Literature is the root of all storytelling art. For everything we’ve covered this week, it’d be nonexistent if not for pen and paper. A great film starts with an interesting script, a great song starts with a meaningful poem. While reading has become antiquated in a lot of ways, there’s still so much value in the way it engages you with a story or information, and the way it works out your brain.
What did our staff of writers choose as their favorite books of the 2020s?
Jameus Mooney, Admin of Dirt Sheet Radio and Editor of Comic Book Clique.
Project Hail Mary, Andy Wier.
Is this populist science fiction? Obviously. But that’s okay. The first time I read this book I read the Ryland Grace character in a Ryan Gosling tone, which means they nailed the casting for the film. However, as much as I love the film, in fact, I was in my third screening of the film when Jon messaged me to hire me for DSR, there’s something about the book. The film shares a lot of the humanity of Stratt through the karoake scene which isn’t found in the book, whereas in the book it’s the fact that Stratt has to make difficult decisions. My favorite is the decision to bomb the ice caps to artificially warm the Earth. When she gets to court, there’s so much depth added to the character. She' gave up her humanity to save it.
That’s what makes this book so hard to put down. The first read is the reader finding out all of these things alongside Ryland, and you find yourself immersed in the difficult decisions that the people around Ryland, including Rocky, have to make. Not to mention, it’s so charming and funny. If you enjoyed the film, I highly recommend the book.
Nick LaRocco, Admin of Dirt Sheet Radio.
Nitro, Guy Evans.
When people hear "wrestling book," they often expect another autobiography or a collection of stories from someone who was in the locker room. Nitro is something entirely different. Guy Evans goes far beyond the usual shoot interviews and behind-the-scenes tales by interviewing the people who were actually making decisions in the Turner boardrooms. Alongside wrestlers and on-screen personalities, you hear from television executives, producers, backstage staff, and countless others whose perspectives have rarely been told. It creates a much more complete picture of WCW than I had ever experienced before.
Even if you've spent years researching the rise and fall of WCW, there are still countless hidden gems throughout this book. Evans does an incredible job of setting the stage, making you feel like you're sitting in the Turner offices during a major meeting or standing backstage at Monday Nitro moments before the show goes live. Rather than simply listing facts and dates, he builds the story in a way that makes you understand not only what happened, but why it happened. The result is a book that is incredibly difficult to put down.
What impressed me most is how balanced the book feels. It doesn't reduce WCW's history to simple heroes and villains or rely on decades-old narratives that have been repeated countless times. Instead, it presents the successes, the failures, the personalities, and the business realities that all contributed to one of the most fascinating periods in wrestling history. You begin to understand that WCW's story was far more complicated than "they made bad decisions."
More than anything, Nitro is an outstanding case study in business. It is the story of a company that reached incredible heights, changed an entire industry, and then slowly unraveled under the weight of corporate politics, creative decisions, and changing priorities. Whether you're a lifelong WCW fan, someone who's just getting into professional wrestling, or even someone who has never watched a single wrestling match, there's something for everyone to learn from this book. That's what makes Nitro such an easy recommendation for me.
Robert Acosta, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
Farenheit-182: A Memoir, Mark Hoppus.
If it has to be a traditional “book”: Mark Hoppus’ autobiography. My undying love for Blink-182 is as strong today in 2026 as it's ever been.
But this is Comic Book Clique! So I definitely have to bring up Absolute Martian Manhunter. The DC Absolute universe has blown up and much of that can be attributed to the likes of Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman. But - the wild card, the unsung hero of the entire line has to be Absolute Martian Manhunter.
Deniz Camp’s writing of John Jones and his personal journey through trauma, trying to piece his family back together and dealing with this entity he can’t see but knows and feels is there is both intriguing and gripping. Artist, Javier Rodriguez, has produced banger after banger with unforgettable color and shape use, bending it to fit the emotions within the panels, setting up a very psychedelic vibe and background to what is a dark story.
A story that feels timeless, the struggle of what trauma can do to a person, how easy it is to disconnect yourself from the world. But this time, in Martian Vision!
Jhuvin Palaganas, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner.
Crying in H Mart is a memoir by Michelle Zauner, lead singer of the band Japanese Breakfast. It is the story of how her family’s lives were upended after her mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but that’s not all. The memoir is also a raw look at the highs and abyssal lows of living with cancer, it is an enigmatic attempt to describe the “Asian American” experience, it is Michelle’s confession of the distance she felt with her mother and how food bridged that gap. If you love honest, reflective literature, and sometimes-too-descriptive excerpts on Korean cuisine, you will love this book.
Amanda Woods, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
Paranoid Gardens, Shaun Simon and Gerard Way.
While not technically a book (it’s a graphic novel, but I don’t care) I am picking Paranoid Gardens, written by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon. Now, in case you didn’t know, when not serving as the frontman of My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way is also an artist and comic book writer. He has multiple of his own original series, including Umbrella Academy and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. Paranoid Gardens is the newest addition to his collection of original work.
Paranoid Gardens follows Lou, a caretaker at a facility for a variety of different creatures, aliens, and not entirely human life forms. In traditional Gerard Way and Shaun Simon fashion, the series has its variety of eccentric characters and wacky, out of this world plots. However, Paranoid Gardens is a different type of strange that still after reading multiple times I have no other way of describing it than you have to just read it for yourself. I think something that makes this series stand out compared to some of Way’s previous work is the art style and color. The illustrations done by Chris Weston feel very different from what I’ve come to expect from a Way-led project, which is a pleasant surprise. Weston’s approach feels very grounded in reality, which fits the overall vibe of the narrative, while also having some very striking imagery in several different panels. The colorwork completed by Dave Stewart enhances Weston’s work, beautifully bringing the pages to life. I love the palette of this series, with a lot of the darker, muted tones that help to ground the series when at times it feels very otherworldly.
I’m a simple person, I see a Gerard Way graphic novel, I buy it, I’m probably going to like it. However, Paranoid Gardens is a step away from what I expected from a lot of his non-music work. This series is definitely still very Gerard Way, monsters, cults, people in weird masks, but it feels like a natural progression and evolution. I love when creatives are able to push the boundaries of their style and keep me guessing what they’ll do next. In my opinion, Paranoid Gardens is that for Gerard Way, and I’m shocked that I’ve rarely heard mention of the series until buying it. If you're looking for a fun, quick, and easy read, I could not recommend this enough.
Jenny Catlin, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
There Are Reasons For This, Nini Berndt.
Picking a book is like picking a favorite child, but I’m going to say Nini Berndt’s debut novel, There are Reasons for This, out through Tin House in 2025. A stunning, weird, complex near-future dystopian love story unlike anything I’ve ever read before. There are some psychosexual elements, some climate disaster elements, and some very real questions about what makes a family. Visceral, weird, perfect.
Andre Porter, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
Project Hail Mary, Andy Wier.
My favorite book of the 2020s is Project Hail Mary because it blended hard sci-fi concepts with a deeply emotional, character-driven story of unlikely friendship between an explorer and an alien. The most fascinating part of the book is that it takes fascinating astrophysics, chemistry, and biology and breaks them down into an accessible, high-stakes novel.
Sean Paul, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
24: The Life and Stories of the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays and John Shea.
A mix of biography and autobiography, this book not only tells us the story of the tremendous career that Willie Mays had, but also teaches us life lessons that helped Mays become the person he became, both on and off the field.
Andy Chen, Admin of Dirt Sheet Radio and Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin.
This book isn't just a book about making art. It encourages people to think differently, stay curious, and enjoy the creative process. I found it very inspiring.
Abel Loza, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
Absolute Batman, Scott Snyder.
I haven't read as much as I wanted to over the past six or seven [hand movement] years, but I'm changing that this year. After watching The Odyssey, I have already checked out The Iliad and The Odyssey and am starting to read those as I type this. To answer the question, I'm going to cheat and select a comic book. I think Absolute Batman has been one of the best and most consequential titles not only of the 2020s, but of the 21st century. The reimagining of one of the most famous characters in fiction seems like a tall task, too tall in fact, but Scott Snyder has done a masterful job creating this new universe.
Ryan Norton, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that reading is not something I particularly enjoy. No real reason for that other than potentially my inability to concentrate on things for a long period of time. I’ve read maybe three books this decade for example, all in the crime or horror genre. What can I say, I have a preference! I actually started reading this book before I knew of Netflix doing a show for it, so I didn’t jump on a bandwagon this time! The story of it is this. A 17 year old girl, Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi starts investigating a cold case murder in the fictional town in Little Kilton, Buckinghamshire, England. She believes that the wrong person, Sal Singh was accused, based on a running theme in the area of discrimination against the Singh family. Due to the fact he committed suicide after the death of his girlfriend Andie Bell, he is unable to answer for the crime anyway so the case was dropped and everyone just assumed he was responsible. But this book delves a lot deeper into the case, was Sal framed? Was it a different person altogether? Pip and Sal’s brother, Ravi, intend on finding out!
Dustin Lee, Contributor at Comic Book Clique.
The Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi.
I don't read as many traditional novels as I probably should but The Kaiju Preservation Society is one I'd happily recommend. It's a fun fast paced science fiction adventure that doesn't take itself too seriously while still delivering an entertaining story. The mix of giant monsters, humor, and imaginative world building kept me interested from beginning to end. If you're looking for an easy read that's both exciting and accessible, I think it's a great choice.
Jessica Roberts, Editor at Comic Book Clique.
Exquisite Corpse, Poppy Brite.
Since I was given the stipulation that it had to be from the 2020s, this question was really hard for me. I read a lot of classic lit. Then I also remembered that I could pick a comic book, so it has to be Exquisite Corpses. I haven't been so invested in a story in a while. I'm a sucker for a strong cast of characters, and this book delivers completely there. The story is complex, weaving together the characters’ stories as the story builds to its climax. That works for me. I like to watch the pieces fall together, even when parts of the story feel obvious. There are still enough surprises in this one that, even when you can see what's coming, it's just satisfying in its own way.
George Serrano, Founder of Comic Book Clique.
Assorted Crisis Events, Deniz Camp.
This work has given me the most emotional responses of anything I have read in the last six years. It focuses on ordinary people dealing with massive crisis events happening all over the world, but ultimately, it is about the crisis of the human condition and human existence. It explores how we are constantly dealing with crisis after crisis, how we persevere, how sometimes those crises get the better of us, and how we are able to move on and carry on anyway.
Jon Escudero, Founder of Dirt Sheet Radio and Editor at Comic Book Clique.
Scott Snyder’s Batman, Scott Snyder.
By and far the most important comic book of this decade. This book brought Gen Z into the comic shops and made comic books fun to talk about again. Scott Snyder asked the question... How would you strip down the concept of Batman to its core and build a new, more relevant version on top of that familiar core.
Turning Batman into a working class hero from the ghettos of Gotham who takes on the psychopath, possibly immortal, baby eating billionaire Jack Grimm aka the Joker. Go read this now.
That concludes our choices for the best books of 2020. Tomorrow, the final day of the Staff Favorites series, brings a rather unique day: the Grab Bag. This means that each team member chose a second of any one topic of their choice that we’ve covered to give you another suggestion.