recommend me some essential graphic novels to acquire

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (549 of them)

like a velvet glove cast in iron is fucking brilliant, my favorite clowes by a mile.

for non-indie stuff, Sandman seconded, I devoured the whole series in a three month jag, probably read it too quickly. There are lulls in it but on the whole it's staggering. I'm not big on Gaiman when he gets too twee or clever but he's in check most of the time in the series. The early Hellblazer stories are pretty good but it lost focus and became uninteresting to me quickly. I hate, hate, hate Preacher. The Invisibles was pretty good but I never got the desire to finish it after a point. You can't go wrong with Watchmen (most Moore stuff is pretty good, even the recent things; Top 10 was cool, Tomorrow Stories was fun; Promethea was great up to the point where it didn't seem like a story was ever really going to happen, it seems like it was just an extended character sketch), and From Hell is brilliant. the Moore Swamp Thing stories are collected now and are really good too.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

is it still possible to find the Madman collections for reasonable prices? (or maybe they never appreciated and i will never be able to find them because no one remembers them and they're probably not as good as i thought they were when i was 12).

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I think all Madman collections (& other Mike Allred stuff) is available via Oni Press. Check under "Graphic Novels".

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Kamui more concise? Surely it's a contender for longest comic series EVER?

omg youre right! i thouhgt this was all the kamui there was.

― :|, Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

From Hell
Promethea
The Invisibles
New Xmen (with Grant Morrison)
Adventures of Luther Awkright
Moebius (check ebay for numbered series)

(yay magick comix)

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

There've been a lot of great suggestions here already, esp. Jimmy Corrigan and Maus. All I really wanted to say is that it kinda irks me when people refer to collections reprinted from the serial comics as "graphic novels" when they're actually collections (even if they do contain a story arc). I still tend to look at graphic novels as something that debuted complete, like Kyle Baker's Why I Hate Saturn, instead of something like the Hellblazer, which was originally designed to fit into a serialized format with ads between the pages and shit.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

both Jimmy Corrigan and Maus were serialized.
you should realize the term "graphic novel" was just invented cuz some folks have guilt over reading something called "comics."
we should get over that.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

(That's a small irk I guess, because it means that Los Bros' books wouldn't be graphic novels because they were pulled out of serialized versions...and they come together quite well in the end. And I guess that would mean that many traditional novelists wouldn't qualify either, since some pretty famous novels were actually serialized too. So like I said, minor quibble.)

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm trying to think of actual graphic novels I have vs. trade paperbacks, and all I can come up with is Watchmen, From Hell, and Arkham Asylum, maybe a couple more.

Still, some arcs or mini-series are clearly meant to be of a piece, and just happen to be released in issues first (like the first Kabuki collection?). There's also the phenomenon of "writing for the trade", the same as filming for the dvd I guess.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I took an illustration class from some clown who said that we should aim for illustrating graphic novels, not comics. Wadda tool.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

My favorites:

The Diary of a Teenage Girl - Phoebe Gloeckner
Epileptic - David B.
Summer Blonde - Adrian Tomine
I Never Liked You - Chester Brown

I understand the Blankets backlash but I think that there is something rich being uncovered throughout the story in the religious overtones. Like jaymc says, there's a lot that you don't catch visually the first time through that adds a very sophisticated counter-element to the plot. That said, I totally understand why someone would not want to read about sad teenage boy nostalgia.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

As long as we can avoid whipping out nonsense terms like "graphically sequential narrative", I don't care if you do or do not distinguish between "collections" and "graphic novels" and "flip books" and "Highlights".

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

gygax OTM...

I didn't like Tomine untill recently when I gave him another chance w/ Summer Blonde and loved it. A few weeks ago I was at a party of like 8 people, me and 3 others in the living room, then 4 people in the hallway who left after an hour. I was like hey who was that? And my friend was like, that was Adrian Tomine, and I was like WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU INTRODUCE ME!!!!

Phoebe Gloeckner's work is amazing.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Gah, I've been meaning to read that Chester Brown one for the past five years.

Tomine is great but I fear he is becoming predictable.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Herobear and the Kid -- Mike Kunkle -- is absorbingly fantastic.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Is Summer Blonde a collection of Optic Nerve??

― kephm, Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, kephm.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

That said, I totally understand why someone would not want to read about sad teenage boy nostalgia.

I don't!

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Is Summer Blonde a collection of Optic Nerve??

It's issues #5-8 of Optic Nerve (I think). But it's where he really hits his stride.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

The Kindly Ones was my favourite Sandman, it just has more of a story than most of the others and the artwork is excellent.

I thought the original Aliens V Predator story was a good book too, the one set in the futuristic farming ranch, again delicous artwork.

Arkham Asylum was okay with some great character designs but I felt it weakened towards the end.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 8 October 2004 07:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Summer Blonde = definitely classic.

― caitlin (caitlin), Friday, 8 October 2004 10:48 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Authority" is a great series - from some Glasgow artist, the guy who runs my local comic shop recommended it.

― ___ (___), Friday, 8 October 2004 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the original Aliens V Predator story was a good book too, the one set in the futuristic farming ranch, again delicous artwork.

Is that the one where the Japanese woman joins the Predator tribe? If so, god, I read that as a kid and I've been looking for it for ages. It's got to be out of print.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 8 October 2004 11:34 (twenty-one years ago)

The Kindly Ones has the most consistently good art of any Sandman collection, but the storyline's just too meandering and disjointed. I generally preffered the short stories to the big arcs in Sandman.

― Wooden (Wooden), Friday, 8 October 2004 12:21 (twenty-one years ago)

SACCO

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 8 October 2004 12:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd second the reccommendation of 'R Crumb draws the blues'

And one more Alan Moore not mentioned so far: Skizz

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Hardly essential, in fairness.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd go for Halo Jones or DR and Quinch over Skizz any day.

― Wooden (Wooden), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Has Halo Jones ever been given a decent reprint?

(maybe you couldn't make it look more better)

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1840233427/104-7682722-2303905?v=glance

― Wooden (Wooden), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually on the Madman tip: Oni only has the first two volumes, Dark Horse put out at least 4 other (completely) different ones. Sequentially, Oni should be read first, then the DH trades. And no, none of them are really reasonably priced, unfortunately. (~$20 a pop)

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh and "Jimbo in Purgatory" is fucking bananas man.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

In a good way? I've seen a lot of Jimbo before, and it's pretty much the nadir of comics as far as I'm concerned.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

no-one has recommended Miracleman yet which might be just as well since it's OOP; the first and second collections are amazing, it got worse after that though and by the time Gaiman took over it was phhhttt. But if you ever see the first two, they're definitely worth a read.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

oh andrew! Gary Panter is a genius, his comics are punk incarnate.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

No way. Punk = pop, these are not pop. More like Alex Empire's "give instruments to some kids who've never played anything before, and record the results"

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

We won't bother convincing you then. Your equations and examples are, well... I don't use the "t" word.
Anyway, "Purgatory" is a structural triumph, a work of (real) magic. Don't bother with it if you don't like dense mandalas of allusion.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Nobody's mentioned Love And Rockets. Gilbert Hernandez.

Or American Splendor by Harvey Pekar. Drawn by Crumb.

Sacco is brilliant.

― Stew S (stew s), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

if you think Panter can't draw....man, go look at Jimbo's Adventures in Paradise, the first Jimbo collection from the early 80s. He digested all forms of art, processed them, spit them up in a fury. He's been called "arguably the most influential graphic artist of the 80s", everything he does is skewed take on POP. Pop culture, pop art, low culture, low art. This is the guy who designed Pee-wee's Playhouse, how pop can you be?

Love and Rockets received numerous props upthread. I've been reading it since issue 18.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Oops missed that one. But it's good innit?

― Stew S (stew s), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I live, eat, breathe, sleep and love the work of Gilbert Hernandez, who's losing me a bit with the various threads of the Luba in America/Venus stories, but thing everything up and including New Love is beyond brilliant, especially the weird sci-fi/underground/jim woodring-esque stuff he did at the end of L+R and in New Love.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I've just read the stuff that was in the McSweeney's comics issue. So where should I go from there?

― Stewart Smith (stew s), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

you mean Gilbert or Panter?

Gilbert Hernandez is a nightmare, he's been working on a soap opera of a story involving the same characters since 1982/83. I'd say, just go out and buy the Palomar book, then the Poison River collection, which is not contained in the book frustratingly, because it contains essential flashback/back-story about Luba. Read that last.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560975393/qid=1097273528/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-9932494-7466215?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560971517/qid=1097273558/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-9932494-7466215?v=glance&s=books

Hey! my amazon review is up there!

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks for the recs, Dan.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm more than williing to believe that Gary Panter can draw, but doesn't. I think it was the first issue of Jimbo from Bongo imprint Zongo that I read, and it was just without merit. It didn't have anything I recognise from your descriptions.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 9 October 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

if I could, I'd scan pages out of Jimbo's Adventures in Paradise for you. The small (read: normal-sized) comic series wasn't nearly as interesting as some of his larger work.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 9 October 2004 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Has anyone read Charles Burns' "Black Hole"? Would anyone recommend it? I love his illustration style and have seen a couple of his pieces in museums, but haven't actually tried to hunt down and read this series...

― robots in love (robotsinlove), Saturday, 9 October 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm a big Panter fan - I think he's a brilliant cartoonist. Also Mark Marek's Hercules Among The North Americans and Mark Beyer's Agony, while we're in that kind of territory.

Burns's art is beautiful, but his stories don't amount to all that much, for me. I've not read Black Hole.

GNs/albums/TPBs I've been spending money on lately: various Bendis things (I'm enjoying the Daredevil ones especially) and Phoenix (my single highest GN recommendation) and Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 10 October 2004 09:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Black Hole has advanced very, very slowly. If it's collected it may well be worth reading, but it's been difficult as individual issues.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Sunday, 10 October 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't believe I forgot to mention Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen which is the story of a 6-year-old boy's survival of the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima, written in 1972.

― gygax! (gygax!), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 449 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.