Have you ever wondered what your favorite creators have been consuming? What they believe is the best media out there? We here at Popverse are starting a new series series where we talk with creators and find out their favorite comicss of all time.

This month we chatted with Mariko Tamaki, a writer best known for her work on This One Summer, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, as well as superhero runs on She-Hulk, X-23, Wonder Woman, and Detective Comics. Tamaki wears many hats in the industry. She’s not only a writer, but also curates her own queer imprint at Abrams, Surely Books. Let’s jump right in, here are Mariko Tamaki’s Top 10 comic books.

One note: Tamaki has herself said the specifically chose not to recommend any Surely books, as she's admittedly biased as curator of that line with Abrams. That being said, she tells us "I love them all and you should read them."

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton

I just don’t think there are too many books out in the world that are funnier than this collection of Beaton’s. These comics make me laugh every time. They are the perfect example, to me, of what makes comics great, a joyful specificity of nerdiness. I just finished Ducks, Beaton’s latest graphic novel, and it is also amazing and devastating.

Building Stories by Chris Ware

I love Ware’s panel layouts and there’s something about his visual language I’ve always found compelling. I love the loneliness of his stories even though they sometimes make me feel lonely.

Cyclopedia Exotica by Aminder Dhaliwal

I love the combo ethnography fantasy this graphic novel explores. Comics are smart. This comic is also funny.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

One of my first comic loves. An epic tale of queerness and growing up.

Stone Fruit by Lee Lai

I love this book because it exists so perfectly in the world of adults and kids. It’s about how we start off with the keys to this world of imagination and then we have to fight for the rest of our lives to hold onto those keys – or remember where we put them. The fluidity of the art in this book stuns me every time I look at it.

Essex County by Jeff Lemire

This book gives me such strong Atwood, Lawrence, Findley vibes. It’s classic Canadian literature and I hold it up as a vital member of that canon whenever anyone wants to talk about canons. The stories in Essex are beautiful and quietly sad. This will always be my favorite Lemire creation (of his many).

How to Be Happy by Eleanor Davis

This is not a book about how to be happy. It’s a beautiful symphony of short stories about feelings in illustrated form. I would gift it to the happy or sad.

SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki

I am obviously biased, but I’m also pretty sure I’m correct in thinking that Jillian is a genius. This series is genius.

Boxers and Saints by Gene Yang

I am not a fan of reading about history. Really most of the history I read is in comic form. I am always in awe of how Yang puts these epic stories into comic form that is artful in its simplicity and depth.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

I once spent a book tour in Germany where everywhere I went people wanted to talk about Saga. To the point that I started trying to talk about anything else, but then we were always talking about Saga. Because there is so much to talk about with this series and the twists and turns it makes look easy.

---

For more, read our long-form interview with Mariko Tamaki.