# recommend me some graphic novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367 "2006-11-22T01:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/1 "2006-11-22T01:08:55Z")
Hi, all. Could anyone recommend some graphic novels? I liked Watchmen and V for Vendetta - what else might I be likely to enjoy? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/2 "2006-11-22T02:16:06Z")
If you’d like to continue with books written by Alan Moore, I can recommend his “[Top 10](http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1563896680/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/002-5491353-7870437)” books. These are described as follows (copying from the back of the paperback of the first volume): “Imagine a city where every citizen, from poorest slum-dweller to corporate honcho, has unusual powers powers and abilities - not to mention an alter ego and costume. How would you police such a city?” These volumes are stories of that city’s cops. The stories are fun and very engaging. ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/3 "2006-11-22T02:21:26Z")
[QUOTE=Landshark] has unusual powers powers and abilities [/QUOTE] As per normal I previewed, but somehow managed to miss that double “powers”. sigh ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/4 "2006-11-22T02:35:44Z")
If you’re looking for something unusual and thought-provoking, I’ve been very impressed with The Exterminators, and the first paperback came out a few months back, as I recall. I’ve also liked some of the old Frank Miller stories - Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: Year One, and of course, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/5 "2006-11-22T02:41:47Z")
**Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth** by Chris Ware is more than worth a look. Much of the story is set in the late 19th century during Chicago’s Columbian Expostion. It is lovingly detailed and I had to read through it several times before I spotted all of the minute details. I don’t know what else to say about it because words fail me. You have to read it for yourself, I think. Maybe someone else will come by and expound its virtues. **Clyde Fans: Book 1** by Seth is also great. If there is a Book 2 I’m not aware of it, but I believe the first book is actually a collection of a serialized strip so maybe it is being continued in the same way. I don’t know. It follows the story of a family who’s business was in the manufacture and sale of . . . fans. This story, like Ware’s graphic novel, has a scattered timeline jumping from the somewhat recent past to sometime in the 1930’s. My memory is murky on this point, but I think it is set in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/6 "2006-11-22T03:03:42Z")
If you liked _Watchmen_ and _V for Vendetta_, invest in Alan Moore’s _League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_ (there’s the original and _The Black Dossier_) and _Saga of the Swamp Thing_–well worth it. Also worth checking out are _Promethea_ and the new _Lost Girls_. In the same vein, Neil Gaiman’s _Sandman_ series is seriously excellent. _Kingdom Come_ by Mark Waid and _Batman: The Dark Knight Returns_ by Frank Miller are considered pretty seminal if you’re a DC fan, and there’s _The Absolute Authority_ by Warren Ellis and _Absolute Batman: Hush_ by Joseph Loeb… ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/7 "2006-11-22T03:46:25Z")
Marvel 1602 is a great read. It’s jsut as it sounds, all the classic Marvel characters in the early 17th Century. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/8 "2006-11-22T05:35:52Z")
_Powers_, by Bendis and Oeming, is another very good superhero series that’s been collected into books. So far, there’s _Who Killed Retro Girl?_, _Role Play_, _Little Deaths_, _Supergroup_, _Anarchy_, _The Sellouts_, _Forever_, _Legends_, and _Psychotic_. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/9 "2006-11-22T05:50:32Z")
Preacher and Transmetropolitan are two of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/10 "2006-11-22T06:09:57Z")
Is “Battle Hymn” any good? ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/11 "2006-11-22T06:24:26Z")
Astro City is a great series. It’s a little like Watchmen in the way it treats superheroes, except it takes a much less negative view. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/12 "2006-11-22T06:42:13Z")
FWIW, I just read - and hated - _Jimmy Corrigan_. It came across as pretentious and being bleak simply for the sake of being bleak. But a lot of people I know loved it, so YMMV. The author, Were, has been compared to Dave Eggers, who wrote _A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_. Which I also hated, for the same reasons. I did like _Maus_, but it’s about the Holocaust, so it’s not exactly light reading. Very interesting, though, and made me cry at some points. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/13 "2006-11-22T06:43:17Z")
Sorry, the author is Ware, not Were. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/14 "2006-11-22T08:48:50Z")
Also Alan Moore,_From Hell_ is rather good. Since the OP isn’t asking after graphic novels _sensu strictu_, but rather collections, I’d also like to recommend some more Brit stuff - _Slaine, the Horned God_ collection by Bisley. mmm, which Hellblazer collection to recommned… ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/15 "2006-11-22T10:34:45Z")
How about [Maus](http://www.amazon.com/Maus-Survivors-Father-History-Troubles/dp/0679748407/sr=8-1/qid=1164191634/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9599503-8978364?ie=UTF8&s=books)? It’s about a serious topic (the Halocaust, based on true events). Very, very good book. It’s about as graphic novel as you could get. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/16 "2006-11-22T10:49:25Z")
Second Neil Gaiman’s **Sandman** and add his **Black Orchid**. And if you’re up for more (ahem) Moore there’s **The Ballad of Halo Jones** which starts quite light but gets darker further in. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/17 "2006-11-22T15:25:00Z")
Another nod for Brian Michael Bendis’ **Powers** series. Everyday cops dealing with crime in a world of superheroes. I love how he writes his dialogue. I also enjoyed Millar’s run in **The Authority** , as well as his treatment of **The Ultimates** (Marvel’s Avengers.) Like Bendis, he excels in showing superheroes as real people with real-world issues. The original **Aliens vs. Predator** was good. You can probably safely ignore anything that follows the franchise, but the first one is very well done. Also, virtually any **Groo** collection is good, as are collections of **The Tick** while Bed Edlund was writing. (Sean Wang was a good Tick writer too.) Since I’m getting all old-school on y’all, I might as well suggest the first four or so collections of **Elfquest**. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/18 "2006-11-22T15:32:58Z")
If you can find an old copy, the one-volume compilation of CAMELOT 3000 is pretty good. I’ve got the individual issues (about 13, I think)- insectoid aliens are attacking Earth, the leaders of Earth’s defense are unaware they are reincarnations of Guenevire & the Knights of the Round Table, while their leader, the UN Sec-Gen in actually in league with the attacking aliens as he is none other than Mordred, in thrall to Morgan LaFey. Meanwhile, a teenage boy flees attacking aliens by going down into a cavern in an archaeoligical dig on Glastonbury Tor. He collides with an ancient crypt & awakens its inhabitant, that moment also awakens the memories of the reborn lords & ladies of Camelot. Who could that inhabitant be? A once and future… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/19 "2006-11-22T15:36:46Z")
I recommend the [Usagi Yojimbo](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st/102-9866225-1120913?page=1&rh=n%3A1000%2Cp_28%3Ausagi+yojimbo%2Cp_45%3A0%2Cp_46%3Abefore%2Cp_47%3A2009&sort=daterank&x=5&y=10) series. Contrary to appearances, it **is not** a childrens’ series, but has a dammed good plot, & intresting art. Do not dismiss it as a “furry” series, either. Is is very, very good, & some of the best names in comics agree with me. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367/20 "2006-11-22T15:42:25Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] I recommend the [Usagi Yojimbo](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st/102-9866225-1120913?page=1&rh=n%3A1000%2Cp_28%3Ausagi+yojimbo%2Cp_45%3A0%2Cp_46%3Abefore%2Cp_47%3A2009&sort=daterank&x=5&y=10) series. Contrary to appearances, it **is not** a childrens’ series, but has a dammed good plot, & intresting art. Do not dismiss it as a “furry” series, either. Is is very, very good, & some of the best names in comics agree with me. [/QUOTE] What **Bosda** said. I can’t believe I left out Usagi. Very compelling characters and plots. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-graphic-novels/381367.md?page=2)