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The best comics of the ’00s

by Zack Handlen, Jason Heller, Noel Murray, Keith Phipps, Leonard Pierce, and Tasha Robinson

The ’00s were a turbulent time for the comic-book business, as mainstream publishers like DC and Marvel suffered the sales declines affecting nearly all print-purveyors, while publishers of what used to be known as “alternative” comics saw some of their products hitting bestseller lists and turning up on the front page of The New York Times Book Review. Superheroes were more popular at the multiplex, but in terms of readership and buzz, the story of the decade was how a handful of high-profile non-genre books helped advance the medium’s standing in literary society. And there were other big stories over the past 10 years: the inroads made by online comics, the ascendancy of writers at “the big two,” the proliferation of outstanding archival collections of classic comics, and so on.

Below, The A.V. Club’s regular Comics Panel team tries to touch on all the above, via our picks for the 25 best comics of the decade and the five best archival projects. These lists are presented alphabetically, and contain a mix of graphic novels, ongoing series, comic strips, and single issues. Limiting ourselves to 25 meant reluctantly leaving out a lot of our favorite titles (no Hernandez brothers, no Walking Dead, no Scott Pilgrim, no Astro City), so as always, we invite you to advocate for your absent favorites in the comments.


The Top 25

Achewood, Chris Onstad (achewood.com, 2001-present)

The Acme Novelty Library, Chris Ware (Pantheon, 2005)

All-Star Superman, Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely (DC, 2006-0

American Elf, James Kochalka (americanelf.com/Top Shelf, 1998-present)

Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli (Pantheon, 2009)

Black Hole, Charles Burns (Pantheon, 2005)

Blankets, Craig Thompson (Top Shelf, 2003)

Box Office Poison, Alex Robinson (Top Shelf, 2001)

Criminal, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Icon, 2006-present)

Daredevil, Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev (Marvel, 2002-06)

DC: The New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke (DC, 2003-04)

Eightball #23 (“The Death Ray”), Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics, 2004)

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)

George Sprott, 1894-1975, Seth (D&Q, 2009)

The Golem’s Mighty Swing, James Sturm (D&Q, 2000)

The Goon, Eric Powell (Dark Horse, 1999-present)

Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D&Q, 1999-2003)

The Mystery Of Mary Rogers, Rick Geary (NBM, 2001)

One Hundred Demons, Lynda Barry (Sasquath, 2002)

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon, 2000)

Promethea, Alan Moore & J.H. Williams III (America’s Best Comics/Wildstorm, 1999-2005)

Pyongyang: A Journey In North Korea, Guy Delisle (D&Q, 2006)

Tales Designed To Thrizzle, Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics, 2005-present)

Why Are You Doing This?, Jason (Fantagraphics, 2004)

Y: The Last Man, Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra (Vertigo, 2002-200


The Archives

Bone one-volume edition, Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books, 2004)

The Complete Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics, 2004-present)

The EC Archives, various (Gemstone, 2006-present)

Krazy & Ignatz, George Herriman (Fantagraphics, 2002-present)

Sundays With Walt & Skeezix, Frank King (Sunday Press, 2007)