Being a Certified Old Fart ™, I just finished reading my first (ever) graphic novel - Watchmen.
Of course, this is an arguable point, but I had heard that Watchmen was “the best graphic novel ever.” I have to admit I enjoyed it and it whet my whistle to read the “second best graphic novel ever.”
So, what IS the second greatest graphic novel ever? And why?
thanks,
J.
Most people seem to think Batman: The Dark KNight Returns would fit the bill.
It’s The Dark Knight Returns.
It completely returned Batman to his darker roots. The writing is fantastic too, very much like a film noir.
I’ll vote for Starman: Sins of the Father.
Beautifully rendered story about the son of a Golden-Age hero reluctant to get involved in his father’s “costumed silliness” but finding himself gaining an understanding of the life when said “silliness” forces itself on him. The first-person narration is an engaging stream-of-consciousness sort of thing, the family interactions and emotions feel painfully real, and we are introduced to the hero’s unique home city and some of the off-beat supporting characters we will become better acquainted with in future volumes. Pure awesome.
Thirded.
If you want something written more recently, see if you can find a copy of “Superman: Secret Identity.” It is the story of a kid named Clark Kent in Kansas who is sick and tired of getting Superman gifts, and has never forgiven his parents for their sense of humor. Then one day…
Maus won a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation.
I haven’t read enough GNs to really be a good judge, but of the ones I have read, Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, and Batman: Year One are definitely right up there as the top three.
My 2nd best is Top Ten v1 and v2, with Alan Moore writing. Imagine the old TV show Hill St. Blues but where everyone is a super. Just amazing.
Oh, and any of the Astro City books.
I’ll go with Alan Moore’s other masterpiece “From Hell”, a telling of the tale of the hunt for Jack The Ripper using Stephen Knight’s *Jack the Ripper: the Final Solution *as a jumping off point. Explores Victorian society as a whole, feminism, the role of the occult in the every day landmarks around us and some fascinating meditations on the nature of time itself.
I actually would give the top billing to The Dark Knight Returns—I enjoyed it much more than Watchmen.
I’m going to vote for Dan Clowes’ Ghost World.
Maus (actually, it’s number one). There is no greater graphic novel, if only because of the importance of the subject.
I’d also pick any of Will Eisner’s graphic novels; A Contract with God is probably the best, but Dropsie Avenue is also a great one.
Then would come Watchman.
I’d recommend these for you next also. I thought they were both better than the Watchmen.
What about any of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novels? Where do they fall in the hierarchy?
Thanks,
J.
I thought both The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a rollicking adventure in Victorian Britain, with lots of clever literary allusions) and V for Vendetta (a one-man resistance movement to a post-WWIII fascist British government) were quite good. Alan Moore’s words in each, but different artists, IIRC.
The idea that Watchmen is the best graphic novel ever is mostly hype from the Hollywood machine promoting the movie. I’m not dissing the graphic novel, which I liked a lot, but best ever? No. It’s not as groundbreakingly artistic as “Maus”, not as iconoclastic or earth-shattering as “the Dark Knight”, not as intensely personal as “Ghost World”, and not not even all that original an idea. Superheroes becoming drunk with power and committing unspeakable atrocities? Been there, done that with the Dark Phoenix saga.
And I know this is nitpicky, but strictly speaking “Watchmen” was not a graphic novel. It was a mini-series, meant to be read in monthly installments like a ‘regular’ comic book. It was collected into ‘novel’ format, but wasn’t originally published as a single volume.
The first couple volumes of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman are great.
I also quite like Kingdom Come, though the art is better than the story.
Sandman certainly is right up there. Some of his other stuff is hit or miss tho.
Neither was The Dark Knight Returns or Ghost World.
And, The Watchmen has been declared one of the best comics ever long before the movie was even planned.