graphic novels that make you go wow

[riskit4abiskit]

Hello,

I really rate Maus - about the holocaust as being amazing, and have watchmen too.
Have bought dh one about a plague for Xmas (shamelessly really a present to me!)

Anyone else have any recommendations?
Thanks

[TheSurgeonsMate]

I like mine a bit less serious than you, I think. Have my top picks anyway -

Fables, a series of books about almost immortal fairytale characters who have been driven from their homeland to live undercover in NewYork. The first one didn't grab me too uch, but after number two I was hooked and have read them all and all the spin-off serieses.

Locke and Key - "horror" series about a family whose children can see the magic in a set of keys distributed around their old house. Obviously baddies from another world are also interested in the keys. Not too horrible, I don't think, and very ingenious with introducing a new key every now and again to keep you thinking - sex change key, back in time key, become a ghost key, that sort of thing.

Something completely different from comic books series - Posy Simmonds' two graphic novels are great. Gemma Bovary and, er enother one. That got made into a movie. Or maybe that was Gemma.

[Emphaticmaybe]

Legends: The Enchanted by Nick Percival.
Post-apocalyptic dark fairytale - amazing artwork and story. Maybe difficult to get hold of but worth a try.

Sin City - Frank Miller - gritty, pulpy, hard-boiled crime drama.
Y - The Last Man - Brian K Vaughn - virus kills off all men bar one - life in a female dominated society.
Wolverine: Oldman Logan - Mark Millar - set in the future, super heroes dead villains taken over - a bit like the plot of Unforgiven.

I love graphic novels,

[tiggy114]

LOVED maus. I adored it. I have read very little graphic novels but enjoyed the sandman ones and really liked 30 days of night, which is now a really crap film. I am desperate to read v for vendetta but it's expensive

[Aloha31]

Came here especially to say Maus too! Favourite book of all time.

[TheElfOnThePanopticon]

Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco is amazing, but very upsetting to read. I also really like Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. For (somewhat) lighter reading, Fun Home and Grandville are both excellent in different ways. I enjoy the Fable series, too.

[TheElfOnThePanopticon]

V for Vendetta is very good - so much better than the film.

[RillaBlythe]

Fun Home is great. Are You My Mother didn't grab me in the same way.

[hippoCritt]

The Shepherd by Ethan Cross, the memory of it still makes me shiver

[riskit4abiskit]

Thanks everyone!

Defo fancy v for vendetta its been on my amazon wish list for ages but as tiggy says its expensive


Also interested now in the ones I was avoiding due to the films.

Aloha, its one.of my faves too, I buy it for others as presents to spread the love!

[riskit4abiskit]

Also sandman, there seem to be a million versions, could anyone shed any light on that too? Thanks!

[Selks]

Persepolis is brilliant

[TheSurgeonsMate]

YY I love Y - The Last Man too.

The whole thing is very expensive, though. The bound volumes of comic series cost as much as books (which is fair!) but they only take a fraction of the time to read.

[AngryGnome]

You might like Barefoot Gen. It is similar in tone to Maus, but instead deals with the atomic bombings in Japan. It's a fascinating medium to use to to talk about trauma and survival.

[Lionsntigersnbears]

Second Thesurgeonsmate's choices, especially Locke and Key which has to be the best series out there at the moment. I also loved Y! Saga is also good- aliens with a baby in tow fleeing persecution. Also Morning Glories- weird shennanigans set in a scary dystopian boarding school- is pretty good. I love Posy Simmonds too- I think the second one is called Tamara Drew (?).

[PurpleTinsel]

Fables is fantastic. Have only read the first 2 volumes of Y the Last Man, but enjoyed them.

Sandman very good too - there's 10 volumes of Sandman, starting with Preludes and Nocturnes.

The first volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was good, but the series went rapidly downhill after that IMO.

Also liked Akira.

[ravenAK]

The Sandman is awesome.

Also Martin Rowson's The Wasteland.

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Ooh, you buggers, virtually everything I came on to recommend has been said already.

Except Preacher! Great, but pretty violent.

So, series I have loved: Sandman, of course; Y the last man; Fables; Locke & Key; Joe Sacco's work...

Stand-alone books: Fun Home (have read recently the author has done a sequel), Stuck Rubber Baby (about growing up gay in 60's USA)

If you find the books expensive, you can always look on eBay for them, if you just want the story and aren't too fussy about mint editions. Some of us are funding the DC's Xmas presents with judicious flogging .
Having looked it up, am now severely tempted to sell V for vendetta - I mean, how many times can you read it anyway? aargh....

[CindySherman]

Maus - amazing

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Oh, Joe Hill (Locke & Key) has also written some traditional-style (!?) novels; Horns and Heart-shaped box, both of which I liked.

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Re Sandman; basically, it has just been so popular that they keep re-issuing it in different formats in the hope people will buy it again. Me, I've got some tatty trade paperbacks with the pages falling out, about 20 years old; and also the 'Absolute' collection, that DH has been pleased to discover would do for Xmas and birthday presents for the past two years

You could legitmately skip 'Preludes and Nocturnes' and go straight to 'Dolls House' ;there is sufficient explanation to keep you on track, you could see if it's your sort of thing or not.

[R2PeePoo]

I suspect they weren't written for my age group but I love 'Calamity Jack' and 'Rapunzel's Revenge' by Shannon and Dean Hale.

Amusing, exciting, well drawn, really lighthearted and escapist fantasy. My daughter and I 'share' them, they are perfect for tweens/teens as well.

'When the Wind Blows' and also 'Ethel and Ernest' by Raymond Briggs made me sob my heart out for different reasons. 'Safe Area Gorazde' broke my heart completely.

[ravenAK]

Must try Joe Hill's graphic stuff, I liked Heart Shaped Box (although v v reminiscent of some of his dad's work!).

Currently using 'When The Wind Blows' to generate dramatic monologues for my year 11s - it's surprised me how moved they were by it.

[TheElfOnThePanopticon]

I read When the Wind Blows when I was 11 and was terrified for most of my teens.

There's one about the author's brother's epilepsy which had very good reviews, but I haven't read it and can't remember the author or title.

[C4ro]

Most have been got but I also love Barry Ween, Boy Genius; Girl Genius- both sort of inventor+gadget romps. Ranma; Bleach in Manga both great although I found Bleach dies out a bit around 30 (it's on 40+ now). Mouseguard is very pretty. Logicomix is on the level of Persepolis/ Maus for the complicated end of GN with a message. Order of the Stick just for fun.