Graphic novels worth reading

[j$]

Just wanted to say I just finished "Woody Guthrie & the Dust Bowl Ballads" (by Nick Hayes) and it's a little sentimental (as we all are when we talk about WG I guess) but well worth a read. The two-tone colouring is beautiful and had me researching the Dust Bowl on t'internet, which should be taken as a compliment.

I am also 1/2 way through Darryl Cunningham's "Supercrash - how to hijack the global economy" and so far, it's great - clever without so far falling into polemic. Just to see someone ripping apart the myth of Ayn Rand with well-researched facts would be good enough for me but damn, that man can tell a story. I'll report back on the rest of it later, if people are interested.

j$

[fluffy]

I'm very slowly making my way through the entirety of Digger, which is a webcomic that's also available in (extremely thick) dead-tree form.

[josh]

Well, since this thread is now resurrected... have you ever checked out Persepolis?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_%28comics%29

It's pretty interesting.

Also, Unlikely (Jeffrey Brown):

http://www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Jeffrey- ... 1891830414

That one is insanely confessional... and navel gazy... uncomfortably so, but somehow I liked reading it.

[iVeg]

Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio, Akira, Maus, Bad Machinery and Scary Go Round by John Allison, Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang, Resistance by Carla Jablonski, Bad Island and Ghostworld by Doug TenNapel,

[fluffy]

Oh, yeah, I'm slowly making my way through Persepolis too. :)

[Jerkatorium]

I haven't picked up a graphic novel since a binge about 25 years ago (Dark Knight, Watchmen, Elektra, etc), but I remember that Kyle Baker's "The Cowboy Wally Show" was one of the funniest things I'd ever read.

[j$]

a) Anything by Kyle Baker is guaranteed to frost my nips. Even his run on the Shadow was eye-wateringly beautiful (and you can see his influence in things like 'Gotham By Midnight' - which I am also enjoying at the moment, along with "Dead Boy Detectives" and a few other things).

b) UPDATE: Finished "Supercrash" by Darryl Cunningham - wow, what an amazing book! Halfway between the best economics lecture you ever stumbled into, thinking it was something else, and a long, slow, defiant howl at the state of the world. Really can not sing its praises highly enough.

c) Also whatever you think of Grant Morrison (if anything) and his currrent Multiversity run (if anything) please be checking out issue #5 - Thunderworld Adventures. It's the best single comic I have read in years and it's so great to enjoy a self-contained 'fun' comic that is as smart as it is adorable. Truly wonderful, and a nice retort to the "it can't be for adults unless it's grim, dark and nasty" attitude that has been foisted upon us since "Watchmen".

Yes, I am a comics nerd.

[Niveous]

Wow. How have I missed this thread?

The holidays were very nice to me this year when it comes to graphic novels. I have enjoyed them all:

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction
Tales of the Avenger without the superpowers and his protege dealing with street level crimes.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Lovers from different sides of an interplanetary war have a child and go on the run to ensure its survival.

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona
A Muslim teen from Jersey City gets super powers.

Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris
Superhero Mitchell Hundred retires and becomes mayor of post 9/11 New York City

X-Factor by Peter David
X-Factor is a detective agency for mutants, led by Jamie Madrox who has the power to make duplicates of himself but is struggling with how it is fracturing his psyche.

[j$]

Just to add to the list of 'Recommended Reading", how could I forget Grandville ? I won't even begin trying to describe it, except to say it's *very* European, alternative universe talking animal genius by the always read and look worthy Bryan Talbot. If thinly disguised cameos of Lucky Luke and Spirou (amongst others) means nothing to you, you can still enjoy the mad genius of political comment made through the snout of a tough-talking Badger Inspector Abberline type. See, if I describe it you it sounds rubbish! Trust me, it's fab.

Also yeah for Scary Go Round / Bad Machinery, constantly inspiring stuff! Also really like Wonderella, Two Guys and Guy and a few sadly lost-to-hiatus webcomics such as the Adventures of Beaver and Steve and Antics. All worth checking out ...

And I read the Faction Hawkeye for the first six issues or so, which were great. I feel it kind of lost its way after that, weighed down by its own "no superpowers 60s spy" take on the character. Those first issues, though - wow.

j$

[fluffy]

Okay are we talking about webcomics now? I think we're talking about webcomics now.

http://ohumanstar.com/
http://oglaf.com/ (NSFW)
http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/
http://radiowavecommunication.com/
http://www.adventuresofsuperherogirl.com/
http://starpunchgirl.smackjeeves.com

and of course I think a lot of you don't realize that I draw shitty webcomics too: http://beesbuzz.biz/d/

[johndisk0]

Sunstone. Trust me. Sunstone.

The author is a comic artist professionally and he started doing a comic on his own called Sunstone on his deviantart page. Ink, trace, color, all of it. It blew up and now he publishes it as a TPB under the Image/Top Cow label.

Warning, though. If you haven't heard of it, it has BDSM and fem-fem relationships in it. But that's not the story; it enhances it. He has created the richest character development I have ever read, and believe me, major reviewers think so, too. Phenomenal work for a single person to perform. Highly recommended.

-jd0