Graphic Novels?

[Dodie]

Recently, I have been really interested in graphic novels. I have read about 4 or 5 of The Walking Dead series a while back. i went to a book store a couple days ago and bought the first books from the Alex + Ada series and the Outcast series, and they're great so far. I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions that i should look out for, for the next time i go to the book store.

[Arty]

Persepolis is a good one! It's about the author's life during, and after the Islamic revolution. There's two novels and a movie that I highly recommend.

[Bondi]

Some comics and graphic novels that I really like, though some of them might be more expensive than others:

Watchmen

V for Vendetta

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run

Sin City (numerous graphic novels, but each one is a self-contained story and you can buy everything Sin City in the omnibus Big Damn Sin City)

The Life and Times of Martha Washington

Ronin

Batman Year One

The Dark Night Returns

Hard Boiled

Really, I'm willing to buy anything from Frank Miller. I haven't read his Daredevil run yet but I want to even if I've never read a Daredevil comic before.

The Peter David run of the Incredible Hulk, and Hulk Pardoned, Regression, and Crossroads are really good too, as well as Planet Hulk

The Chris Claremont run of Uncanny X-Men

Preacher

Sandman

I like the Aliens and Predator comics from Dark Horse, though some of the stories are better than others

[NoV]

Watchmen

Bondi beat me to it, but you MUST read this if you haven't already. It is essentially the War and Peace of graphic novels - don't let the lackluster movie put you off, nor the somewhat retro artistic style. In my opinion it is one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever created in any medium!

[Dodie]

Watchmen

Bondi beat me to it, but you MUST read this if you haven't already. It is essentially the War and Peace of graphic novels - don't let the lackluster movie put you off, nor the somewhat retro artistic style. In my opinion it is one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever created in any medium!

Some comics and graphic novels that I really like, though some of them might be more expensive than others:

Watchmen

V for Vendetta

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run

Sin City (numerous graphic novels, but each one is a self-contained story and you can buy everything Sin City in the omnibus Big Damn Sin City)

The Life and Times of Martha Washington

Ronin

Batman Year One

The Dark Night Returns

Hard Boiled

Really, I'm willing to buy anything from Frank Miller. I haven't read his Daredevil run yet but I want to even if I've never read a Daredevil comic before.

The Peter David run of the Incredible Hulk, and Hulk Pardoned, Regression, and Crossroads are really good too, as well as Planet Hulk

The Chris Claremont run of Uncanny X-Men

Preacher

Sandman

I like the Aliens and Predator comics from Dark Horse, though some of the stories are better than others

I liked the Watchmen Movir, so I'm sure I'd love the comics even more. I saw it in the store I went to but it was the last copy and someone already was buying it. I might just try to get it online. But thank you!!

[Bondi]

You can get Watchmen in paperback for $12 on Amazon.com

[meepsy]

Oh dang but do I love me some graphic novels! As far as recommendations go -- it really kind of pertains to your interests, but I'll give you the ones particularly enjoyed:

As far as classics go -- Watchmen for sure, and I'll second V for Vendetta too for dystopian society value. Alan Moore is ofen lauded as a godly giant in the realm of comics, but his writing doesn't always jive with my particular tastes. But that being said, From Hell is also AMAZING in a very unsettling way and his true masterpiece imho. In the realm of Batman comics, I'd second Year One, and add on The Long Halloween, which is my fave and does a nice job of highlighting the beloved rouges gallery. Neil Gaiman's Sandman is another important series I'd highly recommend, although I haven't made my way past the first few trades myself, though not for lack of wanting to.

Warren Ellis is another big name -- Transmetropolitan is a gritty crazy ride all the way through and Spider Jerusalem is one of the most memorable characters I've ever encountered. Another more stand-alone type classic i'd recommend is Grant Morrison's We3 (though it does manage to hit some feels pretty darn hard -- tread lightly!)

Some other bigger name comics I enjoyed for their own particular charms are Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth, John Layman's Chew, and Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim. Although I don't really care for Brian K. Vaughan's writing, he does some interesting stuff in his current series, Saga, and Fiona Staples' art is just lovely, so worth the read in my book. Fables is good if you enjoy Once Upon a Time/fairy tails converging type stuff, but I found the writing juuuust a bit too twee for my personal tastes.

By far, my favorite print comic of all time is Jeff Smith's Bone. It made me fall head-over-heels in love with the genre, and I haven't looked back since

[Icarus Rex]

I'm mainly here to add my votes for Persepolis and Watchmen. I'd definitely, definitely recommend those two to anyone, even people who aren't particularly interested in comics. Ditto for Art Spiegelman's Maus.

I've only read one of his short comics, featured in the Flight series, but I'm really interested in Sonny Liew's Malinky Robot, as well. Dig those grungy, composite-cityscapes and slow-paced adventures.

Also, this is kind of a departure from graphic novels, buuuut Shaun Tan is probably my favorite visual artist of all time. His picture books kind of exist in a space between graphic novel and kids' books, but they explore very complex themes in a simple, emotional, beautifully-illustrated way. The Rabbits (an allegory about [Australian] colonialism, from the perspective of the colonized), The Lost Thing (a cute, nonsensical story-turned-social commentary), and, especially, The Red Tree (an atmospheric depiction of the cycle of loneliness/depression and hope) are my favorites. Again, I realize this is a little out of the realm of graphic novels, but I had to shoehorn my fave in here.


Also, a few that I haven't read, but am dying to check out:

Black Hole by Charles Burns
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Epileptic by David B.
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
Lumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Noelle Stevenson

[Dodie]

Oh dang but do I love me some graphic novels! As far as recommendations go -- it really kind of pertains to your interests, but I'll give you the ones particularly enjoyed:

As far as classics go -- Watchmen for sure, and I'll second V for Vendetta too for dystopian society value. Alan Moore is ofen lauded as a godly giant in the realm of comics, but his writing doesn't always jive with my particular tastes. But that being said, From Hell is also AMAZING in a very unsettling way and his true masterpiece imho. In the realm of Batman comics, I'd second Year One, and add on The Long Halloween, which is my fave and does a nice job of highlighting the beloved rouges gallery. Neil Gaiman's Sandman is another important series I'd highly recommend, although I haven't made my way past the first few trades myself, though not for lack of wanting to.

Warren Ellis is another big name -- Transmetropolitan is a gritty crazy ride all the way through and Spider Jerusalem is one of the most memorable characters I've ever encountered. Another more stand-alone type classic i'd recommend is Grant Morrison's We3 (though it does manage to hit some feels pretty darn hard -- tread lightly!)

Some other bigger name comics I enjoyed for their own particular charms are Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth, John Layman's Chew, and Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim. Although I don't really care for Brian K. Vaughan's writing, he does some interesting stuff in his current series, Saga, and Fiona Staples' art is just lovely, so worth the read in my book. Fables is good if you enjoy Once Upon a Time/fairy tails converging type stuff, but I found the writing juuuust a bit too twee for my personal tastes.

By far, my favorite print comic of all time is Jeff Smith's Bone. It made me fall head-over-heels in love with the genre, and I haven't looked back since

I'm mainly here to add my votes for Persepolis and Watchmen. I'd definitely, definitely recommend those two to anyone, even people who aren't particularly interested in comics. Ditto for Art Spiegelman's Maus.
I've only read one of his short comics, featured in the Flight series, but I'm really interested in Sonny Liew's Malinky Robot, as well. Dig those grungy, composite-cityscapes and slow-paced adventures.
Also, this is kind of a departure from graphic novels, buuuut Shaun Tan is probably my favorite visual artist of all time. His picture books kind of exist in a space between graphic novel and kids' books, but they explore very complex themes in a simple, emotional, beautifully-illustrated way. The Rabbits (an allegory about [Australian] colonialism, from the perspective of the colonized), The Lost Thing (a cute, nonsensical story-turned-social commentary), and, especially, The Red Tree (an atmospheric depiction of the cycle of loneliness/depression and hope) are my favorites. Again, I realize this is a little out of the realm of graphic novels, but I had to shoehorn my fave in here.
Also, a few that I haven't read, but am dying to check out:Black Hole by Charles BurnsFun Home by Alison BechdelEpileptic by David B.Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick RobertsonLumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Noelle Stevenson

Seems like Watchmen is pretty popular, so I'm probably going to look into that one. And also We3, I'm a huge fan of anything that "hits you in the feels" haha so that's right up my alley. Thank you for your suggestions! I appreciate it, and I'm still open to more!

[LeapYearKisses]

Definitely going to recommend Sandman, and I also very much enjoyed Fun Home.

[Pilgrim]

Something I'd like to add about Watchmen: It is a monumental feat of storytelling and artwork BUT it is worth mentioning that all of the characters are deeply flawed, abrasive, and difficult to relate to. It's an extremely important story as it set the tone for superhero comics going forward since then and was extremely experimental, but it's also not everyone's thing.

Preacher is fantastic, but if you have strong opinions about how great christianity is you might want to skip it. The main character is a preacher who has been imbued with divine power through the child of an angel and a demon, and the story is about his quest to locate God and force him to answer for why the world is so terrible. It only gets more sacrilegious from there. However if that sounds awesome to you (which it is) definitely pick it up.

Sandman is one of the best graphic novel series ever made, though Neil Gaiman himself says it does not actually start until issue #8 at the end of volume 1, so be prepared for a rocky start (I thought the first issues were fine, but they are much more "superhero-y" than the rest of the series).

If you're looking for some other single graphic novels that are superhero-y, my favorite ever is Kingdom Come, which is about an alternate future where Superman retires, the world goes to hell, and then he and the remaining Justice League attempt to fix things. It's all from the perspective of an ordinary guy caught up in the whole mess, which is a refreshing and engaging twist on the standard superhero stories that all come from the point of view of nigh-indestructible demigods and are generally less relatable.

Also the art looks like this.

And while I don't know too much about it since I only read the first volume (which was good btw, I just wasn't crazy hooked), I know a lot of people who enjoyed Walking Dead also really liked "Y the Last Man." Which is about the last man remaining on earth after all men mysteriously die.

Let us know what you end up reading/liking! I'm interested to see what you end up with.

[Bondi]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Kickass in my recommendations list. There are 4 volumes of it. If you like Watchmen, you'll probably like Kickass. Kickass is a lot more vulgar, so as with something like Preacher, if you're easily offended you might not like it. If you've seen the movies, well, the comics are a lot bleaker and more cynical. I don't think its as nihilist as people make it out to be, but it's no Disney movie, so yeah. Also by Mark Millar is Wanted, which is what would happen if all the super villains took over. It's basically evil vs. evil and every single character in it is irredeemably bad. It's not as good as Kickass but it's entertaining and just as vulgar.

Oh yeah, today they released the 6th and I think final volume of the X reboot from Dark Horse Comics. It's a pretty obscure series so I guess I should explain that one, too. Basically, the city of Arcadia is corrupt and full of crime; yeah, we've been there before. So then we have this vigilante called X, and if he sees you committing a crime, he'll put a diagonal slash across your face and that will warn you. You'd better not every do anything bad again. If you misbehave again he'll do another slash and complete the X and that means he's going to kill you. In the original series from the early 1990s, (which you can pick up through the X Omnibuses put out by Dark Horse), X is a cold-hearted bastard and he will kill anyone with an X on their face even if he didn't put it there. At one point late in that series someone called him on that and she was going to put an X on her face with her lipstick and X stopped her and said "You have no idea what you almost did." He's almost like a machine in that regard. The X in the reboot is slightly warmer in that there are a few individuals that he genuinely cares about. But both series are good in my opinion.

I guess The Life and Times of Martha Washington, also published by Dark Horse Comics and written by Frank Miller, is also pretty obscure so maybe I should've given some kind of clue as to what it's about. And no, it has nothing to do with the historical figure and instead the character is a young African American woman. The first storyline I think was published in either 1990 or 1991 and the character was born in 1995 and the story proper starts out in the distant future year of 2011. It's a dystopia. She joins PAX, which is a military/bounty hunter organization, and they will pretty much take anybody, even if they are underage. They don't care. So she joins them and things take off from there. The first storyline "Give Me Liberty" is really good. Each one after that is slightly inferior to its predecessor but the only outright bad story is Martha Washington Dies, which is a one-shot and a distant finale that seems totally disconnected to everything else anyway, so who cares? It's got a lot of satire and absurd moments. Also, if you're easily offended, this is another one that has parts in it that might bother you.

Oh yeah, there's a lot of other Batman stories that I really like. Year One and Dark Knight Returns is really good, Long Halloween, which someone else mentioned, is really good. And you definitely have to check out The Killing Joke. May or may not be the definitive origin of the Joker, and probably isn't, but who cares? It's still really good. I like the Grant Morrison run of Batman, but that's a love it or hate it thing. Same thing with Arkham Asylum, also by Grant Morrison. One Batman story that doesn't get a lot of mention but that I really like is The Cult. It's the only trade paperback that has the Jason Todd Robin, as far as I know, and here isn't as much of an obnoxious brat as he's reputed to be in other Batman stories where he is Robin, though I wouldn't know much about that since I don't have those issues. But anyway, in The Cult, Batman gets captured and brainwashed by a cult of homeless people.

Oh, and how could I forget Grendel. No, not that Grendel. It's another slightly obscure thing. It starts out in the 1980s with Grendel who is this mafia vigilante character, then it skips ahead to the 21st century and his granddaughter takes up the mantel of Grendel and is more of a superhero and then it goes farther still, and ends up 600 years into the future, where Grendel is more of a religion. The 4 omnibuses are a good way to get the storyline. They won't include the Grendel Tales, though, but you can get the trades for those and they're pretty cheap, I believe.

[Snapdragon]

Seconding Meepsy's recommendation of Saga, I'm really enjoying the series. It's been described as "Game of Thrones meets Star Wars", which should let you know a little of what you're in for with that title. Persepolis, Transmetropolitan and Sandman are really good too

Some more of my faves: Hellboy and its spin-off series BPRD (if you've seen the movies, the comic series is pretty similar, though a bit darker and grittier, and with truly stunning art); Sex Criminals (about a couple who discover they can freeze time while having sex, and decide to use this power to rob banks, because that's what you do, obviously); and The Wicked + The Divine (in which every ninety years, twelve gods from any mythological pantheon reincarnate as humans).

Are you interested in webcomics at all? I have a few recommendations on that front as well if so!