Best of 2020
Top 10 Graphic Novels
ALFRED scores 0% to 100%, average of 50%
Updated January 1, 2021
Our comic scoring system ALFRED aggregates critic reviews and scores them 0% to 100%.
Key Creators
Matt Fraction
Steve Lieber
Nathan Fairbairn
Analysis
Each issue of Jimmy Olsen’s series contains multiple hilarious vignettes spread across hundreds of years of his family history that build to a satisfying conclusion in issue #12.
Official Description
Jimmy Olsen must die! Wait, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Jimmy Olsen lives! Superman’s best friend and Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen tours the bizarre underbelly of the DC Universe in this new series featuring death, destruction, giant turtles, and more, combining Silver Age energy with a distinctly modern sensibility! It’s a centuries-spanning whirlwind of weird that starts in Metropolis and ends in Gotham City.
Superhero – Comedy
Collects #1-12
More Best of 2020
Top 10 Series
Top 10 Issues
Top 10 New Series
Top 10 Graphic Novels
Key Creators
Al Ewing
Joe Bennett
Butch Guice
Mike Hawthorne
Analysis
The #1 series in our Top 100 Rankings delivered another memorable volume in 2020, and the horror-superhero mashup continues to impress critics.
Official Description
There’s a new monster in town. He’s cuddly. He’s lovable. He’s down with the kids. And he’s available for your corporate retreat. Yes, there was another Hulk once — the one who made all those nasty threats about ending the world. But who needs him? The Living Hulk is here — you might know him as Xemnu. And he’s going to save us all, or your money back! But who will triumph when Xemnu battles Robert Bruce Banner, the strangest man of all time?!
Superhero – Horror
Collects #31-35
Key Creators
Kelly Sue DeConnick
Emma Rios
Jordie Bellaire
Clayton Cowles
Analysis
The page layouts of Emma Rios reinvent what’s possible within a comic book page, and DeConnick’s characters are memorable and distinct.
Official Description
The Eisner-nominated, New York Times bestselling world of PRETTY DEADLY returns, this time to the sun-soaked strips of ‘30s-era Hollywood. Here, the best and brightest are dimmed and broken and the granddaughter of Sara Fields is found dead. Desperate to solve her murder, her heartbroken uncle calls on the Reaper of Vengeance to aid him.
Adventure
Collects #1-5
Key Creators
Kieron Gillen
Dan Mora
Tamra Bonnvillain
Analysis
The first volume in this stellar series from Boom Studios kicked off what would become one of the Top Ongoing Series in our database!
Official Description
The King is Undead. Long live the King. When a group of Nationalists use an ancient artifact to bring a villain from Arthurian myth back from the dead to gain power, ex-monster hunter Bridgette McGuire escapes her retirement home and pulls her unsuspecting grandson Duncan, a museum curator, into a world of magic and mysticism to defeat a legendary threat.
Adventure
Collects #1-6
Key Creators
Darcy Van Poelgeest
Ian Bertram
Matt Hollingsworth
Analysis
This astounding depiction of a resistance fighter was an out-of-nowhere hit that reads even better in the collected edition.
Official Description
With the limitless scope of Star Wars and EAST OF WEST paired with the sociopolitical explorations of A Handmaid’s Tale and MONSTRESS, LITTLE BIRD tells the story of a young resistance fighter battling against an oppressive American Empire while searching for her own identity in a world on fire.
Adventure
Collects #1-5
More Must-Read Graphic Novels
#25 Isola Volume Two – 82%
#24 The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage Collected – 82%
#23 Thor Devourer King – 82%
#22 Something is Killing the Children Volume 1 – 82%
#21 Wonder Woman: Dead Earth Collected – 83%
#20 Killadelphia Sins of the Father – 83%
#19 Something is Killing the Children Volume 2 – 84%
#18 Martian Manhunter Collected – 84%
#17 King Thor Collected – 84%
#16 Harleen Collected – 85%
#15 Once and Future Old English – 85%
#14 Coffin Bound Happy Ashes – 85%
#13 The Weatherman Volume 2 – 86%
#12 John Constantine: Hellblazer Marks of Woe – 88%
#11 Daredevil End of Hell – 88%
Key Creators
Ed Brubaker
Sean Phillips
Analysis
The most recent Criminal entry (available in hardcover) is a new take on the world created by Brubaker and Phillips, and is a great first read from the stellar creative team.
Official Description
Teeg Lawless is back in town. But he finds himself in more trouble than ever, thanks to his delinquent teenage son — and this time, fists and bullets may not be enough to solve his problems. A perfect introduction to CRIMINAL and its dark, exciting world, this series will also include back page art and articles to bring readers more fully into the noir experience.
Crime
Collects #1-12
Key Creators
Chuck Brown
David F. Walker
Sanford Greene
Sofie Dodgson
Clayton Cowles
Analysis
It wasn’t a one-hit wonder…Bitter Root returned with an equally impactful and action-packed sequel arc – read it before you see it on a screen someday!
Official Description
Monster-hunting has been the Sangerye family business for generations as they battle the jinoo—hideous creatures born out of hate and racism. But now, the Sangeryes face a different threat—the deadly inzondo, a new kind of monster born out of grief and trauma. With one of their own turning into an inzondo, and an army of tortured souls on the attack in 1920s Harlem, the Sangerye family must once again fight to save the world, unless their own pain and suffering transform them into monsters as well!
Crime
Collects #6-10 + Summer Special
Key Creators
Kurt Busiek
John Paul Leon
Analysis
After the long-awaited finale dropped, the collected edition of Creature of the Night reads even better all together. It’s a deep, special and unique take on the Caped Crusader.
Official Description
Bruce Wainwright, a comic book-reading kid obssessed with the Caped Crusader, loses his parents in a violent crime…and in the real world, no superheroes exist to save the day. The victim of the brutal murder of his family, young Bruce sees grief and rage build inside himself…until something strange starts taking wing in the Gotham night! Something similar to the comics he’s been reading his whole life. As life begins to imitate art, will Bruce Wainwright be able to live up to his fictional namesake?
Superhero – Crime
Collects #1-4
Key Creators
Kieron Gillen
Stephanie Hans
Clayton Cowles
Analysis
Die’s second volume allowed its characters to face uniquely challenging obstacles as their party was literally split!
Official Description
No one can escape DIE until everyone agrees to go home. Or rather, no one can escape DIE until everyone who is alive agrees to go home. The commercial and critical hit second arc of the bleakly romantic fantasy fiction series starts to reveal the secrets of the world, and our heroes’ pasts. There’s always the chance they’ll escape DIE. They’ll never escape themselves.
Fantasy
Collects #6-10
Key Creators
Kieron Gillen
Stephanie Hans
Clayton Cowles
Analysis
Yes, #2 and #1 both come from Die. Critics highlighted the fantastical and imaginative art, as well as the large-scale storytelling with emotionally-gripping character dynamics.
Official Description
In the world of DIE, the players are now real players. Countries are their pieces, and the board threatens to run red with blood. Who is the Queen, and who are pawns? Who’s playing to win? Who’s forgotten what they’re playing for? And what will they do when they’re reminded of the real stakes? The critically acclaimed dark fantasy smash hit goes epic in its third volume.
Fantasy
Collects #11-15