Graphic Novels authors: books in reading order

Raina Telgemeier

27 books• 5 series

Raina Telgemeier is an American cartoonist. The autobiographical Smile began as a webcomic and appeared as a full-colour middle grade graphic novel in February 2010; Sisters followed it, as did the fiction graphic novel Drama, and all three reached The New York Times Best Seller lists. Telgemeier also wrote and drew the graphic novels Ghosts and Guts, and adapted four Baby-Sitters Club stories by Ann M. Martin into graphic novels. Comics, friendship, school and family are the recurring subjects across the work.

Nathan Hale writes graphic novels for young readers. 19 catalogued books run from The Twelve Bots of Christmas (2005) to Bones and Berserkers (2025), and Hale continues to publish. Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales is the author's ongoing series, and the wider catalogue takes in comic strips, humorous stories, folklore and the First World War.

Lincoln Peirce

77 books• 6 series

Lincoln Peirce created the Big Nate comic strip and writes and illustrates the Big Nate novels for young readers. Born in 1963, Peirce is an American cartoonist and animator who has written animated shorts for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, and created the animated Big Nate series that premiered on Paramount+. Eighty-two titles are catalogued from 2001 to Code Red! (2026), covering the graphic novels, activity books and the Max and the Midknights series. Middle school, friendship and humour are the recurring subjects.

Zita the Spacegirl is Ben Hatke's graphic novel trilogy for young readers: Zita the Spacegirl (2011), Legends of Zita the Spacegirl (2012) and The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (2014). The story sends a girl across other planets and into encounters with robots, inventors and extraterrestrial beings. Three books are catalogued here, each around 203 pages of comics.

Michael Dante DiMartino

33 books• 8 series

Michael Dante DiMartino, born in 1974, is an American animator, producer, writer and director, best known as co-creator with Bryan Konietzko of the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The catalogue lists 33 books dated 2006 to 2026, largely tied to those two shows: Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, Legend of Korra comics and art volumes for the animated series. Comics and graphic novels, fantasy, magic, adventure and heroes head the recorded subjects, and Chronicles of the Avatar is the character grouping on file.

Paul Tobin and Ron Chan share credit on 27 children's graphic novels featuring plants and zombies. The books run from Lawnmageddon (2013) and Timepocalypse (2014) through Garden Warfare Volume 1 (2016) and Lawn of Doom (2018). The Tobin and Chan partnership continues into 2026 with It's a Dogz Life. A typical volume runs to about 88 pages.

Bill Watterson, born July 5, 1958, is the American cartoonist behind the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson's syndicated career ran from 1985 to 1995 and closed at the end of 1995 with a brief statement to newspaper editors and readers: the comic strip medium held nothing further for Watterson to achieve. Early work included drawings for Target: The Political Cartoon Quarterly, and Watterson is known for firm views on licensing and syndication and for a reclusive nature. The catalogue lists 21 books from Calvin and Hobbes (1987) to The Mysteries (2023), including Yukon Ho! (1989).

Ashley Spires is a Canadian author and illustrator of children's books, and the catalogue files the work under graphic novels. Spires created the Binky the Space Cat graphic novels, which run through Binky the Space Cat (2009), Binky to the Rescue (2010), Binky Under Pressure (2011) and Binky Takes Charge (2012). Other catalogued titles include License to Scratch (2013), The Most Magnificent Thing (2014), The Most Magnificent Idea (2022), The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z (2023) and The Most Magnificent Team (2025). Catalogue subjects record cats, comics, imagination, families and outer space.