Recommend me graphic novels.

[15357]

you read Spiegelman's Maus? ..but it's decidely anti-fascist

how can you read that and not walk away with a better understanding of the suffering inflicted on man by government?

I walked away with a better understanding of the suffering inflicted on a man by a Nazist invading foreign goverment?

 

[DeusExMachina]

I walked away with a better understanding of the suffering inflicted on a man by a Nazist invading foreign goverment?

Good man.

 

[CptStern]

I walked away with a better understanding of the suffering inflicted on a man by a Nazist invading foreign goverment?

yes well you failed to apply that to a modern day context

 

[Sulkdodds]

Cheers, Greatgat.

Actually, a 'graphic novel' is a comic that only ever comes out in graphic novel format - sequential comics collected in large volumes are called trade paperbacks, silly. But assuming you meant those as well, I'll just write down everything I can think of that's good regardless of whether it's actually been mentioned or not.

This stuff is listed by authors because often, if the writer is good, then any comic with that name on has a high chance of being good. I've been buying/stealing/borrow/renting comics for a while now and I've rarely been disappointed by my philosophy of "ooh, grant morrison! GRAB!" This also means you might want to check out authors you like because chances are they had a run on some superhero comic (Alan Moore on Swamp Thing etc) and give that a look-see.

With all of these, be sure to find out which the first in the series is. Read 'em in order.

So:

Everything by Alan Moore ever including but not limited to:


League of Extroadinary Gentlemen
Hilarious adventures in an alternate steampunk victorian realm starring famous literary characters.
Tom Strong
Moore's homage to all things superhero-y, especially early 'science heroes' like Doc Savage. Parodies pretty much everything that's ever happened in superhero/adventure comics.
V For Vendetta
Mad, dark, flamboyant, literary twisty-turny tale of a lone terrorist fighting to bring down the oppressive government of fascist britain post global nuclear war.
From Hell
Jack The Ripper crazyhouse.
Watchmen
Possibly the best comic ever. Like, ever. Transcendant, philosophical, political, emotional drama in a world where superheroes are both real and realistic. Starring a full cast of burnt-out vigilantes.

Transmetropolitan (Warren Ellis)
Chronicalling the battles and exploits of Spider Jerusalem, infamous renegade gonzo journalist of the future, this spans five years of his life as he fights against the corruption and evil of two successive US presidents. My personal favourite comic ever.
Global Frequency (Warren Ellis)
Like International Rescue, but awesome - the Global Frequency comprises 1001 specialist operatives who are called in depending on the job, taking care of the world's "unexploded bombs" (rogue military cyborgs, ancient soviet secrets opening black holes in san francisco, an alien meme virus). A series of exciting/intelligent one-off vignettes.

The Invisibles (Grant Morrison)
Mind-boggling all-encompassing comic in which a cell of revolutionaries fight the conspiracy of reality itself. Voodoo, time travel, magic, human consciousness, lots of guns and multi-dimensional aliens.
WE3 (Grant Morrison)
The hort, one-volume tale of three cybernetically enhanced war animals that escape their laboratory in a bid for freedom. Like an extremely violent version of Homeward Bound, but very touching, sweet and sad.

Sandman (Neill Gaiman)
Having only read the first volume I can tell you this: it's a quirky comedy/drama/horror starring Dream, the anthropodomorphic personifcation of dreams/sleep/stories, whose sister is Death. It's weird and great and very funny and very horrible in turns. Don't expect biff, pow and lots of action.

100 Bullets
If someone gave you a gun with 100 bullets and told you they were untraceable, what would you do? Who would you kill? The sinister Agent Graves does just this, weaving together the varied plots of a huge cast of low-lifes, outcasts, tragic heroes and heroines until they begin to knit together into one vast conspiracy.
Johnny Double
Same author and same artist as 100 Bullets. Short series about an ageing detective and a band of junkie kids hunting the lost fortune of Al Capone.

Preacher (Garth Ennis)
Garth Ennis is so awesome Transmet features a church named after him. Preacher is the story of an insane priest bonded with an all-powerful demon hunting an out-of-control God.
Just a Pilgrim
The Pilgrim is a lonely figure, backpacking across the burning UV-scarred deserts of a dried-up Earth with only his shotgun and a bible for comfort. Strongly atheistic anti-religion post-apocalyptic action also featuring a pirate with two hook hands, two peglegs, and two eyepatches.

Hellboy (Mike Mignola)
Horror adventures recalling everything from Jack Kirby to old EC comics to Lovecraft. The titular Hellboy is a demon with a stone fist who was raised by humans in the fifties. The overall plot arc: mad monk Rasputin works with all manner of nazis to bring about the apocalypse using Hellboy. There are a load of random tales as well. The art style is striking and exceptional.
BPRD
Continuing after Hellboy ends (for now, at least) - BPRD stands for Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence, and it takes Hellboy's co-stars and makes them the primary characters, becoming a team comic.

Criminal Macabre (paranormal P.I. Basically, Film Noir with vampires and shit) and other such things by Ben Templesmith.

Maus
Very famous, and with good reason. These are the memoirs of a Polish jew and his journey through the horrible heart of the Holocaust, weaving it with the modern-day tale of the comic's creator's relationship with his father.

2000AD stuff: Judge Dredd, ABC Warriors, The Ballad of Halo Jones (which also involves Alan Moore at some juncture, if I'm not mistaken?), Rogue Trooper. Gritty, funny, dystopian sci-fi with a retro wonder about it. Dredd is the judge, jury and executioner in a mad future hive city; ABC warriors wage robotic war, Halo Jones takes its gutsy-vulnerable heroine from life in the slums through work on a cruise liner to service in the army in an offworld hell-hole, encompassing many, many years of her life. Rogue Trooper is this blue guy in a future war and it's pretty cool. His gun talks and stuff.

Old Dark Horse Aliens licensed comic miniseries: Aliens: Colonial Marines, Aliens: Rogue, Aliens: Stronghold and very much Aliens: Labyrinth (the only one that aspires to more than 'pretty cool').





Also, Manga is Japanese comics that are released in very tiny, tiny little books and read right-to-left instead of left-to-right (which is annoying ). Since it also refers to a distinctive style of art and, in most cases, a distinctive style of writing/plot/characterisation, it's arguable that something employing 'manga' tropes but produce in America and reading left-to-right is still manga.

On that front, I heartily recommend Akira.

 

[knut]

Aliens: Colonial Marines? Never heard of that one, but I love the marines in the Alien films and the like, and I love the graphic novels/comics/whatever, so I'll look out for that one.

I'm not sure what this would class as, a comic or a graphic novel, but The Walking Dead series is great also. Not so much about a bunch of survivors fighting a world full of zombies but more on them surviving and alot more about the characters and their lives now. Good reads.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Graphic novel is just a fancy name for comic.

And yes, Walking Dead is an excellent series.

 

[Jintor]

Neil Gaiman himself told a jounalist he did comics, only to be met with a yawn. And the guy asked what he did, just to be polite, and he mentioned some old stuff, and the he goes "I also did The Sandman..." and the guy suddenly goes "Wait a second! You don't write comics - you write graphic novels!"

True story. *nods*

(By the way, you need to read The Sandman.)