Who says graphic novels are just for kids?
This September, turn the page and discover some of the new and raw talent coming out of Australia’s graphic novel scene. With complex storylines, memorable characters, historical themes and intricate artwork, graphic novels have grown well beyond the traditional comics many of us remember from childhood.
With our Manga-thon+ Reading Competition starting on 19 September, it’s a great time to try something new. This year’s reading competition includes graphic novels alongside manga and YA books, giving you plenty of options to explore.
Here are our top five reads for adults looking to step into the world of graphic novels.
Cannon
By Lee Lai
In the follow-up to the critically acclaimed and award-winning Stone Fruit, Cannon offers readers the full palette of a nervous breakdown. Lai’s sharp sense of humour and sensitive eye produce a story that explores the intimacy of queer friendship and the weight of family responsibility and breaks open the question of what we owe both to each other and to ourselves. Winner of the 2026 Stella Prize.
Underground: Marsupial Outlaws and Other Rebels of Australia’s War in Vietnam
By Mirranda Burton
Why would a wombat be registered for war?
It’s 1965, and an old Tattersalls barrel starts rolling marbles to randomly conscript young Australian men to fight in the war in Vietnam. Melbourne housewife Jean McLean is outraged, as are her artist friends Clif and Marlene Pugh, who live in the country with their wombat, Hooper.
Step back in time to a world in which bridges of understanding make more sense than war. This stunning graphic novel, full of empathy, courage and resistance, is based on true events.
Eventually Everything Connects
by Sarah Firth
WTF is going on? How can I find joy in these precarious times? Is my smart phone hijacking me? Why am I so horny? What do I do with this grief? What’s it like being the slug that lives in my bathroom sink?
Eventually Everything Connects is Sarah Firth’s debut graphic novel, a collection of interconnected visual essays created over eight years. Sarah invites you into her wild mind as she explores ways to see with fresh eyes, to face the inevitability of change, and to find freedom in sensuality.
Making the Shrine
by Laura J. Carroll
A tender and funny graphic novel exploring the soul of a city’s most treasured monument.
The Shrine of Remembrance has been an everyday sight in the living memory of all Melbournians. But while everyone knows its purpose, not everyone knows the many stories that have surrounded it for a century.
I Ate the Whole World to Find You
By Rachel Ang
Set against an exquisitely lush Australian backdrop, Rachel Ang’s pencils are fluid yet scratchy, precise and evocative, bringing to life the inner and external world of Jenny with stunning realism and gushing imagination.
Sprinkled with speculative fiction and fantasy, this radiant debut collection establishes Ang as a storyteller of range and power.
Ready to give graphic novels a go?
If graphic novels aren’t usually on your reading list, our Manga-thon+ Reading Competition is a good excuse to pick one up. Choose a book, start reading and see where it takes you.
Find out more about how to enter our Manga-thon+ Reading Competition
