The best graphic novels of 2025
Washington Post | Jacob Brogan | November 22, 2025
Cornelius and Do Admit named Best Graphic Novels of 2025 by Washington Post!
Cornelius by Marc Torices: "Cornelius, a humanoid dog in a world of anthropomorphic animals, is a sad-sack custodian at a gym who stumbles haplessly through life, abused by his boss and his friends alike. When he fails to stop a kidnapping, his panic and hesitation leave him increasingly implicated in the crime.
Torices, who also works as an animator, changes his visual style every few pages in a way that is both virtuosic and surprisingly coherent. He sometimes seems to be speedrunning through the whole history of comics — from Frank King’s “Gasoline Alley” to Chris Ware’s “Jimmy Corrigan” — but always with subtle differences, as if to suggest that this book is a dispatch from an alternate universe just a few degrees removed from our own. Unnervingly brilliant, “Cornelius” is the strangest graphic novel of the year — and possibly the best."
Do Admit by Mimi Pond: "The six Mitford sisters have been objects of fascination almost since they came of age in the early 20th century. Over these charmingly laid out and inventively designed pages, Pond examines why this eccentric clan of British aristocrats has captured the imaginations of so many for so long, both in the U.K. and around the world. Mostly, though, she amiably narrates the lives of the sisters themselves, from novelist Nancy (who kept falling for the wrong men) to fascist Unity (who stalked and ultimately befriended Hitler) to the muckraking communist Jessica (who moved to the United States and was friends with everyone). As Pond’s bibliography demonstrates, dozens of books have been written by and about the Mitfords, but this one has a peppy vitality all its own."
Torices, who also works as an animator, changes his visual style every few pages in a way that is both virtuosic and surprisingly coherent. He sometimes seems to be speedrunning through the whole history of comics — from Frank King’s “Gasoline Alley” to Chris Ware’s “Jimmy Corrigan” — but always with subtle differences, as if to suggest that this book is a dispatch from an alternate universe just a few degrees removed from our own. Unnervingly brilliant, “Cornelius” is the strangest graphic novel of the year — and possibly the best."
Do Admit by Mimi Pond: "The six Mitford sisters have been objects of fascination almost since they came of age in the early 20th century. Over these charmingly laid out and inventively designed pages, Pond examines why this eccentric clan of British aristocrats has captured the imaginations of so many for so long, both in the U.K. and around the world. Mostly, though, she amiably narrates the lives of the sisters themselves, from novelist Nancy (who kept falling for the wrong men) to fascist Unity (who stalked and ultimately befriended Hitler) to the muckraking communist Jessica (who moved to the United States and was friends with everyone). As Pond’s bibliography demonstrates, dozens of books have been written by and about the Mitfords, but this one has a peppy vitality all its own."