Not the manga stuff from japan either. Preferably no mainstream comic book characters, unless they're really good.
2006-08-31 12:29:42 · 10 answers · asked by Saint 3 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Comics & Animation
V For Vendetta
From Hell
Far West
Ascend
Any of the Sin City stories
Waterloo Sunset
Switchblade Honey
Atmospherics
Dark Blue
Any of the Transmetropolitan collections
Son of the Gun (4 volumes)
Bird (3 Volumes)
Living Dead London
That's a good start. Let me know when you've read all those, and I'll tell you some more.
2006-08-31 12:35:33 · answer #1 · answered by The Doctor 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can think of a few tremendously good graphic novels. Alan Moore's original "V for Vendetta" still stands out in my mind as excellent. The movie captured most of the feel, but there were parts that didn't appear in the film that made this an incredible novel.
There's been a lot of talk of "Watchmen", another Alan Moore book, being made into a movie. If you read it now, you can be ahead of the crowd in reading this excellent book. The writing is amazing. Most of Alan Moore's stuff is wonderful.
As for books with established characters, "The Killing Joke" is a great Batman book and if you haven't read "The Dark Night Returns" by Frank Miller you should.
2006-08-31 12:44:27 · answer #2 · answered by jsblakemore 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These are some classics and my personal favorites:
1) Sandman - Season of Mists, by Neil Gaiman: Lucifer gives up the key to Hell to the dreamlord, who finds it is more of a headache than he bargained for, especially since loki, chaos, azazel, and other immortals crave it...
2) Sandman - Dream Country, by Neil Gaiman: only because it has the excellent story, "A Dream of a Thousand Cats".
3) A Contract from God & other tenement stories, by Will Eisner: set in the poor Bronx tenements of the 1930s, this has very unique artwork and 4 stories which portray stories about immigrant life, puberty & sexual molestation, and other hard-life scenarios.
4) Sleepwalk, by Adrian Tomine: a nice short-story compilation of uncomfortable people situations! (also check out his other book, Summer Blonde)
5) Spider-man - kraven's last hunt, by JM DeMatteis & Mike Zeck: spider-man is hunted and buried by kraven the hunter, who then impersonates him while a monster roams the city sewers eating humans. Set in a rainy atmosphere, it's one of the darkest spider-man stories out there (and as some say, arguably the best).
And here are some other noteworthy books (all mainstream characters, but exceptional artwork & storyline):
1) Thor - Ballad of Beta Ray Bill, by Louise & Walt Simonson
2) Batman - Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller
3) Silver Surfer - a Parable, by Stan Lee and Moebius
4) Wolverine, by Frank Miller
I had trouble reading these, although fans seemed to like them:
Watchmen, by Alan Moore
V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore
2006-08-31 14:10:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller
Kingdom Come - Alex Ross
Sin City - Frank Miller
Uncle Sam - Steve Darnall & Alex Ross
Marvels - Kurt Busiek & Alex Ross
Black Widow - Devin Grayson
The Watchmen - Alan Moore
The Dark Knight Returns is Miller's legendary re-envisioning of Batman in the near future (of course it was written in the 80s)
Kingdom Come involves the entire pantheon of the DC universe, but it's outstanding beyond words.
2006-08-31 13:35:36 · answer #4 · answered by C-Man 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to the Chicago Tribune article I read today, there's going to be a very good graphic novel out next week based on the events of 9/11
2006-08-31 12:50:31 · answer #5 · answered by don h 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Crow
Watchmen
From Hell
V for Vendetta
Marvels
Kingdom Come
Batman: Red Rain
Death: The High Cost of Living
Angry Christ Comix
2006-08-31 14:17:48 · answer #6 · answered by Lurch 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anything by Alan Moore Like V for Vendetta, The Watchmen, From Hell.
My favorite is Constatine and A History of Violence (both made into good movies...But Constatine changes WAY to much shitt!!!)...Here's a list
The Complete Bone Adventures
reissued in color as Bone: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith
Bone: One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith
Cages by Dave McKean
Cerebus: Flight by Dave Sim and Gerhard
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction by Mike Mignola
Hellboy: The Wolves of St. August by Mike Mignola
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima
Louis Riel by Chester Brown
Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
Maus II a.k.a. Maus: A Survivor's Tale — And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
Sandman: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman and various artists
Sin City a.k.a. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller
Sin City: Family Values by Frank Miller
Sin City: That Yellow Bastard by Frank
Stray Bullets: Innocence of Nihilism by David Lapham
The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
20th Century Eightball by Daniel Clowes
Warts and All, by Drew Friedman
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons'
2006-08-31 12:57:34 · answer #7 · answered by Chris D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, everyone has really excellent suggestions, but I would also like to recommend the entire Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. The series weaves everything into a much larger story. It was published oer nine years, and by the end it is amazing how everything fits together.
2006-08-31 18:41:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In addition to those above (most of which I agree with):
Ghost World -- Daniel Clowes
Our Cancer Year -- Harvey Pekar & Joyce Brabner
From Hell -- Alan Moore
Berlin -- Jason Lutes
Persepolis -- Marjane Satrapi
Joe's Bar -- Jose Munoz & Carlos Sampayo
2006-08-31 14:24:10 · answer #9 · answered by someone 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In addition to all the other suggestions, I'd also recommend Hellblazer (there are several graphic novels from this series) and Preacher as well as Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing.
Fables is a good series, available in graphic novel format.
Marvel has a new series called Runaways that's available in 4-5 graphic novels. It's mainstream, but not a traditional superhero title.
We3 by Grant Morrison is a really good graphic novel, although it's intense and hard to read if you love animals. (http://www.amazon.com/We3-Grant-Morrison/dp/1401204953/sr=1-1/qid=1157265880/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7507413-9884962?ie=UTF8&s=books)
Planetary (http://www.amazon.com/Planetary-Vol-World-Other-Stories/dp/1563896486/sr=1-1/qid=1157265927/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7507413-9884962?ie=UTF8&s=books) is an intereating series that looks at various literary mythos from a different angle.
Mage (http://www.amazon.com/Mage-Hero-Discovered-Vol-1/dp/1582403880/ref=pd_sim_dbs_b_1/102-7507413-9884962?ie=UTF8) is a modern retelling of Arthurian legend with several other mythological characters thrown in as well.
Matt Wagner's Grendel series is awesome. the first GN is Grendel: Devil by the Deed (http://www.amazon.com/Grendel-Devil-Deed-Matt-Wagner/dp/0938965018/sr=1-48/qid=1157266248/ref=sr_1_48/102-7507413-9884962?ie=UTF8&s=books). It's followed by my favorite, Devil's Legacy (http://www.amazon.com/Grendel-Devils-Legacy-Matt-Wagner/dp/1569716625/sr=1-3/qid=1157266364/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-7507413-9884962?ie=UTF8&s=books), then the weaker The Devil Inside (http://www.amazon.com/Grendel-Devil-Inside-Graphic-Novels/dp/1569716048/sr=1-6/qid=1157266364/ref=sr_1_6/102-7507413-9884962?ie=UTF8&s=books) and God and the Devil.
2006-09-02 19:59:51 · answer #10 · answered by Rose D 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋