So I decided to Get a new book, so trotted down to the book store, and because I saw a few of you discussing it on the Book club suggestion’s and cause I heard it was good from others, I bought the Watchmen, by Alan Moore, I’ve been putting it off for a wile now cause the last few Graphic novels I read were pretty bad, and kind of put me off the genre, but like I said before colour me stupid. So far its great, I’m not to far into it.
So for the Graphic novel challenged, (that would be me) I would like some other recommendations that I should have read years ago and yet haven’t
P.S. I wasn’t sure where to post this post exactly, cause it’s not really part of the book club thing. Sorry if I fracked up
Batman: Dark Victory [Spoiler] (birth of the first robin) [/Spoiler] Batman: The Long Halloween [Spoiler] (birth of Two-Face) [/Spoiler] Silver Surfer: Requiem (don’t think its out in trade-back yet but look for it when it is) Star Wars: Legacy (Only one trade-back but for those that love star wars this is one of the best series running)
My personal favorite right now is the Fables Series which has currently 9 Trade-backs and One Prequel Hardcover out.
I agree totally with Batman: Hush (that series got me back into batman for a while)
“Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” – by Frank Miller, the genius who wrote Dark City, the seminal gritty Daredevil stories of the 80s, and other cool stuff – is set in the future. It came first, and it set the tone for all those other Batman books, and it’s the best… nothing against the other ones. BUT, if you haven’t read it, you have a great opportunity to read all the other books first, then read Dark Knight Returns last. I’m curious how it would read in that light.
Enjoy! You have some great stuff to look forward to.
As far as the sequel Dark Knight grapic novel… You’re probably OK if you skip that one.
AND, oh, hey, here’s one that’s become pretty obscure and never gets its props: The flip side of Watchmen is the Miracleman saga, also by Alan Moore.
It was the beginning of Moore deconstructing/reconstructing the idea of superheroes. This one takes on the more fantastic, intergalactic notion of super beings. The Miracleman – also Marvelman, in the UK – family/mythos are essentially British um, er, adapatations of the Captain Marvel/Shazaam concept.
Why’s it obscure? Well, the early art is a little primitve, though the later issues are amazing. And it’s dark. Like, waaaay darker than Watchmen. On a number of levels, from interpersonal violence to bloodshed on a superhuman scale. The antagonist Kid Miracleman, he’s capital-E evil. I don’t know that comics ever got any darker.
The saga took years to unfold, for various reasons. At the end, if I recall correctly, artist John Totleben was going blind. Some days, he’d turn in classic comic art. Other days, he couldn’t see.
Neil Gaiman, creator of Sandman, did a run with the concept after Alan Moore wrapped up, but his issues were kind of blah. I don’t know how readily available the books are, but I know Moore’s 15 issues had been compiled into, I believe, three volumes.
AND, if you like exploration of archetypes, Matt Wagner’s Mage series (he’s completed two runs of a trilogy in the last 20 years or so) takes a lot of familiar heroes/hero types and transposes them on the King Arthur/Fisher King myth. Great stuff.
AND ALSO, once you’re into Wagner, his best original creation is Grendel, an epic meditation on aggression that unfolds over several story arcs. Kind of like Spawn.
Make sure you read all of the non-graphic parts of “Watchmen” too, Boomer. The first time I read it I skipped a lot of that and didn’t get the full depth of the story until I re-read it a couple of years ago. (Color ME stupid!)
I’m not as much into comics as I used to be in college, when I first read “Watchmen,” but this is a book that I find to be an absolute masterpiece (I know, way to go out on a limb on that one, right?). It’s as high minded, profound and moving as any novel by any major literary figure and really transcends both the sci-fi/superhero genre and the comics medium. I think you’ll be hard pressed to find its equal, though.
That said, other graphic novels that have stuck with me over the years are things like Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight Returns,” which, again, is one of those mid-to-late 80s, genre re-defining masterpieces (although not as transcendent as “Watchmen,” it comes awefully close). I also recommend Alex Ross’ “Marvels” and “Kingdom Come” (the latter is probably my favorite superhero book ever). A little further down the list is a book by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale, who most recently have been bringing us “Heroes” on TV. It’s a beautiful, understated little book and surprising gem (and it was the last superhero comic I ever bought).
You should also get your hands on Jeff Smith’s “Bone.” I only read the first couple of story archs and I’m dying to get the big omnibus collecting the entire book’s run, which makes an entire, large scale novel. It’s a really funny, whimsical and compelling book told in an ingratiating graphic style that mixes both heroic and cartoony images in a surprisingly cohesive whole. And it’s a lot of fun too! I also used to be a big fan of Dave Sim’s “Cerebus” series, which just ended its 30 year run. It was an attempt at chronicling a character’s entire life, from callous youth (the first, rather loose story arch, is a satire of Conan the Barbarian) to maturity and old age, culminating in the character’s death (this isn’t a spoiler. It was part of Sim’s original press materials as it indicated his intentions for the book). The best stories come in the early years of the run, particularly the second and third archs, called “High Society” (which explores politics as the main character gets roped into running for mayor of his city-state) and the massive, two-volume (and these are HUGE volumes) “Church and State” (which explores religion as the character becomes pope). After “Church and State” Sim started getting more serious in his stories and some of the fun of the first three novels is lost, so I stopped reading even though I had meant to follow him on his journey. One of these days, when I’m back on my financial feet and can waste a couple of hundred dollars on a nostalgic look back (okay, when I say “one of these days,” I mean 25 years from now or so, hopefully), I’ll pick up the entire series again and read it straight through.
All right, that’s enough from me. As you can see given that these are books from the late 80’s-early 90’s, I haven’t been paying attention to graphic novels too much lately. Some recent ones that I’ve been turned on to, but that I’ve only flipped through at book stores, are “Y: the Last Man” by Bryan K. Vaughan and “Blankets” (which is absolutely lovely) by Craig Thompson.
Agreed. For new takes on the superhero genre, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen top the list.
…but there is so much more in the graphic novel world to see.
Here are just some of my favorites:
(I know, a few are fantasy hardly any are sci-fi …but the thread is “Graphic Novel, must reads” and I must answer the call.)
Honestly, I could just go on and on…
and maybe I will later.
Just know that graphic novels can be just as interesting as the whole of the world.
Not just the tight-wearing power-mad genre ghetto that spawned them.
Brilliant, but obscure because it’s impossible to find–the title is tied up by competing copyright claims. (Tell me again how copyright encourages production.)
YES, The dark knight returns is pro, I mean you have Batman vs the mutant man (A peak physical speciman of a man with a mouth of a bottom feeder), Batman vs Two face, Superman Vs Russia (yeah), Batman vs the Joker and then the ultimate showdown with a really superb ending. Thrilling from start to finish its a real masterpiece and works great as a finale.
Dark Knight Returns would top my list too. As well as Watchmen. both just really top notch.
More recently is Powers. It’s kinda of Heroes meets Law and Order SVU. Really great characters and writing in that one. I think there are 11 so far. Start with “Who Killed Retro Girl” (the first one) and work your way forward.
Thanks for tipping me off the the fate of the intellectual-property-rights drama of the M. Man saga…I’ve had Miracleman on the brain all day now; Boomer, I’m glad you asked. I haven’t thought about the series/characters for years. Thank Zeus for the Wikipedia. Fascinatingly convoluted story, both the characters and the rights to them.
Caution: The Wiki entry’s full of spoilers. I now know that the books are hard to find, but if you have half a mind to check 'em out one day, don’t spoil yourself by reading this…
I don’t know if you have a favorite writer but I am a huge fan of Brian K. Vaughn. He’s written Y: The Last Man (a plague kills all the men on earth except for 1 man and his male monkey), Pride of Baghdad (about a pride of lions after the Baghdad zoo is bombed), and Runaways (Heroes-esque series about “special” runaways).
I also read the 100 Bullets series - it can get pretty graphic. Basically, if you have been wronged by the law, you get a visit from a guy that offers you an un-traceable gun, 100 bullets, and the information that the police were too lazy (or too corrupted) to dig up so that you can exact your own personal revenge.
If you interested in learning about comics and don’t mind a 'cast that goes on tangents (hmmm - where would I have heard anything like that? :D), check out Around Comics. It’s good but I will warn you - it’s 5 guys on Friday nights at a comic shop and it can get a little, shall we say, “fresh”? Too bad they don’t watch BSG - I think “frak” would be a good word for them to adopt!
Do we include Sandman in this discussion? I know it was written as a straight comic book…but it truly raised the bar as far as narrative, plot and story. Truly a beautiful creation.
This is written by Brain Micheal Bendis who also writes the long running Ultimate Spider-man that he has written from the get go. (up to 116 issues atm)
I wish I had bought Sandman before it started coming out in its super dooper ultimate collector’s edition thing that like 100 bucks for a fourth of the series. Mainly because I am a sucker for collector edition’s of anything so am thinking of purchasing them eventually.
By the way one comic I totally overlooked was Superman: Red Son (awesome what if four part comic series that told the story of what if Superman landed in Russia instead of in the U.S. and everyone else has different positions in the world) Great read.
Sandman and Maus, yes, toward or at the top of the list. To me, Sandman was always the crux of the argument about comic-art-as-literature. Is a well-scripted graphical novel in the same league as Tolkein? I don’t have a real answer. But they’re both great, and I’d hate to have to choose.
Did anyone else see Alan Moore and Spiegelman on the Simpsons this week? “Watchmen Babies” – oh yeah!!!
