Adult Summer Reading and Activity Challenge 2025 Graphic Novels

Description

"Pan has finally escaped her dead-end planet, piecing together a new sort of family with the rebel gladiators Bee and Cass and the mysterious hacktivist Kate. They've even rescued a princess... But what if this princess has her own ideas? Whatever happened to Pan's childhood friend Tara? And if Pan and the others become galactic fugitives, will the immense pressure of life on the run threaten to tear them apart just in time for the biggest heist of...

3) Saga: Book one

Author

Vaughan, Brian K

Notes

star-crossed love, shipwrecks and extraterrestrial races surviving in a galactic war

Description

"Saga is the story of Hazel, a child born to star-crossed parents from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war. Now, Hazel's fugitive family must risk everything to find a peaceful future in a harsh universe that values destruction" --Amazon.com.

4) My brilliant friend

Author

Lagani, Chiara, 1974-

Notes

Follow Lenu through her struggle with friendship and self identity.

Description

"HBO's four-season TV adaptation of My Brilliant Friend has enjoyed success with critics and viewers in the U.S.; the novel has been adapted for the stage and radio plays. Here, for the first time, it is brought to vivid life as a graphic novel by one of Italy's most beloved illustrators. For Ferrante fans, for those new to Ferrante, for readers of graphic novels, Chiara Lagani's and Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend: the graphic novel is a thrilling...

5) King City

Author

Graham, Brandon

Series

King City

Notes

Cats, sci-fi, action.

Formats

Description

Joe is a young man with no home, no purpose, and almost no friends ... though he does have a very special cat. With a simple injection, Joe's cat can become anything: a weapon, a tool, or even a cuddly companion. But what, if anything, can transform Joe?

6) Teen Titans: Raven

Author

Garcia, Kami

Series

Teen Titans by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo volume 1

Notes

An origin story for young Raven as she learns more of her power and deals with family tragedy.

Formats

Description

Walker, Suzanne (Suzanne Wakeen)

"When a tragic accident takes the life of the only family she's ever known, 16-year-old Raven is sent to New Orleans to start over. She soon discovers that she can hear the thoughts of others around her ... and another, more disturbing, voice in her head."-- Provided by publisher.

7) Mooncakes

Author

Notes

A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft.

Formats

Description

"The brand-new deluxe edition of Mooncakes features never-before-seen content from the bewitching graphic novel by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu. Perfect for any collector's bookshelf, the new edition comes in a deluxe hardcover package featuring new cover art and bouns content such as: an introduction by Shadow of the Batgirl's Sarah Kuhn, formally exclusive Patreon materials, and more!" -- Back of cover. "A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft....

8) Paper girls: Volume 1

Author

Vaughan, Brian K

Series

Paper Girls (2015)

Notes

12 year old girls with paper routes in the 80's. Work and explore with them in this supernatural tale of childhood nostalgia.

Formats

Description

9) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The last Ronin

In the early hours after Halloween on 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and supernatural mysteries collide in this series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood -- back cover.

Author

Eastman, Kevin B

Notes

One last remaining turtle seeks revenge in this post-apocalyptic alternate universe

Description

10) Ice Cream Man: Sundae Edition Vol. 1: Issues #1-12

What terrible events destroyed his family and left New York a crumbling, post-apocalyptic nightmare? All will be revealed in this climactic Turtle tale that sees longtime friends becoming enemies and new allies emerging in the most unexpected places. Can the surviving Turtle triumph?

Author

Prince, W. Maxwell

Notes

"Chocolate, vanilla, existential horror, addiction, musical fantasy... there's a flavor for everyone's misery".

Description

Collecting the first twelve issues of the critically acclaimed, bestselling anthology comic Ice Cream Man, this oversized hardcover offers a veritable super-sundae of storytelling flavors. From the haunting inaugural issue, to an exploration of opioid abuse, to a lauded three-tiered silent meditation, to even the far reaches of future outer space-there's a sliver of suffering here for everyone. The Ice Cream Man is coming around the block...can you...

11) The walking dead: Volume 1, Days gone bye

Author

Kirkman, Robert

Series

The Walking Dead (2003)

Notes

zombies, zombies and more zombies.

Formats

Description

Police officer Rick Grimes and a few human survivors battle hordes of decomposing zombies.

12) Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 1: Issues #1-12

Author

Cates, Donny

Notes

Eddie learns about the dark origin of symbiotes along with his own inner demons.

Description

13) The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 1: Issues #1-6

Rising star Donny Cates and blockbuster artist Ryan Stegman transform the world of Venom! An ancient and primordial evil has surfaced beneath the streets of New York. With it, something equally disturbing has been awakened in Venom, that most wicked of web-slingers! The symbiote may still be a lethal protector of innocents in New York, but this never-before-seen threat may force Venom to relinquish everything it holds dear - including its human host,...

Author

IV, James Tynion

Notes

A lakeside view of friendship and choices in this dark story.

Description

Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter-well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter's always been a little…off. But after the hardest year of their lives, nobody was going to turn down Walter's invitation to an astonishingly beautiful house in the woods, overlooking an enormous sylvan lake. It's beautiful, it's opulent, it's private-so a week of putting up with Walter's weird little...

14) Zatanna

Author

Dini, Paul

Notes

No parlor tricks here. Zatanna enchants and dazzles with her backwards words.

Formats

Description

"Emmy award-winning writer Paul Dini's complete collection of ZATANNA stories are here in one graphic novel! The acclaimed creator of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES has long had a history with the premier magician of the DC Universe, penning best-selling stories for the past two decades featuring Zatanna Zatara"-- Provided by publisher.

15) Batman Noir: The Killing Joke

Author

Moore, Alan

Notes

All it takes is one bad day.

Description

Presented in stark black and white, BATMAN NOIR: THE KILLING JOKE collects BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, "An Innocent Man" story, and a collection of Bolland's Batman covers. ALAN MOORE (WATCHMEN, V FOR VENDETTA) and BRIAN BOLLAND (CAMELOT 3000) take on the origin of comics' greatest super-villain, The Joker-and changes Batman's world forever. One bad day. According to the grinning engine of madness and mayhem known as The Joker, that's all that separates...

16) Constantine: Distorted illusions

Author

Garcia, Kami

Notes

Music, magic and Constantine.

Formats

Description

17) The Umbrella Academy: Volume 1, Apocalypse suite

John Constantine, a magician of the highest caliber, accepts an apprenticeship in the United States to become the lead singer of his best friend's punk band, but when a complicated spell gets out of hand, the disastrous consequences might be more than Constantine can handle.

Author

Way, Gerard

Series

Umbrella Academy (2007)
Umbrella Academy (Comic book series) volume 1

Notes

You've seen the show...now read about how it all started.

Formats

Description

In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-seven extraordinary children were spontaneously born by women who had previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, 'To save the world.' These seven children form The Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers. Their first adventure at the age of ten pits them against...

18) Attack on Titan: 1

Author

Isayama, Hajime, 1986-

Notes

Chow down with these not so gentle giants.

Description

"For the past century, what's left of mankind has hidden in a giant, three-walled city, trapped in fear of the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming human-kind, but the sudden appearance of an enormous Titan is about change everything''--Cover.

19) Stitches

Author

Kihara, Hirokatsu, 1960-

Notes

Very scary ghost stories.

Description

"Horror manga giant Junji Ito teams up with spooky story writer Hirokatsu Kihara for the ultimate collection of fright-filled ghost tales!" -- Goodreads.

20) The hills of Estrella Roja

Author

Franklin, Ashley Robin

Notes

Family drama and the paranormal. What more can you ask for?

Description