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What are some overlooked comic books or graphic novels that you think deserve more attention?
Comic books and graphics novels are a frequently overlooked form of story telling. We often see well written stories transcend the medium and retold in movies or television where they gain popularity. What are some of your favorite overlooked or under appreciated comic book or graphic novel stories that you think other people should experience? Obviously 'overlooked or under appreciated' is subjective, but offer some recommendations anyway.
I thought The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Filipe Andrade and Ram V was good. His work on Gravity's Wall and Swamp Thing Becoming was also great.
Oh boy, do I ever! It does depend what you mean by underappreciated, though, because a few have received mainstream attention recently.
I only have a few minutes, though, so I'll just list a few and then add descriptions etc. to it later:
Chew, Witch Doctor, Empress, Y: The Last Man, Blacksad, Fables, Animal Man, Superior, Sweet Tooth (the comic, not the show), Promethea, The Wicked & the Divine...
As both a comic and a mythology nerd, the Wicked & the Divine is just so good. The mismash of lots of different stories told in merging ways is so entertaining and well thought out. I really enjoyed trying to put together the clues on who was who along the way along with the deeper plot that we have to discover! Its really a great series.
Of the ones you've listed that I've read, they are great, but they are hardly overlooked: Y: The Last Man and Sweet Tooth had a TV shows, Fables has many spin-off series, video games, and attempted TV shows/movies (sort of like Chew). Superior, Promethea, and Animal Man are all by well-read comics authors.
Compared to Marvel or DC, all comic books are overlooked.
I've read some of Chew which I really enjoyed. Great premise for a story.
I also really liked Jeff Lemire's run on Animal Man. The exploration of 'The Red' as compared to "The Green" is an interesting perspective.
If you are into french/belgian comics, I recommend Imbattable (english title is Mister Invicible I guess). Very fun comic where the superhero can leverage the comic world to his advantage to beat the villains.
Looks very similar to The Unbelievable Gwenpool, Marvel's version of an Isekai character who gets pulled into the Marvel Universe after reading those comics her whole life, gaining the ability to interact with the medium, running amok, and trying to find herself in a comic medium built around making that impossible. Really, really good, much better than I described it.
Guess I'll check it out then, thanks for the recommendation!
I've never heard of these books before but they're definitely a distinct and creative twist on the normal comic reading experience. The creative use of the traditional comic book layout and format is refreshing.
I don't think it's completely underappreciated, but I don't see many people talking about it, but the Bone series by Jeff Smith is good.
I JUST bought the 'Out from Boneville' graphic novel because I have been wanting to read Bone for a long time now. Since the mid 90's in fact, but something else always jumped in front of it.
Orc Stain by James Stokoe.
I'm still waiting for volume 2 even though the writer said he wants to publish atleast 6 volumes. The art style can be so chaotic at times but it fits perfectly with the type of world building and the story the creator is going for. Seriously you owe it to yourself to read it if you like action heavy comics. Whenever I reread it I am always left thinking why hasn't this been turned into an animated series yet, its got that humour that will make the show very famous with fans of adult animated series.
I'm going to grab digital copies. Are there really only seven issues?! Wikipedia says he had planned to do 30.
That's the sad thing its so short, but you can read it in one sitting and have a blast reading it. The last page isn't a cliffhanger per se but it sets up the story for the future issues by introducing an interesting character and you are left yearning for more.
The writer got busy with his work for marvel comics and hasn't returned to it since.
I see adult swim picking it up for a short series and finishing it before the creator launches another issue, kinda like Game of Thrones in that regard
Im going to give it a shot. I really like the illustrations and color work. His illustrations sort of remind me of Geoff Darrow.
Not surprising, especially if they've had any kind of commercial success since. Hopefully they return to it.
I hope Stokoe has the opportunity to finish the story BEFORE it's optioned for TV.
Hope you like it as much as I do.
It's hard to name graphic novels I've read that are truly fabulous but not gotten much attention, because it seems like the cream of the crop tends to get around. I suspect that's because comics are so quick to read that anyone with a library card can become pretty well-read in comics.
I think blind spots happen more because there are different scenes in comic books (e.g. superhero, autobiographical, foreign, webcomic) than actual popularity issues with good comics.
Comparing my Goodreads ratings to review counts, here's two that count as overlooked by my standards:
Shubeik Lubeik - I predict this one will take off eventually, but it's an incredible series of stories about a world where wishes are real and can be manufactured.
Cucumber Quest - Very charming art that lampshades common superhero tropes. Warning, it's unfinished and will never be finished, but it's good enough it doesn't matter.
Concrete - A deeply philosophical comic about someone who unexpectantly becomes a superhero, tries to do good, but doesn't really know how to do it (since there are no supervillains or anything). Sounds like every other superhero book but a much more interesting dive into how it'd be to actually have superpowers in an otherwise normal world.
It does seem there is a dedicated and established fanbase for most of the recommendations I've read in this thread, but I don't think that makes them mainstream, popular or any less worthy of recommendation.
I agree. I think it can also be attributed to the sheer number of options as well as the actions of publishers.
That's Three recommendations. Haha. The book I am somewhat familiar with is Concrete. Cucumber Quest looks like it could be pretty fun to look at. I'm a sucker for that 'calarts' visual style. Shubeik Lubeik is now on my list. I may grab a copy to take on vacation this summer.
There are several comics called "Exquisite Corpse." The one I'm talking about was published by Dark Horse in 1990, and consisted of three issues (Green, Red, and Yellow issues) which were released simultaneously and could be read in any order. The story was about a character's sexual traumas and the violent acts that character then committed, all of which were graphically depicted in a stylized "ugly" black and white, so it was somewhat disturbing but also thought-provoking. This sort of comic never had a chance of becoming "mainstream", but it doesn't deserve to fall into obscurity forever.
The Elon School vs Joe Nobody.
https://elan.school/tag/joe-nobody/
From the first chapter, I couldn’t put it down. I dropped my kid at school and then read the 94 chapters available in my car (the last six haven’t been written yet). It’s the true story about a boy who grew up in a camp for “troubled” teens.
I started skimming through this. Crazy that it's based on a true story. I appreciate the simple yet consistent sort of 'traced' art style, combined with the limited use of color.
The fact that it's set up for a vertically scrolling interface does make it much easier to consume. Especially on mobile devices.
Some of my low-key books I really liked and wished they weren't limited series...
Rover Red Charlie - the zombie apocalypse from the POV of dogs
Todd The Ugliest Kid on Earth - pure absurdity
Li'l Depressed Boy - a young man battling various levels of depression in life, portrayed as a rag doll
Danger Club - a team of teenage/young adult super hero side kicks band together to fight evil without their hero counterparts
I'm not a huge comic aficionado or anything but outside of the mainline Marvel and DC stuff, I've been trying to read through the Fables compendium that I bought recently! I also went through the Incorruptible and Irredeemable books a couple of years ago. I think both are DC but I hardly hear people talking about them.
Fables is DC, actually. They had an imprint called Vertigo which is where a lot of the weird bits of DC talent took up, including Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. (Another underrated indie comic you might not have heard of. :p) Incorruptible and Irredeemable are from "BOOM! Studios."
Oh yeah, duhhh it's literally on the cover of the book LOL don't know how I missed that. I really enjoyed The Wolf Among Us which lead me into grabbing the whole collection, it's really fun! I've been meaning to read The Sandman too, but I feel like I don't have time for so many things haha.
I don't know how overlooked it is but Something is Killing The Children is a fantastic comic.
https://www.boom-studios.com/series/something-killing-children/
I mentioned The Unbelievable Gwenpool in a previous comment, but that, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Unstoppable Wasp form the "Marvel Un-prefix trilogy of YA Young Woman protagonists that are really great and representative of the best of 2010's Marvel." Better title pending.
As far as DC, Superman Smashes the Klan is one of the best books they've put out, YA or no. It's an update of the Adventures of Superman Radio serial that has a really insightful look at Superman's heritage and history, and how much that bigotry and othering can affect people. Anything from Bendis' Wonder Comics or the Hanna-Barbera adaptations are pretty good. Batman: Wayne Family Adventures is on Webtoon, which itself is a powerhouse for vertical scroll comics and manhua.
Speaking of the independent space, Saga is about the heaviest hitter with an ongoing, but comics are an underappreciated medium, independents moreso, I'm counting it. Wynd is great, Radiant Black is great, if you liked Adventure Time or My Little Pony, the tie in comics are great. Comixology has a bunch of original talent if you have Prime, that's great. Substack went into publishing, In The Telling and Exploding Giraffe are 100% free, that's great. Panel Syndicate is a pay what you want website for a collective of creators that does their own publishing. I really like Blackhand Ironhand, but you can shop around, and repurchase items you got for free if you really like something.
Comics are the least effort intensive narrative medium with a visual element, so there's always good stuff coming from somewhere. The trick is to start looking for it.
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is among my favorite Marvel series of all time. Bonus, it was written by Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame.
SMÅ FISK (by Ina Korneliussen) is a collection of wordless black'n white stories, contrasting a cutesy, naive drawing style with raw themes focused on womanhood and loss. Most wordless comics seems more artsy and experimental to me, I'm mostly unable to read them probably without text to set the pace, but this one worked.
Albert Engström was a Swedish cartoonish who produced a wealth of single-panel strips. The jokes were mostly mediocre, but were made acceptable by the way his ink charicatures revealed the characters in the worst way possible. I also like how he constantly experimented with his drawing style, unlike output like Garfield, The Far Side, etc, which are perfectly static in expression.
I'm a bit of a fan of Kája Saudek, although I haven't read any of his work as I can't read Czech. But his hypersexual, dynamic drawings really stand out.
DOLL (Rip Off Press) is a comic book series about the design and misadventures of a advanced sex doll. While the story is plenty lewd, it tells a straight, earnest story. The tale of the titular blow-up doll is kept going for 8 issues which is quite a feat. Read today, the extremely ugly mans quest to get laid (with a doll) ties together with the Incel movement and the rather advanced state of contemporary plastic companionship.
Less overlooked, but there is also STRANGERS IN PARADISE and LOVE AND ROCKETS.
Tunnels by Rutu Modan is a recent one I really really enjoyed, about Israeli archaeologists who discover the suspected location of the ark of the covenant, which happens to be just across the border, under a Palestinian village. I also like the art style a lot; it's very casual and cartoony.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton received quite a bit of attention, in part because she's already a well-known cartoonist, but it's a legitimately phenomenal graphic memoir.
I think both of these deserve to be read by a wider audience, and are eminently approachable for readers who may not be as acquainted with graphic novels.
Maybe I'm just running in the wrong circles, but I never hear anyone talking about Chris Ware. I don't know how to eloquently talk about comics, but there's a richness to his work that lives alongside the sadness. Little details hidden everywhere. The biggest example that comes to mind is the dust cover of one of his hardcover books which unfolds into a sprawling comic page. I guess Jimmy Corrigan is his best known character, but I love everything I've ever read by him.
I recently discovered Chris Ware while googling graphic novels to read. Jimmy Corrigan was recommended and I picked up a copy of 'The smartest Kid on Earth'. There is an odd sadness that accompanies some of the stories, but there is also some really smart humor.
More people should experience his work for sure. Great recommendation.