I've started reading Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and find I'm enjoying it very much. I never really thought I would be interested in reading a graphic novel, but it's been very relaxing reading a bit each 
night. It could just be I like Satrapi's 'voice' and the story she tells, but I think I might give some other graphic novels a try this year as well. Since I was given such great recommendations, I thought I would share them here. I've not read any of these, nor do I own any, but I will be seeking some of them out.
- Maus (2 volumes), Art Spiegelman -- "It is the story of Vladek Speigelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father's story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive."
- Palestine, Joe Sacco -- "Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s (where he conducted over 100 interviews with Palestinians and Jews), Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical nonfiction by Sacco, who has often been called the first comic book journalist."
- 100 Demons, Lynda Barry -- "Barry uses an Asian painting exercise called "One Hundred Demons" to organize and connect 17 "autobifictionalographic" stories in which she meditates on a variety of demons that include pretentious boyfriends, lost childhood friends, family relationships, and even the 2000 presidential election. The author's keen observation and honesty draw readers to these sometimes painful, often poignant moments.
Mr. Punch, Neil Gaiman -- "In his grandfather's seaside arcade, a young boy encounters a mysterious Punch & Judy man with a dark past and a woman who makes her living playing a mermaid. As their stories unfold, the boy must confront family secrets, strange puppets and a nightmarish world of violence and betrayal." - Understanding Comics:The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud -- "This ultimate book about comics dissects the art form and shows how words, lines, colors, symbols, panels and pictures all come together to create a unique and one-of-a-kind storytelling experience. Looking back at the 3000 year history of the art form, McCloud shows how this unique genre is just as important and valid as film and prose in his own funny and profound manner."
French Milk, Lucy Knisley -- "This comic journal details a mother and daughters month-long stay in a small apartment in Paris. Lucy is grappling with the onslaught of adulthood. Her mother faces turning 50. They are both dealing with their shifting relationship as they navigate Paris with halting French and dog-eared guidebooks." (I like the sound of this one very much). - Tales from the Farm, Jeff Lemire -- "Ten-year-old Lester, orphaned by his mother's cancer, lives with his bachelor uncle Ken on a southwestern Ontario farm. He wears a superhero's mask and cape all day, and he imagines that he has been entrusted with the task of staving off invading space aliens. Ken is making allowances for the boy, but he's clearly uncomfortable with Lester's preference for solitary play and comic books. It's Jimmy, who runs the nearby gas station-convenience store, who reaches out to Lester, participates in his alien-invasion fantasy, and brings him back to the world."
- Super Spy, Matt Kindt -- "Super Spy is 52 interwoven short stories about cyanide, pen-guns, heartbreak and betrayal. Each story follows the life of a spy during World War II. Spanning the globe from Spain to France and Germany, this book takes the reader on a tour of the everyday life of the spy. From the small lies and deceptions to the larger secrets that everyone hides, Super Spy reveals the nature of espionage and how an individual can be lost and also find redemption."
Ghost World, Daniel Clowes -- "Dan Clowes described the story in Ghost World as the examination of 'the lives of two recent high school graduates from the advantaged perch of a constant and (mostly) undetectable eavesdropper, with the shaky detachment of a scientist who has grown fond of the prize microbes in his petri dish'." - V for Vendetta, Alan Moore -- "It is 1998 (which was the future back then!) and a Fascist government has taken over the U.K. The only blot on its particular landscape is a lone terrorist who is systematically killing all the government personnel associated with a now destroyed secret concentration camp. Codename V is out for vengeance ... and an awful lot more."
- Blankets, Craig Thompson -- "This sensitive memoir recreates the confusion, emotional pain and isolation of the author's rigidly fundamentalist Christian upbringing, along with the trepidation of growing into maturity."
- Epileptic, David B. -- "This autobiographical work plumbs the psychological, social, and symbolic reaches of the author's experiences in a family that must deal with a devastating disease."
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel -- "A powerful graphic novel-memoir, Fun Home documents Bechdel's childhood experiences and coming-of-age as a woman and lesbian."
You'll have to forgive me for grabbing brief blurbs from the Amazon descriptions as most of these titles are new to me. They are thanks to suggestions from Iliana, Sycorax Pine, ta, and Dewey (via Isabel). I'm always happy for reading suggestions and hope to read a few on this list!