I think it is someones cheap kicks for a friday night we need to just ignore the whole thing.Bound to go to sleep at some point!

i didn't mean that. i meant that i mentioned the book and you could have asked me who the author was. but WHATEVER.

okay. next time i'll make sure anything that i say is specifically addressed towards you.
sorry.

my favourite series are preacher - the tale of a southern reverend with a dark past, taking on the almighty and popping plenty of caps along the way. that makes it sound kind of lame, but it will kick your ass! it is quite violent though (although violence for the sake of it has never appealed to me, preacher has enough good character & plot to back up the gore), perhaps not for the faint hearted!

and y the last man - people have already talked it up, so i won't go into it except to say that it's a great, fast paced story, and the last trade comes out in the middle of the year. that is often a consideration for me when getting into a new series, as there's nothing more frustrating than getting into something only to find they're planning on doing 7000 more issues, and then they wind up ditching it halfway through. as much as i don't want Y to end, its good to know there's going to be proper closure (i hope!).

marjane satrapi is cool too - she has two (that i'm aware of), persepolis, about growing up in iran during the islamic revolution (it was very compelling & her drawings are amazing - very simple but so expressive and full of movement) and another one, the name of which escapes me, which is less autobiographical.

also good is runaways - a bit superhero-y but not in a lame way (i am no fan of superhero comics, blurrgh). its more along the lines of buffy, and i think joss whedon is actually taking over the writing (from brian vaughan, the y the last man guy) as of omnibus #8 or so. its a teen series, but don't let that put you off, it's good fun!

as someone above said, fables is awesome, and of course sandman (neil ) although i haven't read a huge number of comics, i've never been disappointed with a series on vertigo, so that's always worth keeping in mind!

no one has mentioned watchmen! classic classic classic!

i admit, i still haven't got around to reading it :\

I've been waiting for the asshat who borrowed it from the school library to return the Watchmen. I think no one mentioned it because you asked for non-superhero stuff.

well, for all of everyone's Watchmen loving, I just didn't enjoy it.
I might give it another go, but jesus, I found it boring.
And it was only 8 issues.

Oh and V for Vendetta was the same.
(But I liked V more than Watchmen)
I just can't seem to like Alan Moore.

And I know no superhero crap, but 'Kingdom Come' was fantastic.

cut the sarcasm. i just think it's rude to ignore people.

i just never get around to the alan moores - i keep meaning to, but then other things come up! you're the first person who hasn't heaped praise upon him, which makes me think there's probably at least a few people out there who agree with you but don't say so because he's meant to be like, the godfather of the modern graphic novel or whatever. it's always better to like something because you like it, not because you feel like its your cultural imperative!

what's kingdom come? it sounds like we've got similar taste so i'd be interested in checking it out. (thanks for the rep btw, sorry i can't return the favour!)

Kingdom Come is a DC story about morality (aren't they all) and what happens after the super heros step down.
And they're all old, and tired .... and .. I dunno I just really enjoyed it.
And you can talk About Alan Moore, and I can see what he does, and why everyone praises him etc, and yeah I appriciate what he did and how he crafts his art, but, I just find the end result boring.

I read Transmet after Preacher and The Sandman, and really enjoyed it. But I gave it to a friend of mine, and he hated it, so, tastes differ

Garth Ennis wrote The Punisher after Preacher so I collect that too
But sometimes its a bit samey. And the other Punisher writers don't suit me at all.

Try looking up Planetary too?

Or PM me and I'll upload some for you

My favourites:

Maus - Art Spiegelman
Persepolis/Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi

Palestine - Joe Sacco
Riel (about the Métis leader/founder of Manitoba) - Chester Brown

Bunny by Simone Lia (cutesy, but not overly so, about a man and his adopted rabbit son)

The Tale Of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot (about a homeless girl, done in a style of Beatrix Potter in places, it's really sad but well done)

there's this one we have in stock right now which is absolutely beautiful - no words, just amazing illustrations - and of course I can't remember its fucking name. It's about people moving to new lands and getting used to strange foods, customs, language, and it manages to express this without needing a narrative. I'll edit this when I remember...

EDIT: The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Fucking beautiful:

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Sin City series by Frank Miller.
Tank Girl.

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Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
I'll draw a sketch of thee,
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?

that was the one I meant was notable for not being mentioned, haha

I remember when it was the automatic number 1 choice on everyones list of graphic novels, maybe it's beginning to show its age a little now. or maybe it's just that everyones coming to it with such expectations and is a little disappointed. I enjoyed it, but a little slow in parts, unfortunatly I'm not sure where on earth it is because I'm tempted to re-read it now.

It's quite complex though, it's not a good place to start with comics. (is saying a comic is complex alright?)


I re-read black hole because of this thread though, it's still a fucking nightmare.

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If you ever feel useless and depressed, remember: one day you were the fastest spermatozoon of all.

Well if we are going to go ahead and mention superhero graphic novels, has anyone read any of the Astro City graphic novels? I've read some scans of the singles and I have the one-shot about Beautie, but I have no idea which tpb I should start off with.

maybe the arrival by shaun tan? that one is beautiful.

sometimes the traditional stuff is the best! i'll have a go at kingdom come, it sounds good! fortunately i work in a bookstore with heaps of comics geeks, so i'll bet someone at work will have a copy i can borrow.

transmet is on my list too - is that the one about sort of post-appocalyptic america? or is that dmz? that's another one i have to read too. oh god, there's so many!

have you read any of the boys? i've only seen a little bit of it but it kind of freaked me out, there was way too much raping and huge ugly penises preacher was pretty violent and stuff, but after seeing the boys i think it could be the cleanest thing ennis ever wrote! i don't really consider myself prudish but it didn't really seem like my kind of thing. is the punisher along similar lines as well? i've never read any of it by other authors so i don't really know what to expect.

also, i might just take you up on that offer re: planetary, thanks!

in a good way or a bad way?

in a good way I guess. it's really, really fucking freaky. it's so brutal and creative, one of those pieces of work where you feel the guy took real chances when making it. it's not comforting at all.

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If you ever feel useless and depressed, remember: one day you were the fastest spermatozoon of all.

AGREED.

My favourite graphic novels are Blankets (hah, I'm a sap!} and Epileptic.

I'll check out the other ones you've listed this summer.