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 has just inaugurated a book event on Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and what They Mean by Douglas Wolk (cf Derik Badman's review, 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)

beware of the dog

[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 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

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.