Graphic Novels

[qcrisp]

I second (or third, or whatever) all the Alan Moore recommendations.

I do like Gaiman, but have gone off him a bit of late for some reason.

I would certainly describe the Japanese graphic novel, Uzumaki as Ligottian, for those who are interested.

I also very much enjoy escapist fluff, such as Outlanders by Manabe Johji.

Tezuka Osamu is considered the god of the comic book form in Japan, and I can certainly recommend what I have read of his. I believe his story of the Buddha has been translated, but I'm not sure whether the same is true of his Second World War story Adorufu ni Tsugu, which means something like 'To Adolf'.

[Cyril Tourneur]

I'm not sure if you can classify it as a graphic novel, but for a while now I'm immensely enjoying Marvel's The Savage Sword of Conan (you can download the issues from the 70s easily on the net)

Savage Sword of Conan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Savage_Sword_of_Conan

Ive seen that Dark Horse has come up with a colored TPB which is surely a 'must buy' for me in the future:

Amazon.com: The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (9781593078386): Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema: Books

 

Amazon.com: The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (9781593078386): Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema: Books

[Doctor Munoz]

A new graphic novel suggestion for people who can read French, Italian or Spanish. The article, (in English)which I don't fully support, specially in its political leanings, can be found at www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=646
I do agree on the quality of Oesterheld-Breccia work. Warning to the numerous Frank Miller fan base, since the author draws some not too flattering comparisons with the Southamericans work.

[Karnos]

Quote Originally Posted by qcrisp";p=&quot

I would certainly describe the Japanese graphic novel, Uzumaki as Ligottian, for those who are interested. .

I listened to your advice and placed the three volumes in my amazon shopping cart :wink: I had to read just a few reviews online to have my attention picked, mainly because I am fascinated by spirals...

[bendk]

This thread started me rummaging through my comic boxes. I came up with a few more:

BRATPACK by Rick Veitch
About some unusual superheroes and their sidekicks. Not at all like Alan Moore's WATCHMEN - which I also liked.

THE MASK. I'm not a big fan of the movies, but the early series put out by Dark Horse Comics were very good. Both violent and funny as all get-out.

LENORE by Roman Dirge
About an adorable little dead girl and her humorous misadventures. She is named after Poe's poem.

I agree with the recommendations for Edward Gorey. In addition to many of his cartoon books, I have quite a few books that he illustrated. I used to love watching the intro to the PBS series MYSTERY! that was based on his artwork.

I'm a big fan of Gahan Wilson too. I have most of his cartoon books. Unfortunately, they are often repetitive and poorly produced. I wish someone would put together a comprehensive collection of his work like they did for Gary Larson. I bought THE COMPLETE FAR SIDE on eBay for $80.00 postpaid, and it was one of the best purchases I have ever made. These books are wonderful. The only drawback to them is you can't read them in bed; they weigh a ton.

I also have a bunch of Jim Unger's HERMAN collections and PLAYBOY CARTOON books and albums. Funny stuff.

On Dr. Zirk's recommendation, I read THE FRANK BOOK by Jim Woodring. (I almost keeled over when I discovered my local library had a copy). It took me a while to get into it, but I finally fell into a groove. I won't go so far as to say I understood it, but I enjoyed it. Woodring has a truly bizarre vision. They got Francis Ford Coppola to write the introduction. I would love to know how that happened.

[Stu]

Doctor Munoz, that article on Oesterheld was fascinating. Makes me wish I was bi-lingual so I could read a copy of Mort Cinder. And even though I'm a Miller fan I agree with the writer's assessment of 300.

And just to get Alan Moore's name mentioned on this thread once more I don't think anyone's mentioned his Swamp Thing work yet.

[Dr. Zirk]

Some great recommendations here - thanks to all of you who have posted suggestions. This has given me a lot of good ideas about which titles I need to be looking for.

Glad to see that bendk was able to check out Jim Woodring's The Frank Book. I didn't like Woodring's stuff at all when I first ran across it in the pages of Heavy Metal years ago, but it's grown on me over the years, and now I think he's a real genius - the Frank stuff is especially amazing.

For anyone else who is curious, there are some Frank animations available on the web at the URL below (they use RealPlayer instead of Flash, so you'll need to have that installed). Definitely worth a look if you're curious about the strange world of Jim Woodring.

http://www.seattle.gov/arts/showcase/peephole/

[Stu]

Forgot to mention Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run. The Brotherhood of Dada, Danny the Street, The Decreator and all other manner of surreal superheroics. The first few stories (Crawling From the Wreckage and The Painting That Ate Paris) have been reprinted in trade paperback. Hopefully the rest of the series will be too.

[beakripped]

I've discovered many recent favorites published by Humanoids/DC, www.humanoids-publishing.com. Unfortunately DC recently terminated its partnership with Humanoids, but they plan to keep their previously published books available. Still no word on who'll take over the distribution after July.

I've got to list Alexandro Jodorowsky as my favorite writer/creator. His films (Fando & Lys, El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) put me in a state of zen; his graphic novels fill me with giddy delight. Take the METABARONS, for instance: there's a plot twist on every page, some so mind-boggling I've had to restrain myself from whipping the books across the room. The gorgeous artwork is by Jaun Gimenez who some of you may be familiar with. The METABARONS is a spin-off of an earlier comic J. created with Moebius, called The INCAL.

Another spin-off, the TECHNOPRIESTS, is a violent and truly surreal tale centered around a young boy's ambitions to become the galaxy's greatest video game creator. When I first read about this book I was turned off, but upon viewing the artwork and reminding myself that it was after all a Jodorowsky novel I picked it up and read it thrice in one day. There are vampire trees that inhabit entire planets, shark-headed pirates... someone gets raped by a comet (you read me right!) and then goes through the pain and torture of birthing the flaming offspring...

My favorite Jodorowsky, however, is a two volume collection called SON OF THE GUN. It's about a man who was born with a tail, brought up by a transvestite midget prostitute who substituted a gun barrel for a pacifier. This man grows up to become, first, a s h i t disturber, then the right-hand man to the president of Mexico. The story gets pretty messed up from there on... The artwork is rendered by George Bess, who also collaborated w/J. on another two volume collection called the WHITE LAMA. It's the polar opposite of SOTG, still packed with violence, but overall it's an uplifting tale, compared to the dark, depressing and depraved nature of SOTG.

Some other suggestions from Humanoids:

Deicide
Sanctum
Hollow Grounds

A suggestion for something published by Fantagraphics:

Black Hole by Charles Burns. It's about an STD that only affects teens, that turns them into mutants.

And one from DC/Vertigo:

Shadows Fall, written by John Ney Reiber, painted by Jon Van Fleet. Basically it's the story of a man who loses his shadow after a little girl dies in his place. While he lives out a horribly mundane life his shadow roams the city taunting people towards suicide so it can feed on their souls. Kinda Ligottian...

P.

[The Silent One]

Quote Originally Posted by Stu";p=&quot

Forgot to mention Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run. The Brotherhood of Dada, Danny the Street, The Decreator and all other manner of surreal superheroics. The first few stories (Crawling From the Wreckage and The Painting That Ate Paris) have been reprinted in trade paperback. Hopefully the rest of the series will be too.

Absolutely! Plus, the Antigod itself has a relatively Ligottian air. (Its cult is led by puppets. C'mon!)