Every year, we take the guesswork out of gifting by providing you with our Holiday Gift Guide, a list of some of the year’s best and most “present-able” books! Read on for our top ten picks, thoughtfully sorted by their ideal giftee, and an extended list for your browsing enjoyment. We’ve included a wide range of classic comics collections, new graphic novels, beautiful box sets, and gorgeous art books. Looking for some all-ages faves? Skip straight to the bottom of the page for a roundup of our new Disney and Peanuts collections! Whether you’re shopping for Grandpa, or the kiddos, your comic-snob friend, or yourself, we’re confident our Gift Guide will help you find the perfect book for everyone on your list.
Our Top Ten:
For the Comics Fan Who Has Everything:
Original Art: Daniel Clowes
Original Art: Daniel Clowes turns the spotlight on one of the medium’s most dynamic creators. A vital entry of the Fantagraphics Studio Edition series, this volume draws from Clowes’s nearly 30 years of comics art, ranging from his seminal one-man anthology, Eightball (in which Ghost World was originally serialized), to his most recent graphic novel, 2016’s best-selling time travel thriller, Patience. This enormous, limited-edition stunner will look extremely impressive under the tree…if it fits!
For the Struggling Artist:
The Complete Works Of Fante Bukowski by Noah Van Sciver
Living in a beat-up motel and consorting with the downtrodden as well as the mid-level literati, Fante Bukowski must overcome great obstacles — a love interest turned rival, ghostwriting a teen celebrity’s memoirs, no actual talent — to gain the respect and adoration from critics and, more importantly, his father. Get it for your artist friend and they’ll be inspired to triumph once and for all over the jocks and haters!
For the Psychedelically-inclined:
And Now, Sir… Is This Your Missing Gonad? by Jim Woodring
Cartooning visionary Jim Woodring is known for his mind-bending graphic novels wherein innocent character Frank explores the surreal world of the Unifactor — including Weathercraft, Congress of the Animals, Fran, and Poochytown. Woodring’s newest book, And Now, Sir — Is This Your Missing Gonad?, collects a medley of drawings set within his strange universe, with equally mysterious and bewitching captions. A beautiful, prismatic gift for those seeking entertainment and enlightenment!
For the Dedicated Disneyphile:
Mickey All-Stars
In this once-in-a-lifetime storytelling achievement, more than 40 acclaimed comics creators from around the globe each draw a chapter of Mickey’s wildest adventure! Showcasing a truly stunning amount of international talent, this collaborative Disney masterpiece is sure to delight Mickey fans both young and old!
For the Cryptozoology Buff:
The Cloven: Book 1 by Garth Stein and Matthew Southworth
The Cloven Book One stars James Tucker, the most successful Genetically Modified Human Organism ever created. Garth Stein, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Art of Racing in the Rain and Matthew Soutthworth, the co-creator of Stumptown, team up for an action-packed coming of age story about a mutant from the Pacific Northwest. A great gift for anyone who likes their conspiracy theories with some added local flavor!
For the Unshockable:
Prison Pit: The Complete Collection by Johnny Ryan
From 2009 to 2018, the crudely manic pen and mind of Johnny Ryan documented utter mayhem and mutation as our anti-hero, Cannibal F*ckface, loses his arm to a vile beast, replaces it with a symbiotic bug that gives him a steroid-like jolt, and seeks grisly revenge against any and all creatures that get in his way. This filthy meat-grinder of a comics space odyssey is now collected in one massive volume, and will make the perfect gift for the carnage connoisseur in your life!
For the Feminist Fashionista:
The Flapper Queens: Women Cartoonists Of The Jazz Age by Trina Robbins
From the foremost historian of women cartoonists, Trina Robbins, comes an eye-catching collection of comic strips from the Roaring Twenties depicting the high-stepping “Flapper” — the symbol of women’s newfound freedom — all drawn by the best female cartoonists of the era! This collection not only brings back into the spotlight several legendary women artists obscured by the sands of time but also celebrates an unabashedly feminist movement in our nation’s history.
For all your Friends and Frenemies:
Seeds And Stems by Simon Hanselmann
Seeds and Stems collects Simon Hanselmann’s, out-of-print, self-published zines and stories produced between 2016-2019, along with a generous smattering of rarities from various anthologies and magazines. Megg, Mogg, Owl, Werewolf Jones and the gang explore the worlds of lucid dreaming, banking scams, cinema, mixed drinks, alien invasions, and budget vasectomies in this varied collection of rare and often experimental adventures, designed and curated entirely by the artist. Get it for that friends you can’t live with, and can’t live without!
For Some Much-Needed Inspiration:
Dancing After Ten by Vivian Chong and Georgia Webber
In late 2004, Vivian Chong’s life was changed forever when a rare skin disease, TEN (Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis), left her with scar tissue that would eventually blind her. As she was losing her sight, she put down as many drawings on paper as she could to document the experience. In Dancing After TEN, Chong teams up with cartoonist Georgia Webber — whose graphic autobiography, Dumb, chronicled her own disability — to trace her journey out of the darkness and into the spotlight.
For the Grown-up Grunge Kid:
The Complete Hate by Peter Bagge
The Complete Hate is a three-volume set that includes the original 30-issue run of Peter Bagge’s bestselling alternative comic book series, the nine subsequent Hate Annuals, and tons of other Hate-related comics, illustrations, and ephemera created for books, magazines, comics, toys, and other merchandise. Each volume, along with the slipcase, contains new covers, endpapers, title pages, and other surprises by Bagge. A go-to gift for anyone who truly treasures their (hazy) memories of the 1990s.
The Long List:
From Public Enemy to Professor X, this collection of scans of raw, un-retouched original art gives insight into the creative and drawing processes of the best-selling, award-winning Hip Hop Family Tree Tree/X-Men graphic novelist.
J&K by John Pham;
The story of two lovable idiots trying to navigate the modern world, told in vibrantly-colored comics, posters, stickers, and even a little vinyl record! These simple-seeming comics stories weave in and out, with unexpectedly sad twists and hilarious turns; imagine Seinfeld mixed with Peanuts. This book calls to mind the work of Chris Ware while completely staking out new ground in contemporary art.
Perramus: The City And Oblivion by Juan Sasturain and Alberto Breccia:
This highly anticipated collection is an act of resistance in and of itself — it was created while Argentina’s military dictatorship was still in power. Perramus is a cartooning tour de force, with a revolutionary message that remains vital to this day. Fantagraphics collects the graphic novel Perramus — winner of an Amnesty International prize — in English for the first time.
Aquatlantic by Giorgio Carpinteri:
A Raw artist returns, and Atlantis exists, in this new and original graphic novel from one of the great Italian comics masters, published in English for the first time.
Maids by Katie Skelly:
Christine Papin, an overworked live-in maid, is reunited with her younger sister, Lea, who has also been hired by the wealthy Lancelin family. They make the estate’s beds, scrub the floors, and spy on the domestic strife that routinely occurs within its walls. What starts as petty theft by the maids — who are flashing back to their tumultuous time in a convent — shortly turns into something more nefarious.
The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1919-1921:
As the surreal comic strip continues into the 1920s, the likes of Joe Stork, Blind Pig, and Bum Bill Bee settle into the mesas of Coconino County. Brand-new readers and Herriman aficionados alike will find out what happens when Ignatz the Mouse’s brick supplier runs out of stock, how Krazy Kat fares after taking up boxing, and what happens when a new “Katnippery” opens providing libations to the locals.
Prince Valiant Vol. 7-9 Box Set by Hall Foster and John Cullen Murphy
In Vols. 7-9 of the Arthurian newspaper comic strip, Prince Valiant and Aleta battle black magic; Arn is christened; Nimue bewitches Merlin; and more.
Please Don’t Step On My JNCO Jeans by Noah Van Sciver
From 2017 to 2019, cartoonist Noah Van Sciver was creating short stories and illustrations for local magazines and alt-weeklies, in order to serve as what he calls a personal “survival mechanism.”
The Party by Tomi Ungerer
Tomi Ungerer eviscerates the 1 percent in this series of cartoon vignettes (a proto-graphic novel) that are unfortunately as relevant now as the time they were drawn and shall remain so forever and ever.
Streets Of Paris, Streets Of Murder Box Set by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi
The complete collection of the globally acclaimed crime novelist and pioneering cartoonist graphic novel collaborations, slipcased and in an oversized format.
Eight-lane Runaways by Henry McCausland:
This delightfully inventive graphic novel debut follows an eclectic group of runners searching for their place in the world. As you’re thrown into their fantastical world of endless tracks, you meet a team of young people briskly attempting to complete their calling, whether it be finding their lost cats, earning one last self-made merit badge, or flying a kite to the moon.
Winter Of The Cartoonist by Paco Roca:
A graphic nonfiction story of five extraordinary cartoonists who decided to rebel against one of Spain’s largest publishing houses in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and WWII.
Nymph by Leila Marzocchi:
A lone, defenseless pupa has fallen from the sky. An assembly of talking birds and trees agree to protect “Dolly” as it begins to evolve — but into what? Italian award-winning cartoonist Leila Marzocchi’s terrifically lush scratchboard drawings are a perfect companion to her witty dialogue and profound storytelling.
Ghostwriter by Rayco Pulido
The noirish, darkly comedic English-language debut of award-winning Spanish cartoonist Rayco Pulido. In 1940s Barcelona, a woman’s husband goes missing — just as a cryptic killer terrorizes the city. Desperate to find her husband, she turns to a private eye practiced in hypnosis who discovers that there’s more to this case than meets the eye.
Vision by Julia Gfrörer
Julia Gfrörer explores lust, grief, and the human need for connection in this story of a 19th-century spinster and the haunted mirror that offers an escape from her frustrated life.
Pogo Vols. 5 & 6 Box Set by Walt Kelly
This is the first time Pogo has been complete and in chronological order anywhere—with all 208 Sunday strips from these four years presented in lush full color for since their original appearance in Sunday newspaper sections.
The Day the Rats Vetoed Congress by Ralph Nader and Mr. Fish
In this heavily illustrated fable written by the influential public advocate, rats invade Congress — and the citizens revolt!
Disney & Peanuts:
Peanuts Every Sunday: The 1980s Gift Box Set by Charles M. Schulz
We are proud to present a slipcased boxed set showcasing the entire, penultimate decade of Schulz’s 50-year newspaper comic strip opus!
Walt Disney’s “The Lost Peg Leg Mine” and “The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama” Gift Box Set by Carl Barks
400 pages of internationally acclaimed, classic comics in two volumes, snugged into a sturdy slipcase at a special price and that even Uncle Scrooge couldn’t resist!
Disney Masters Box Set #5 + Disney Masters Box Set #6
Our Disney Masters series collects some of the most iconic work by acclaimed comics artists working in the Walt Disney tradition. This year, we present two Disney Masters box sets collecting volumes 9 through 12 of our series, which include Massimo De Vita’s Mickey Mouse: The Ice Sword Saga Book 1 and Mau and Bas Heymans’s Donald Duck: Scandal on the Epoch Express (Disney Masters Box Set #5), and Massimo De Vita’s Mickey Mouse: The Ice Sword Saga Book 2 and Giorgio Cavazzano’s Donald Duck: The Forgetful Hero (Disney Masters Box Set #6).
What Cartooning Really Is: The Major Interviews With Charles M. Schulz
Everybody knows the iconic characters of Peanuts, but few are privy to the character of the man who created this beloved cast and the world they inhabit—Charles M. Schulz. To illuminate the rich inner life of the renowned cartoonist, Fantagraphics presents four of the most comprehensive interviews ever conducted with Schulz, by film critic Leonard Maltin, novelist Laurie Colwin, The Comics Journal editor and critic Gary Groth, and comic strip historian Rick Marschall.
Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Vol. 23: “Under the Polar Ice” by Carl Barks
In this collection of classic comic book stories, Huey, Dewey, and Louie earn a trip to the North Pole in a submarine — and Donald stows away! Fortunately, when they find themselves stranded, Gyro Gearloose invents a flying sled!
Complete Peanuts 1975-1978 (Vol. 13 & 14) Box Set by Charles M. Schulz
Collects the 13th and 14th volumes of The Complete Peanuts in a handsome slipcase, with intros by SNL‘s Robert Smigel and 30 Rock‘s Alec Baldwin!The last of the recurring cast has fallen into place in The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 and The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978.