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It's A Bird, It's A Plane ... It's Our Comics And Graphic Novels Reader Poll!

Shannon Wright for NPR

Here at NPR headquarters in DC, MARVELous IMAGEs and FANTAstic GRAPHICS are dancing in our heads as we contemplate this year's edition of our famous Summer Reader Poll — who will make the cut? Will it be packed with old favorites or BOOM! Will a DARK HORSE muscle in?

Oh god, we can't keep this up anymore. Let's just come right out and say it: This summer, we're celebrating comics and graphic novels, and we need your help! Whether it's a dogeared childhood treasure, the latest Eisner award winner or the webcomic you binge-read last week, tell us about it using the form on this page.

Based on what you tell us, our expert panel of comics creators, reviewers — and geeks — will curate a final list of 100 favorite comics.

But before you get clicking, let's establish some canon:

What can you nominate?

Long-running series comics: Choose a distinct story arc or a well-known run by a particular writer or artist. So, rather than just nominating The X-Men, pick something like the Dark Phoenix Saga. Or if you like Matt Fraction (and who doesn't?) you could nominate his run on Hawkeye.

Single issues: Because we know someone's gonna be mad if we leave out Action Comics #1

Graphic novels and trade paperbacks: Persepolis, The Invisibles vol. 2, Blankets, a single volume of your favorite manga — if it's available in a standalone form, have at it!

Newspaper comics: May be nominated as a whole. Get your Bloom County on!

Webcomics: May also be nominated as a whole.

Also: We know these categories are squishier than the Marvel multiverse. If you love something but you don't know where it fits, nominate it anyhow and we'll figure it out ourselves.

Limit yourself to five choices

But don't hesitate to nominate something that you know other people have already submitted. We count everything up, and take note of what's popular.

Don't limit yourself otherwise

We meant it when we said it could be anything from the Spidey single issue you kept under your bed to whatever webcomic you discovered last week. If it's a story told through sequential art, and you love it, we want to hear about it — just don't be sad if it doesn't make the final 100.

Voting is closed! Stay tuned to find out who our awesome panelists will be, and for lots of awesome comics-related content!

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Glen Weldon is a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk.
Petra Mayer died on November 13, 2021. She has been remembered by friends and colleagues, including all of us at NPR. The Petra Mayer Memorial Fund for Internships has been created in her honor.
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