The perfect comic books to gift your loved ones with this holiday season (by category)

When people think of giving gifts for comic book fans, they usually go with Funko POPs, some kind of statue or memorabilia, or a comic that has an interesting or valuable cover. But what about the person who wants to read? Or maybe you know the person you’re getting a gift for should get into comics and you want to pick the right one for them. That’s where this article comes in.

Let us break down comics by genre. This way, once you see a section that interests your loved one, you can choose from one (or more) of the five suggestions. Let’s begin with a well-known category.

Action and Adventure

The easiest way I’d describe action and adventure is with most Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman titles. They usually involve flying, supervillains with big egos and bigger plans, and so much destruction and fighting that you’ll wonder why anyone lives in New York in these stories (let’s be honest, it’s usually New York).

Here are some of the best recommendations:

1. Birds of Prey (Kelly Thompson)
2. House of X/Powers of X (Jonathan Hickman)
3. Superman (Joshua Williamson)
4. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Kyle Higgins)
5. Nightwing (Tom Taylor)

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre that, like science fact, continues to evolve. For example, things like intergalactic space travel once seemed fantastical in comics, TV shows, and movies. Now, you can’t call yourself a major futuristic group without the means to travel at lightspeed or faster.

Space isn’t the only kind of sci-fi. Some comics use things like nonsensical science to create ways of explaining how something like the rise of the machines in Terminator or the Xenomorphs in the Alien franchise can happen.

Another example of evolution is how creators discuss exploration, racism, and xenophobia in new, brave, and bold ways. Most of the time, the topics are taken from things happening in the real world and explained with the help of fictional characters and stories.

1. Saga (Brian K. Vaughan)
2. Y: The Last Man (Brian K. Vaughan)
3. Guardians of the Galaxy (Brian Michael Bendis)
4. Far Sector (N. K. Jemisin)
5. The Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (Kieron Gillen)

Fantasy/Magic

Magic is easy and difficult to define. On one hand, there’s the quote that “Magic's just science that we don't understand yet” by Arthur C. Clarke. It’s also something Reed Richards believes, and he knows gods, sorcerers, and witches, and has fought vampires. Yet, somehow, he believes there’s a scientific explanation for everything previously mentioned.

However, magic is something that can’t be defined since the idea of it in comics has various sources and origins. Asgard magic differs from that of Midgard or the Chaos Dimension, which is why each has its own Sorcerer Supreme. Regardless, it makes less sense than science fiction, but just as fun.

1. The Wicked + The Divine (Kieron Gillen)
2. Doctor Strange (Jed MacKay)
3. Scarlet Witch (Steve Orlando)
4. Zatanna (Jamal Campbell)
5. Thor (Al Ewing)

Old School Cartoons

The idea of cartoons becoming comic books isn’t something new. However, in the last few years, more old-school animated shows have become comic books geared towards mature readers. It could be because the people who used to watch the cartoons are at an age when they can appreciate the characters being more adult.

1. Captain Planet and the Planeteers (David Pepose)
2. The Energon Universe (Robert Kirkman, Daniel Warren Johnson, Joshua Williamson)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Jason Aaron)
4. Thundercats (Declan Shalvey)
5. The Blue Falcon and Dynomutt (Jimmy Palmiotti)

Horror fans

There are various kinds of horror. It can have brutal violence, a psychological thriller, terrifying monsters, or being afraid of something unknown. These five titles have a little bit of everything from A24 weirdness, to the person who enjoys classic scary projects, to someone who likes viciousness.

1. Something is Killing the Children (James Tynion IV)
2. The Me You Love In The Dark (Skottie Young)
3. Exquisite Corpses (James Tynion IV)
4. It Killed Everyone But Me (Ryan Parrott)
5. I was a Fashion School Serial Killer (Doug Wagner)

Mystery

The classic “Whodunnit” category has come a long way since the days of film noir and comics like Sin City. While the genre has usually been for mature readers, it's been upgraded. The creators have been freer to give the main characters more personalities and even be funny. It's made their mysteries more enjoyable than ever.

1. Jessica Jones (Kelly Thompson)
2. Powers (Brian Michael Bendis)
3. Absolute Martian Manhunter (Deniz Camp)
4. Two-Face (Christian Ward)
5. Batman: Dark Patterns (Dan Watters)

Representation

Representation is one of the most important aspects of any series or film or book or or video game or comic - or, indeed, any kind of story. You want to see characters that look like you and have similar ways of thinking. Readers want and deserve to feel seen.

With that in mind, the next two sections will focus on LGBTQ+, Black, Brown, and Asian characters.

LGBTQ+ leads

1. Wiccan: Witches’ Road (Wyatt Kennedy)
2. Alan Scott: The Green Lantern (Tim Sheridan)
3. The Deviant (James Tynion IV)
4. X-Factor (Leah Williams)
5. Poison Ivy (G. Willow Wilson)

African American/Black

1. Black Lightning (Brandon Thomas)
2. Storm (Murewa Ayodele)
3. Ironheart (Eve Ewing)
4. Black Panther (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
5. Mr. Terrific: Year One (Al Letson)

Asian

1. Batgirl (Takeshi Miyazawa)
2. Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant (Sabir Pirzada and Iman Vellani)
3. Ultimate X-Men (Peach Momoko)
4. Hellverine (Benjamin Percy)
5. Silk: Out Of The Spider-Verse (Robbie Thompson and Dan Slott)

Latin/Latinx/Afro Latin

1. Miles Morales: Spider-Man (Cody Ziglar)
2. All-New Ghost Rider (Tradd Moore)
3. The Question: All Along the Watchtower (Alex Segura)
4. Blue Beetle (Gutierrez Trujillo)
5. Hawkgirl: Once Upon a Galaxy (Jadzia Axelrod)

New Classics

The word classic gets thrown around too much these days. In this writer’s opinion, there should be a caveat to calling something a classic if it hasn’t survived the test of time. Otherwise, is it really a classic if it doesn’t hold up? That’s why calling this particular section “New Classics” seems like the right thing to do.

These are relatively modern stories that are indeed welcome among the classics.

1. Immortal Hulk (Al Ewing)
2. Booster Gold: 52 Pick-Up (Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin (Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, and Peter Laird)
4. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (Tom King)
5. Grim (Stephanie Phillips)

Classics

And now that we've familiarized ourselves with the new classics, let's go back in time and visit the actual classics. Some of the people you know may have lost comic books they loved due to various reasons, including reading them too much. As someone who that has happened to, being re-gifted something you’ve lost is a beautiful thing. Or perhaps you just want your loved one to read one of the all-time greats.

With all of that in mind, here are some of the DC and Marvel classics that should be read.

1. Kingdom Come (Alex Ross and Mark Waid)
2. The Dark Phoenix Saga (Chris Claremont)
3. Crisis on Infinite Earths (Marv Wolfman)
4. Avengers: Disassembled (Brian Michael Bendis)
5. DC vs. Marvel (Ron Marz and Peter David)

Personal recommendations

There are also some wonderful comics that we've yet to discuss that deserve a mention - ones that don't necessarily fit into any of the categories above (or maybe even fit into all of them). These are just the comic books that I love and will always recommend to others.

If you go with any of these, the reader is in for a heck of an adventure:

1. FML (Kelly Sue DeConnick)
2. Fantastic Four (Ryan North)
3. The DC Comics Absolute Universe
4. She-Hulk (Rainbow Rowell)
5. The Power Fantasy (Kieron Gillen)
6. Wolverine Origins (Daniel Way)

Image Comics

Admittedly, this final category shows my bias. Image Comics has become one of my favorite comic book companies thanks to a variety of reasons. Among them are the subjects that help readers evolve as humans by highlighting topics that need to be discussed. Plus, the characters are more interesting, and the action can be increasingly brutal and creative.

Here are some of the best stories that Image has to offer:

1. Sex Criminals (Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky)
2. Assorted Crisis Events (Deniz Camp)
3. Bitch Planet (Kelly Sue DeConnick)
4. Deadly Class (Rick Remender)
5. 8 Billion Genies (Charles Soule and Ryan Browne)

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow’s social media pages on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter for more comic book, movie, and TV news, opinions, and rumors as they come out.