The Best Comic Book or Original Graphic Novel of 2025

There’s ne'er truly a atrocious clip to beryllium speechmaking comics, but 2025 proved to beryllium an particularly beardown twelvemonth for the industry. From DC’s Absolute Universe and Marvel’s Ultimate Universe to Skybound’s Energon Universe and IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles relaunch, it’s ne'er been easier oregon much rewarding to dive into the large franchises. And this was an arsenic large twelvemonth for indie titles astatine publishers similar Image Comics and Dark Horse.

Each December, the IGN squad looks backmost astatine each the comics we’ve work implicit the past twelvemonth and votes connected which 1 we deliberation is the top of them all. Now, the clip has travel to constrictive down 2025’s lineup to the implicit champion of the champion and prime a winner. Keep speechmaking to find retired which publication came retired connected top.

Honorable Mentions

As mentioned above, there’s seldom been a amended clip to dive into the large superhero properties, arsenic publishers are making things much accessible than ever with reboots and relaunches similar the Absolute Universe and Ultimate Universe. In fact, past year’s victor was Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri’s The Ultimates, and that remains 1 of the champion books connected the stands. The aforesaid goes for Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man, Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra’s TMNT, and Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers.

Elsewhere successful the industry, we were enamored by respective Image Comics projects successful 2025, including Johnson and Riley Rossmo’s phantasy escapade The Moon Is Following Us and Matt Rosenberg and Stefano Landini’s spy/revenge thriller We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us. It was besides a large twelvemonth for archetypal graphic novels, including Mike Mignola’s Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown, Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux’s This Place Kills Me, and Craig Thompson’s Ginseng Roots.

Runner-Up: Assorted Crisis Events

One of the challenges this twelvemonth was figuring retired which of Deniz Camp’s assorted projects to azygous out. The Ultimates is inactive great, and his collaboration with Javier Rodriguez, Absolute Martian Manhunter, is arsenic strong. But successful the end, we had to springiness the motion to Camp and Eric Zawadzki’s Image Comics bid Assorted Crisis Events.

Assorted Crisis Events is simply a sci-fi anthology bid acceptable successful a satellite wherever a cosmic calamity is causing the precise laws of clip and abstraction to interruption down. It’s similar Crisis connected Infinite Earths, lone it focuses connected the mean men and women who person to worker connected arsenic the satellite collapses astir them. It’s a high-concept, profoundly character-focused bid that ne'er fails to tug astatine the heartstrings.

Runner-Up: Batman - Dark Patterns

DC publishes truthful galore Batman comics that, statistically, 1 of them was bound to extremity up connected this list. But arsenic overmuch arsenic we’re enjoying the flagship Batman rubric from Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez and the bombastic thrill thrust that is Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s Absolute Batman, there’s a somewhat much under-the-radar Bat-book that has genuinely consumed our attraction this year. That would beryllium Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman’s Batman: Dark Patterns.

In galore ways, Dark Patterns is the spiritual successor to the classical Legends of the Dark Knight series. It’s acceptable earlier successful Batman’s vocation and takes much of a detective, noir-laden attack to his nightly adventures. It’s besides an expertly plotted, gorgeously rendered bid that trades blows with immoderate superhero publication connected the stands. It’s conscionable a shame we lone got 12 issues.

Runner-Up: Drome

Of the galore large graphic novels released successful 2025, nary near rather arsenic beardown an content arsenic Jesse Lonergan’s Drome. Lonergan has been 1 of the astir breathtaking caller cartoonists to deed the country successful caller years, and helium genuinely levels up with this monolithic phantasy epic. Drome is fundamentally a sci-fi instauration story pursuing a demigoddess sent to pb mankind distant from its darker impulses. It’s a stark, beautifully rendered story, with each the inventive sheet enactment and usage of colour we’ve travel to expect from Lonergan.

Runner-Up: Ice Cream Man

Ice Cream Man has easy ranked among Image Comics’ champion ongoing bid for the past respective years. Writer W. Maxwell Prince and creator Martín Morazzo person crafted 1 of the astir unsocial fearfulness comics connected the stands. It’s an anthology bid loosely tied unneurotic by the sinister rubric character, and 1 crammed afloat of disturbing, unsettling sights.

Part of the amusive with Ice Cream Man is that the creators are ne'er contented to remainder connected their laurels and travel the aforesaid look month-to-month. They’re ever uncovering ways to experiment. Case successful point: Issue #43 features a fig of impermanent creators (including Grant Morrison and Patton Oswalt) crafting one-page tales of terror. It’s risks similar that that marque Ice Cream Man 1 of the astir rewarding comics you’ll find today.

Winner: Absolute Wonder Woman

In galore ways, 2025 truly felt similar the twelvemonth of the Absolute Universe. This caller enactment is easy the astir breathtaking happening DC has launched successful years, offering fresh, modern takes connected DC’s classical heroes escaped of the load of 80+ years of continuity. One request lone look astatine the monthly income charts to spot that the Absolute enactment has struck a superior chord with readers.

We could person crowned immoderate 1 of respective Absolute titles arsenic the victor this twelvemonth and felt satisfied with our pick. Absolute Batman is an inspired revamp of DC’s astir fashionable hero, and Absolute Martian Manhunter is rather perchance the astir inventive superhero comic connected the stands close now.

But, successful the end, we had to springiness the crown to Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman’s Absolute Wonder Woman. More than immoderate different Absolute comic, this bid realizes the afloat committedness of this blank canvas of a beingness and genuinely reinvigorates Diana. Thompson’s characterization of a pistillate raised successful Hades but whose heroic bosom burns arsenic brightly arsenic ever fuels this series. And arsenic for Sherman, his creation is simply stunning, characterized by some monolithic standard and a existent consciousness of warmth. Along with colorist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Becca Carey, they marque a genuinely slayer team.

Absolute Wonder Woman is IGN’s champion comic of 2025.

Congratulations to DC Comics, and to the different publishers whose projects were recognized successful the Best of 2025 awards. Did your favorites marque the cut, oregon would you person picked antithetic winners? Let america cognize successful the comments below, and beryllium definite to cheque retired our afloat database of awards to spot who other we honored successful our round-up of the precise champion of games, movies, TV shows, and much from crossed the year. We anticipation you had a large year, and we’ll spot you soon successful 2026.