Dash Shaw Books in Order

How to Start Reading Dash Shaw's Graphic Novels

If you are looking to dive into the surreal, visually striking, and emotionally resonant world of Dash Shaw, knowing where to begin can be a challenge. Because almost all of his books are standalone projects with distinct visual styles, narratives, and formats, you do not have to worry about a strict chronological storyline connecting them. Instead, your choice of where to start depends on what kind of story you want to experience first.

The Best Starting Point: Bottomless Belly Button (2008)

For most readers, the best place to start is Bottomless Belly Button (2008). Spanning over 700 pages, this landmark graphic novel is a sprawling family saga that chronicles a family reunion at a beach house after the elderly parents announce their divorce. Despite its massive page count, the story is incredibly accessible, leveraging a visual shorthand reminiscent of manga and raw, expressive linework. It captures the quiet, uncomfortable, and tender moments of family life with profound accuracy, making it the perfect introduction to Shaw's talent for deep character studies.

The Surreal Sci-Fi Route: BodyWorld (2009)

If you prefer experimental sci-fi and vivid, psychedelic colors, start with BodyWorld (2009). Originally published as a webcomic, the story takes place in a futuristic, utopian town where a botanist tests a new telepathic plant. The graphic novel is famous for its physical format, requiring readers to rotate the book to follow vertical layouts and fold-out maps. It is an immersive, colorful exploration of human connection and telepathy that highlights Shaw's interest in altering the physical structure of a comic book.

The Slice-of-Life Option: Cosplayers (2016)

If you want something grounded in modern subculture, check out the Cosplayers collection. Follow two young women, Annie and Verti, as they navigate their everyday lives and integrate their love for crafting and wearing costumes into their reality. It is a humorous, affectionate, and deeply humanistic look at fandom and identity.

Dash Shaw Graphic Novels in Publication Order

For readers who want to witness the evolution of Dash Shaw's artistic style and storytelling techniques, reading in order of publication is highly recommended. His style shifts dramatically from his early black-and-white indie work to hand-painted acetate sheets, digital collage, and ink washes.

1. Goddess Head (2005) - An early collection of short, experimental stories that set the stage for his career.
2. The Mother's Mouth (2006) - A poignant early graphic novel exploring memory, grief, and family secrets.
3. Bottomless Belly Button (2008) - The highly acclaimed 720-page epic family drama.
4. Virginia (2009) - A smaller-scale, collaborative work that showcases Shaw's early visual experiments.
5. BodyWorld (2009) - A psychedelic sci-fi tale of telepathy and botany, featuring complex page layouts.
6. The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. (2009) - A compilation of short comics, storyboards, and animated project sketches.
7. New School (2013) - A vibrant sibling story set in a futuristic amusement park, featuring experimental, clash-of-colors artwork.
8. 3 New Stories (2013) - A short, booklet-style collection of three distinct narratives.
9. Doctors (2014) - A sci-fi drama about a team of doctors using memory technology to enter the minds of the deceased.
10. Cosplayers (2016) - The collected edition of his cosplay stories, compiling earlier individual issues.
11. A Cosplayers Christmas (2016) - A holiday-themed one-shot issue featuring Annie and Verti.
12. Discipline (2021) - A historical graphic novel about a Quaker soldier during the Civil War, told through letters and inspired by 19th-century illustration.
13. Blurry (2024) - A massive, 500-page ensemble graphic novel that explores the interconnected lives of diverse characters in a structured narrative loop.

Major Series and Subseries Breakdown

While the vast majority of Dash Shaw’s catalog consists of self-contained graphic novels, there are a few recurring universes and themed series worth grouping together.

The Cosplayers Series

The Cosplayers stories follow friends Annie and Verti as they find escape and community through cosplay. Readers can tackle this subseries in two ways:

• The Individual Issues: Start with Cosplayers #1 (2014), followed by Cosplayers #2 (2014), and finish with the holiday-themed one-shot A Cosplayers Christmas (2016).
• The Collected Edition: Read the Cosplayers graphic novel (2016), which compiles the main stories into a unified "Perfect Collection." You can then read the Christmas one-shot as a direct companion story.

The Candlestick Books (Clue: Candlestick)

Published in 2019 as a three-issue miniseries, Candlestick is Dash Shaw's surreal re-imagining of the classic board game Clue. It features familiar characters like Professor Plum and Miss Scarlet but treats them to a unique, auteur-style murder mystery. The recommended order is simple:

1. Candlestick #1 (2019)
2. Candlestick #2 (2019)
3. Candlestick #3 (2019)

Alternatively, the entire mystery has been collected into a single-volume paperback edition under the title Clue: Candlestick.

What to Know Before You Start

Dash Shaw is not just a comic artist; he is also an acclaimed animator. His feature films, such as My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (2016) and Cryptozoo (2021), share the same DIY, collage-style, and vibrant aesthetic as his comics. In fact, many of his comic books use techniques directly inspired by animation, such as drawing on acetate sheets or treating panels like film frames.

Additionally, Shaw's stories are known for their formal experimentation. When reading books like New School or BodyWorld, do not expect conventional panel structures or realistic coloring. Instead, embrace the visual abstractness—the colors and layouts are meant to convey the internal emotions of the characters, acting as a third layer of storytelling alongside the dialogue and drawings.