What's the SECOND best graphic novel?

Cafe Society
21

Strictly speaking, none of the terminology that is ever applied to comics as a medium is ever particularly accurate, so why be nitpicky about it? It originally came out in monthlies - so what? It reads as a “graphic novel” (a term I despise) now, so why does it matter?

As to the OP, I think it really depends on what you’re looking for. If you want more stuff in the vein of “Watchmen,” then “The Dark Knight Returns” is probably a good pick.

If you’re looking for comics, but don’t necessarily want super-heroes, “Maus” is, as others have noted, probably the top pick and the best place to start. Spiegelman is one of the major figures in comics, and “Maus” is his best and best-known work, and well-worth a read for anybody.

I guess the real question is, what do you like in other media? What kind of prose novels do you like? Movies? TV?

If you like “Lord of the Rings”-style fantasy, try Jeff Smith’s “Bone” or Richard and Wendy Pini’s “Elfquest” (though I’m not sure how easy it is to find in stores these days).

If you’re into sci-fi, you might try “Fear Agent,” which works as sort of a throwback to pulp sci-fi and 1950s “Weird Tales”-type comics. It’s all kinds of fun.

If you like more mainstream literary fiction, you might try Craig Thompson’s “Blankets” or Jason Lutes’ “Berlin.”

If you like historical stuff, try Stan Sakai’s “Usagi Yojimbo” series. Other than the fact that the characters are all rabbits, cats and other anthropomorphic animals, it’s a well-researched and hella fun Medieval Japanese adventure.

There’s comics to fit just about any genre you can name. Figure out what genres you want to read, then find a decent local comic store (or bookshop with a good comics selection), and go to town. If there’s not a good brick-and-mortar shop in your area, you can try www.cheapasstrades.com to help you find good prices on lots of stuff.

22

Well… Time magazine several years ago named it one of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923, and it’s the only graphic novel on the list, so I’d say it’s not just Hollywood hype: http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,watchmen,00.html

Here’s Time’s ten-best GNs, too, FWIW: http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,graphic_novels,00.html

23

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. I think it’s the one book that makes more use of the medium than even Watchmen.

That said, I agree that Watchmen, great though it is, isn’t the best. But that’s nitpicking, I guess.

Other great works I’d suggest are Maus, Jimmy Corrigan, Goodbye, Chunky Rice, Blankets, Persepolis, Fun Home, American Born Chinese, and various volumes of the Acme Novelty Library.

24

Cerebus: High Society should be in this discussion as well. Dave Sim’s first ever attempt at a longer form and he changed the face of the industry with it.

25

By that logic, Charles Dickens never wrote a novel.

26

shy guy has pretty much covered what’s on my shelf. Not yet mentioned is Guy DeLisle - he wrote 3 really interesting travelogues: Pyongyang, Shenzhen, and The Burma Chronicles. I highly recommend them all.

27

These are repeats from upthread, but deserve multiple noms:

Maus and

Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth

28

V for Vendetta and Sandman (which is broken up into a bunch of volumes, but we’ll pretend it counts as one “novel”) are my favorites along with Watchmen.

29

I really like Persepolis. The art is beautiful and it’s very funny, touching, and observant.

30

Autobiography is one of the strongest parts of the art-comics end of the spectrum. I’ll put in a big plug for Alison Bechdel’s excellent and moving memoir Fun Home, one of the very best works in comics form (but be warned, it’s far more tragic than fun).

31

I nominate Hooky, a little-known Spider-Man GN from 1986.

32

As an outside choice, I’d recommend The Arrival, by Shaun Tan. I’m a* huge *Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman fan , and Maus is also great, but this…there are no words.

…no, literally, there are no words. But it’s beautiful, and sad, and inspiring, and breathtaking, and artistic and surreal. I cannot praise it highly enough.

33

Akira

34

I haven’t read it, or any other graphic novel for that matter.

FWIW: Batman “The Killing Joke”

35

Holy cow, that link MrDibble provided has some fabulous pages from that book. It’s definitely on my list to read now.

36

hmmm… I guess it’s a Manga, but have any of you read Barefoot Gen? It’s the story of a boy who grows up in WWII era Hiroshima. It takes place in the 4 months before the bombing and immediately after.

I highly recommend reading it.

37

In my opinion, after reading Maus, The Watchmen is the second best graphic novel.

38

Another vote for The Dark Knight Returns and one for V for Vendetta as well. I also found the V for Vendetta movie to be very entertaining.

39

Try Persepolis and you might think Watchman is the third best graphic novel.

But I suspect it depends on what you are looking for - Watchmen is a great graphic novel with a LOT of comic book memes twisted around itself (I like V for Vendetta as well). Maus and Persepolis are personal histories written as graphic novels - and more powerful because they are true stories.

Persepolis has rather simplistic art - of those three Watchman blows the other two away for art - but that isn’t what Maus or Persepolis are about.

40

It’s interesting that both Maus and Watchmen have smaller comics within there larger framework (Prisoner on the Hell Planet and Tales of the Black Freighter).