NonNonBa (2012)

2007 winner The first manga to take Angoulême's Best Album prize is Shigeru Mizuki's memoir of a boyhood spent listening to an elderly woman, NonNonBa, who filled his head with yokai, the spirits and monsters of Japanese folklore. Those creatures later made Mizuki famous, and here you see where they came from, drawn against richly detailed village backgrounds. Drawn & Quarterly's English edition is a warm, generous first stop for readers new to manga.