# Really Fabulous Graphic Novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429 "2003-03-14T20:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JeanLinen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@JeanLinen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeanLinen)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/21 "2003-03-15T20:22:42Z")
Grant Morrison’s THE INVISIBLES ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/22 "2003-03-15T21:13:15Z")
I have the first one from the Sandman Collection… soon as I get the chance I’m buying the rest (one by one) along with the Death graphic novels and Books of Magic… oh and probably Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (I saw it a few days ago at the local store) ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/23 "2003-03-15T22:01:50Z")
If you can find the only Sandman Mystery Theatre TPB, it would be worth your while. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/24 "2003-03-16T01:38:24Z")
If you liked Maus- and whould like to see what graphic novels can do with real world topics- I cannot possibly recommend too highly \*\* Joe Sacco’s “Safe Area Gorazde” \*\* about the war in Bosnia. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/25 "2003-03-16T04:05:23Z")
WHY I HATE SATURN is wonderful. It’s always amazing to me, for some reason, when a guy can write a woman’s role so well. But the OP lists super-hero type stuff, and my favorite in that category is WATCHMEN. Didn’t I see somewhere that a film version is in the works? ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/26 "2003-03-16T21:59:36Z")
I cannon recommend Marvel Comics’ Max series enough. Some of the hardest-hitting stories I’ve ever read, and some of the most blistering indictments of the American way of doing things I’ve ever seen. Oh yeah, completely free speech and plenty of bloodshed to boot. Who needs manga? 😃 (Definitely start with Fury; it’s by far the most cold-blooded.) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/27 "2003-03-17T14:34:30Z")
“Gotham by Gaslight” which tells the story of Batman if he had lived in the Victorian era and “Batman:Year One” should appeal to you if you enjoyed “The Dark Knight Returns.” ---
**Author:** ![MusicJunkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MusicJunkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MusicJunkie)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/28 "2003-03-17T20:46:59Z")
Is Gotham by Gaslight the one where he meets Houdini? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/29 "2003-03-17T22:25:48Z")
If you like _The Dark Knight Returns_, then check out some of Frank Miller’s other stuff, as mentioned by other posters. Especially _300_ and any of his _ **Sin City** _ books (there are several). I also recommend _Moonshadow_ by J.M. DeMatteis. A wonderful, epic fairy-tale. And also _The Crow_ by James O’Barr. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/30 "2003-03-17T23:15:37Z")
Well, pretty much every comic I read has already been mentioned, except for **Planetary**. Good, conspiracy-laden '50s era sci-fi. Sort of the X-Files meets Amazing Stories. **tsarina** , check out **From Hell** , a meticulously researched and very literate look at Jack the Ripper. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/31 "2003-03-18T12:25:24Z")
“Gotham by Gaslight” is the one where he meets Jack the Ripper. ---
**Author:** ![pcarney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ea5d25/32.png) [@pcarney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pcarney)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/32 "2003-03-18T13:09:52Z")
The Watchmen really opened up my eyes to how powerful these stories can be. I’m fond of Hellboy as well, but its not nearly in the same class as the Watchmen. I like the Sin City books- the art is great- especially in ‘That Yellow Bastard’ ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/33 "2003-03-18T16:45:33Z")
CAMELOT 3000- 3000 AD- Space aliens are invading Earth- the UN world gov’t can’t stop them. A boy fleeing aliens in England goes down into an archaeological dig & crashes into the tomb of King Arthur- rousing him. They then go to a lake, retrieve Excalibur & summon Merlin who casts a memory-restoration spell which makes all the Knights & Ladies of the Round Table who have been reincarnated throughout the world recall their past lives… Much cooler than it sounds. INCLUDES both Christianity AND lesbianism (Tristan & Isolde are both reincarnated as women). ELVIS SHRUGGED- a brilliant pro-Libertarian parody of … you know what ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/34 "2003-03-18T18:26:16Z")
“The Big Book of Urban Legends” is fun too. I just read _The Golden Age_, which features nearly-forgotten characters from the 1940’s (e.g., Hourman, the Americommando and Johnny Quick) in a story involving HUAC, betrayal and the difficulty of living past your own era. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/35 "2003-03-19T04:06:20Z")
The library I work at has lots of graphic novels, all ghettoized into the young adult section. If you - like me - are not made of money, you could go to your library & get most of the ones mentioned here (or thru good old inter-library loan). Recommend Ted Rall’s book about his visit to Afghanistan. Part of it is in the form of a graphic novel. There is a series of books called “The Cartoon History of the World” which, yes, delivers the history of the world in sort-of graphic novel fashion. The graphic novel version of “The Hobbit” which is out now is pretty interesting. (Don’t know why he made Bilbo’s hair straight not curly…) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429/36 "2003-03-19T07:42:30Z")
The **Love and Rockets** collections are all excellent; I’d start with either “Heartbreak Soup” or “The Death of Speedy.” If you start with the earliest volumes, Los Bros hadn’t reached their levels of competence yet, and the later ones all refer to earlier stories. Start with volumes 2 or 3 to see if this is your cup of tea. And while all the **Sandman** books are excellent, again, start with the second volume (“A Doll’s House”) just to see if you like it. All the stylistic quirks of the first volume are best avoided for your first exposure to the series, I think, and this one has the two best individual stories, “Collectors” and the one about Hob Gadling. Oh, also the collected first series of **Elfquest.** Spring for the color editions, it’s worth the extra cost (unless that’s all that’s still in print). Superior art and characterization for this type of story. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-fabulous-graphic-novels/161429.md?page=1)