Yeah, I busted a gut over that one. I’m sure someone is drawing that as we speak.
Some of my faves are:
Watchmen (previously mentioned)
Captain America Winter Soldier Volumes 1 & 2
Violent Messiahs
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD (old school Jim Steranko rocks)
FEAR Agent (there are several)
I got to read some of the older comic books my dad had as a kid. Which got me into comics; even though the amount of new stuff being made is relatively small. Compared to past times at least. Anyways, my favorite graphic novels… Well you have the clich`e but, still awesome stuff, like
Sin City,
The Watchmen, or
The Dark Knight.
But, my favorite would probably be The Crimson Empire. I doubt many will have read it, but if you have your amazing. I haven’t been able to find one person that has read it before me speaking of it. Mabey I like it because I am a Star Wars fan, or mabey because it was one of the first true graphic novels I had read. For me, it did to Star Wars what The Dark Knight did to Batman. It gave me a gritty new view on an old universe and made me think of it in different terms. Kinda, BSG esque now that I think about it.
I must say first and foremost, I did not read all of the posts in this thread so if I’m making suggestions that have already been made, forgive me. For one, I would suggest picking up all of the Sin City TPBs since they are all just about perfect in my opinion. Second, I want to say that I think the Marvel Civil War series’ were awesome.
I don’t know whether allegory to modern day events is something everybody here is into, but I loved the juxtaposition of Iron Man and Captain America’s characters. Mind you there is a TPB for just about every Marvel character that’s ever existed in even a minor way and some of them are not great, but I can recommend the ones I have read.
Civil War: Spiderman Unmasked
Peter Parker pretty much has a nervous breakdown in this book, and you have to read this one, just for the implications of what happens to the individual when personal freedoms are infringed upon.
(I don’t know whether this link is for the TPB or just a single issue. I would just go to your local comic shop and support the little guy by picking it up there)
http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Spider-Man-No-533-Civil/dp/B000HI855M/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196355604&sr=8-18
Fantastic Four Civil War
A pretty great little story about how the Civil War storyline affects the Fantastic Four.
http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Fantastic-Michael-Straczynski/dp/0785122273/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196355816&sr=1-1
Wolverine Civil War:
This one is just awesome Wolverine being the best at what he does.
http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Wolverine-Marc-Guggenheim/dp/0785119809/ref=pd_sim_b_img_4
There are other recommendations of things outside of the Civil War series I wanted to make, but now with the finding the Amazon links and such I’ve completed forgotten them. I’ll have to get back to y’all.
I just remembered it was Spider Man: Reign that I wanted to recommend along with the others.
I am reading a great book, just two issues in (so there is still plenty of time for newcomers), called “Proof,” published by Image Comics, written by Alex Grecian, art by Riley Rossmo. It’s a lot like “The X-Files,” with a government bureau investigating the paranormal – only one of the agents is a Bigfoot. It is funny, suspenseful, sometimes gross, and very entertaining, and I highly recommend it.
You can find out more at: http://www.herorealm.com/Reviews/proof_1.html
My personal favorites these days:
Y: The Last Man (about the last male survivor on Earth) and Ex-Machina (the life of Mitch Hundred, mayor of NYC and ex-superhero) by Brian K. Vaughn .Vaughn also wrote imho one of the best graphic novel this year The Pride of Baghdad, a true story about a bunch of lions who escaped the Baghdad Zoo a few years ago and were roaming free in the streets of the city for a few weeks, it’s a great metaphor on the price of freedom. And the art is just gorgeous
I also really enjoy (in no particular order):
[ul]
[li]Iron Fist, Daredevil and Captain America by Ed Brubaker (one of the best writer these days)[/li][li]Runaways and Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon[/li][/ul]
Wow.
The Pride of Baghdad seems right up my alley. Thanks for the info.
And as an example of how long it’s been since I frequented a comic shop on a regular basis, let me say this…
Ed Brubaker is writing?.. mainstream?..
His Lowlife was always on the stands in the indi section next to eightball.
He was one of those auto-bio cartoonists. …along with Dan Clowes, Seth, Joe Sacco, Chester Brown & the like.
He’s supposed to live in a studio apartment and eat beans cold from the can, smoke and draw comics through the night for practically no pay.
Mainstream.
Wow.
Another graphic novel that GWCers and Galactica fans might enjoy is “Grease Monkey” (http://www.greasemonkeybook.com/), a coming-of-age story set on a 22d century space station where talking apes run the “starfleet.” If you enjoy sci-fi action with a touch of humor and a lot of heart, check it out. I think the ostensible audience is teenagers, but adults can enjoy the book, too. Tor Books will be bringing out a softcover edition in the early spring – check out the December 2007 issue of PREVIEWS. Highly recommended – lots of fun!
I didn’t see it but I am sure someone would have mentioned it:
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Arkham Asylum
I also concur with Year One and Dark Knight Returns.
Oh, yeah, holy geez. Good call, Britton. Can’t believe no one (myself included) thought to mention Killing Joke. Alan Moore wrote that one pretty soon after Dark Knight and Watchmen. It’s great. His take on the Joker is one of the (many) reasons I looked at the first Batman movie in such a bad light. I hope the next Batman flick has the sense to crib liberally from it. Total must-have.
Another must-read is American Born Chinese. It was published in 2006 and won several major awards, including an Edgar this past summer; more importantly, though it is a fantastic book. It weaves together three seemingly disparate stories: a young American-born Chinese teenager who is struggling for acceptance at his school and in his society; the ancient Chinese legend of the Monkey King; and a sitcom starring a character who is (purposefully) the worst of every Asian stereotype rolled into one character (yellow skin, the long pigtail, the "r"s and "l"s difficulties, etc.). The way the three stories finally come together is, I think, simply amazing. There is also some Transformers geekiness for good measure – it’s actually key to the theme of the book.
The artist, Gene Yang, is apparently a rising star in graphic novels. Again, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Like Grease Monkey, (above) it is aimed at teens, but adults will appreciate it a lot, too.
An evidence that “mainstream” and “quality” can coexist on rare occasions? 
Thanks for the tip Lonely Toaster, I knew of his independant background but never tried it. I’ll definitely check out “Lowlife”. His run on “Captain America” is already considered a classic (the first 25 issues were just collected as an Omnibus edition and smaller TPB editions) and his brand new “Iron Fist” series is just brilliant.
Just thought I would throw a couple more out there.
Kingdom Come
Marvels
The Golden Age
Planet Hulk
Idenity Crisis
And one of my all time favs Kraven’s Last Hunt
This is still going and may not technically be a “graphic novel” but definitely check out Astonishing X-men by Joss Whedon and John Cassidy.It’s really good. If you like any of Joss Whedon work ( I don’t why you wouldn’t) it will be right up your alley.
“The Ballad of Halo Jones” by Alan Moore
You guys have already put up a bunch of my favorites, but I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Hellblazer yet. Mike Carey and Leonard Manco just finished up an amazing story arc in “Reasons to be Cheerful” and “Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go”. The story brings out a bunch of characters that we haven’t heard much out of in a while, so it might not be the best place to start if you’re new to the Constantine mythos. But if you’re already a fan who hasn’t been really keeping track for a while (as I was) I think you’ll find the end pretty satisfying.
While my last list consisted of some personal favs, this time I’ll try to focus on SciFi:
Akira
Motorcycles, drugs, psychic experiments, gangs of clowns, elderly children …tradegy-all in an amazingly detailed dystopia. Spawned a similarly great animated film.
Ronin and Hard Boiled
Pre-Sin City/300 Frank Miller graphic novels. Both worthy reads. Ronin is denser and moodier. Hard Boiled is drawn by the master of detail, Geof Darrow.
We3
House pets turned bio-engineered weapons, just trying to get home to their families. Robocop meets Lassie Come Home.
Tank Girl
Ass-kicking anarchic fun from one of the creators of the animated band Gorillaz. This one’s for you, Sean!
Moonshadow
Okay, I’m drifting into fantasy here, but most SciFi fans should still like this whimsical, beautifully painted coming of age story. (Hey, there ARE aliens in it… :D)
Stray Toasters
Okay, not really SciFi, more like an expressionistic serial-killer psycho-drama, but with a name like Stray Toasters, how could I resist? Fantastic art (and story) by the master Bill Sienkiewicz.
…and finally, though not graphic novels, I have to mention 2 of the best SciFi comics ever published. (both unfinished, and both amazingly hard to find because of their small runs)
-
Dalgoda
B/W A gentle, amusing and very human series staring a dog-like hero stuck in a human world. -
Starstruck
Originally a stage play. Expanded by Mike Kaluta and Elaine Lee into dense overlapping tales of adventure and intrigue. Ironic post-modern humor with a hint of feminist eroticism. (this link is to a “graphic novel” that works more as a part of the puzzle that is Starstruck, and less as a stand alone piece)
Yes I have to strongly agree and also recommend this book.
I thought with this thread we could all put out some recommendations for specific comics/graphic novels we would recommend. I used to be into comics at a young age, but I kind of got turned off them by these perfect heroes like superman. Recently, Galaxyranger, from the forum, has gotten me interested in them again, and wow, there is so much cool stuff out there that I missed out on. I am catching up though.
My recent readings I would recommend:
Batman—The long Halloween, Dark Victory, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One.
Ronin—a mix of history, scifi, and mythology with a heavy dose of Sixth Sense kind of plot twist.
The DareDevil Omnibus—a few weak spiderman crossover stories in this, but the Born Again story arc is incredibly awesome, and well worth the price.
I would love to hear what other people would recommend!