The 10 best graphic novels

Cambridge don Robert Macfarlane, chief of next year's Booker Prize judges has said that he would be 'open' to the idea of graphic novels competing. "I wouldn't see it as a problem," says Macfarlane, "Charles Dickens ran his  chapters heavily illustrated when they were published." But can comics really compete with the written word? Here are 10 that try.

Gallery View:The 10 best graphic novels
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  1. V for Vendetta (1982) Alan Moore
  2. Wanted(2004) The film of Wanted, starring Morgan Freeman, is a lesson in how badly Hollywood can ruin comics - but the original is a sparklingly clever take on the dark side of geek fantasies, as a no
  3. Batman: Year One (1987) The back-to-basics approach of the recent Batman trilogy of films was beaten to the punch by this masterpiece by Frank Miller, which took away Batman
  4. The Invisibles (2000) This series of six graphic novels showed off the confrontational side of comics - pitting a time-travelling group of magicians against a conspiracy of the English upper classes a
  5. From Hell (2000) Alan Moore
  6. Kick-Ass (2008) Mark Millar's violent tale of a 'real' superhero shocks and amuses in equal measure as a school weakling lives out his geeky fantasies as the costumed 'Kick-Ass' wi
  7. Leviathan (2006) This whodunnit-cum-horror is set on a huge ship - clearly modelled on the Titanic - in the Twenties,
  8. Watchmen (1987) One of Time magazines 100 greatest novels of all time, this deconstructed the idea of superheroes, with masked heroes portrayed as mad vigilantes and narcissistic freaks as a nuclear w
  9. Superman: Red Son What would have happened if Superman had landed in Soviet Russia, not America? Mark Millar
  10. Maus (1991) Art Spiegelman