The Multiversity demonstrates the potential and variety inherent in the superhero genre while, on another, it argues against the inherent reductiveness of other media strip-mining the comic book medium for intellectual property and the source of the next summer blockbuster. Passionate, intelligent, and heartfelt, it'll make you want to believe that a man could fly. (Expand gallery to full screen to find out why we loved each book.)

With Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Tom Scioli and John Barber have created something that feels as limitless as playing with toys as children—except that, in this case, the children were Hunter S. Thompson and Philip K. Dick.

Although Ms. Marvel had long been the alter ego of Air Force pilot Carol Danvers, this reboot casts a very different young woman as the Marvel superhero: a 16-year-old Muslim Pakistani-American girl named Kamala Kahn.

Noelle Stevenson is a treasure. And so was Nimona, her webcomic about the sidekick of a sort-of-supervillainous mad scientist in an offbeat fantasy world where the good guys may not be quite as noble as they seem. Sadly, Nimona ended in September, but the archives are still online and the book will be collected in an upcoming print edition next May.

Sex Criminals is a strangely joyful, funny look at sex, shame, depression, growing up, and falling in love, and how meeting the right person can make it all stop … but not forever. With the Sex Police hot on their trail, the honeymoon might finally be over for Susie and Jon, but the real adventure is just starting.

Against all odds, the revival of a science fiction hero from the 1930s turned out to be one of the most essential releases of the year, thanks in part to writer Jeff Parker’s whimsical sense of humor, and also Evan Shaner and Jordie Bellaire’s beautiful artwork.

"This is not actually a book about how to be happy," begins How to Be Happy by cartoonist Eleanor Davis. That's debatable, although this series of gorgeously illustrated short stories has other focuses as well: retelling the story of Adam and Eve on a modern commune, a familiar but futuristic tale of family, and a vignette about a peculiar self-help seminar where emotionally constipated people can finally learn how to cry.

Ales Kot’s metaphysical thriller continues to be one of the most underrated series out there. Told in a non-linear fashion, and with different artists illustrating each issue, Zero is slowly taking apart both the spy genre and the comic medium with great care, before re-assembling them into something new.

A dense, disturbing graphic novel that was simultaneously a post-apocalyptic YA dystopian fantasy and a metaphorical exploration of what it means to lose your innocence as you grow older, The Wrenchies is definitely not an easy read. But it is worth it.

Over the last several years, the webcomics world has learned to regard cartoonist Emily Carroll as a modern master of horror, but now she's hitting bookstores with her first print collection, Through the Woods.