Looking for some recommendations
I've been getting into comic books (or graphic novels) lately and I read some that affected me on a personal level quite a bit. I had never been a comic book person, especially about superhero stuff, and I still don't think they're my cup of tea (Except maybe for Watchmen). I brushed off the whole genre thinking that superhero comics were the best they had to offer and that was quite wrong of me to assume so.
A while ago I read Richard McGuire's comic, Here, and it was one of the best books I've ever read. Brilliant idea, superbly executed. It had a profound affect on me and kicked the doors open to a world I had not known existed.
Subsequently, I bought a few more titles after some research in similar vein to Here. I've read about half of them, but bought all of them thinking that their stories would appeal to me. So in order to give you all some ideas, here's a list of the titles I've purchased so far:
- Here by Richard McGuire
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
- Rusty Brown by Chris Ware
- City of Glass: A Graphic Mystery by Paul Auster, Paul Karasik & David Mazzucchelli
- Black Hole by Charles Burns
- Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Hostage by Guy Delisle
- Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by Guy Delisle
- Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle
- Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess
- Daytripper by Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon
- Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
- From Hell by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
- Berlin by Jason Lutes
- Blankets by Craig Thompson
I've had some comics adapted from novels (like _Brave New World, 1984 etc.) but I'm not into those as much.
My wallet will not like this topic but I'm looking forward to your recommendations. Thank you in advance!
Please do not comment about reading the rest first instead of seeking new recommendations. I understand the sentiment and would normally agree, but I have legitimate reasons to do it.
Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith (of SMBC fame) and Boulet is an absolute delight. It retells parts of the story of Beowulf, but with troublemaking, sugar-guzzling children battling a monster that wants to turn them into boring adults.
It's something of a children's book, but so inventive that I think it's appropriate for any age. It uses poetric devices like kennings and a sort of alliterative verse, paired with excellent black-and-white art. It's a total triumph of vision and execution.
That sounds very interesting and somewhat, in a strange way, related to one of my favorite comic books that I neglected to mention Ghost World. I don't have it available to purchase but it looks like it's relatively a new book, so I'm sure it will get stocked eventually. Added it to my wishlist, thanks!
I'm not sitting in front of my books so I don't have a ton of suggestions (and you already have Asterios Polyp, one of my favorite pieces of media) but I think We3 by Grant Morrison might fit and be a slightly different style than the rest of the list.
Glad you like Asterios Polyp! It's represents exactly what I'm looking for. I don't think what it does can be done in any other medium.
We3 looks very interesting and, dare I say, fun? Unfortunately, when I tried to order it, it wasn't available but I added it to my wishlist. Thanks!
I don't know if I would describe it as fun per se... unless you love being ripped to your core emotionally. The art is super dynamic though and the book has a great sense of motion and action and has a few of my top favorite panels/spreads. Hopefully you get the chance to check it out!
Ah, I'm also down with those emotions. I read the description of the book and it seemed lighthearted with serious undertones but I guess I misunderstood it. As long as all of the book's three heroes stay alive, I'd be OK with the rest. Thank you!
The Incal series (Jodorowsky & Moebius) blew my mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incal
It had a somewhat recent reprint so should be reasonably easy to pick up. I waited for years to be able to pick it up for reasonable money.
The Watchmen is also great.
I heard about The Incal and was going to pick it up but unfortunately it wasn't available in my country. I checked again and that's still the case. Great recommendation though, thank you!
If you want I can buy one here in the United Kingdom and ship it to you, at your cost. I can understand this might not be feasible or you might not want to read it in English.
That's kind, thank you! I can order the book if I want to, but I'd have to make Amazon US import it and given how ridiculous Amazon is with packaging books, I don't want to take the risk of having it ruined on its way to me. Amazon is great with handling customs (I don't have to do anything, whereas if I were to take you up on your kind offer, I'd either have to travel a couple of hundreds of kilometers away and pick it up at the customs in person or pay someone a couple of hundreds of euros to pick it up for me) but despite that I don't go with the option of importing books through them unless I have no other option. I'll wait until I read all the books I have and if some of the recommended titles here are not yet available in my local Amazon, I'll just import them from Amazon US or Germany.
No worries! You have something great to look forward to.
Exactly, thanks! 😊
Don't have a lot of time to elaborate, but just gonna toss out a few recommendations:
Huge second for Watchmen. It may be the earliest massive success of a graphic novel.
Also, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
I heard great things about Akira and I've not read a single manga in my life. So in theory I'm interested, but, its page count a bit daunting not to mention the space I need to have available in my bookshelf. I got my fingers crossed for a Kindle that has a colored e-ink screen this year, so I might read it there sometime in the future.
I've read and watched the animated series of Watchmen and I thought it was fine. As for the rest of your recommendations, they don't seem like what I'm looking for but thank you!
Not sure where you live, but my local library has tons of graphic novels and manga that you can check out. Saves the space (and wallet)!
Glad you took the time to check out my rec's. Sorry if I missed what you were looking for in your post but I'm not familiar with a lot of the books you shared.
Library is not an option, unfortunately. I wish it was.
And no problem! Thank you again 😊
Your list already hits a substantial fraction of the best non-superhero graphic novels available.
Let's add a few items:
Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis and Darick Richardson
A Reddit user gave the following thumbnail plot summary: "Future Hunter S. Thompson brings down Future Nixon Administration through the power of Gonzo journalism and hard drugs." It's got more subtlety than that, and the illustration is marvelous. The caveat I'd issue for your apparent tastes is that it's a super-antihero story.
Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories, by Gilbert Hernández
Goodreads blurb
I was a huge Love and Rockets fan (Jaime and Gilbert Hernández), and the Heartbreak Soup stories are as intricate as telenovelas, but far more grounded in reality, with strong/weak characters of all genders. This is just good literature that happens to be well-illustrated.
Locas, by Jaime Hernandez
Goodreads blurb
I may be biased about this one, because Maggie's story has some personal resonance. All the characters are someone you know, someone you are, or have been, or want to become, as richly written and drawn as you could hope for.
Strangers in Paradise, Terry Moore
It's part slice-of-polyamorous-life, part adventure/crime, and leavens what could be a wrenching emotional ride with just enough action. Illustration quality is excellent. This is a very long (90 issues) read with multiple collections.
Heroes of Blues, Jazz, and Country, Robert Crumb
Goodreads blurb
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, Kate Beaton (of Hark! A Vagrant fame)
Goodreads blurb
That's all I've got off the top of my head, I'll have to dig into the bins and bookshelves for more.
Excellent recommendations, thank you so much! I couldn't find any of these titles available but I've added some to my wish list. Ducks and Heroes of Blues, Jazz, and Country, and Locas look especially interesting. (Transmetropolitan is the most interesting of them all but it's also long. I apologize for not mentioning in my original post that I'm looking for contained comics rather than the ones that has several volumes.)
I haven't read graphic novels for years. But, when I did, I devoured everything that was created / adapted by Clive Barker. I still have them, with the intention of enjoying them all again. I hope my recommendation isn't in vain due to scarcity.
I might be wrong but Clive Barker's comics are one way or another superhero stories, which isn't what I'm looking for. Unless you think they use the medium in some creative way?
Maybe he has some superhero stuff I'm unaware of, but most of clive Barker's works are horror or fantasy, and I believe most of the comics adapted from those works are the same way. I've read a few of the hellraiser bestiary series which I enjoyed, but not much else of his stuff in the comic sphere.
Oh, I just read his Wikipedia page and he had horror/fantasy novels but his comics mostly existed in the superhero space. @digitalphil recommended me to check out Tapping the Vein but I just couldn't find what it was about. Regardless, none of his books are available to purchase for me unless I import it so it's not going to be an option, unfortunately. (They also don't seem to be available on Kindle.)
He did attempt to go down the superhero path. But that wasn't too successful, and was after the other graphic novels were popular. The true gems were based on his short stories. The main ones I'd recommend were the series Tapping the Vein. There were some single titles too. I can have a look at mine if you wish.
I haven't read Barker's graphic novels, but I'm still gonna second them and say take them on a case-by-case basis re: being superhero-adjacent; most of his stuff fits better in horror of various flavors. I get where you're coming from with that, though, and I'd bet Sandman would fall into a similar hole but seriously, Sandman is incredible. (Don't let the show put you off.)
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac was my absolute favorite in hs, but it might be a bit too edgelord without the nostalgia. Transmetropolitan is also excellent, though again not positive how it's held up.
I've never been much into manga/anime, but Junji Ito is absolute god-tier for horror (again, don't let the recent show put you off, they really didn't do him justice).
I heard a lot of good things about Sandman but it's sooooo long. I should've mentioned in my post that I'm looking for books that are contained, consisted of a couple of volumes or so. Maybe I'll read Sandman in the future with an appropriate device that takes away some of the disadvantages that comes with comics that has lots of volumes, because people really do rave about it and I'm intrigued, but I'd be lying if I said I'd read it now.
While Junji Ito's work isn't exactly what I was looking for, he has some interesting books. I've added Frankenstein and Remina to my shopping cart. Thank you!
Sandman does come in self contained stories, usually spanning four issues, I believe. I think most of the reprints follow this. You might miss a reference here and there but the overall story of each arc is completely enjoyable without having read any of the others!
Amazon lists The Sandman series as having eleven books. If I just grab the first one, does it end with a relatively satisfying conclusion? Because that'd be neat. I'm guessing it depends on the print, though. I've looked at my Amazon and they do have an omnibus volume available that is not only hefty in size but also in price (roughly $110). There's also a deluxe edition that's around $25, which I can get assuming it's self-contained (it's this print exactly. I read the description but it didn't really help.)
Yeah so the deluxe edition does have the first 16 issues which I think covers most of the TV show. And also the Midnight Theatre which apparently is just a sort of crossover between the original Sandman from the 40's comics and the new Gaiman Sandman. Haven't read it so couldn't speak much to it unfortunately.
I feel like the books listed on Amazon are actually a bit broader than I was thinking. For instance in the first 20 issues there's three self contained stories (collections) in there. So if you were to get the deluxe edition, that would be two story arcs and the bonus novella. The book 1 listed on Amazon would get you three collections. It looks like the later books listed on Amazon include spinoff material as well.
Hopefully this helps! I found each collection takes me maybe 15-30 minutes to read so you're like at an hour-ish for each book.
Edit: sorry, I failed to answer your first question- they all wrap up pretty satisfyingly as far as I remember, with the exception of one-offs sometimes; if you didn't know there were more, you could probably close it and put it down with a gentle sigh and move on with life, fondly remembering it from time to time.
Thank you for your detailed answer! I think I'll just get the deluxe version of the first book and see if I like it. If I do, I might end up getting the rest of the set. It doesn't look like it takes too much space, which is a good bonus. (I despise that Audible print on the cover, though. Hate it when publishers do that.)
I'm surprised Joe Sacco hasn't been mentioned. If you like Guy Delisle you are going to like him. It's a mix of journalism and comic. His Bosnia and Gaza work stand out.
And for something very different, but also that is creative with the medium, there's 'Lonely at the center of the Earth' by Zoe Thorogood. Warning, it's very depressing.
Great call out with Joe Sacco. His book Palestine's been on my wish list and I check it almost daily to see if it's back in stock but I literally couldn't find a single copy of his book all throughout the country. I could only source a copy of Footnotes in Gaza but only in Turkish and I prefer to read things in their intended language, if I can help it.
It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth sounds like my jam! Added it to my wishlist (not in stock...), thank you!
I second Strangers in Paradise. You can read the first and even second volume as standalone stories. I really like the works of Terry Moore. Rachel Rising is another option, his take on supernatural and horror tales.
You said you liked Watchmen and I’d argue that it’s the kind of work perfect for those who love superhero comics and comics in general, which makes me think of the works of Alex Ross with Mark Waid and Paul Dini. Kingdom Come was with Mark and might be a bit DC lore heavy, but the ones written by Paul Dini focus on single heroes dealing with issues that go beyond their powers. The collected works are all in The World’s Greatest Heroes. You can choose individual ones that draw your interest.
Let’s list:
Almost all of them sound very interesting, thank you so much! I'm especially intrigued by The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and The Many Deaths of Laila Starr. I couldn't find them available but I'll be on the look out.
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but if you like dystopian action sci-fi, I enjoyed Lazarus by writer Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark quite a lot. It's in a rather chilling near-future, quasi-cyberpunk type of setting that I appreciated the worldbuilding of. On the other hand, I'm also a Philistine who can enjoy superhero comics (some of them, anyway).
The very first issue is on the Image Comics website.
I don't think I have fictional books that are political in nature like Lazarus seem to be, so that's nice. It looks interesting. I've bookmarked the link to the first issue and if I like it, I'll see if it's available. Thank you!
Cool. Hopefully you like it!
They both look interesting, thanks! I remember the discourse around Y the Last Man when it was adapted to a series. I was excited to check it out but if I recall correctly it was overwhelmingly disliked by most people.
What I meant by discourse was honestly a couple of podcasts I used to listen regularly like The Watch by The Ringer and they were quite critical of it, more so than usual. They sort of reflected on the general discourse on the internet and were equally critical of that too, so my memory is from listening to them instead of following it myself. I'm sure it was terrible though, given its plot.
I really enjoyed Matt Kindt's MIND MGMT. While it does involve supernatural powers, I wouldn't call it a superhero type of comic. The story is engrossing with many twists and turns and the art is raw and very original. It also has a superb boardgame adaptation.
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check it out when I'm home. To be clear, I'm not against superhero comics in anyway, I'm sure there are plenty of stories that are profound and affecting told in that genre, but they run for pretty long and I'm mostly interested in stories that have limited volumes and preferably come in a single book with everything involved, like the Watchmen.