Good Graphic Novels?
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300 by Frank Millers0ap sudz post=18.69797.671833 said:I just got into graphic novels and I was wondering if you guys could suggest to me some good reads.
I own:
Wanted
Watchmen
V for Vendetta
I like ones with a lot of action in them, but I'm open to any and all suggestions.
The Walking Dead series (TPB)
Maus
(the last two are two of the most emotionally involving works of fiction I've ever read).
Aye.Ares Tyr post=18.69797.672567 said:
The first graphic novel to take a look albeit somehow satirical and serious look at the Holocaust.
I have been interested in reading The Walking Dead, I think I may pick those up.Ares Tyr post=18.69797.672567 said:300 by Frank Millers0ap sudz post=18.69797.671833 said:I just got into graphic novels and I was wondering if you guys could suggest to me some good reads.
I own:
Wanted
Watchmen
V for Vendetta
I like ones with a lot of action in them, but I'm open to any and all suggestions.
The Walking Dead series (TPB)
Maus
(the last two are two of the most emotionally involving works of fiction I've ever read).
WE3 was one of only a few that have actually tore me up to read, Preacher being one of the others.
Preacher managed to cause tears and laughter in the space of one book, but then I'm soft as hell when it comes to emotional stuff, heh. Preacher I'd recommend to anyone not easily offended, its my favourite graphic novel and one of my favourite books ever. (ok set of 9)
As for others, another vote for
Y: The Last Man
Transmetropolitan
Hellblazer
Watchmen (if you're in the UK, I got mine from Amazon for £8)
100 Bullets
and... hasnt got a mention yet, and still very new...
'The Boys'
A new take on the superhero genre, where the superheroes are just regular people with special powers, so essentially, not too smart, not too careful, and given a bit fame, start getting a huge ego. 'The Boys' are a group who do what they can to keep the 'good guys' in check, generally thru extreme violence. It's got a similar feel to Preacher, but lighter in tone and more action heavy.
Preacher managed to cause tears and laughter in the space of one book, but then I'm soft as hell when it comes to emotional stuff, heh. Preacher I'd recommend to anyone not easily offended, its my favourite graphic novel and one of my favourite books ever. (ok set of 9)
As for others, another vote for
Y: The Last Man
Transmetropolitan
Hellblazer
Watchmen (if you're in the UK, I got mine from Amazon for £8)
100 Bullets
and... hasnt got a mention yet, and still very new...
'The Boys'
A new take on the superhero genre, where the superheroes are just regular people with special powers, so essentially, not too smart, not too careful, and given a bit fame, start getting a huge ego. 'The Boys' are a group who do what they can to keep the 'good guys' in check, generally thru extreme violence. It's got a similar feel to Preacher, but lighter in tone and more action heavy.
Doh and totally forgot to mention...
If any of you are in the UK and even slightly interested.
Get to your local library!
Its all free, and you can take out up to 9 books for 3 weeks at a time, and all my local branches have a good range of graphic novels, although they've swung a bit too far towards manga recently, imo. Also, if you are after a particular book and its in the general area, you can get it sent into your local for about a pound. I've probably got thru over a hundred or so, just using the library, although I still bought Watchmen and all nine Preacher books, because I want to make friends read them and love them too!
If any of you are in the UK and even slightly interested.
Get to your local library!
Its all free, and you can take out up to 9 books for 3 weeks at a time, and all my local branches have a good range of graphic novels, although they've swung a bit too far towards manga recently, imo. Also, if you are after a particular book and its in the general area, you can get it sent into your local for about a pound. I've probably got thru over a hundred or so, just using the library, although I still bought Watchmen and all nine Preacher books, because I want to make friends read them and love them too!
Somehow I forgot to mention:
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac
American Splendor (very idiosyncratic, and the film is worth checking out too.)
Ghost World
Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing
Marvel Zombies Vs The Army Of Darkness (EXACTLY as awesome as it sounds.)
30 Days of Night series
The Courtney Crumrin series (...and The Night Things is the first book.)
Hitman (another Garth Ennis, his name will crop up a lot in this list.)
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac
American Splendor (very idiosyncratic, and the film is worth checking out too.)
Ghost World
Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing
Marvel Zombies Vs The Army Of Darkness (EXACTLY as awesome as it sounds.)
30 Days of Night series
The Courtney Crumrin series (...and The Night Things is the first book.)
Hitman (another Garth Ennis, his name will crop up a lot in this list.)
I can only add my everlasting praise of Sandman to the chorus. It is one of the best works of fiction I have ever read. If you have even the slightest interest in myths and legends, you will almost certainly enjoy it.
This comic geek friend I went to school with wouldn't shut up about From Hell. It's supposely one of the finest, in terms of story and using the media, but I've only leafed through it, because the drawings put me off a bit.
Preahcer is kinda cool if you're not offended by a little... creative bible interpretation. Or vampires. It's more in the "comic" category than "graphic novel" though, in my opinion.
Graphic novel is a term mostly used when "comic" would brand the product as childish or unserious.
This comic geek friend I went to school with wouldn't shut up about From Hell. It's supposely one of the finest, in terms of story and using the media, but I've only leafed through it, because the drawings put me off a bit.
Preahcer is kinda cool if you're not offended by a little... creative bible interpretation. Or vampires. It's more in the "comic" category than "graphic novel" though, in my opinion.
Manga is a specific style of mostly drawing but also storytelling, which originated in Japan. It is more or less the Japanese word for comic, but can mean anything from stories for kids to hard-core sexual fetish comics. One might say that the word "manga" is actually closer to "graphic novel", but I think graphic novel has a specific meaning in the West, whereas comic simply implies "pictures and some text".olicon post=18.69797.695596 said:
Graphic novel is a term mostly used when "comic" would brand the product as childish or unserious.
I don't read graphics novels nearly as much, but I am a big fan of manga. It is quite separated from the more sexually oriented cousin, AKA Hentai or Ecchi comic (a weird pronunciation of H from the Hentai.) Most of the ones that hits US shores tend to tell stories more from the visual aspects, but there are some that are very deeply rooted in politics or philosophy--those tends to be extremely wordy. At any rate, I still can't tell the real difference (apart from sentimental differences) between manga and graphics novel apart from the art style. But that would lead to similar question with graphics novels in comparison with comics in general. Comic strips, I can see, are shorter and usually drawn in panels of regular dimensions. But I can attest to the fact that most Chinese, and a large percentage of Korean "manga" are drawn in much more similar manners to graphic novels, but still classified as manga. But like I said, I have very little experience with graphics novel, so maybe I'm missing something here.
Like I said, graphic novel is usually a word you use when you want to avoid associating the product in question too heavily with children. It also implies a more intellectual content and more text than the things that are often associated with the word comic. Graphic novels also often (but not always) contain adult themes such as sex, violence and drugs, because dealing with these things are part of being an adult for many people.
If you want to generalize a lot, you could say that graphic novels are comics for adults. But that leaves out a lot of the nuances of the word.
If you want to generalize a lot, you could say that graphic novels are comics for adults. But that leaves out a lot of the nuances of the word.
Crimson was pretty decent, nice take on a vampire story. It's divided into four volumes and unfortunately has a bit of the Indigo Prophecy syndrome about it towards the end. Nothing too terribly bad, it makes a bit of sense as to why it goes where it does, but still.
There's another one by Marvel. Origins, I believe the name is. It's basically Wolverine's whole backstory, or rather, how he found out he was a mutant and what kind of person he was before.
Fables is another great one, has that whole 'fractured fairytale' feel to it.
Emperor Joker was another good one, well, what I got to read of it anyway. Pretty nice if you're a DC fan.
I Am Legend is supposedly pretty good, only got to read a few pages, and what I read was good so...yeah.
There's another one by Marvel. Origins, I believe the name is. It's basically Wolverine's whole backstory, or rather, how he found out he was a mutant and what kind of person he was before.
Fables is another great one, has that whole 'fractured fairytale' feel to it.
Emperor Joker was another good one, well, what I got to read of it anyway. Pretty nice if you're a DC fan.
I Am Legend is supposedly pretty good, only got to read a few pages, and what I read was good so...yeah.
The League of Exrtaordinary Gentlemen is pretty good. As for manga, give Battle Royale, Death Note and Akira a try.
Thanks, Paleboy.
Looks like everyone here are recommending very gritty stuff. I'm really not an expert at that genre, but if you don't mind delving into manga, then you can always try out series like Berserk. HunterXHunter might look innocent enough, but will probably be to your liking as well.
Looks like everyone here are recommending very gritty stuff. I'm really not an expert at that genre, but if you don't mind delving into manga, then you can always try out series like Berserk. HunterXHunter might look innocent enough, but will probably be to your liking as well.
Well, since the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has been mentioned about seven thousand times, I think I am implored to read it.
Recently a book came out called "500 Essential Graphic Novels". Title pretty much says it all. In the mean time, I'll try to think of a few the others have missed.
Batman: Hush is great. The same guy who wrote The Long Halloween did it, which is appropriate seeing as how they're both perhaps the best Batman comics ever (don't make me choose).
Bone: the full volume black-n-white edition is already available, or you can wait for a few months when scholastic finishes releasing the full color volumes (the first 8 are already out, if you want to get started).
Somebody already mentioned Cerebus and Y: The Last Man, both excellent. Cerebus is a bit on the pricy side, though, and only full fledged comic stores will carry it (no Barnes-n-Noble or Borders that I know of carry it), whereas Y is cheap and abundant. My advice: buy the latter now, ask for the former for Christmas (that's what I did).
Anything by Allen Moore or Frank Miller is pretty much a given. Neil Gaiman too (Sandman, Mr. Punch, ect.)
As for manga, assuming you're secure in your masculinity, Love Hina's pretty good (actually, given the amount of fanservice in it, there's probably no risk of emasculation from reading it). Death Note's another classic, with Shojen Advanced as affordable as ever (a good 2-3 dollars cheaper than other manga publishers). For more light hearted fare, the works of Kiyohiko Azuma (Azumanga Daioh, Yotsuba&!) are a must.
And that about does it for now. I'll write back if I think of any more.
Batman: Hush is great. The same guy who wrote The Long Halloween did it, which is appropriate seeing as how they're both perhaps the best Batman comics ever (don't make me choose).
Bone: the full volume black-n-white edition is already available, or you can wait for a few months when scholastic finishes releasing the full color volumes (the first 8 are already out, if you want to get started).
Somebody already mentioned Cerebus and Y: The Last Man, both excellent. Cerebus is a bit on the pricy side, though, and only full fledged comic stores will carry it (no Barnes-n-Noble or Borders that I know of carry it), whereas Y is cheap and abundant. My advice: buy the latter now, ask for the former for Christmas (that's what I did).
Anything by Allen Moore or Frank Miller is pretty much a given. Neil Gaiman too (Sandman, Mr. Punch, ect.)
As for manga, assuming you're secure in your masculinity, Love Hina's pretty good (actually, given the amount of fanservice in it, there's probably no risk of emasculation from reading it). Death Note's another classic, with Shojen Advanced as affordable as ever (a good 2-3 dollars cheaper than other manga publishers). For more light hearted fare, the works of Kiyohiko Azuma (Azumanga Daioh, Yotsuba&!) are a must.
And that about does it for now. I'll write back if I think of any more.