Cup of Tea’s Best Books of 2020: Graphic Novels/Mangas

I gave you what I considered to be the Best Fiction/Nonfiction Books of 2020, now let us go to the graphic novels/mangas category! Comics are becoming more and more popular and are just as capable as telling realistic stories compared to prose novels. This is a format that definitely should not be counted out and should get the recognition it deserves.

From LGBTQ romances to humorous situations, here are the graphic novels and mangas that made the grade in 2020:

Heartstopper Series by Alice Oseman

This comic book series really saved me during this pandemic. I just absolutely loved it! Charlie and Nick’s budding relationship is just so uplifting and adorable to read! It is a subtle reminder if how you feel about crushes and budding relationships. Just the heartwarming and hopeful feeling you need to have during a pandemic.

Blue Period V. 1 by Tsubasa Yamaguchi
Displacement by Kiku Hughes
Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës by Isabel Greenberg
Happily Ever After & Everything In Between by Debbie Tung

Spy x Family Series by Tatsuya Endo

This is another series that really entertained me during this lockdown! I loved every minute of this series! It’s hilarious, absurd and action-packed that makes this one entertaining manga series. Anya is by far my favorite character!

Go with the Flow by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann

So good! It was a friendship story but touches on such an important and necessary subject: periods and menstruations. Again you don’t see many books talking about a topic that shouldn’t be a taboo, but this comic does it in such a beautiful and realistic way. I really wish I had something like this when I got my period for the first time, but I am so glad that this book and other books are here now so many young girls do not have to hide a natural body function in the dark.

Blood on the Tracks Series by Shūzō Oshimi

You really have no idea where this was going when you start reading this suspenseful but disturbing series. With very little text, I’m hooked on this series and desperate to know what’s going to happen in the next volume. The drawings and illustrations are what did it for me. They created the tension and creepiness with every turn of page. This underrated manga is definitely something you should give a chance.

Teen Titans: Beast Boy by Kami Garcia and illustrated by Gabriel Picolo
Fangs by Sarah Andersen
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
Love Me For Who I Am by Kata Konayama

BL Metamorphosis Series by Kaori Tsurutani

Two people, and elderly woman and a high school girl form an unlikely friendship over BL manga…what isn’t there to love?! It really shows how the power of books and reading can bring any people together. A message we need to have in 2020.

Giant Days Vol. 14 by John Allison

I read this entire series during lockdown, much better than watchin TV in my opinion. I laughed out loud when reading the realistic situations that this terrific series offered its readers. I couldn’t get enough of it! But alas, all great things must end. This volume marked the last book in this bestselling series and although I am sad to see it go, this issue provided a fitting conclusion to such an amazing series.

Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hyung-Ju and Ryan Estrada

Such a powerful read! Really shows how reading can bring truth and light when their is paranoia and fear. I learned so much about South Korean history from reading this memoir and I want to learn more about it. This story also shows how history has a chance of repeating itself. However, when people ban together to overcome that obstacle, the history’s trajectory can be changed.

Catherine’s War by Julia Billet
The Way of the House Husband V. 4 by Kousuke Oono
Ms. Marvel V. 2: Stormranger by Saladin Ahmed
Moriarty The Patriot V. 1 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi
Welcome to the New World by Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan

Honorable Mentions

Here are some other books that I read this year that either were good but didn’t make the cut or just were not published in 2020, however, they deserve to get the attention and recognition they deserve.