tries to balance the supposed yin and yang elements of food and cookware. Major principles of macrobiotic diets are to reduce ...

commune and sought many other cure's for B.'s brother's ''

grand mal Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...

seizures An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with l ...

. *

Lewis Trondheim Lewis Trondheim (born Laurent Chabosy, , on 11 December 1964), is a French cartoonist and one of the founders (in 1990) of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic ''La Mouche'' and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animat ...

portrayed himself and his friends, albeit with animal heads, in ''Approximative continuum comics'', some of which was later published in English as ''The Nimrod''. * Much of

Edmond Baudoin Edmond Baudoin (born 23 April 1942 in Nice) is a French artist, illustrator, and writer of sequential art and graphic novels. Biography Baudoin left school at the age of 16 and went into military service. He later worked as an accountant at the ...

's later work is based on his personal and family history. * Dupuy and Berberain's "Journal d'un album" and Jean-Christophe Menu's "Livre de Phamille" also had a significant influence on the French autobiographic graphic novel scene.

2000s

* Iranian exile

Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi (; fa, مرجان ساتراپی ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis'' a ...

created the multi-volume ''

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

'', originally published as a newspaper serial in France, about her childhood during the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

. * Canadian animator

Guy Delisle Guy Delisle (born January 19, 1966) is a Canadian cartoonist and animator, best known for his graphic novels about his travels, such as ''Shenzhen'' (2000), '' Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea'' (2003), '' Burma Chronicles'' (2007), and ''Jerus ...

published several travelogues such as '' Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China'' (2000), '' Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea'' (2004), ''

Burma Chronicles :''See Burmese chronicles for the royal chronicles of Burma (Myanmar).'' ''Burma Chronicles'' (french: Chroniques Birmanes) is a 2007 Canadian graphic novel written and illustrated by Guy Delisle. ''Burma Chronicles'' is a travelogue about Delis ...

'' (2007), and ''

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

'' (2011). * ''The Spiral Cage'', by English artist

Al Davison Al Davison is an English comic book writer and artist from Newcastle, England. He now resides in Coventry, where he runs The Astral Gypsy, his studio and comic shop in Fargo Village, Far Gosford Street, with his wife Maggie. He is most famous fo ...

, is about Davison's experience of living with

spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, men ...

. * Jeffrey Brown's ''Clumsy'' (2001) and ''Unlikely'' (2003) told the story of two failed relationships using hundreds of single-page stories. * ''

Blue Pills ''Blue Pills'' (original title: ''Pilules Bleues'') is a 2001 Swiss-French autobiographical comic written and illustrated by Frederik Peeters. The comic tells the story of a man falling in love with an HIV-positive woman. The book won the 2001 ...

'' (original title: ''Pilules Bleues'') is a 2001 Swiss-French autobiographical comic written and illustrated by

Frederik Peeters Frédérik Peeters (; born 14 August 1974 in Geneva) is a contemporary Swiss graphic novelist. Biography Peeters received his bachelor of arts degree in visual communication from the École Supérieure d’Arts Appliqués in Geneva in 1995. Pee ...

. The comic tells the story of a man falling in love with an

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immun ...

woman. *

Lynda Barry Linda Jean Barry (born January 2, 1956) is an American cartoonist. Barry is best known for her weekly comic strip ''Ernie Pook's Comeek''. She garnered attention with her 1988 illustrated novel ''The Good Times are Killing Me'', about an inte ...

's ''One! Hundred! Demons!'' (2002) features Barry wrestling with the "demons" of regret, abusive relationships, self-consciousness, the prohibition against feeling hate, and her response to the results of the 2000 United States presidential election. *

Craig Thompson Craig Matthew Thompson (born September 21, 1975) is an American graphic novelist best known for his books '' Good-bye, Chunky Rice'' (1999), '' Blankets'' (2003), '' Carnet de Voyage'' (2004), '' Habibi'' (2011), and '' Space Dumplins'' (2015). T ...

releases ''

Blankets A blanket is a swath of soft cloth large enough either to cover or to enfold most of the user's body and thick enough to keep the body warm by trapping radiant body heat that otherwise would be lost through convection. Etymology The term ...

'' (2003), an award-winning graphic memoir of first love, religious identity, and coming of age. * Marzena Sowa wrote ''Marzi'', a series of comics about her childhood in 1980s-era Poland. *

wrote ''

In the Shadow of No Towers ''In the Shadow of No Towers'' is a 2004 work of comics by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman. It is about Spiegelman's reaction to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. It was originally serialized as a comic strip in the G ...

'' (2004), an oversize graphic memoir about his experiences during the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

. *

Josh Neufeld Josh Neufeld (born August 9, 1967) is an alternative cartoonist known for his nonfiction comics on subjects like Hurricane Katrina, international travel, and finance, as well as his collaborations with writers like Harvey Pekar and Brooke Gladsto ...

published his

Xeric Award The Xeric Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations. The Xeric Fou ...

-winning ''A Few Perfect Hours'' (2004), documenting his and his girlfriend's backpacking adventures through Southeast Asia, Central Europe, and Turkey. *

Joe Kubert Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Polish-born American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. He is also kno ...

published ''Yossel April 14, 1943'' (2005), a "fake autobiographical graphic novel" about what would have happened if his parents hadn't moved from Poland to the U.S. and they would have been there during the Holocaust. *

published ''Late Bloomer'', which features all the collected works from '' Weirdo'' and other publications. * Italian comic book artist

Gipi Gianni Pacinotti, better known by the pseudonym of Gipi, is an Italian cartoonist, filmmaker, and author. Biography Born in Pisa in 1963, he began his career illustrating for the publishing and advertising industries. He began illustrating stor ...

releases several graphic novels inspired by his own life experiences: ''Appunti per una storia di guerra'' ("Notes for a War Story," 2005), ''S.'' (2006, about his father), ''La mia vita disegnata male'' ("My Life Badly Drawn," 2008). * Xeric Award-winner Steve Peters wrote and illustrated ''Chemistry'' (2005) about a failed relationship. He drew one panel a day for a year; the entire comic is 32 pages long with a total of 365 panels. Each panel's date is hidden somewhere inside it. ''Chemistry'' won the 2006 Howard Eugene Day Memorial Prize. * ''

Mom's Cancer ''Mom's Cancer'' is an autobiographical webcomic by Brian Fies which describes his mother's fight against metastatic lung cancer, as well as his family's reactions to it. ''Mom's Cancer'' was the first webcomic to win an Eisner Award, winning in ...

'' is an autobiographical

Brian Fies Brian Fies (pronounced "feez" ) is an American cartoonist. He is the creator of '' Mom's Cancer'', which was the first webcomic to receive an Eisner Award. Fies won the Eisner in 2005 under the newly created category " Best Digital Comic". ''Mom's ...

which describes his mother's fight against

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

, as well as his family's reactions to it. ''Mom's Cancer'' was the first webcomic to win an Eisner Award, winning in 2005. Its print collection, published in 2006, won a

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that we ...

and a

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

. *

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', whi ...

wrote and illustrated ''

Fun Home ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 Graphic novel, graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, Uni ...

'' (2006), about her relationship with her father, and it was named by ''Time'' magazine as number one of its "10 Best Books of the Year." * Martin Lemelman wrote ''Mendel's Daughter'' (2006), based on his mother's recorded confessions of her life during the Holocaust. He inserts a lot of family pictures as well. *

Miriam Katin Miriam Katin (born 1942) is a Hungarian-born American graphic novelist and graphic artist. She worked in animation from 1981 to 2000 in Israel and the United States. She has written two autobiographical graphic novels, ''We Are on Our Own'' (2006 ...

wrote ''We Are on Our Own: A Memoir'' (2006), a graphic memoir about her survival, with her mother, of the Holocaust. * Danny Gregory wrote ''Everyday Matters'', after he taught himself to draw following a traumatic moment in his life: his wife was hit by a train and became paralyzed. * Anders Nilsen won an

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping ...

for his graphic memoir, ''Don't Go Where I Can't Follow'' (2007) * In April 2007, Ype Driessen, a Dutch comic artist, published the first autobiographical

photo comic Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to ...

called '' Ype+Willem''. With photos he showed everyday happenings in his life with his former boyfriend Willem. He still publishes his comic a
FotoStrips.nl
(NL). *

published ''Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir'' (2007), her life story, with inserted photographs. * ''

A Drifting Life is a thinly veiled autobiographical Japanese manga written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Tatsumi that chronicles his life from 1945 to 1960, the early stages of his career as a cartoonist. The book earned Tatsumi the Tezuka Osamu Cultural ...

'' (2008) is a thinly veiled autobiographical Japanese manga written and illustrated by

Yoshihiro Tatsumi was a Japanese manga artist whose work was first published in his teens, and continued through the rest of his life. He is widely credited with starting the gekiga style of alternative manga in Japan, having allegedly coined the term in 1957. H ...

that chronicles his life from 1945 to 1960, the early stages of his career as a cartoonist. The book earned Tatsumi the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and won two

. *

Carol Lay Carol Lay (born 1952) is an American alternative cartoonist best known for her weekly comic strip, ''Story Minute'' (later to evolve into the strip ''Way Lay''), which ran for almost 20 years in such US papers as the ''LA Weekly'', the ''NY Press' ...

wrote and illustrated ''The Big Skinny'' (2008) about her experiences with weight loss. * '' American Widow'' (2008), written by Alissa Torres and drawn by Sungyoon Choi, is a graphic memoir about Torres's experience as a widow of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in 2001. * '' Stitches: A Memoir'' is a 2009 graphic memoir written and illustrated by David Small. It tells the story of Small's journey from sickly child to

cancer patient Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

, to the troubled teen who made a risky decision to run away from home at sixteen — with nothing more than the dream of becoming an artist. ''Stitches'' was a #1 ''New York Times'' Best Seller, and was named one of the ten best books of 2009 by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...

. It was also a finalist for the 2009

National Book Award for Young People's Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".< ...

. ''Stitches'' was a 2010 Alex Awards recipient. ''Stitches'' has been translated into seven different languages and published in nine different countries. *2009 through 2012, the ''You'll Never Know'' trilogy (later to be known as ''Soldier's Heart'') was published. The 11-time Eisner-nominated series is about the lifetime damage her father's

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

from

had on the artist/author,

, and her family.

2010s

The "graphic memoir" really came into its own this decade, with many of the books by female authors. Lucy Knisley and MariNaomi each published a number of full-length autobiographical comics in the 2010s. The market expanded into middle grade as well, witnessed by such well-received examples as

Raina Telgemeier Raina Diane Telgemeier (/'ɹeɪna 'tɛlgə'maɪəɹ/, born May 26, 1977) is an American cartoonist. Her works include the autobiographical webcomic ''Smile'', which was published as a full-color graphic novel in February 2010, and the follow-up ...

's books, the ''

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

'' series, and Cece Bell's '' El Deafo''. * 2010: ** ''

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

'', by

, gives an account of the author's life from sixth grade to high school. The book won the 2010

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

for Nonfiction. In 2011, the book won the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens. It was also one of Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, and a 2011

Association for Library Service to Children The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a division of the American Library Association, and it is the world's largest organization dedicated to library service to children. Its members are concerned with creating a better future ...

Notable Children's Book for Middle Readers. In 2013, it won the Intermediate

Young Reader's Choice Award The Young Reader's Choice Award is an award program of the Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA) which was inaugurated in 1940 by Harry Hartman, a well-known Seattle based bookseller. It is the oldest "children's choice" award in the U.S. a ...

from Washington and the 2013

Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (RCYRBA) is an annual award given to the author of the book voted most outstanding by students in grades four through eight in participating Illinois schools and libraries. It is named in honor of child ...

from Illinois. It won the 2014 Nevada Young Reader Award. ''Smile'' was followed by ''

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

'' (2014), which won Telgemeier an Eisner Award for best Writer/Artist, 2015. ** ''Drinking at the Movies'', by Julia Wertz. Against the backdrop of her move from San Francisco to New York, the book details serious issues, such as a family member's battle with substance abuse and her own alcoholism, with trademark wit and self-effacement. ''Drinking at the Movies'' was nominated for a 2011 Eisner Award in the Best Humor Publication category."2011 Eisner Award Nominations Announced"
April 8, 2011. ''MTV Geek''. Retrieved July 18, 2011. **

Sarah Glidden Sarah Glidden (born in 1980) is an American cartoonist known for her nonfiction comics and graphic novels. Biography Glidden was born in Massachusetts, to a family of Jewish background. Glidden studied painting at Boston University. She began ...

wrote and illustrated ''How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less'', a full-length exploration of Glidden's 2007 visit to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

as part of a

Birthright Israel Taglit-Birthright Israel ( he, תגלית), also known as Birthright Israel or simply Birthright, is a not-for-profit educational organization that sponsors free ten-day heritage trips to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights for young adult ...

tour. The book has subsequently been translated into five languages. ** Vanessa Davis' ''Make Me a Woman'' featured stories taken from her diary and are candidly personal, witty and self-deprecating; centering on her youth, mother, relationships with men, and

Jewish identity Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under a broader definition, Jewish identity does not depend on whether a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an exter ...

. ** '' Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence'' is a graphic memoir by

Geoffrey Canada Geoffrey Canada (born January 13, 1952) is an American educator, social activist and author. Since 1990, Canada has been president of the Harlem Children's Zone in Harlem, New York, an organization that states its goal is to increase high scho ...

, adapted and illustrated by Jamar Nicholas. **

Joyce Farmer Joyce Farmer (born 1938 in Los Angeles, California)Vankin, Deborah"R. Crumb: Joyce Farmer’s ''Special Exits'' on par with ''Maus'',""Hero Complex," ''Los Angeles Times'' (November 28, 2010). is an American underground comix cartoonist. She was a ...

's ''Special Exits'' documents in comics form the sad and sometimes humorous episodes of her parents' final years. ''Special Exits'' won the National Cartoonists Society's Graphic Novel Award in 2011. ** '' Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale'' is an autobiographical comic book by Belle Yang. It is a memoir about her relatives' experiences in China in the mid-20th century. * 2011: **

Nicola Streeten Nicola Streeten (also using the name Nicola Plowman) is an academic, illustrator, cultural anthropologist, historian of British cartoonists, expert in the history of women cartoonists and British graphic novelist. Streeten is the co-founder of Lay ...

's graphic memoir ''Billy, Me & You'' is the first long-form graphic memoir by a British woman to have been published. Dealing with the intersection of comics and medicine, it is cited as an example of

graphic medicine Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...

. ** MariNaomi's ''Kiss and Tell'' was published in 2011, followed by ''Dragon's Breath and Other True Stories'' in 2014, and ''I Thought YOU Hated ME'' in 2016. **

's '' Paying for It'', a combination of

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

and

polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...

, explores Brown's decision to give up on romantic love and to take up the life of a "

john John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

" by frequenting

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

. The book, published by

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, a ...

, was controversial, and a bestseller. ** GB Tran's ''Vietnamerica'' depicts the struggles encountered by Tran's grandparents in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

and his parents during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and in their immigration to the United States. ''Vietnamerica'' won a

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

Gold Medal and was included in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'''s list of Top 10 Graphic Memoirs. **

Adrian Tomine Adrian Tomine (; born May 31, 1974) is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series ''Optic Nerve'' and his illustrations in '' The New Yorker''. Early life Adrian Tomine was born May 31, 1974, in Sacramento, Cal ...

's ''Scenes From an Impending Marriage'', a light-hearted recap of Tomine's wedding and the lead-up to it. * 2012: **

published ''

Are You My Mother? ''Are You My Mother?'' is a children's book by P. D. Eastman published by Random House Books for Young Readers on June 12, 1960, as part of its Beginner Books series. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the b ...

'', a graphic memoir that examines Bechdel's relationship with her mother through the lens of

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

. ** ''

My Friend Dahmer ''My Friend Dahmer'' is a 2012 graphic novel and memoir by artist John "Derf" Backderf about his teenage friendship with Jeffrey Dahmer, who later became a serial killer. The book evolved from a 24-page, self-published version by Backderf in 20 ...

'', by John "Derf" Backderf, is about his teenage friendship with

Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismemberment, dismembered seventeen men and boys ...

, who later became a

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

. The book was nominated for an

for Outstanding Graphic Novel. It also was nominated for a

and a

Reuben Award The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

and received the Revelation Award at the 2014

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after ...

. **

Ellen Forney Ellen Forney (born March 8, 1968) is an American cartoonist, educator, and wellness coach. She is known for her autobiographic comics which include ''I was Seven in '75''; ''I Love Led Zepellin''; and ''Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo an ...

's ''Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me'' addressed her experiences with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. It was a New York Times Bestseller. ''Marbles'' featured prominently in a

exhibit that Forney curated for the

United States National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...

. ** ''The Voyeurs'' is a real-time memoir of a turbulent five years in the life of renowned cartoonist, diarist, and filmmaker

Gabrielle Bell Gabrielle Bell (born March 24, 1976 in London, England) is a British-American alternative cartoonist known for her surrealist, melancholy semi-autobiographical stories. Early life When Bell was two, her American mother divorced her British fath ...

. It collects episodes from her award-winning series, ''Lucky'', in which she travels to Tokyo, Paris, and the South of France and all over the United States, but remains anchored by her beloved Brooklyn, where sidekick Tony provides ongoing insight, offbeat humor and enduring friendship. ** Zeina Abirached's graphic memoir, ''A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return'' was published by the Graphic Universe division of Lerner Publishing Group. A second memoir, ''I Remember Beirut'', was published in 2014. ** '' Little White Duck: A Childhood in China'', written by Na Liu and illustrated by her husband, Andrés Vera Martínez, discusses Na Liu's childhood in China during the 1970s and 1980s. ** '' A Chinese Life'' is a French graphic novel co-written by

Li Kunwu Li Kunwu (born 1955,Smart, James.A Chinese Life by Li Kunwu and P Ôtié – review " ''The Guardian''. October 12, 2012. Retrieved on November 29, 2018. ) is a Chinese cartoonist who created graphic novels published in France. Life He originated ...

and Philippe Ôtié and illustrated by Li Kunwu. The book describes Li Kunwu's life during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

.A Chinese Life by Li Kunwu and Philippe Ôtié, translated by Edward Gauvin
"

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC) is a migratory museum that shares Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture through innovative museum experiences online and throughout the U.S through the Smithsonian Institution's work. ...

. Retrieved on 13 February 2015. ** '' Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White'' is an autobiographical comic set during the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

written by American author Lila Quintero Weaver. The author was nominated for the 2012

for Promising New Talent for this work. * 2013: ** Congressman and civil rights leader

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

released '' March: Book One'', the first volume of an autobiographical graphic novel trilogy, co-written by

Andrew Aydin Andrew Aydin (born August 25, 1983) is an American comics writer, known as the Digital Director & Policy Advisor to Georgia congressman John Lewis, and co-author, with Lewis, of Lewis' #1 ''New York Times'' bestselling autobiographical graphic no ...

and drawn by

Nate Powell Nathan Lee Powell (born 1978) is an American graphic novelist and musician. His 2008 graphic novel ''Swallow Me Whole'' won an Ignatz Award and Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel. He illustrated the ''March'' trilogy, an autobiographical ...

. ''March: Book Two'' was published in 2015 and ''March: Book Three'' appeared in 2016. **

Ulli Lust Ulli Lust (born 1967 in Vienna) is an Austrian cartoonist who lives and works in Berlin. Her graphic novel ''Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life'' was translated into English and published by Fantagraphics Books in 2013. In 2013, ''Tod ...

's ''Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life'' (2013; originally published in German in 2009) won an

for best graphic novel, the LA Times Book Award for Graphic Novels and then was nominated for an

Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work The Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work is an award for "creative achievement" in non-fiction American comic books. Winners and nominees Notes {{reflist, group=note References Category Category, plural categories, may refer to: ...

. **

Nicole Georges Nicole J. Georges (born 10 December 1981 in Kansas) is an American illustrator, writer, zinester, podcaster, and educator. She is well known for authoring the autobiographical comic zine ''Invincible Summer'', whose individual issues have been co ...

' graphic memoir, ''Calling Dr. Laura''. The book depicts the events following the author's visit to a palm reader at age twenty-three, where she is told by the psychic there that her father is not actually dead like her family claimed years ago. In light of this news, the author is "sent into a tailspin about her identity," and endeavors to find out the truth, recounting the occurrences of her childhood and grappling with feelings of uncertainty. * 2014: ** ''

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? ''Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?'' is a 2014 graphic memoir of American cartoonist and author Roz Chast. The book is about Chast's parents in their final years. Her father, George, died at the age of 95 and her mother, Elizabeth, wh ...

'' by cartoonist

Roz Chast Rosalind Chast (born November 26, 1954) is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for ''The New Yorker''. Since 1978, she has published more than 800 cartoons in ''The New Yorker''. She also publishes cartoons in ''Scientific American'' and ...

. The book is about Chast's parents in their final years. In 2014, the book won the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Kirkus Reviews''. The book was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. The book was selected as one of ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

s 10 Best Books of 2014. ** '' El Deafo'', written and illustrated by Cece Bell, is a loose autobiographical account of Bell's childhood and life with her deafness. The characters in the book are all anthropomorphic bunnies. ** Mimi Pond's ''Over Easy'' (2014), a coming-of-age story about a young Margaret Pond as she works at Imperial Café, a diner full of hippies and punks in the late 1970s. It is in this diner that Margaret makes the transition into 'Madge' and gets a glimpse at adulthood, which includes addiction, confusion, awkward moments, the artist dream, and sexual awakenings. ''Over Easy'' encapsulates 1970s Oakland in a witty, slightly fictionalized, memoir of Pond's experiences. The memoir won the

PEN Center USA PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN, an international literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being the PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unifi ...

award for Graphic Literature Outstanding Body of Work, with a special mention; Pond also won an

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual conv ...

after the release of ''Over Easy''. ** ''Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir'', by Liz Prince, explores what it means to be female and describes Prince's struggle with

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...

issues. This memoir is told through short, related stories starting from Prince's early childhood experiences and ending when Prince is a teenager and has slowly learned to define herself as a woman on her own terms. The book received a starred review from ''Kirkus'' ''Reviews''. ** ''An Iranian Metamorphosis'' is

Mana Neyestani Mana Neyestani ( fa, مانا نیستانی; born 29 May 1973) is an Iranian cartoonist, illustrator, and comic book creator. His work appears internationally in economic, intellectual, political and cultural magazines. He is particularly known f ...

's autobiographical graphic novel about life in post-revolutionary Iran. Originally published in French, it was later published in German, Spanish and English. ** ''The Hospital Suite'' by

details his struggles with illness in the 1990s and early 2000s. ** Lucy Knisley's ''An Age of License'' is a travel memoir recounting the author's trip to Europe/Scandinavia, thanks to a book tour. Knisley's ''Displacement: A Travelogue'' (2015) was nominated for the 2016

. ** Meags Fitzgerald published ''Photobooth: A Biography'', a non-fiction graphic novel detailing her interest in chemical photo booths; it won the 2015 Doug Wright Spotlight Award. She followed it in 2015 with the autobiographical graphic novel ''Long Red Hair''. * 2015: ** ''

The Arab of the Future ''The Arab of the Future'' (french: L'Arabe du futur) is a graphic memoir by award-winning French-Syrian cartoonist Riad Sattouf. The work recounts Sattouf's childhood growing up in France, Libya and Syria in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. The first ...

'' is French-Syrian cartoonist

Riad Sattouf Riad Sattouf ( ar, رياض سطوف; born 5 May 1978) is a French cartoonist, comic artist, and film director. Sattouf is best known for his award-winning graphic memoir hexalogy '' L'Arabe du futur'' (''The Arab of the Future'') and for his awa ...

's account of his childhood growing up in France, Libya and Syria in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. The book was nominated for the 2016

. ''The Arab of the Future 2'' appeared in 2016. ** ''Dare to Disappoint'' is Özge Samancı's graphic coming-of-age memoir. Her story takes place after the third military coup leading to Turkey's rapid change to neo-capitalism from 1980 to 2000. The book was translated into five languages. ** ''

Becoming Unbecoming ''Becoming Unbecoming'' is a 2015 graphic novel by English author Una. It depicts the effects of misogyny and sexism on twelve-year old Una growing up in northern England in 1977 while the Yorkshire Ripper is on the loose, creating a panic among ...

'', by English author

Una Una and UNA may refer to: Places * 160 Una, the asteroid "Una", an asteroid named after the Faerie Queene character * Una River (disambiguation), numerous rivers * Una, Himachal Pradesh, a town in India ** Una, Himachal Pradesh Assembly constit ...

, depicts the effects of misogyny and sexism on twelve-year old Una growing up in northern England in 1977 while the

Yorkshire Ripper Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...

is on the loose, creating a panic among townspeople. ** '' Honor Girl'' is a graphic memoir written and illustrated by Maggie Thrash. It is the story of Thrash's first crush at an all-girls summer camp in Kentucky in 2000. **

Bill Griffith William Henry Jackson Griffith (born January 20, 1944) is an American cartoonist who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his surreal comedy, surreal daily comic strip ''Zippy the Pinhead, Zippy''. The catchphrase "Are w ...

's memoir, ''Invisible Ink: My Mother’s Secret Love Affair With a Famous Cartoonist''. (For over a decade, starting in 1957, Griffith's mother Barbara had an affair with cartoonist Lawrence Lariar; this formed the basis of ''Invisible Ink''.“I Had Moments Where I Just Broke Down Crying”: An Interview with Bill Griffith
by Chris Mautner, in ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

''; published November 23, 2015; retrieved December 16, 2015) * 2016: ** Tom Hart's ''Rosalie Lightning'', a memoir named after his daughter, who had died suddenly when she was almost two, and about his and his wife's grief and their attempts to make sense of their life afterwards. The book was nominated for the 2017

. ** Rokudenashiko's ''What is Obscenity? The Story of a Good for Nothing Artist and Her Pussy'' is a graphic memoir of a Japanese artist who has been jailed twice for so-called acts of obscenity and the distribution of pornographic materials yet continues to champion the depiction of the vagina. * 2017: ** Thi Bui's graphic memoir ''The Best We Could Do'' chronicles the life of her refugee parents and siblings, their life in Vietnam prior to their escape after the

, and their eventual migration to the United States, delving into themes of immigration, war and intergenerational trauma. The book received a number of accolades, including the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

, and was also a finalist for the

. * 2018: ** In ''Fab4 Mania'',

referenced her personal writings from 1965 for a first-hand account of seeing

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

in person in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

at age 13. * 2019: ** Actor and activist

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...

published ''They Called Us Enemy'', an autobiographical graphic novel co-written with Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott and illustrated by Harmony Becker.

2020s

The autobiographical graphic novel started to bloom to the point, where it is hard to follow the constant production. * 2022: ** On the 19th of September 2022 Slovenian artist Žiga Valetič has published a 149 pages long autobiographical graphic nove
The Highway
which was made with the help of artificial intelligence – the computer program

Midjourney Midjourney is an independent research lab that produces an artificial intelligence program under the same name that creates images from textual descriptions, similar to OpenAI's DALL-E and Stable Diffusion. It is speculated that the underlying ...

. The book has been published on-line while Slovenian version has also been printed.

References

{{Comics Comics genres comics