Beyond Supergirl: 7 Female-Led Graphic Novels Every Comics Fan Should Read
24 June, 2026With Supergirl back in the spotlight thanks to her latest big-screen outing hitting cinemas this week, readers may be discovering her story for the first time, others may be excited to see the acclaimed comic book miniseries Woman of Tomorrow adapted for live-action.
If the Supergirl hype has whet your appetite for more female-led stories, we could point you in the direction of Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel or Harley Quinn. But needless to say, that’s too obvious. Lest we forget the plethora of outstanding female-led and female-centred stories that have nothing to do with capes, secret identities, or world-ending crossover events.
From fantasy epics and sci-fi adventures to chilling horror tales, let us take you through a few graphic novels that you need to read.
Saga
Few modern comics have achieved the acclaim of Saga. The series, which swept the Eisner and Hugo Awards in 2014-2014, was created by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. It follows Alana and Marko, two lovers from opposite sides of an intergalactic war, as they try to protect their young family.
Saga is a fine example of sprawling world-building and fresh concepts. Based on ideas that Vaughan conceived both as a child and as a parent, Saga has been described as a cross between Star Wars and Game of Thrones, with additional elements of The Lord of the Rings and Romeo and Juliet.
Saga stands out not only for the scale of its imagination but also its emotional. It’s big and it’s epic but it’s also deeply human. With its overarching themes of love, family, and survival, it has certainly earned its reputation as one of the defining comics of the 21st century.
Monstress
Witten by Marjorie Liu and drawn by Sana Takeda, Monstress is a rich fantasy world filled with political intrigue, ancient magic, and stunning artwork- earning seven Eisner Awards, four Hugo Awards, and the Harvey Awards Book of the Year in 2018.
Set in an alternate matriarchal Asia-inspired world, the story follows Maika Halfwolf, a young woman struggling to control a mysterious psychic link she has with a powerful monster. That monster not only manifests itself mentally but physically through the stub of her severed arm.
Monstress stands as one of the most visually stunning series of the modern era, with its art rich in depth and mood to create a living, breathing world from its pages, with leading characters described by Caitlin Rosberg of The A.V. Club as "deeply flawed and showing layers of nuanced characterization that you don’t often see in comic books."
Paper Girls
Often favourably compared to Stranger Things, Paper Girls follows four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls who find themselves caught in a bizarre, time-travelling conflict. It’s the morning after Halloween and Erin, MacKenzie, KJ, and Tiffany are doing their rounds when the town is suddenly hit by an invasion from a mysterious force from the future.
Receiving the Eisner Award for Best New Series and Best Penciller/Inker as well as the Harvey Award for Best New Series, it was adapted to a series by Netflix. Just like the source material, the live-action adaptation was critically acclaimed, but cancelled after just one season (typical!).
Paper Girls is a coming-of-age story wrapped inside an ambitious sci-fi epic, and one that deserves far more attention (and more seasons of its screen adaptation) than it often receives.
Rat Queens
Fantasy stories don't always have to be serious, high-brow and mixed in with politics, and Rat Queens is a loud, edgy and hilarious example of that. Created by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch, the series follows a rowdy, foul-mouthed group of adventurers in a medieval fantasy setting who spend almost as much time causing trouble as they do saving the day.
The group comprises of rockabilly elven mage Hannah, hipster dwarven warrior Violet, atheist human cleric Dee, and the hippie halfling thief Betty. Later they’re joined by a transgender Orc warrior named Braga. If Rat Queens is anything, it surely is diverse!
Featuring a lot of laughs, even more chaos, and a cast of women who refuse to fit traditional fantasy archetypes, it's a refreshing and endlessly entertaining alternative to the more conventional sword-and-sorcery stories.
Helen of Wyndhorn
One of the newest entries on this list, Helen of Wyndhorn is a gothic fantasy from writer Tom King and artist Bilquis Evely, the same creative team behind Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
Described as Conan the Barbarian meets The Wizard of Oz, the series follows Helen Cole, a rebellious young writer who is sent to live at her late grandfather's estate after the untimely passing of her father. She soon discovers though that Wyndhorn is no ordinary manor house, and that her father’s fantasy stories may not have actually been fantasy after all.
Helen of Wyndhorn is part coming-of-age, part dark fantasy and part mystery, blending them into something very unique. Evely’s artwork and King's character-driven storytelling guide you seamlessly through its rich world.
So if you need something to hold you over until the upcoming adaptation of Woman of Tomorrow, Helen of Wyndhorn from the same voices is an easy recommendation.
Something Is Killing the Children
We’ve talked a lot about fantasy and sci-fi so far, but what about horror?
Readers who enjoyed the eerie atmosphere of Zach Cregger’s Oscar-winning Weapons may find a similar hook in Something Is Killing the Children, though the comic quickly evolves into a monster-hunting horror epic.
Written by James Tynion IV and artist Werther Dell'Edera, Something is Killing the Children centres on Erica Slaughter, a mysterious monster hunter who arrives in a small town where children have begun disappearing.
Something is Killing the Children was nominated for Best New Series at the 2020 Eisner Awards, and its combination of supernatural terror with emotional storytelling paired with its moody artwork comes together to create something that's genuinely difficult to put down.
Blumhouse Productions (Get Out, Paranormal Activity, The Purge) is set to adapt the series into both a live-action feature film and an adult animated television series, with Tynion leading the development of the latter.
Wytches
Going even further down the horror-hole, Scott Snyder and Jock's 6-issue limited series Wytches offers less action in favour of the genuine chills of folk horror.
The witches in Wytches are ancient, monstrous creatures living in the woods, and after moving to a new town following a family tragedy, a young girl named Sailor Rooks and her family become entangled with them. Although the story explores the fears and tensions affecting the entire family, Sailor Rooks is having the most difficult time, as she is accused of murdering a school bully who attacked her and then went missing.
The result is a tense, atmospheric read that has been described as “outlandish, grotesque and alarmingly intimate.” An animated series is in production with Amazon Prime Video, with Snyder having written the first episode and Jock on storyboard duties.
Superheroes may dominate the headlines, but they're only one corner of what comics have to offer. Whether you're drawn to science fiction, fantasy, horror, or character-driven drama, these female-led graphic novels showcase just how diverse and creative the medium can be.
And if Supergirl inspires a new generation of readers to explore comics beyond the superhero genre, there are plenty of incredible stories waiting.
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