Graphic Novels

[Mirabell]

I have read a couple, but I am, honestly, still new to them. I liked Gaiman's Sandman series a lot, it was inventive, gruesome, poetical, funny. Then I segued over to From Hell (perfect, deep, poetical), Watchmen (perfect, brilliant). I read some Frank Miller (Dark Knight Returns, the First Year, 300), whom I consider a fascist (judging from his work), but a brilliant fascist. I am reading the great Y: The Last Man series these days, which is drawn in a boring way, but fantastically written. Also reading the first volume of Alan Moore's run of The Swamp Thing. I also admit to loving Jhonnen Vasquez's Twee!, even though that proves me to be a teenager at heart.

[ions]

Taking a course this coming September. The Fall session is Comics & Cartoons 1900-Cold War. The Winter session is Cold War to present. I do know we look at Maus and some of Frank Miller's work. Dark Knight Returns I think. Looking forward to it. Beyond a fascination with the usual suspects of super heroes as an adolescent I never explored much beyond that.

[Heteronym]

Mirabell, I find it awkward that, living in Europe, you've only mentioned American comics. No love for Corto Maltese, Blueberry, L'Incal, Cit?s Obscures, Les Compagnons du Cr?puscule, La Trilogie Nikopol?

I have a lot of love for Alan Moore's work: Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell (best comic book I've ever read), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea. He's constantly challenging the possibilities of the medium. Although he's not an artist himself, he always brings out the best in his pencillers, who produce some very innovative comics art.

I also admire the Hernandez brothers' Love & Rockets series: Fantagraphics has reprinted it in seven inexpensive paperbacks. It's one of the most beautiful masterpieces of the medium, with a cast of dozens of rounded characters who've been growing and changing for the past 25 years.

[Mirabell]

you've only mentioned American comics.

nope, moore is british as is gaiman.

[fausto]

I'm a Tintin or Spirou guy. Very traditional and non-novelistic. Blueberry is great too and Corto, obviously...

[saliotthomas]

I love the one you mention Heteronym,and you wrote a very good piece on Corto in B&R.
I would like to add Liberator an Italian with incredicle style,and my god above all Reiser whom i possesse the all collection on a little table beside the toilets.A perfect place for meditation on his phylosiphie of life,his right to the point political critic and so on.
With two line he could say more than any other i know in a full page.He also belong to the 70's generation of magazine that use to be politicaly critic and funny at the same time.Sadly this types of spirit seem's completly dead nowday

[Sybarite]

Moore's V for Vendetta was really the first graphic novel that I read; when it was first published I was handed a copy to review. It absolutely stunned me. Watchmen is also absolutely first rate, and the Sandman books by Neil Gaiman.

But Moore is, for me, the tops.

I don't really think of Tintin or that style of cartoon as graphic novels ? although clearly they are. I like Tintin, but I love Asterix best of all and, in recent years, have given myself the 'excuse' to read them by getting copies in German and now French so that I can practice my language skills.

[fausto]

It's funny because I never though of Ast?rix as something that could be exported. The humour and references are very, very French and a huge part of the enjoyment is recognizing the person who is caricatured or a specific pun or regional stereorypes. How do you find the difference between the English version and the original?

[Mirabell]

Asterix is a huge hit here
but totally devoid of reference
german kids
are generally surprised when they are told
how rich in allusions to specific persons it is
I know I was

[nnyhav]

Not my cuppa, this, but I'll pass along that TheValve (http://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/) has just inaugurated a book event (http://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/article/reading_comicshere/) on Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and what They Mean by Douglas Wolk (cf Derik Badman's review (http://madinkbeard.com/blog/archives/reading-comics-by-douglas-wolk), and for that matter the rest of his blog [which I stopped following after his interest switched from Oulipo to comics]).

[Sybarite]

It's funny because I never though of Ast?rix as something that could be exported. The humour and references are very, very French and a huge part of the enjoyment is recognizing the person who is caricatured or a specific pun or regional stereorypes. How do you find the difference between the English version and the original?

I think that one of my finest moments was reading Asterix bei den Schweizern ? and actually getting the jokes (and laughing). My French isn't as good as my German yet, so for me it's the obvious humour, not any subtle references to real individuals.

[saliotthomas]

I post a few images from Reiser (Stewart if to heavy erase them)http://likidvcel.free.fr/reiser/chien_mechant.gif

beware of the dog

http://www.coinbd.com/images/couvertures/20060924222800_t0.gif

[Heteronym]

nope, moore is british as is gaiman.

Come now, Mirabell. The Sandman, Swamp Thing and Watchmen are American comics, published by the American DC Comics. That's like saying Chinatown is a French movie because Roman Polanski directed it.

Ast?rix is popular everywhere, except in the USA, where comics aren't popular anyway, save Manga. US comics sales are pretty low for a country with over 300 million people. A montly series is considered a sucess if it sells 20,000. Only comics featuring Spider-Man, X-Men, Batman and Superman manage to sell over 100,000, and that's depending on who's writing the series and whether the story has been hyped as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Otherwise it's lucky to sell 80,000 copies.

The real American masterpieces, Love & Rockets, Berlin, Optic Nerve, Eightball, Acme Novelty Library, are lucky to sell 1,000 copies whenever they come out.

[Mirabell]

Thanks for the tips. My list of future buys is getting longer each day. Added Bone today.

And I do have a Blueberry volume somewhere round here. German though and my aversion to translations has stopped me from reading it, I think.

aha. checked. it's a volume comprising five smaller volumes written between 1971 and 1975.

[Funhouse]

Here (http://web.mac.com/b1b2/blah/greatcomics1.html) is a list of 100 graphic novels/comics that I've read and recommend. Obviously too many to mention here, so apart from all of the ones that people have mentioned so far, here are a selected few others that I think are well worth people's time that they may not have heard of before:

Heteronym mentioned the work of Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan) and Dan Clowes (Ghost World) but didn't mention their names. They're certainly two of the best Americans in the business (along with the likes of Art Spiegelman, Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar).

For something totally insane and brilliant check out The Adventures of Sock Monkey by Tony Millionaire.

Some Australians you should know about: Nicki Greenberg (The Great Gatsby - see the Fitzgerald thread), Shaun Tan (The Arrival - no words and utterly brilliant); Eddie Campbell is British but a long-time Australian resident - you'll know his work as an artist on From Hell, but for his recent work check out The Fate of the Artist.

Another outstanding literary adaptation is Paul Auster's City of Glass, by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli.

My favourite French comic artists/writers are David B. (Epileptic) and Joann Sfarr (The Rabbi's Daughter) and Lewis Trondheim (A.L.I.E.E.E.N.), who have also collaborated on a lot of projects.

Alison Bechdel's Fun Home got a lot of mainstream attention on its publication, and her memoir is really good.

Also in the non-fiction realm is the work of Joe Sacco, whose Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde are compelling works of reportage.

[Mirabell]

Must check that list. 'nuther book that made it to my buy list recently is Charles Burns' Black Hole. Anybody read it?

[Funhouse]

Must check that list. 'nuther book that made it to my buy list recently is Charles Burns' Black Hole. Anybody read it?

Wonderful work. It's like a Richard Linklater film (say, Dazed and Confused) directed by David Cronenberg. Absolutely gorgeous artwork.

[fausto]

Funhouse lists is really a who's who's list of contemporary comics. All of them are worth checking out, if not equally good.

[saliotthomas]

I also like the work of Semp? ,not just le petit nicolas but all his later work.The Comics Reporter (http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/commentary/4093/)

i liked Thorgal but it's been few years i haven't read any.

[Mirabell]

Anybody heard of Stranger's in Paradise? Was just recommended to me via Shelfari.

[Sybarite]

Has anyone read Alan Moore's Lost Girls?

[Funhouse]

Anybody heard of Stranger's in Paradise? Was just recommended to me via Shelfari.

I read the first collected volume. It was all right, but not so good that I've been bothered to read any more...

[Funhouse]

Has anyone read Alan Moore's Lost Girls?

Yes. It's certainly, ah, interesting. It's out and out porn with an intriguing setting and use of established literary characters.

[Mirabell]

this sounds great. love the picture
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/books/review/Zerkin-t.html?ref=books

[Sybarite]

Yes. It's certainly, ah, interesting. It's out and out porn with an intriguing setting and use of established literary characters.

I haven't read it yet – put off rather by the price.

Do you think it was written just to arouse or does it have something else to say beyond that (not that there's anything wrong with the former)? Does the pornographic nature of it actually do something? Is this the first serious attempt to actually produce a 'mainstream' erotic pornographic graphic novel?

Mirabell – that picture really is delightful. Thanks for the link.

[fausto]

Re Lost Girls, I was put off by the drawings, which I don't find good at all actually.

[Sybarite]

Re Lost Girls, I was put off by the drawings, which I don't find good at all actually.

From what I've seen – which isn't much – I'd have to agree.

One of the things I find strange about reading a Moore graphic novel is that the artists change all the time, so it always looks very different. It sometimes feels as though you're not actually reading a work by the same author – although obviously that has advantages in terms of how different styles suit different works. The styles of V for Vendetta is markedly different to that of Watchmen – but they wouldn't be interchangeable, I suspect.

[Sybarite]

Oops, double post.

[Heteronym]

Alan Moore only writes, although he has a basic understanding of drawing and page layout, which allows him to work closely with his artists. This allows him to work with a different team in each new project.

Gibbons' clean, geometrical pencils in Watchmen would be out of place in From Hell, which benefited from Campbell's sketchy pencils. Moore knows how to choose the right penciller for each book.

[Mirabell]

In Dash Shaw?s engrossing 720-page graphic novel, ?Bottomless Belly Button,? three generations of the Loony family spend a week together at their beach house coping with the announcement of the divorce, after 40 years of marriage, of the clan?s grandparents, Maggie and David.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/books/01book.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin

[Heteronym]

I've been trying to read more comics this year. First I bought Winsor McCay's complete Little Nemo in Slumberland; it's a massive, oversized 400-page volume that will take me the rest of the year to finish.

Next I got Alan Moore's Top Ten vol.2: as a superhero fan, I love this series. Its about a city where everyone has superpowers, from children to pets; vampires run the underground crime; there are robot (or, as they prefer, Ferro-Americans) ghettos. People from other dimensions and planets stop by for vacations. And then there are the super-powered cops that keep the order, known as Top Ten. It's hilarious.

Now I've just finished Kim Deitch's Alias the Cat, a mind-bending tour de force. This comic is so weird, so complex, it defies any explanation. But it's good and beautifully drawn.

[Mirabell]

I've been trying to read more comics this year. First I bought Winsor McCay's complete Little Nemo in Slumberland; it's a massive, oversized 400-page volume that will take me the rest of the year to finish.




I fail to find a one-volume edition. ISBN, perhaps?

[liehtzu]

Comic books?

[Mirabell]

I fail to find a one-volume edition. ISBN, perhaps?


Don't bother. It's the Taschen edition, isn't it?

[Heteronym]

Don't bother. It's the Taschen edition, isn't it?

I'm afraid so, currently out of print. In fact that's why I didn't think twice when I saw one in a bookstore.

[Mirabell]

I'm afraid so, currently out of print. In fact that's why I didn't think twice when I saw one in a bookstore.

Lucky they are based right here and have a multi-storey shop here where they have copies of almost everything for sale. called today and will pick up my copy of little nemo tomorrow.

[saliotthomas]

That might interest Heteronym

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183405537l/1413263.jpg

A collaboration between Pratt and Antonio Tabucchi,now will it be available in Portugese?

[Aiculik]

Aaaaah, Corto! The first literature character in which I'd fallen in love! :p

[saliotthomas]

I think we forgot to mention Milo Manara,the best ever for drawing incredibly sexy women,the Master.

http://bp2.blogger.com/_uKUJj9VMJpA/R1ABYOScQGI/AAAAAAAAA5M/cZFL8wegtqQ/s400/Manara+art.bmp


Make's one bite his lips....

[Funhouse]

Just been reading some Enki Bilal (The Nikopol Trilogy and The Beast Trilogy) and he's a great discovery. A terrific artist, and his science fiction scenarios are really intriguing. Here's a sample of his art:

http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/052_bilal/nikopol3.jpg

http://www.asteline.be/magazine/images/ILLU_47.jpg

[Max Cairnduff]

Y, the Last Man, is indeed very good. I think the art rather suits it personally. I was following DMZ and Fables, but am rather losing interest in both. I already abandoned 100 Bullets, great initial premise then the story went to a wholly different and far less interesting place.

Sticking for a moment to major publisher side of things, I agree on V for Vendetta being very good. Not mentioned so far is the Criminal series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, noiresque tales in the modern day or 1970s and genuinely excellent in my view.

No mention of Hellboy? Honestly. Brilliant storylines and art, great use of contrast too.

On the Warren Ellis front, I think Transmetropolitan is a lot of fun, particularly worthwhile if you have any interest in transhumanist sf. Fell I rather liked, his other most recent release (the title of which suddenly escapes me) not so much.

Queen & Country is pretty good, but perhaps slightly too obviously derived from the masterly 1970s tv series The Sandbaggers - the best treatment of espionage ever to be aired on television in my view.

The Walking Dead is a tremendous Romero-esque zombie series, very good indeed, it's basically what happens in a Romero movie after the credits roll. That said, if you're not a Romero fan, you probably won't care.

On the more indie side, Bluesman is an excellent three volume series about travelling blues musicians in the 1930s. Much better than that makes it sound.

Ghost World is fun, though if you've seen the film there may not be much point in reading the comic, the film's remarkably faithful to it.

Joe Sacco is indeed great.

I have, but haven't read yet, Berlin. I note it's mentioned upthread and I've heard good things about it.

[Heteronym]

A collaboration between Pratt and Antonio Tabucchi,now will it be available in Portugese?

I doubt it. The state of the translated comics market in Portugal isn't any good. They never even finished publishing all Corto Maltese albums. But yeah, that looks pretty sweet.

Milo Manara is a great penciller. But he shouldn't be allowed to write :D

[dianaw]

I have found the graphic novels and other sequential art works very interesting. I'd like to add Deogratias, Malcom X, Exit Wounds,The Quitter, Persepolis, both Berlin's and the list could continue.

[dianaw]

Oops, I meant to also add that I use some of these in my high school English class, and am looking for additional novels to add to the curriculum. I am open to all suggestion that fall into the category of no explicit sexual scenes (after all it is a high school classroom) and am looking for authors outside of the USA to increase World Literature presentations. I must say that Deogratias was incredible and my students couldn't put it down. it allowed for an exploration of human rights issues amongst others.

I have jotted down some of the suggestions of graphic novels that I was unfamiliar with adn will look them up, but frequently what looks good at the outset contains images that become inappropriate for a high school curriculum.

There is a newish work out that combines both linear and sequential art by Mia Kirchner, I Live Here. Check that one out as well.

[Mirabell]

On Mark Millar's "Superman: Red Sn"

Men of Steel: Mark Millar’s ?Superman: Red Son? shigekuni. (http://shigekuni.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/men-of-steel-mark-millars-%E2%80%9Csuperman-red-son%E2%80%9D/)

[David J]

I like Alan Moore's early work for 2000Ad, the british comic. "The Ballad of Halo Jones" in particular. There is also the trilogy, "Slaine: the Horned God" by Pat Mills and Simon Bisley.

Moore's "Batman: the Killing Joke", released around the same time as watchmen, is a masterpiece in my opinion - there's not a wasted panel in it.

I also like Garth Ennis, especially his work on Hellblazer, but I think he can be too extreme - he's such a good story teller that he doesn't need to be.

[Mirabell]

I love Jeff Smith's work. This here's reviewish babble on the latest, Rasl: The Drift: Dazzle: Jeff Smith’s “Rasl: The Drift” shigekuni. (http://shigekuni.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/dazzle-jeff-smiths-rasl-the-drift/)


I'm so looking forward to his next books.

[Jayaprakash]

I'm a huge graphic novel, but I have been trying to go to the gym more often lately.

Sorry.


My earliest favourites were Asterix and Tintin. There are a lot of other FrancoBelgian comics I like, such as Lucky Luke, Yakari, Iznogoud, Blake and Mortimer, Yoko Tsuno and so on. I generally prefer the art in European comics to American supherhero fare. A great contemporary French comic creator is Joann Sfar, I think.

I do like all the usual Moore and Gaiman material. Fables I find puerile. Y The Last Man is an intriguing story hampered by mediocre art and a tendency to function only through violence. Superhero stuff is an unguilty pleasure, but nothing later than the 70s, usually. I like Will Eisner's The Spirit and I think his non-adventure comics are brilliant.

I like some of Chris Ware's stuff but am not too impressed by comics that simply subsititute depression for depth which I see more of since Ware's success. Black Hole by Charles Burns had some moments though.

Not a big fan of manga, but I am partial to Yoshihiro Tatsumi's work.

[Mirabell]

Finished Grant Morrison's "The Resurrection of Ra's Al-Ghul recently". Here's my review.

Detective: Grant Morrison’s “Batman: The Resurrection of Ra’s Al-Ghul” shigekuni. (http://shigekuni.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/detective-grant-morrisons-batman-the-resurrection-of-ras-al-ghul/)

[Suzaku]

"Not a big fan of manga, but I am partial to Yoshihiro Tatsumi's work."

Well, I guess I'm the bigger manga fan. I like: Yoshihiro Togashi, Rumiko Takahashi, Masashi Kishimoto, Kuranpu....

In fact, I'm currently writing a novel style science fantasy/allegory story with a lot of references that are either Japanese, religious, or both. A lot of Japanese references. I don't think I ought to turn it into a graphic novel anytime soon, but maybe I will in the not utterly distant future.

[tsukihime]

As for manga, I'd recommend Full Metal Alchemist, One Piece, and Death Note. :)

[Igu Soni]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I heavily recommend Sarnath Banerjee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarnath_Banerjee)'s Corridor and The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers.

[ferns_dad]

Big fan of Mark Beyer

Mark Beyer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Beyer)

I have the rare '78 A Disturbing Evening and Other Stories

[kanman]

My personal favourites are:

1. Lucifer by Mike Carey - The concept is so brilliant, I drool everytime I read it. Putting the novel at great risk, admittedly. Damn you Mike. What a series!

2. The entire Hellblazer - Constantine series, by a string of writers. Dark, sadistic, hellish (literally), great.

3. All Luna brothers' works - Ultra, Girls, The Sword. Every thing about their art work and story is gorgeous.

4. Ares - by I forget whom. Story of the God of War who turns his back on the other Greek Gods, until his son is kidnapped, and turned against him and the Olympian Pantheon. Nice nice nice :)

5. Green Arrow - The longbow hunters: Very interesting book, that made me, at least, get quite interested in the character.

I quite liked Y-The Last Man too. Also, the Sandman comics.


As far as manga goes, I kind of like the Ring (ringu), I absolutely loved the adaptation of Hamlet, but my favourites here would have to be the Naruto and Bleach series, particularly because I used to really enjoy the anime and the stories are quite weirdly human.

[Igu Soni]

I absolutely loved the adaptation of Hamlet
I read A midsummaer Night's Dream, Richard III and Romeo and Juliet. I liked the third a lot, but the first two not so much.

[Bjorn]

Speaking of Midsummer Night's Dream, I recently read the first mega-volume of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman for the first time - somehow I've managed to read an issue or a collection here and there, but I've never read the whole series from beginning to end. And damn, this is good stuff - Gaiman is a bit predictable (he likes a few tropes and archetypes and comes back to them in book after comic after film) but he knows how to explore the ideas he likes and create likable characters, and there's some pretty fancy plotting and world-building going on here. And Dream is an unlikely protagonist, but makes perfect sense - literally; as the master of dreams, he's all about making sense of what happens in the world.

Doesn't hurt that the leather-bound editions are pretty nifty, either.

[kanman]

Speaking of Midsummer Night's Dream, I recently read the first mega-volume of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman for the first time - somehow I've managed to read an issue or a collection here and there, but I've never read the whole series from beginning to end. And damn, this is good stuff .

The great thing about the entire Sandman set is that it gets even better as you go on. And that new collection is very yummy. Plus, so many characters from the universe have been explored in greater detail subsequently that there is plenty of juicy comic book meat to savour. I particularly love Death as a character, and Merv Pumpkinhead was kick-ass, but the most fun spin-off for me was Thessaly Witch for Hire.

[kanman]

Speaking of Neil Gaiman, anybody checked out Neverwhere? It is based upon a TV miniseries that he created sometime back in the 90s I believe. One of my fave TV shows and a very good and dark graphic novel. Though I thought everyone looked better on TV.

It is about an average guy who accidentally discovers "London Below" an alternate city beneath the everyday one, but as a consequence he is basically written out of the collective consciousness of London Above. And all because of a lovely lady called Door, an aristocrat from LB, whose entire family was murdered, for some sort of key I think. And they have to try and meet an Angel who may have his own agenda. While trying to keep a step ahead of two immortal, invulnerable assassins who seem to dog their steps all the time. Phew.

[Bjorn]

Speaking of Neil Gaiman, anybody checked out Neverwhere? It is based upon a TV miniseries that he created sometime back in the 90s I believe. One of my fave TV shows and a very good and dark graphic novel. Though I thought everyone looked better on TV.
I liked both the miniseries and the novelisation, but I've never even seen the graphic novel. I loved the way he created an entire mythical London simply by having it all be literally true - there's an earl at Earl's Court, there's an angel at Angel, etc. A pity they couldn't get the great Beast of London to actually look very intimidating on TV, though. According to Gaiman, "we contacted every animal expert in the UK to try and find a vicious boar, but it turned out all the boar in the entire country are... [looks disgusted] cute."

[kanman]

.... According to Gaiman, "we contacted every animal expert in the UK to try and find a vicious boar, but it turned out all the boar in the entire country are... [looks disgusted] cute."

Actually yeah, the whole Great Beast scene was a little anticlimatic on TV. But "Cute"? :D

[PGD]

Here in Montr?al Drawn & Quarterly (http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/) publishes many books worth checking out, including Rutu Modan's excellent Exit Wounds, mentioned by dinaw.

Lately, I've been reading The Book of Genesis illustrated by Robert Crumb. I'm finishing the last chapters tonight, I was putting it off because it is an unsurprisingly stiff read. The illustrations never compromise with the austerity of the text.

An interesting title I should mention is Logicomix, by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou, with art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna. Story of logic, madness and war, modelled on the life of philosopher Bertrand Russell. Quite unique.

[kanman]

How about Garth Ennis's Preacher? The incredibly powerful outcome "Genesis" of a union between a succubus and an angel joins with the protagonist - Jesse the Preacher, who is imbued with the Voice of God, which compels whoever he uses it on to do whatever he says. And then Jesse decides to take on God(!). Along with a vampire, several perversities, the Preacher's ex-girlfriend, as well as the Saint of Killers. Crazy good fun.

Also, a while ago there was a series called Battle Pope, which had an old cigar smoking, womanising pope becoming an Arnold Schwarzeneggerish "Battle Pope" All thanks to God, who needs a servant to battle evil, in a post armageddon world, where humans and demons have come to a truce (sort of). An excellent summary of this really funny book:

Battle Pope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Pope)

The chronicles of Wormwood is another fun read, as I have come to expect on anything that has Garth Ennis emblazoned on the cover - Wormwood is basically the Antichrist, and has also decided he just does not want to cause Armageddon, while his Dad and his best friend Jay(Jesus)'s Dad are both trying to bring the pair around to it. There is an excellent talking rabbit who hates Star Wars fans. And Wormwood also has relationship issues, as evidenced when his girlfriend finds out he has been having an affair with Joan of Arc. There's your human angle, see?

[Mirabell]

Here in Montr?al Drawn & Quarterly (http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/) publishes many books worth checking out, including Rutu Modan's excellent Exit Wounds, mentioned by dinaw.



we have a thread on that one http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/european-literature/23247-rutu-modan-exit-wounds.html

and on another d&q title, Tatsumi's "A DRifting Life" http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/asian-oceanic-literature/14884-yoshihiro-tatsumi-drifting-life.html

[PGD]

we have a thread on that one http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/european-literature/23247-rutu-modan-exit-wounds.html
Thanks, I noticed the thread after commenting. Being new to the forum, there's still a lot for me to read, and there's plenty of interesting input all over.

Since I've written about them elsewhere, I'd also suggest to the readers Jacques Carelman's graphic rendition of Raymond Queneau's Zazie dans le m?tro, done in a very Parisian art nouveau style.

[kanman]

Finished with another good story from Warren Ellis entitled Scars.
A troubled cop on the trail of a child murderer. A very well told tale. Quite unsettling.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

I would like to make a few additions that seem to be missing in former posts, very important additions in my opinion:

-Ben Katchor, http://katchor.com/books.html
All three books with Julius Knipl stories are must reads (Cheap Novelties, Stories, Beauty Supply District). His works are singular in the graphic literature or comic world and are of exceptionally high quality. This is REAL literature, not just some entertaining nonsense.
Michael Chabon on Ben Katchor: "The creator of the last great American comic strip." and "archaeologist of outmoded technologies and abandoned past times, a fellow playing a kind of involuted Borgesian game with the entire notion of nostalgia itself."

-Winshluss, Pinocchio very angry and biting version of the story, the opposite to the Disney crap

-Marc-Antoine Mathieu, L'Origine or La 2,333e Dimension great Kafkaesque stuff with a philosophical touch

-Jacques Tardi, Ici Meme reminded me on some level of Calvino's Baron in the Trees, great stuff

-Nicholas de Crecy, Foligatto (just an example, he has produced more interesting works)

-George Herriman, Krazy Kat I cannot believe that this one has not been mentioned here (I must have missed it), this is real comic art... Fantagraphics is reprinting all of the Sundays...

-Lorenzo Mattotti, Fires the colours are incredible...

-Eric Drooker, Flood!

-Shaun Tan, The Rabbits and The Red Tree (the Arrival was mentioned here I think)

-Bill Sienkiewicz, Stray Toasters totally crazy

-Paul Hornschemeier, Mother Come Home

-David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp


May I add that I think that Chris Ware is the most intelligent of the whole bunch of authors working in this field.

I another thing that has to be said since some of his works were mentioned here: if you are an intelligent person never READ any Moebius output. Storywise all of his works are an esoteric insult to any rational thinking being. Of course the drawings are incredible and worthwhile.

-

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Oh, and not to forget a very important manga:

-Nakazawa Keiji, Barefoot Gen

[accidie]

Apfelwurm, I'm so taken with Katchor. I've just read Vignettes of Ystov by William Goldsmith, which reminded me quite a lot of Katchor: similarity of atmosphere, perhaps because Ystov also takes place in a strangely quiet city, has characters who seemed wrapped in solitude, and has same if slightly more marked sense of unreality. . . Utterly different visually, though.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Apfelwurm, I'm so taken with Katchor. I've just read Vignettes of Ystov by William Goldsmith, which reminded me quite a lot of Katchor: similarity of atmosphere, perhaps because Ystov also takes place in a strangely quiet city, has characters who seemed wrapped in solitude, and has same if slightly more marked sense of unreality. . . Utterly different visually, though.

Cool, thanks for the hint, the book just came out a few weeks ago... I will check it out :)

[Rumpelstilzchen]

-Shaun Tan, The Rabbits and The Red Tree (the Arrival was mentioned here I think)



After winning the academy award for best animated short he now gets even more attention, nice:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2011/mar/29/shaun-tan-astrid-lindgren-prize

[liehtzu]

I read comic books too, when I was twelve.

[JTolle]

Just finished up the fourth (of six) volume of Akira, the creation of Katsuhiro Otomo, in preparation for watching his legendary film retelling. I'll wait until I've read the entire thing, but it might be my favorite graphic novel. The art is astounding, so many packed cityscapes drawn with relentless precision, and not a single panel that sacrifices detail or expression for the sake of convenience or quickness. The story (the future, Neo-Tokyo, psychically gifted children, government experiments, etc.) is also thoroughly entertaining, with a host of engaging, likable, fascinating characters. Though perhaps not the most intellectually stimulating graphic novel I've ever read, when it comes down to art plus storyline plus themes plus presentation (it's superbly narrated frame-by-frame), it outstrips nearly anything I've read in the form.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

I read comic books too, when I was twelve.

more or less the same for me until 2-3 years ago, when I tried "Maus", "Watchmen" and "Jimmy Corrigan" after reading about them in some magazine...

there are a some "comic books" that are really worthwile reading...

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Apparently the new book Habibi by Craig Thompson is finished finally:
http://www.dootdootgarden.com/2011/04/11/crash-test-dummy/

It will come out in September and with 672p even surpass Blankets in length.

His other longer graphic novel Blankets is quite nice. I am not sure what to expect from this one.

[waalkwriter]

I wonder how a distinction could be made between graphic novels and manga, because they really seem like two similar, but different concepts, (not getting into Chinese Manhwa).

[Rumpelstilzchen]

In German speaking countries there has been quite some hype about graphic novels the last few years. Comics, graphic novels and graphical adaptations are discussed all over the newspapers. Even some more serious literature journals like Text+Kritik bring out special issues. A few years ago I started to look into graphic novels, but still have not found many works that I would recommend without hesitation to anybody, say colleagues from university for example. Many works I encountered were certainly more sophisticated than pulp comics, but yet were far from reaching a real grown-up level where I would start considering them as equal to serious literature. Even if those works are treating serious topics they are mostly lacking the depth of their non-graphical counterparts. There are only very few graphic novels that I would personally rank as equal to "real literature", works that really show a sophisticated interplay of language and pictures and create new forms of expression with this, e.g.:
Art Spiegelman, Maus
Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan
Ben Katchor, Julius Knipl stories (3 books)
Alison Bechdel, Fun Home
Alan Moore, Watchmen
David B, l'Ascension du Haut Mal
David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp and City of Glass
Charles Burns, Black Hole

This is my own list, but maybe you would include a few other works from people like Herriman, Tardi, Mathieu, Sacco, Tan, Mattotti, Morrison, Gaiman, Tatsumi etc., but in any case most of the hyped works are not worth the praise. Many are fun reads of course or good teenager literature, but that's it. For example, I have not yet encountered a single manga book or German language book that I would include in this list. Also many of the famous French and English works are rather crappy contentwise. Quite often they have incredible art and some nice ideas, but sooo many of those books are dragged down by poor execution of the ideas, bad story line, limited scope etc.

What I mainly want to say is that the whole genre is not really worth the hype (yet), in my opinion. The graphic novel as an art form certainly has plenty of potential, but only a few exceptional works are really making use of this. I wonder if this is just the beginning and if there will be a new generation of authors that will raise the level of sophistication to a higher level (in the spirit of Maus or Jimmy Corrigan) such that graphic novels might be taken into account in big literature prizes (I am thinking more along the lines of Nobel or Pulitzer prizes than the existing genre awards).

[Heteronym]

Well, if you have read and enjoyed Watchmen, then you must read From Hell (which I consider superior) and Promethea, both from Alan Moore. The latter is a scholarly historical comic book that weaves history, the occult and the Jack the Ripper murders in a complex narrative that is as much about the Victorian era as it is about the 20th century. In fact Moore intended it as a sort of autopsy of last century, going back to Jack's time to explore how so many of our 20th century ideas were born there. It's a fascinating read!

And Promethea should satisfy your search for sophisticated interplay of language and pictures. What Moore and Williams III achieve in every page, with the colors, the layouts, the several use of media, is magic! They did things in this comic book that hadn't been done before; I can't think of another comic book that pushed the envelope like it in the last ten years.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Well, if you have read and enjoyed Watchmen, then you must read From Hell (which I consider superior) and Promethea, both from Alan Moore. The latter is a scholarly historical comic book that weaves history, the occult and the Jack the Ripper murders in a complex narrative that is as much about the Victorian era as it is about the 20th century. In fact Moore intended it as a sort of autopsy of last century, going back to Jack's time to explore how so many of our 20th century ideas were born there. It's a fascinating read!

And Promethea should satisfy your search for sophisticated interplay of language and pictures. What Moore and Williams III achieve in every page, with the colors, the layouts, the several use of media, is magic! They did things in this comic book that hadn't been done before; I can't think of another comic book that pushed the envelope like it in the last ten years.

Thanks. Yeah, I thought about mentioning From Hell explicitely on my list. It is good, but I consider Watchmen to be better and more important. Imo From Hell suffers very much from the long and serialized production process (like many comics/graphic novels do). Had it been a real novel the author probably would have had the chance to reedit it from the beginning after finishing it.

Shame on me, but Promethea is still on my reading list. But thanks to your recommendation it will be promoted now :)

[Heteronym]

But unlike typical serialised comics, From Hell is not slave to a predefined number of pages per instalment. Each chapter was as long as it had to be, just like in a novel.