recommend me some essential graphic novels to acquire

Oh, I'm not saying From Hell is bad at all. I just prefer Watchmen because I think Watchmen is more readable, and therefore more successful as a book. The fact that half of the From Hell trade consists of appendices, to me, doesn't really make it a super fun read. Very smart, did exactly what it set out to do, not something I'd ever read again.

the whole Alan Moore/Frank Miller/Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean/Grant Morrison branch.

Even though they've all done superhero comics, I think it would be a mistake to think of their work as a "branch."

See, what you call a "humanistic deconstruction of genre", I might call a "deep probe into a set of issues, oh which happen to be the ones that superhero comics have claimed ownership over". And you don't have to be a comics fan to be interested in those issues, or to appreciate Watchmen's take on them. Or the insane level of detail. There's another layer for comics fans, who recognize who Rorschach is a variation of, but that's not actually needed to enjoy the book.

I've said this before, but another reason why I'm not a "real" comics fan is that in my mind, Alex Ross is the classical music critic for the New Yorker and Warren Ellis is the violinist for the Dirty Three.

Even though they've all done superhero comics, I think it would be a mistake to think of their work as a "branch."

I didn't know what else to call it, Rock. It's all stuff that I glanced at after getting into the medium in college and was sort of turned off by the fact that it looked like comic books.

Racist!

I think Chris Ware and Dan Clowes have spent almost as much time deconstructing and playing with classic comic book forms and superheroes as Alan Moore has.

turned off by the fact that it looked like comic books.

I'm not sure where to go with that. Too many primary colors? A lot of the works you've read have been B&W.

Maybe as a percentage of work. But Alan Moore is ridiculously prolific sometimes publishing dozens of books a year, and Ware/Clowes, um, aren't.

(Yes, it's apples and oranges because Moore doesn't draw his own stories. So fucking what?)

i can't believe this thread has gone this long without anyone mentioning SCOTT PILGRIM which might be the best intro to comics ever. this dood scott has a new hot gf and needs to defeat her evil ex bf's for her love nintendo style and is in a punk band called sex bob-omb. they are on book 3 and its awesome. some other stuff i recently read and liked:

http://www.hillcity-comics.com/graphic_novels_2007/new_graphic_novel8330.jpg
WORMWOOD

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zyPd08SPL._AA240_.jpg
Batman: Snow

http://www.paneltopanel.net/ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/i1351/1101109-120x160.jpg
A Patch of Dreams

Pizzeria Kamikaze

http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GBQ7FXE0L._SS500_.jpg

Alan Moore/Frank Miller/Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean/Grant Morrison branch

the difference between these guys and the others you listed is that all of these dudes made their marks working for one of the Big Two (DC or Marvel) and within the context of their intellectual properties. Those other guys are, for the most part, all independent and coming more from the tradition of the underground comics started in the 60s. I can totally see a legitimate delineation between these two camps.

x-post

Just thinking out loud here, not necesarily on any topic... A lot more auteur-type books will be B&W because they're more publishable... i.e., they're not going to sell as many copies as big loud genre and superhero books, but that's okay because they'll break even or make money quicker. "correlation is not causation..."

I'm not sure where to go with that. Too many primary colors? A lot of the works you've read have been B&W.

Maybe, although Ware and Clowes both work in color, and I like their art a lot. (It's clean.) I think lettering has a lot to do with it, too.

ugh well don't get me started about those shitty B&W Marvel bound collections that they churn out. Absolutely horrible - that goes for the B&W reprint of Kirby's New Gods that DC kept in print forever too.

Eternals #1 (Still Only $75!)

Did Chester Brown ever publish a bound collection of his adaptations of the Gospels? I know he didn't finish all of them, but whatever he did finish?

Didn't Morrison get his start on 2000 AD? xxpost

I would actually highly recommend Flight (there are four volumes so far) to people trying to get into non-superhero comics. They're anthologies of stories from different artists loosely based around flight (very loosely), which gives a lot of different choices, the art is for the most part gorgeous, the stories are charming, and they aren't the "precious coming-of-age" tales that make me want to burn all of that crap. Same goes for Daisy Kutter -- just a fantastic story, and the author is a master of using space to both convey movement and mood. I can't recommend either highly enough.

Walking Dead loses a little steam when they first find the prison, but only wallows in soap opera territory briefly.

I welcomed the (short) change of pace at this point! And it didn't last too long, either, which was good.

I should also mention Vic & Blood, one of my most favourite one-off books in recent memory.

Also second Batman: The Long Hallowe'en (I was completely unfamiliar with Batman lore, hadn't even seen the movies, when I read this. It was awesome, and the "plot twist" that everyone ACTUALLY knows because they've read/seen enough Batman stuff to know? Was ACTUALLY a plot twist to me. I was thrilled!)

Loeb and Sale are like the anti-Moore/Gibbons. Not that either one is necessarily better than the other (I enjoy both quite a bit), but they have nice, big panels with plenty of breathing room, and concentrate on telling the story as opposed to trying to make some sort of big intellectual statement.

I agree that Jeff Loeb is the anti-Alan Moore, in as much as Moore is an excellent writer whose future work I look forward to reading.

Didn't Morrison get his start on 2000 AD? xxpost

similar to Moore getting his start at Warrior (I think?) - but that stuff was more of a springboard to working with DC in both cases. British comics are kind of persona non grata in the US.

Also, uh, Douglas's new book to thread.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/417is2I3IOL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

Did Chester Brown ever publish a bound collection of his adaptations of the Gospels? I know he didn't finish all of them, but whatever he did finish?

OH MY I certainly wish, but it hasn't happened. D&Q's been saying for like 4 years they're gonna put Ed the Happy Clown back in print. You'd think with the success of Louis Riel they'd be inspired to revive his older stuff.

I've never bothered with the Louis Riel thing... but I still have my original pressing of Ed the Happy Clown - unfortunately the one with the "revised" ending that deleted a bunch of stuff that appeared in the comics (luckily I have a few of those too).

I thought the only gospel he finished was the Gospel of Mark...? I really liked that - ANGRY JESUS!

I'm not sure where to go with that. Too many primary colors?

Most superhero comic art seems busy (as in "not clean"), loud, brash, and uh anatomically hyperarticulated, all of which are turnoffs for me (and I believe for jaymc).

Though it's not just superhero stuff -- I find, like, Peter Bagge nearly unreadable because his art is so busy and brash (in a somewhat different way than superhero stuff, sure).

Aw, I thing Peter Bagge's art is k-great and fun, but it keeps the man from reading it too.

!!! Bagge's art is great! Oh the many times I patiently copied Buddy Bradley's hideous mug

(I am also a sucker for any artist that uses "BARGE!" as a sound effect)

they reprinted all the ed the happy clowns earlier this year

I'm not saying Bagge's artwork is bad, I'm trying to describe why it prevents me from being able to read his comics.

(I am also a sucker for any artist that uses "BARGE!" as a sound effect)

hahaha, my faves are Matt Feazell's "BRUM" and "ERT" car sfx.

Matt Feazell!! Wow I haven't thought about him in a long time. I always loved his backup strips in Zot.

I love all the Matts. Matt Feazell, Matt Howarth, Matt Wagner, Joe Matt...

Didn't Morrison get his start on 2000 AD?

yes, he wrote "Zenith" for 2000AD, a completely brilliant conjuring into being of a non-existant British superhero mythos. "Zenith" is surely ripe for reprinting in one of those Marvel Essentials knock-offs that 2000AD have been doing lately.

Matt Feazell! I loved "Cynicalman"- 'another day, another .23'

Thx for the tip chaki! About a year ago I got tired of checking the D&Q website for non-lying updates on this.

THE MAN WHO COULDN'T STOP page is like my most favoritiest funniest thing.

dude they are awesome and have about 5 pages of commentary by Brown at the end that shed tons of light on the material and is a v v fun read

I know a special nine-issue treat I'm buying myself.

jaymc, if you think Alan Moore wouldn't be your cup of tea, try A Small Killing. If you think Frank Miller wouldn't be your cup of tea, try Batman: Year One or Give Me Liberty. Ditto ditto Neil Gaiman and/or Dave McKean, try Violent Cases (Gaiman/McKean) or Cages (McKean). If you're wary of Grant Morrison, definitely read WE3.

Why hasn't this thread mentioned Queen & Country?

why hasn't this thread mentioned The Salon, only the single greatest comic book of the year so far???

Yeah, Q&C is really good. I haven't ready any of Rucka's Q&C non-comics novels, though -- are they any good?

Mr Hardy, I am still not convinced by this boosting of "Give Me Liberty", but then I have not read it in years so what would I know.

is that the one illustrated by Dave Gibbons...? Gibbons is great but ugh Miller's pseudo-ironic political posturing stuff is always so annoying to me.

Rucka is the mother@!#$ing man when it comes to crime comics right now, with his only real competition in former collaborator Ed Brubaker. I buy anything I see with either name on it.

Q&C is mostly great, but there are a couple of arcs with art that I can't stand in 'em.

It's probably the weak link in that list, but if you don't go past the first series, it's pretty good. Come to think of it, as crosses of Tony Scott movies and Roadrunner cartoons go, Elektra: Assassin is better. (xpost to DV)

Dude, we need to find out if Amsterdam has any good comic shops.

Elektra: Assassin is funny. But again, would be relatively lame without the fantastic artwork. Man, whatever happened to Sienkewicz?