Great graphic novels?

[Yorick]

I'm looking for some great comic books, preferably sort of an enclosed universe. For instance, I don't want to read all 30,000 issues of X-Men.

I loved Sin City. I loved Watchmen. There are some Batman comics that I'm also nuts about. Samon just got me to start reading Ultimate Spider-Man, which is pretty fantastic. I'm around issue 50 and I'm loving it.

I'm not necessarily looking for something "super hero" based like that, but something great. I'm pride myself on being a writer, so don't give me something with terrible writing or I'll hate you.

So, what's great, and why?

 

[Sliver]

Wizard X-Men Masterpiece edition: found here. It's the 10 greatest X-men stories ever told, from the Uncanny X-men saga. (Just 10, and you don't need any amazing knowledge about the series to enjoy it.)

V for Vendetta is a must, but I imagine Samon already reccomended it. Marvel Civil War is excellent, and wasn't too bad to know enough about the universe to understand.

I also HIGHLY reccomend the Walking Dead. Wiki link here.

Hopefully this post was of some use..

 

[Yorick]

Wizard X-Men Masterpiece edition: found here. It's the 10 greatest X-men stories ever told, from the Uncanny X-men saga. (Just 10, and you don't need any amazing knowledge about the series to enjoy it.)

Oh cool, I'll definitely check that out. I've always liked X-Men but there was always so much to it that it was just so hard to get into. I mean, Wolverine himself has more than like 60 years worth of history.

V for Vendetta is a must, but I imagine Samon already reccomended it.

He actually didn't. I enjoyed the movie, and I know he said it's better than that is, so maybe I will check that one out.

Marvel Civil War is excellent, and wasn't too bad to know enough about the universe to understand.

Not sure about that one. How political/crossover is it?

I also HIGHLY reccomend the Walking Dead. Wiki link here.

I haven't heard of that one before, but I love zombies so I'll check it out.

*Starts compiling a list*

 

[Emporius]

Great story in this one, as you get farther along, you really begin to feel for the grumbling spunk. The author really wanted to portray his alienation in a world that just can't accept him for his grumbling ways. The darker side of humanity, the twisted views on life carried by Otis and Rae, lots of pro/antogonist duality, great stuff.

The art style is obviously fantastic, it seems to carry it's dystopian setting in brighter sense, contrasting the mainstream standard, and really helps to accent the emotions and situation confronted by the characters.


...



...



I got nothin' :|

 

[mastag]

Batman: Year One
Watchmen
V for Vendetta
Batman: The Killing Joke
Sandman
The Dark Knight Returns
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
From Hell
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

 

[Yorick]

Omg Emporius I lol'd hard. Excellent pitch.

Batman: Year One
V for Vendetta
Sandman
The Dark Knight Returns
From Hell

*adds to list*

...Isn't Sandman where John Constantine comes from? Are his worth reading?

Watchmen
Batman: The Killing Joke

Read 'em / Love 'em.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Garbage, hated it.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear

I'm iffy on that one because I kind of hate Daredevil.

Also don't anyone dare recommend Spawn.

Thanks for the recommendations so far, I'm compiling a big list.

 

[Ennui]

Akira.

Seriously. I know it's manga.

 

[Yorick]

Akira.

Seriously. I know it's manga.

Liked the movie, but it's definitely not what I'm looking for.

 

[Ennui]

The manga is way, way better (and I'm no otaku). It's six phonebook-sized volumes.

 

[Bad^Hat]

*swoops in through an open window*

By coincidence, I just started reading Akira. Enjoying it a lot so far, and I'm actually surprised at how much they changed in the movie. Most of the characters are the same, but the events are either switched around or completely different, and in a way that makes it much more interesting and a hell of a lot more coherent. I'd check it out before you completely dismiss it.

 

[Eejit]

Superman: Red Son (don't read too much of wiki page ofc, spoilers)

 

[Sliver]

OH, almost forgot one. Marvel Zombies, starting with Dead Days. It's just pure fun. At some point a couple heroes get infected with a virus of some sort, and just want to eat all the humans/other heroes. It's not just mindless eating and gore, either.

Just look at that!

Also, there's an Army Of Darkness tie-in at some point too. Holy shit!

 

[mchammer75040]

*swoops in through an open window*

What the hell, Get the fvck out of my house!
:O
Anyways I don't have much to offer except Spawn book of the dead, and of course sandman. What about the y:last man series? Its now in ( I think) 14 graphic novel books.

 

[Yorick]

*Adds Akira and Superman to the list*

OH, almost forgot one. Marvel Zombies, starting with Dead Days. It's just pure fun. At some point a couple heroes get infected with a virus of some sort, and just want to eat all the humans/other heroes. It's not just mindless eating and gore, either.

Just look at that!

Also, there's an Army Of Darkness tie-in at some point too. Holy shit!

I read the first one a couple years ago actually, it was great fun. *Adds to list*

Anyways I don't have much to offer except Spawn book of the dead,

I said "good writing". The Spawn books have great art and terrible writing. That one in particular could be different, but it's a rule based off of the different Spawn comics I read in my younger days.

What about the y:last man series? Its now in ( I think) 14 graphic novel books.

oh yeah that one's been mentioned to me when people ask where I got the name Yorick. I always meant to read it *Adds to list*

 

[mchammer75040]

I said "good writing". The Spawn books have great art and terrible writing. That one in particular could be different, but it's a rule based off of the different Spawn comics I read in my younger days. *

hah, well from what I remember it wasn't that bad. I'm sure its gotten really bad lately, but #30-80 or so was spawn's prime IMO. Then again its been so long...

oh yeah that one's been mentioned to me when people ask where I got the name Yorick. I always meant to read it *Adds to list*

And before I forget..I've been watching a lot of ghost in the shell, thinking about getting the graphic novels myself so maybe you could check those out too. God I love me some Gits.

 

[knut]

I second the recommendation on reading The Walking Dead. It's a great comic with some fantastic artwork to boot. <3 Adlard.

I just finished The Blot by Tom Neely which was utterly fantastic. No text, so that might be a little offputting, and it's quite short, but it's a wonderfully bleak tale portrayed excellently by it's illustrations. Probably one of the most emotional comics I've read, and I didn't even do much reading.

Loved it.

 

[lefty]

Hellboy, because it's amazing.

 

[knut]

Oh yeah, and Hellboy for sure. B.P.R.D is damn good, too, though it loses some of the charm when Mignola stopped doing the pencils/inks and just provided the writing. Love his illustrations.

 

[lefty]

Yeah I don't like it as much when he gets other guys to do the art, but the stories are still great.

 

[Kadayi]

My days of being into comics are long gone. However back in the day Mr X was pretty good (excellent Art work) which is available as 2 compilations:-

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-X-1-Mister/dp/1596878355/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231456575&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-X-2-Mister/dp/1596878320/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231456575&sr=1-4

You'll probably have to hunt around for that one tbh.

And the absolute quality Marshall law, uncompromising hunter of heroes and general badass:-

http://www.amazon.com/Marshal-Law-Loathing-Graphic-Novels/dp/1840234520/ref=pd_sim_b_1

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/147/GN0099-~Marshall-Law-3-Posters.jpg

 

[Sulkdodds]

Sorry about this list - it's just blank and I've taken no care to explain the stuff on it or whether the stuff has been recommended already. It's what I gave to someone else when they asked.

Watchmen
From Hell
Tom Strong
Transmetropolitan
The Exterminators
DMZ
Northwest Passage
Global Frequency
Aliens: Labyrinth
WE3
Tank Girl
Planetary
The Invisibles
The Filth
Phonogram
V For Vendetta
Cerebus The Aardvaark
Preacher
Sandman
Smoke
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
100 Bullets!
Just A Pilgrim
Safe Area Gorazde
Palestine
The Fixer
Maus
Top 10
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Black Hole
Persepolis

 

[Iron Kat]

Interesting how no one has mentioned The Umbrella Academy. Is this because people don't like Gerard Way?

 

[Sulkdodds]

Maybe it's because nobody's ever heard of the thing, but nobody likes Gerard Way either, so all the bases are covered.

 

[Reginald]

Sandman

This

and of course sandman.

This

Sandman

This

...Isn't Sandman where John Constantine comes from? Are his worth reading?

Nope, that would be Swamp Thing, although JC does appear in one of the issues early on in the series.
There is some Swamp Thing stuff worth reading and a lot of JC stuff worth reading. Swamp Thing is a bit convoluted and difficult to get hold of and JC has some crappy bits in.

There have been some excellent series recommended in here. One that hasn't been mentioned was Fables which I've just read the first volume of and thought was pretty cool. And ditto, no one has mentioned Batman: Hush which is freaking awesome although may be worth borrowing off someone because you spend about ?8 on it for about 30 pages.

 

[Polaris]

Watchmen
Para
Tank Girl
Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty
Golden City

 

[pomegranate]

Chris Ware has an amazing style, best known for Jimmy Corrigan

Maus is stunning.

Safe Area Goražde by Joe Sacco is a good read, he's better known for Palestine but I've not read it yet.

 

[Yorick]

Thanks guys! I might not be able to get on this for a bit but I'll definitely keep you posted. :thumbs:

 

[kupocake]

I can't go past a Graphic Novel thread and not trumpet Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Yes it's Manga (ooh, dirty word), but even amongst animanga fans it seems to be a barely regarded collection of awesome (it's not like animanga fans have taste anyway. Even though it's Hayao Miyazaki behind the pen). Disregard the movie if you've seen it. Like Akira The full thing was about a decade's more work and would have barely squeezed into a trilogy.

Beware the Tree-Hugging though.

edit: does anyone know, will they ever release a version of Akira that doesn't stand on its head? Also, why is it so expensive?

 

[Hot Soup]

There are lots and lots of awesome stuff out there. The obvious ones from me would be

The Authority

Planetary

Transmetropolitan

Global Freqeuncy

Ministry Of Space - Superb alternate history of the space race, with the British Empire still in full swing and dominating space using some less than savoury WW2 spoils.

Black Summer

Hellboy and B.P.R.D - I love Hellboy but I prefer the Bureau. 1946 is an especially good one.

Buffy season 8 - seriously good stuff.

Preacher

The Boys - I laugh so much reading this, thats probably not a good thing, Worth it if only for the Simon Pegg a like.

Batman - The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween, Hush, Dark Knight , Year One - required reading.

Watchmen

Amongst others, thats off the top of my head! Some other gooduns mentioned ^^^^^^ in other posts

 

[MJ12]

I am currently reading Fell and Black Summer, both which are very captivating and unique. Warren Ellis (the author of both) is an interesting writer, I hear his novel Crooked Little Vein is very good.
Warren mentions at the end of Fell that all the stories (in Fell) are somewhat based off of true occurrences. His experimentation with Fell was to have a full story in each issue, which is great because you get a lot of story for the same length of a regular comic issue. I would suggest at least getting the first issue.

My friend recently suggested Heavy Liquid by Paul Pope, I am really interested by the art and synopsis, so I will have to check that out as well.

I've always been inclined to read League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, however, I felt I would be missing a lot of meat since I have read very few (maybe only one) of the novels which the characters are based upon.


On the topic of GN's and comics... I may get my ass kicked for this, but I've really outgrown the appeal of Spawn. I loved Spawn as a child, but I am not going to blame the reason being juvenility because appealing to younger minds isn't necessarily bad.
I just feel he is one of those characters, one of those comics, that you think is bad ass when you are about 10 or 12, but once you grow up you see a lot of it is contrived and overdone. I don't hate him, he still holds childhood nostalgia for me, but he's not high up on my list.

 

[Darkside55]

Here, Yorick:

Spoiler

I may get my ass kicked for this, but I've really outgrown the appeal of Spawn. I loved Spawn as a child, but I am not going to blame the reason being juvenility because appealing to younger minds isn't necessarily bad.
I just feel he is one of those characters, one of those comics, that you think is bad ass when you are about 10 or 12, but once you grow up you see a lot of it is contrived and overdone. I don't hate him, he still holds childhood nostalgia for me, but he's not high up on my list.

Spawn...got really terrible. Just really terrible. I don't know where you stopped reading, but I hope it was before 100.

 

[Yorick]

Spawn was never really good.

And Darkside, that list is fricken gigantic. Thanks!

Samon still [strike]owns my balls[/strike] controls what I'm reading, but I'd love to get to some of this stuff soon. Now that I'm free from college work I should have more time!

 

[MJ12]

Spawn...got really terrible. Just really terrible. I don't know where you stopped reading, but I hope it was before 100.

I just read random issues when I was a kid sometimes.

My friend reads a ton of spawn. Mind you, this is the same guy who was to lazy to read the pure textual portions of Watchmen...

 

[Sulkdodds]

First thing on list: Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. An excellent choice.

THE FILTH is great.

 

[hot564231]

How can you not like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Yorick? How much did you read?

 

[Nomad]

Spiderman: The Other was really amazing. Then again, I only read Marvel/DC graphic novels.

 

[MJ12]

I've always enjoyed the art of Tank Girl, but I've never really read any of the comics/GN's, it just appeared way to obnoxious for me.


Edit: I had a feeling the artist was the same person who did the Gorillaz.

 

[Polaris]

That's right, it was created by Jamie Hewlett who designed the Gorillaz.

Some of the new issues were done by Ashley Wood, comic book artist who I absolutely adore, his Metal Gear Solid 2 graphic novel is far better than the game.

 

[Qhartb]

Sandman has very rightly been mentioned several times. Its spin-off Lucifer is also good.

 

[MJ12]

Just finished Heavy Liquid and I loved it. I will admit it does feel incomplete, but intentionally so.

I wasn't bothered by the ending so much as other people were.