The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels is the ultimate companion to the expanding world of the 'literary comic book'. Written by comic industry insider Danny Fingeroth, it includes the mediums history, from sequential art in Egyptian tombs, through the superhero boom of the 1940s to the birth of the graphic novel movement and the latest online offerings.

All you need to know about the best and rest with 60 must-read graphic novels, including the genre-defining Mausand A Contract with God, plus modern classics-in-the-making Fun Homeand Alice in Sunderland. The guide profiles the movements legends including Harvey Pekar, Chris Ware, Denis Kitchen and other amazing illustrators, writers and publishers who've helped win respect for this once marginalised art form. And everything else you need to know from 'how to make a graphic novel' to Persepolisand the latest film and television offerings, manga, documentaries, conventions, books, magazines and websites.