Embedded Files
Dami Lee’s self-deprecating webcomic details her quest “to be a real lady person,” from dating woes to FOMO in the age of social distancing. The graphic novel Be Everything at Once, available from Chronicle, collects many of the entries in her webcomic.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
Two outsiders endure microaggressions on a Christian backpacking trip and find solace in each other. Melanie Gillman’s contemplative, poignant webcomic was published as a graphic novel by Iron Circus Comics and won a Stonewall Honor in 2018.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
When a happy-go-lucky former figure skater joins his college hockey team, hilarity ensues, but so do lasting friendships and even a burgeoning romance between protagonist Bitty and team captain Jack. Ngozi Ukazu’s webcomic has garnered a loyal fan base, and the graphic novels, published by First Second, are just as popular.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
What became of Alice, Wendy Darling, and Dorothy Gale after they returned from Wonderland, Neverland, and Oz? Though few believed their stories, the three girls meet and find kinship in one another. Andy Weir and Sarah Andersen’s enchanting webcomic–turned–graphic novel (published by Ten Speed) will inspire readers to write their own fan fiction.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
Hamish Steele’s webcomic, now a print series published by Nobrow, centers on an amusement haunted house with a mysterious portal that entices demons, ghosts, and angels.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
Now a graphic novel series published by PM Press, this raw, deeply funny, provocative webcomic from Juliana “Jewels” Smith, Ronald Nelson, and Mike Hampton follows a black revolutionary college freshman and her friends dealing with racism, gentrification, and privilege at Ronald Reagan University.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
Since 2016, Alice Oseman has been chronicling the burgeoning romance between Nick and Charlie, two secondary characters from her prose novel Solitaire. Her sweet, manga-flavored tale will be published in graphic novel during 2020.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
Tillie Walden’s mesmerizing, strikingly original space epic seamlessly blends romance and sci-fi. In graphic novel format, published by First Second, On a Sunbeam has racked up accolades, making its way onto numerous best books lists and being named a YALSA Top Ten Great Graphic Novel.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
To make the long trip back home to Earth from a mining colony deep in outer space, Amy and her family must be cryogenically frozen, and when Amy returns, her friends are far older, and she’s not sure where she fits in. With fluid linework and a pitch-perfect palette, this tender webcomic from Stephen McCranie, now published by Dark Horse as a graphic novel series, is ideal for sci-fi readers and newcomers to the genre alike.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
Ariel Slamer Ries’s webcomic, now published in graphic novel format by Lion Forge, takes place in the magical world of Hyalin, where witches’ magic depends on the length of their hair. But revealing one’s power can be perilous.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Access from home?: YES!
Bird and Moon: Science and Nature Comics
Whether naturalist and science writer Rosemary Mosco is describing how to distinguish a dolphin from a porpoise, offering improvements on bird species (like hummingbirds that are 10,000% bigger), or urging readers to join the fight against climate change, her abiding passion for the natural world comes through loud and clear in this delightfully quirky webcomic. Available from Andrew McMeels as Birding Is My Favorite Video Game: Cartoons About the Natural World from Bird and Moon.Language: English
Recommended Grades: 10-12
Access from home?: YES!
Fran Krause creates mordantly funny yet tender comics based on emails submitted by readers detailing the absurd but deeply resonant fears that plague them (What if, while walking over me in bed, my cat steps on both my eyes? What if, when I take off my goggles, the suction yanks out my eyes?). Two graphic novels, Deep Dark Fears and The Creeps, based on the webcomic have been published by Ten Speed.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 10-12
Access from home?: YES!
By Kate Beaton. Kate Beaton’s wry gags riff on history, literature, and pop culture, taking on everything from Wuthering Heights to Joan of Arc. The print collection Step Aside Pops! made the 2016 YALSA list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 10-12
Access from home?: YES!
By Randall Munroe. This popular webcomic covers a lot, from geeky in-jokes about Unix or quantum physics to satire on personal relationships. While that makes it hit-or-miss for teens, Munroe has excellent visual representations of quantitative data, such as his money chart. His blog, “What If?”, tackles absurd questions about science.
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 10-12
Access from home?: YES!
repository of manga comics by some of the top creators. First issues are usually free
Language: English
Recommended Grades: 10-12
Access from home?: YES!
Texts by: Alverson, Brigid. "13 Great Webcomics For Kids and Teens." School Library Journal, 12 Apr. 2016, https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=13-great-webcomics-for-kids-and-teens.Dar, Mahnaz. "19 Webcomics To Keep Kids and Teens Engaged." School Library Journal, 6 Apr. 2020, www.slj.com/?detailStory=webcomics-teens-tweens-free-middle-grade-YA.
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