Jimmy Corrigan (1999)

2003 winner Chris Ware's saga of lonely Corrigan men, spanning four generations, was written in English, so there is no translation question here, only the challenge of reading it. Its diagram-like pages, tiny lettering and exacting layouts reward slow attention, and the story of a shy middle-aged man meeting the father who left him is quietly devastating. It is the clearest sign on this shelf that the Angoulême jury looks well beyond French-language comics.