View Full Version : Graphic Novel Recommendations
zeroquest
03-20-2009, 04:10 AM
From someone that used to be very much into comic books in the early 90's. (I still have quite the stash up in my closet) I'm extremely interested in venturing back into the scene and am unsure where to start. I visited my locked B&N and was a bit overwhelmed (expectantly so). If someone could recommend a few varied (Multiple genre) books to help me get my feet back into the pool and establish what I'd like to follow, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks guys!
PS. Feel free to use this on the show if you'd like. (wishful thinking?) ;)
stubadub
03-20-2009, 04:53 AM
Welcome to the boards. :)
This came up in another thread within the last few days. Here's the link to the latest discussion on this topic.
http://revision3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26960
vegan
03-20-2009, 05:14 PM
For the record, I think a "graphic novel" is a long-form trade that never came out in periodical form. There aren't many of those. Anything else is "comic books" (which is not, by any means, a derogatory term). :p "Graphic novel" is an overly-used term used by people who are trying to sound classy when there's really nothing to be ashamed of.
zeroquest
03-21-2009, 06:43 AM
Tell that to B&N. ;)
poltah
03-21-2009, 05:24 PM
I really dislike the term "graphic novel". It's a comic. You don't call movies "visual novels" or "cinematic novels".
film, feature, cinematic, motion picture, flick, moving picture, talkin picture, silver screen, dvd, video
graphic novel is in all ways correct imo. I can't speak about comics that are collected and released as a trade tho, I have no opinion on that.
some random gn's i've enjoyed (Even if they were released periodically. Get over the semantics) :
blankets
maus
understanding comics
killing joke
league of extraordinary gentlemen
y the last man (completed and a great read)
fables and invincible (ongoing but awesome books that you can start collecting the trades from)
etc
stubadub
03-21-2009, 10:09 PM
I really dislike the term "graphic novel". It's a comic. You don't call movies "visual novels" or "cinematic novels".
The word novel is often associated with artistic merit, so applying the name graphic novel to a comic is an attempt to influence someone's perception of it. Comics still struggle to be perceived as something adult with a large percentage of the population. I don't think that the term graphic novel ultimately changes that, but I don't have any problem with that name.
I also agree that most things in life go by several names. I say I'm going to the movies, my grandmother says she's going to the picture. I'm drinking a soft drink, my friend drinks sodas. I prefer using one to another, but that doesn't make those other names less appropriate.
7h0m45
03-21-2009, 10:43 PM
For the record, I think a "graphic novel" is a long-form trade that never came out in periodical form.
i agree 100% but for the sake of the thread my list will consist of anything in hc or tpb.
Bone
Mouse Guard
Sin City(Hard Goodbye, Dame to Kill For, Big Fat Kill, That Yellow Bastard, and the rest but those are the main stories)
Dark Knight Returns
Batman: Year One
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: Hush
New Frontier
Kingdom Come
Daredevil Yellow
Spider-Man Blue
Walking Dead
Invincible
Fables
Criminal
Ex Machina
Y the Last Man
Pride of Baghdad
All-Star Superman
Umbrella Academy
Transmetropolitan
Punisher MAX
Gotham Central
Ultimate Spider-Man
Powers
thats all i can think of off the top of my head.
dh_jin
03-22-2009, 01:01 AM
i think a lot of comics listed are comics.
now my favourate graphic novel of ALL time is The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, seriously the best i've ever read, life changing. and the theres a follow-up comic lucifer which is nice. also theres a few other ones in the same universe, Death: The high cost of living is apparently good but i've never found it anywhere coz it's quite old and not many places have it.
stubadub
03-22-2009, 07:36 AM
i think a lot of comics listed are comics.
now my favourate graphic novel of ALL time is The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, seriously the best i've ever read, life changing. and the theres a follow-up comic lucifer which is nice. also theres a few other ones in the same universe, Death: The high cost of living is apparently good but i've never found it anywhere coz it's quite old and not many places have it.
THANK GOD! I've been looking for someone else that has read Lucifer, which is easily my favorite series ever. I wouldn't call it a follow up to Sandman exactly, but it does run with the character of Lucifer that appears a couple of times in the Sandman books. Sandman is in my top five, but I don't think there's ever been better work with a single character than the Lucifer series. Have you read the whole thing? Freaking incredible.
Death: The High Cost of Living is excellent. I'm kind of shocked that you can't find it. It's available here in both our big comic stores and I find it on the shelf all the time at Barnes and Noble and Borders. Do yourself a favor and go ahead and order it from Amazon. It's written by Gaiman and is up to the Sandman standard.