recommend me some essential graphic novels to acquire

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.

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.

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.

Tomine is great but I fear he is becoming predictable.

I don't!

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

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.

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.

And one more Alan Moore not mentioned so far: Skizz

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

Or American Splendor by Harvey Pekar. Drawn by Crumb.

Sacco is brilliant.

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

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!

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.

Oh well, for the record, my favourite comics (available in handy book format - I was gonna get all pedantic about the TPB/GN thing):

* It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken - Seth
* Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron - Clowes
* The Poor Bastard - Joe Matt
* Uncanny X-men - Dark Phoenix Saga
* Quit Your Job - James Kochalka
* American Elf - James Kochalka
* Dark Knight Returns - Miller, Janson, Varley
* Lum: Uruseia Yatsura Perfect Collection - Rumiko Takahashi
* Summer of Love - Debbie Drechsler
* Star Wars: Dark Empire - Veitch, Kennedy
* The 3 X-Statix books collected so far.

If you want to read good, non-twee, non-artsy comics about relationships and everyday human intreaction, I'd suggest you grab anything by Claire Bretécher or Ralf König. The latter writes about gay men in Germany, but his themes are mostly universal.

Howard Cruse's "Stuck Rubber Baby" is one of the best American graphic novels of the recent years, it links the civil right struggles of black people in the early sixties to gay issues. Cruse's characterisation is deep and emphatic, and the whole book has sort of a "this really happened" feel, partly because it's based on his own experiences.

For a wonderful blend of cynical humour and women's issues, you should check out Roberta McGregory's "Naughty Bits/Bitchy Bitch". Another great comic dealing with feminist issues as well as everyday lesbian life is Alison Bechdel's "Dykes To Watch Out For.".

Will Eisner has also published several wonderful, deeply humanist graphic novels, most of which take place in the depression-era New York of thirties. My particular favourite is "Life Force".

Both really great, I agree.

"So what's for dinner?"

"Szechuan vegetarian PULP!"