V For Vendetta

Author: Alan Moore

Alan Moore will make several appearances on this list, as he is undoubtedly the master of the form. While Watchmen gets so much love, from the point of view of storytelling and depth, you can not get a better graphic novel experience than V for Vendetta. The story of one man's revolution against what Moore saw as the logical conclusion of Thatcher's England. The character of V is amazing, one of the most impressively driven characters in the history of comics. While the story is the highlight, the art should not be ignored. The strong work of the legendary David Lloyd, who provided an incredible counterpoint to the story, perhaps softening the rage and providing a way to engage with the story in a natural way. The entire package, as collected in the trade paperback, is a masterpiece of sequential storytelling, and especially the way that the art and story play off one another is the heart of the power of the graphic novel. Why it's on the list: An incredibly powerful story, well-drawn and brilliantly written, and one of the best records of the fears that occupied Britain in the 1980s.