Ryan North

Ryan North is a Canadian writer known for his work on webcomics, including 'Dinosaur Comics,' and for writing for comic series such as 'Adventure Time' and 'The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.' He is also the author of the 'To Be or Not To Be' choose-your-own-path book and has contributed to various other creative projects.

This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

  1. 1. Slaughterhouse Five, Or The Children's Crusade

    A Duty-Dance with Death

    The book is a satirical science fiction novel that follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, an optometrist who becomes "unstuck in time" and experiences different moments of his life non-linearly, including his time as a soldier during World War II, his abduction by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, and his post-war life. Through these fragmented experiences, the narrative explores themes of free will, the destructiveness of war, and the nature of time. The novel's dark humor and unconventional structure underscore the absurdity and tragedy of human existence, particularly in the context of the bombing of Dresden, which serves as a central event in Billy's life.

    The 15731st Greatest Book of All Time
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  2. 2. Slaughter House Five

    In this inventive and thought-provoking narrative, readers are taken on a journey through time and space with Billy Pilgrim, an unconventional protagonist who becomes "unstuck in time." As he experiences the horrors of World War II, including the devastating bombing of Dresden, Billy's life unfolds in a non-linear fashion, interspersed with moments of absurdity and dark humor. The story explores themes of fate, free will, and the nature of human existence, all while challenging traditional storytelling conventions and offering a poignant commentary on the senselessness of war.

    The 16675th Greatest Book of All Time
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  3. 3. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 2

    Squirrel You Know It's True

    In this delightful continuation of the adventures of a college student with the powers of a squirrel, the protagonist faces off against an array of quirky villains, including the mischievous Ratatoskr, a Norse squirrel deity causing chaos. Alongside her trusty squirrel sidekick, Tippy-Toe, and her tech-savvy roommate, Nancy, she navigates the challenges of balancing superhero duties with her academic life. With humor, heart, and a unique approach to conflict resolution, the story explores themes of friendship, empowerment, and the importance of understanding one's adversaries.

  4. 4. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1

    Squirrel Power

    In this delightful and humorous graphic novel, a seemingly ordinary college student named Doreen Green leads a double life as the spirited and unstoppable superhero, Squirrel Girl. With her unique ability to communicate with squirrels and her infectious optimism, she tackles villains both big and small, proving that brains, heart, and a little bit of squirrel power can overcome any challenge. As she balances her academic life with her superhero duties, she befriends an eclectic group of characters, including her roommate Nancy and the ever-loyal Tippy-Toe, her squirrel sidekick, all while delivering a fresh and witty take on the superhero genre.

  5. 5. Romeo And/Or Juliet

    A Chooseable-Path Adventure

    This innovative and interactive take on the classic Shakespearean tale offers readers a unique experience by allowing them to choose their own adventure. Set in the familiar world of star-crossed lovers, the narrative branches out into countless possibilities, blending humor, romance, and absurdity. With over a hundred different endings, readers can explore various paths, from traditional storylines to unexpected twists, all while encountering quirky characters and engaging in playful scenarios. The book celebrates creativity and the joy of storytelling, making each read-through a fresh and entertaining journey.

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  6. 6. How To Invent Everything

    A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler

    This engaging and humorous guide serves as a time traveler's handbook for rebuilding civilization from scratch. It provides a comprehensive blueprint for inventing essential technologies and concepts, from agriculture and writing to electricity and computers, using only the resources available in the distant past. The book cleverly combines scientific knowledge with wit, offering readers a unique perspective on human innovation and the interconnectedness of technological advancements throughout history. With its playful tone and informative content, it encourages a deeper appreciation for the ingenuity that has shaped our modern world.

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  7. 7. Adventure Time, Vol. 2

    Finn and Jake embark on a series of whimsical, offbeat adventures across the Land of Ooo, confronting bizarre monsters, awkward social dilemmas, and absurd quests while teaming up with familiar friends and facing oddball villains; the stories blend sharp humor and unexpected heart to explore friendship, responsibility, and the strange charm of their world.

  8. 8. Adventure Time, Vol. 1

    Playing with Fire

    A whimsical comic collection follows a heroic human boy and his magical dog as they embark on fast-paced, surreal quests across a post-apocalyptic fantasy land, battling bizarre villains, rescuing royalty, and encountering oddball allies; the stories blend slapstick humor, heartfelt moments, and pop-culture riffs while expanding the show’s mythology in playful, illustrated short adventures.

  9. 11. Fantastic Four, Vol. 1

    The iconic superhero family—Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm—reunites to balance world-saving science with the messy realities of family life, facing bizarre experiments, cosmic mysteries, and unexpected threats while blending sharp humor, heartfelt character moments, and inventive science-fiction concepts that refresh their dynamic for a modern audience.

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  10. 12. Krypto

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  11. 13. Fantastic Four, Vol. 6

    The collection follows the First Family as they balance everyday family life with Reed’s restless scientific curiosity, which draws cosmic and interdimensional consequences into their doorstep; as jokes and tenderness mix with high-stakes action, they must reckon with the moral costs of invention, confront familiar enemies and surprising allies, and ultimately rely on their bonds and ingenuity to protect one another and the wider universe.

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  12. 16. Star Trek

    Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry and owned by Paramount, which began with the series of the same name and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. Since its creation, the franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books, and it has become one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The franchise began with Star Trek (The Original Series), which premiered on September 6, 1966, on Canada's CTV network. In the United States, it debuted on September 8, 1966, on NBC. The series followed the voyages and crew of the starship USS Enterprise, a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, and television westerns such as Wagon Train. The Star Trek canon includes The Original Series, several subsequent television series, and a film franchise; further adaptations also exist in expanded media. After the conclusion of The Original Series, the adventures of its characters continued in The Animated Series, and six feature films. A television revival beginning in the late 1980s and concluding in the mid 2000s saw four spinoff series: The Next Generation, following the crew of a new starship Enterprise a century after the original series; Deep Space Nine and Voyager, both set in the same era as the Next Generation; and Enterprise, set a century before the original series in the early days of human interstellar travel. The adventures of the Next Generation crew continued in four additional feature films. In 2009, the film franchise underwent a reboot, creating an alternate continuity known as the Kelvin timeline; three films have been set in this continuity. The most recent Star Trek revival began streaming on digital platforms in 2017 with series set at various points in the original continuity: Discovery (Seasons 1–2) and Strange New Worlds set before The Original Series; anthology series Short Treks; Picard, Lower Decks and Prodigy set during or after the Next Generation era; and Discovery (seasons 3–5) and Starfleet Academy set in the 32nd century. Star Trek has been a cult phenomenon for decades. Fans of the franchise are called "Trekkies" or "Trekkers". The franchise spans a wide range of spin-offs including games, figurines, novels, toys, and comics. From 1998 to 2008, there was a Star Trek–themed attraction in Las Vegas. At least two museum exhibits of props travel the world. The constructed language Klingon was created for the franchise. Several Star Trek parodies have been made, and viewers have produced several fan productions. Star Trek is noted for its cultural influence beyond works of science fiction. The franchise is also notable for its progressive stances on civil rights. The Original Series included one of the first multiracial casts on American television.

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  13. 17. Fantastic Four, Vol. 5

    A fresh, witty relaunch that balances cosmic adventure and family drama as the original superhero family confronts universe-spanning threats while navigating personal growth, scientific curiosity, and the chaos of parenting; the collection mixes imaginative science-fiction ideas, emotional character beats, and playful humor to recapture the team's sense of wonder and reassert their bonds amid high-stakes action.

  14. 18. Fantastic Four, Vol. 4

    A brisk, character-driven sci-fi adventure that follows the world's first family of heroes as they juggle everyday parenthood and sibling squabbles with reality-bending mysteries and high-stakes cosmic threats. The book blends sharp humor and emotional beats as the team’s scientific curiosity and close personal bonds are tested by time-twisting experiments, bizarre dimensions, and long-standing enemies, forcing them to rely on ingenuity, trust, and one another to save their home and family. Overall it’s an energetic, heartfelt reinvention that emphasizes both the wonder of exploration and the costs of being a family of heroes.

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  15. 20. Fantastic Four, Vol. 2

    The collection follows the superhero family as they juggle world-sized science-fiction threats and everyday domestic challenges, blending sharp humor with heartfelt family drama; inventive, science-driven conflicts and surprising alliances force each member to confront their strengths, flaws, and the consequences of curiosity, testing the team's bond while celebrating their role as explorers, protectors, and an unconventional family.

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  16. 21. Power Pack

    Four young siblings who share extraordinary powers try to balance saving the day with the messy realities of school, family life, and growing up; told with warm humor and bright adventure, the story focuses on their close bonds, the responsibilities and limits of power, and how kindness, consent, and teamwork shape true heroism.

  17. 22. How To Take Over The World

    Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain

    A witty, illustrated guide that blends humor, history, science, and practical thinking to sketch out plausible — and intentionally absurd — strategies for global domination, evaluating schemes from political takeover and corporate control to classic supervillain tropes with math, probability, legal routes, logistics, and ethical asides. It breaks down real-world constraints like funding, recruitment, infrastructure, secrecy and risk management, offering alternate paths (institutional power, technology, persuasion) while teaching readers critical thinking, data-driven planning, and how to spot and fix bad plans. The tone is playful and educational, using diagrams, examples, and bite-sized explanations to make complex concepts entertaining and accessible.

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  18. 26. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 10

    A lighthearted, action-packed collection that follows a cheerful college student-turned-superhero as she juggles school, friendships, and crimefighting; through witty banter, inventive problem-solving, and unexpected alliances she takes on a rotating roster of oddball foes, turns confrontations into conversations, and proves that optimism, empathy, and smarts can be as mighty as any superpower.

  19. 27. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 9

    A bright, fast-moving collection that follows a relentlessly optimistic heroine as she juggles college life, friendships, and superheroics, using wit and empathy rather than brute force to dismantle threats both ridiculous and dangerous; between offbeat team-ups, clever one-liners, and unexpectedly heartfelt moments, she proves that clever thinking, compassion, and community solve problems other heroes try to punch their way through, all while the cast grows, relationships deepen, and the book balances absurd humor with sincere warmth.

  20. 28. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 8

    Doreen Green balances college life, friendships, and superhero duty as she faces a mix of supervillains and everyday problems, using humor, cleverness, and empathy to protect her community and help those around her; the collection blends action and comedy with heartfelt moments about identity, teamwork, and growing up.

  21. 29. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up The Marvel Universe

    A plucky college student with squirrel-based powers and an army of rodent allies takes on—and often outsmarts—an array of Marvel heroes and villains, turning battles into opportunities for empathy, creative problem-solving, and absurdist humor. The collection mixes cartoony art and upbeat satire as its cheerful protagonist balances campus life, friendship, and superheroics while subverting expectations about strength, intelligence, and what it means to be a hero.

  22. 30. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1

    A bright, quirky origin issue that introduces a cheerful young hero juggling college life and crimefighting; when a menacing supervillain threatens the city, the protagonist — an upbeat, squirrel-powered undergraduate with a knack for optimism, problem-solving, and an army of squirrels — uses wit, unexpected tactics, and new friendships to save the day while navigating dorm-room drama and the ups and downs of freshman life.

  23. 33. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 4

    A breezy, humorous collection that follows college student–turned–superhero Doreen Green as she juggles classes, friendships, and increasingly bizarre villainous threats; armed with quick wit, an army of squirrels (and her loyal Tippy‑Toe), she defeats foes with cleverness, compassion, and unexpected solutions, while the stories balance slapstick action with genuine heart and coming‑of‑age moments.

  24. 34. To Be Or Not To Be

    A Chooseable-Path Adventure

    An irreverent choose-your-own-adventure retelling of Hamlet that lets readers play as multiple characters (notably Hamlet or Ophelia), making branching choices that lead to dozens of wildly different outcomes; it mixes modern jokes, meta-commentary, and playful illustrations with genuine emotional beats, exploring fate, free will, revenge, and identity in ways that range from slapstick to surprisingly poignant depending on your decisions.

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  25. 35. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 5

    A breezy, action-packed collection following Doreen Green as she balances everyday life with superheroics, using wit, optimism, and surprising smarts to outmaneuver villains, support her friends, and solve problems in unconventional, often hilarious ways; the book mixes lighthearted humor, heartfelt friendship, and inventive fights to deliver a feel-good, upbeat take on the superhero genre.