Support NeoGAF

[Viewt]

Where is this from ?

WE3 by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. It's a three-issue miniseries that's been almost universally praised. Personally, I thought it was kind of mediocre, but I'm in a VERY small minority on that one.

 

[CiSTM]

WE3 by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. It's a three-issue miniseries that's been almost universally praised. Personally, I thought it was kind of mediocre, but I'm in a VERY small minority on that one.

Thanks. I hope it's good as all the people say. But it's possible that I end up in same boat with you

 

[drkOne]

The Killing Joke
The Man Who Laughs

Also, when you're done with those, the third chapter of Dark Knight Returns (and probably the best chapter) is the conclusion of the Batman/Joker rivalry (and it's fucking amazing).

I was thinking about getting these along with the Watchmen as I'm a bit tired of Manga and need a change, just wanted to know if there is a timeline/connection (other than the characters) on the Batman comics, or each of them has their own beginning and end?

 

[Viewt]

Thanks. I hope it's good as all the people say. But it's possible that I end up in same boat with you

It's mostly because I'm not a big fan of the way Morrison plots his stories. I think he's a lot more effective when he tones himself down a bit like he did with his JLA run, or when he just takes his time like he did with Animal Man.

I was thinking about getting these along with the Watchmen as I'm a bit tired of Manga and need a change, just wanted to know if there is a timeline/connection (other than the characters) on the Batman comics, or each of them has their own beginning and end?

I haven't read The Man Who Laughs, but for The Killing Joke, you don't really need to know anything about Batman history to get into it, and it definitely has its own ending.

 

[drkOne]

^ Aye, thanks!

 

[Caspel]

I'd love to hear some feedback / recommendation on graphic novels. I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan and might be venturing into The Sandman Absolute collections if the girlfriend decides to pick them up for our anniversary.

Want to know which graphic novels I should start collecting and in what order.

I know of the following that are on my list:
Batman The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The Killing Joke
All Star Superman
Y: The Last Man
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
Signal to Noise

Feel free to chime in and let me know, going to start collecting the best graphic novels and catching up in on a world I've missed out on since I was a child.

 

[British Monsoon]

I just got done reading El Diablo & Loveless by Brian Azzarello - can GAF reccomend me any more awesome Western-themed graphics novels? (If there are any).

Cheers

 

[m3k]

I'd love to hear some feedback / recommendation on graphic novels. I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan and might be venturing into The Sandman Absolute collections if the girlfriend decides to pick them up for our anniversary.

Want to know which graphic novels I should start collecting and in what order.

I know of the following that are on my list:
Batman The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The Killing Joke
All Star Superman
Y: The Last Man
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
Signal to Noise

Feel free to chime in and let me know, going to start collecting the best graphic novels and catching up in on a world I've missed out on since I was a child.

im kinda doing the same... my gf started me off with v for vendetta for graphic novels and it is highly reccomended... the extra commentary on how the concept was devised and what they were trying to achieve makes it top shelf to me

edit: since bjork is banned, is this threads opening list of reccomendations essentially dead? is he gone for good?

 

[FnordChan]

Want to know which graphic novels I should start collecting and in what order.

I know of the following that are on my list:
Batman The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The Killing Joke
All Star Superman
Y: The Last Man
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
Signal to Noise

I can't comment on Signal to Noise, but the rest I can discuss. These have already been written up earlier in the thread, I believe, but a few brief comments:

I'm not an expert on Superman, but All Star Superman strikes me as the best self contained Supes story you could possibly want. It's very highly recommended, even if you're not generally a fan of the character.

For Batman, The Dark Knight Returns is one of the first things anyone will mention to you. As a satirical, near-future look at an aging, unrelenting Bruce Wayne it's great in an atypical sort of way. For something a bit closer to standard, The Long Halloween is stylish and fun, if a bit light. Year One is a nice prequel story, The Dark Knight Strikes Again is extremely stylized and not where you really want to start, and The Killing Joke is contained in the excellent survey of Moore's DC work DC Universe.

Speaking of Moore, Watchmen is not only vastly influential (and, thanks to the movie, on everyone's mind) but also a damn fine read in it's own right: a superhero murder mystery that takes the genre very seriously and a formalist approach to the visuals. V for Vendetta is Moore's dystopian SF attack on Thatcher and is also very good.

Sandman is the jewel of the Vertigo comics line and you should give it a shot posthaste. It paved the way for other major American non-superhero storylines and, thankfully, had the good taste to be self-contained: beginning, middle, end, done...except for the occasional side story and non-Gaiman written spinoff series. Well, close enough. If you're interested in contemporary fantasy, Sandman calls to you. There are several other Vertigo series with a similar structure that may be of interest: the superior SF "What if?" of Y the Last Man, Transmetropolitan's blend of cyberpunk and blackly humorous satire, and Preacher, which has an even blacker sense of humor, is cheerfully profane, and is a great contemporary Western. Well, sort of. If you want something longer to sink your teeth into, any of these series will serve you well.

There, that's a big swath of major American comic book names. I note there isn't much Marvel on that list; if you find yourself really enjoying The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, go and check out Miller's Daredevil work for Marvel. Just make sure he's writing, as early collections of his run start when he's just doing the art, and while the comics look great the writing isn't up to snuff. Later, when Miller is only writing and no longer doing art, you still get top notch material, so don't pass up Born Again or Elektra: Assassin.

I just got done reading El Diablo & Loveless by Brian Azzarello - can GAF reccomend me any more awesome Western-themed graphics novels? (If there are any).

I haven't read them myself, but the Blueberry comics come to mind immediately.

FnordChan

 

[zoukka]

Blueberries are awesome. Like all Jean Giraud stuff.

Check Incal, before Incal and if you're more to action, The Metabarons.

I mean look at this shit!

 

[Blader]

For Batman, The Dark Knight Returns is one of the first things anyone will mention to you. As a satirical, near-future look at an aging, unrelenting Bruce Wayne it's great in an atypical sort of way.

I've seen you call DKR this before, and I really have to disagree. DKR is definitely not satire.

 

[FnordChan]

I've seen you call DKR this before, and I really have to disagree. DKR is definitely not satire.

I'll have to disagree here as well. While the basic premise - an aging Bruce Wayne takes up the cape again - is played (more or less) straight, the near future setting, with it's over the top, blackly humorous depictions of decaying urban life under an aging President Reagan, looks pretty satirical to me. When Miller went back to setting with The Dark Knight Strikes Again he cranked up the satire level up to 11 or so. Whether this works very well is open to debate, but it strikes me as a clear successor to the Dark Knight Returns.

FnordChan

 

[EviLore]

Yep, satire to me.

 

[Kipe]

Reagan and talking heads part, I agree is satire, but overall I don't consider DKR a satire. 300, Sin City, and Ronin are further evidence of where Frank Miller's head was at during that time. DKSA belongs in Frank Miller's weird new phase with All Star Batman and Robin.

Listen to his interviews on NPR. He's very jingoistic.

 

[Blader]

I'll have to disagree here as well. While the basic premise - an aging Bruce Wayne takes up the cape again - is played (more or less) straight, the near future setting, with it's over the top, blackly humorous depictions of decaying urban life under an aging President Reagan, looks pretty satirical to me.

I think you give Miller more credit than maybe he deserves. =P

The dark and gritty tone wasn't meant to be satire, imo, it's the tone Miller was setting for the book because that's how he saw Batman. When you consider that DKR was one of the first examples of "realism" in a superhero comic, and that Batman had been treated as campy up until that point, I don't really see how DKR could be satirizing anything. The bleak and gritty setting is just what Miller thought a Batman comic should be. DKR was all about bringing Batman back to his darker 1930/40s roots.

Reagan and talking heads part, I agree is satire, but overall I don't consider DKR a satire. 300, Sin City, and Ronin are further evidence of where Frank Miller's head was at during that time. DKSA belongs in Frank Miller's weird new phase with All Star Batman and Robin.

Listen to his interviews on NPR. He's very jingoistic.

I don't think its a weird new phase at all. All Star Batman & Robin is that same kind of over-the-top grittiness that has been a part of all of Miller's work. DKR, Ronin, Daredevil, Sin City, 300--tonally, they're all the same.

 

[FnordChan]

I think you give Miller more credit than maybe he deserves. =P

Contemporary Frank Miller may have succumbed to the brain eater, but during the mid-80s the man was non-stop amazing.

The dark and gritty tone wasn't meant to be satire, imo, it's the tone Miller was setting for the book because that's how he saw Batman. When you consider that DKR was one of the first examples of "realism" in a superhero comic, and that Batman had been treated as campy up until that point, I don't really see how DKR could be satirizing anything. The bleak and gritty setting is just what Miller thought a Batman comic should be. DKR was all about bringing Batman back to his darker 1930/40s roots.

A couple of things I'd like to point out here:

First off, let's not give Miller too much credit for realism here. Batman had been written in a serious, realistic manner by Denny O'Neil since the 1970s.

Second, if you look at Batman: Year One, written a year later, you'll see Miller writing a serious take on Batman that puts the satirical aspects of TDKR into stark relief. Miller's other major work during the period was on Daredevil and that ranged from street level, realistic superheroics (such as Born Again) to gonzo ninjas and cyborgs (such as Elektra: Assassin). It's not as if the man had one mode, grim and gritty, that he stuck to.

All Star Batman & Robin is that same kind of over-the-top grittiness that has been a part of all of Miller's work. DKR, Ronin, Daredevil, Sin City, 300--tonally, they're all the same.

I disagree with you here as well. Tonally, there's a world of difference between, say, the serious take on Batman in Year One, the satirical elements of TDKR, and the extremely stylized (and, at times, hysterical) elements of The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Miller's early Daredevil work incorporates some noir elements and tells serious, street level crime fighting stories, where Sin City takes the noir elements and runs wild with them. Some of his later works like Hard Boiled are gleefully satirical - gritty (and squishy, for that matter), but not what you would call grim. Let's not pigeonhole the man's output.

FnordChan

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I'll have to disagree here as well. While the basic premise - an aging Bruce Wayne takes up the cape again - is played (more or less) straight, the near future setting, with it's over the top, blackly humorous depictions of decaying urban life under an aging President Reagan, looks pretty satirical to me. When Miller went back to setting with The Dark Knight Strikes Again he cranked up the satire level up to 11 or so. Whether this works very well is open to debate, but it strikes me as a clear successor to the Dark Knight Returns.

FnordChan

And what's Carrie's parent's line? Totally blazed?

"Hey, don't we have a daughter?"

 

[Blader]

Contemporary Frank Miller may have succumbed to the brain eater, but during the mid-80s the man was non-stop amazing.

But it's not like the "brain-eater" comes out of nowhere. I would say that both Frank Miller and Jeph Loeb have the same problem: their writing styles were renowned for their respective eras (Miller in the 80s, Loeb in the 90s), but they never changed. Now, Miller's hyper-masculinity and Loeb's cameo-fests aren't as compelling as they were 15-20 years ago. Times have changed, and Loeb and Millar haven't.

A couple of things I'd like to point out here:

First off, let's not give Miller too much credit for realism here. Batman had been written in a serious, realistic manner by Denny O'Neil since the 1970s.

Bah, who remembers that? =P

Second, if you look at Batman: Year One, written a year later, you'll see Miller writing a serious take on Batman that puts the satirical aspects of TDKR into stark relief. Miller's other major work during the period was on Daredevil and that ranged from street level, realistic superheroics (such as Born Again) to gonzo ninjas and cyborgs (such as Elektra: Assassin). It's not as if the man had one mode, grim and gritty, that he stuck to.

I see a lot of similar elements between DKR and Year One. They both portray Gotham as decaying and rotten; they both focus on Batman's underground war against street crime; and, of course, a lot of Miller's misogynistic leanings seep through in Year One (e.g. all of the whores!).

I disagree with you here as well. Tonally, there's a world of difference between, say, the serious take on Batman in Year One, the satirical elements of TDKR, and the extremely stylized (and, at times, hysterical) elements of The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Miller's early Daredevil work incorporates some noir elements and tells serious, street level crime fighting stories, where Sin City takes the noir elements and runs wild with them. Some of his later works like Hard Boiled are gleefully satirical - gritty (and squishy, for that matter), but not what you would call grim. Let's not pigeonhole the man's output.

FnordChan

Well, like I mentioned earlier, I think of all Miller's work makes use of the same stylistic elements (noir, hyper-masculinity, grittiness, violence, etc). Obviously, some of his books ran further with those elements than others; stuff like 300 and Ronin are more graphic than, say, Daredevil and Year One. And of course some of his comics are just flat out better written than some of his other stuff. But fundamentally, I don't see much of a difference in tone between any of his work.

 

[FnordChan]

Well, like I mentioned earlier, I think of all Miller's work makes use of the same stylistic elements (noir, hyper-masculinity, grittiness, violence, etc).

Except for Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. Let's not forget them.

Obviously, some of his books ran further with those elements than others; stuff like 300 and Ronin are more graphic than, say, Daredevil and Year One. And of course some of his comics are just flat out better written than some of his other stuff. But fundamentally, I don't see much of a difference in tone between any of his work.

I still find it pretty astonishing that you don't perceive a major difference in tone between, for example, Elektra Lives Again and Hard Boiled, but I don't think there's anything else I can say to change your mind so let's agree to disagree and hope that our discussion encourages folks who are only familiar with The Dark Knight Returns to check out some of Miller's other work. Like, say, Daredevil: Born Again. Man, that's a great comic.

FnordChan

 

[Creamium]

Question out of nowhere: I know next to nothing about Green Lantern and I wondered if there are good comics out there that serve as an introduction to the hero, if any (no mentions of anything GL in the opening posts). GL: Rebirth, that any good?

 

[Phthisis]

Sleeper by Ed Brubaker.

JESUS CHRIST is it awesome. I read the whole thing (all 29 issues) yesterday. Fucking amazing series. Highly recommended; it's a noir crime drama set in the Wildstorm universe about a double agent serving undercover in a terrorist organization whose contact in America, the only guy who knows he's undercover, gets shot and goes into a coma, basically stranding this agent in this organization with no way out. Comic is about him and his relationship to all the characters in this organization and trying to avoid being found out as being undercover. That's how it starts, but oh man does it go some places.

It's got a prequel called Point Blank starring Grifter from the Wildcats that sets up the story that's pretty much required reading, and then 24 issues of Sleeper, divided into 2 "seasons" of 12 issues each. Checking Amazon, it looks like Wildstorm is going to re-release the series in 12-issue trades instead of the current 6 beginning in June.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Hello!

I'd like to read a few comics. I really liked Watchmen, From Hell, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (well, I saw the movies for the last three ) and Maus.
I'm about to order Batman - The Killing Joke and I want comics who are finished or easier to say are available in one book.

I'm from outside of the US, if that matters. I thought about Superman: Red Son, but I'd rather get anything else than the classic superhero-story (because I already order the one Batman-comic).

Thank you for any recommendations.

 

[Decado]

Preacher, Transmetropolitan, and Garth Ennis' run on Punisher are the easiest for me to recommend. For something a little more lighthearted, Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.

 

[Blackhead]

Palestine by Joe Sacco. The special edition = <3

also if you don't feeling the usual superhero stories check if The Boys is available where you're at

 

[Haruspex]

I'll post this here...

Just to let you folks know Drawn & Quarterly will be publishing (amongst others) two stunning works this September...

The Box Man

Imiri Sakabashira

THE FIRST STORY TO BE TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH FROM THE SURREALIST AND ALTERNATIVE MANGA-KA

Enter the strange world of Imiri Sakabashira whose denizens are zoomorphic creatures that emerge from one another as well as their equally bizarre environs. The Box Man follows its protagonists along a scooter trip through a complex landscape that oscillates between a dense city, a countryside simplified to near abstraction, and hybrids of the two; the theme of hybridity permeates throughout. One is unsurprised to encounter a creature that is half elderly man, half crab or a flying frog in this world where our guide apparent is an anthropomorphic, mollusk-like cat. Sakabashira weaves this absurdist tale in a seamless tapestry constructed of elements as seemingly disparate as Japanese folklore, pop culture, and surrealism. Within these panels, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the animate and the inanimate, the real and the imagined, a tension that adds a layer of complexity to this near-wordless psychedelic travelogue.

Imiri Sakabashira (real name Mochizuki Katsuhiro) was born in Shizuoka, Japan in 1964, the same year that Garo, the influential manga anthology in which he would first be published, was founded.

Black and White, 128 pages, 6.25 x 8.5 inches

Red Snow

Susumu Katsumata

AN AWARD-WINNING BOOK FROM A LEGENDARY MANGA-KA AUTHOR

Red Snow continues D+Q's groundbreaking exploration of the fascinating world of Gekiga in this collection of short stories drawn with great delicacy and told with subtle nuance by legendary Japanese artist Susumu Katsumata. The setting is the pre-modern Japanese countryside of the author's youth, a slightly magical world where ancestral traditions hold sway over a people in the full vigor of life, struggling to survive the harsh seasons and the difficult life of manual laborers and farmers. While the world they inhabit has faded into memory and myth, the universal fundamental emotions of the human heart prevail at the center of these tender stories.

Susumu Katsumata began publishing comic strips in the legendary avant-garde magazine Garo (which also published his contemporaries Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Yoshiharu Tsuge) in 1965 while enrolled in the faculty of Science in Tokyo. He abandoned his studies in 1971 to become a professional comics artist, alternating the short humorous strips, upon which he built his reputation, with stories of a more personal nature in which he tenderly depicted the lives of peasants and farmers from his native region. In 2006, Susumu Katsumata won the 35th Japanese Cartoonists Association Award Grand prize for Red Snow.

Black and White/232 pages/6.25X8.5 inches

 

[Patrick Bateman]

So, I only ordered "The Killing Joke", but I went to my local comic shop today. And I think I'll try "Waltz with Bashir" and "1000 Bullets", too. I thought about Transmetropolitan, too (I read the first free pages available online as pdf-files). Is this series worth it?

 

[FnordChan]

Just to let you folks know Drawn & Quarterly will be publishing (amongst others) two stunning works this September...

Those look fantastic. Thanks for the heads up!

Graf Nudu, Transmetropolitan is fantastic. The first collection is only three issues and acts as a sort of prologue to the series proper. It's well worth dropping a few bucks to see if you like it. If you do, you've got the cyberpunk equivalent of Hunter S. Thompson exploring a future world full of SF ideas, black comedy, and pure bile.

FnordChan

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Ok, I think I'll order that one, too. I hope I can pick up my earlier orders today.

 

[Haruspex]

Posted in the other thread but its full of “manga with wild characters jumping about”.

He wanted to produce narrative comics instead of “manga with wild characters jumping about” or “manga that concerns itself with ‘humor’ and ‘punch lines.’ ”

... a reminder to the few concerned

A Drifting Life

Yoshihiro Tatsumi

April 2009

Edited and designed by Adrian Tomine

Acclaimed for his visionary short-story collections The Push Man and Other Stories, Abandon the Old in Tokyo, and Good-Bye, originally created nearly forty years ago, but just as resonant now as ever, the legendary Japanese cartoonist Yoshihiro Tatsumi has come to be recognized in North America as a precursor of today's graphic novel movement. A Drifting Life is his monumental memoir eleven years in the making, beginning with his experiences as a child in Osaka, growing up as part of a country burdened by the shadows of World War II.

Spanning fifteen years from August of 1945 to June of 1960, Tatsumi's stand-in protagonist, Hiroshi, faces his father's financial burdens and his parents' failing marriage, his jealous brother's deteriorating health, and the innumerable pitfalls that await him in the competitive manga market of mid-twentieth-century Japan. He dreams of following in the considerable footsteps of his idol, manga artist Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Apollo's Song, Ode to Kirihito, Buddha), with whom Tatsumi eventually became peers and, at times, stylistic rivals.

Praise for Yoshihiro Tatsumi:
'In the hands of a talent like Tatsumi, hidden worlds are excavated and dark corners of the human condition illuminated.'- Bookforum

'His nakedly personal work, created when the medium was predominantly impersonal, made Tatsumi unique in Japan and around the world.'- Print

Paperback, 840 pages, 6.125 x 8.25 inches, b/w.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

I'm looking for graphic novels that can be considered a "slice of life". I'm not looking for any fantasy-based stories such as superheroes or science fiction. I want to read stories about characters and their lives, and they can be autobiographical or fictional.

It's a bit of a strange request, but does anyone have a suggestion?

 

[Haly]

I'm looking for graphic novels that can be considered a "slice of life". I'm not looking for any fantasy-based stories such as superheroes or science fiction. I want to read stories about characters and their lives, and they can be autobiographical or fictional.

It's a bit of a strange request, but does anyone have a suggestion?

If you don't mind manga: Genshiken. Completely devoid of fantasy or fantastic elements. It's comedy, for the most part.

Yotsuba& is also a very good slice of life comedy about a 5 year old girl.

 

[Lafiel]

I'm looking for graphic novels that can be considered a "slice of life". I'm not looking for any fantasy-based stories such as superheroes or science fiction. I want to read stories about characters and their lives, and they can be autobiographical or fictional.

It's a bit of a strange request, but does anyone have a suggestion?

Ghost world sounds like what you are looking for, and one of my favorite comic books ever, it's seriously amazing.
There's also blankets, which is autobiographical, but solid.

 

[favouriteflavour]

I'm looking for graphic novels that can be considered a "slice of life". I'm not looking for any fantasy-based stories such as superheroes or science fiction. I want to read stories about characters and their lives, and they can be autobiographical or fictional.

It's a bit of a strange request, but does anyone have a suggestion?

Try the following:
Box Office Poison
Blankets
Local
Peanuts (it is!)
Abandon The Old in Tokyo, Pushman, Good-bye
French Milk
Pyongyang

Theres alot out there that isnt genre.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

If you don't mind manga: Genshiken. Completely devoid of fantasy or fantastic elements. It's comedy, for the most part.

Yotsuba& is also a very good slice of life comedy about a 5 year old girl.

I'm not really into manga anymore. I would prefer complete works, if possible.

 

[exarkun]

Since this the Recommendation thread I wanted to ask something: Do I have to finish Final Crisis to understand the universe after that comic series? Its kind of confusing with all of its references and off shoots sooo I would just like an easy to understand summary.

So can I just skip the series and move on to other books in hopes that they don't continually reference the material? Is there anything anyone can recommend that just sums up what happens during the series? Or should I just slug through it? It isn't bad, it is just pretty over whelming.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

I'll definitely check out Ghost World. I recognized Blankets and I remembered seeing that the last time I was at Borders, so I will give that a look as well.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[shintoki]

Honey and Clover is always the most recommended

 

[Ephemeris]

Sleeper by Ed Brubaker.

JESUS CHRIST is it awesome. I read the whole thing (all 29 issues) yesterday. Fucking amazing series. Highly recommended; it's a noir crime drama set in the Wildstorm universe about a double agent serving undercover in a terrorist organization whose contact in America, the only guy who knows he's undercover, gets shot and goes into a coma, basically stranding this agent in this organization with no way out. Comic is about him and his relationship to all the characters in this organization and trying to avoid being found out as being undercover. That's how it starts, but oh man does it go some places.

It's got a prequel called Point Blank starring Grifter from the Wildcats that sets up the story that's pretty much required reading, and then 24 issues of Sleeper, divided into 2 "seasons" of 12 issues each. Checking Amazon, it looks like Wildstorm is going to re-release the series in 12-issue trades instead of the current 6 beginning in June.

Cosign x infinity.

 

[favouriteflavour]

Since this the Recommendation thread I wanted to ask something: Do I have to finish Final Crisis to understand the universe after that comic series? Its kind of confusing with all of its references and off shoots sooo I would just like an easy to understand summary.

So can I just skip the series and move on to other books in hopes that they don't continually reference the material? Is there anything anyone can recommend that just sums up what happens during the series? Or should I just slug through it? It isn't bad, it is just pretty over whelming.

Well as far as I can tell only two things from final crisis have really carried over to the DCU at large. So yeah you should be fine without completing final crisis.

 

[favouriteflavour]

I'm looking for graphic novels that can be considered a "slice of life". I'm not looking for any fantasy-based stories such as superheroes or science fiction. I want to read stories about characters and their lives, and they can be autobiographical or fictional.

It's a bit of a strange request, but does anyone have a suggestion?

They are more strip collections than anything but James Kochalka's American Elf are about as slice of life as you get. Will you still love me if I wet the bed by Liz Prince and I never liked you by Chester Brown are also worth mentioning.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

They are more strip collections than anything but James Kochalka's American Elf are about as slice of life as you get.

I started reading them online, and I'm enjoying it so far.

 

[Mistouze]

EDIT : What did I do...

Btw, I strongly recommend Morrison's Doom Patrol. People wth a distaste for superhero stuff could check it out as its more of a super disabled team than anything else. Also the Brotherhood of Dada is probably one of the best antagonists characters ever.

Grant Morrison <3<3<3<3

 

[Haruspex]

I'm looking for graphic novels that can be considered a "slice of life". I'm not looking for any fantasy-based stories such as superheroes or science fiction. I want to read stories about characters and their lives, and they can be autobiographical or fictional.

It's a bit of a strange request, but does anyone have a suggestion?

Adrian Tomine sounds right up your street, check out Shortcomings or his Optic Nerve series. There are some previews here.

In fact if you have a search around the Drawn & Quarterly website I'm sure you'll find a number of artists who meet what you're looking for. And if I haven't mentioned it already... Red Colored Elegy by Seiichi Hayashi fits the bill too. Its very much a 'slice of life' tale but the art really encourages contemplation and poetic thought. Here's a little blurb about it.

 

[Blackhead]

Adrian Tomine sounds right up your street, check out Shortcomings or his Optic Nerve series. There are some previews here.

In fact if you have a search around the Drawn & Quarterly website I'm sure you'll find a number of artists who meet what you're looking for. And if I haven't mentioned it already... Red Colored Elegy by Seiichi Hayashi fits the bill too. Its very much a 'slice of life' tale but the art really encourages contemplation and poetic thought. Here's a little blurb about it.

Sec the Shortcomings rec

 

[bjork]

I am happy to see this thread being used. It kinda needs an update/rework though, does it not?

 

[msv]

It does, some more info on the comics, plotwise, would be nice.

Recently gotten into comics, about to order

USM vol 2 + Ultimate Collection vol 2
Preacher vol 1
Gantz v2 + v3
Berserk v11
One Piece v2

But I want another comic to check. I'm interested in Superman - Secret identity after seeing the recommendations, but midtowncomics.com only has back issues #1 and #2 (I have no idea what these are, single issues? multiple issues? fucking stores should be clearer on that).

Anyone know a store that has all these (+Superman SI) that ships internationally??

Or maybe some recommendations. How's Planet Hulk?

 

["God's Beard!"]

Add Sanctuary to the OP.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Has anyone read Silent Hill Sinner's Reward? I know the other SH graphic novels are atrocious, but I heard some good things about this one and I was wondering if anyone read it.

 

[gdt]

Recently been reading Lucifer (spin off of Sandman) and liking it quite a bit. I'm on #23 and it started slow but got really good. It's drenched in Sandman's tone and style, but thats ok with me. Finished The Walking Dead before that which I absolutely adored.

 

[disillusion386]

Recently been reading Lucifer (spin off of Sandman) and liking it quite a bit. It's drenched in Sandman's tone and style, but thats ok with me. Finished The Walking Dead before that which I absolutely adored.

I've only read the first trade, and I agree. Mike Carey's non-superhero work is quite superb.