What is the best Graphic Book [novel] you own

[Proprod]

I am wanting to build my Graphic book collection for inspiration and reference, but mainly for inspiration to keep me in travel of my art. What is the best graphic book you own, the only one I have at the moment is an old Julie Bell Portfolio graphic book, hence why I wish to build my collection from here. Cheers :overhere:

[tensai]

Well there are of course many many great graphic novels. To name a couple I think are among the best:

Electra Assassin - Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Domu, A Child's dream - Ootomo Katsuhiro.

Channel Zero - Brian Wood

The Metabarons - Jodorowsky and Gimenez

and perhaps graphically the most conventional, but without a doubt the most 'impressive';

Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) - Nakazawa Keiji.

[Brendan N]

I don't own Watchmen but I am busy reading it and I can definitely recommend it. Others would be Sin City, Dark Night, Arkahm Asylum and Sandman to name but a few.

[Kman.]

Monkey King!

[bhanu]

Black ande white(tekkon kinkreet)

Electra assasin

Arkham asylum

Cages

Anything by Ashley wood and mike mignola

Blood

The FOuntain (kent williams pwns)

[geckochan]

Sexy Voice and Robo by Iou Kuroda is my hands-down favourite. Tons of personality and great loose artwork.
If you're looking to get some inspiration, maybe start with some anthologies? It's a good way to get to see lots of different styles and approaches. I love the Flight anthologies, but there are more anthologies coming out these days, many of them great ^_^

[Dave_]

The illustrated novel by brom seems good (The Plucker). this art is godlike anyway.

[chaosrocks]

"Mad man's drum" by Lynd Ward signed first edition
http://store.doverpublications.com/0486445003.html

copy right 1930

crx

[Mirana]

Are you talking art books or comics? Comics are going to be story PLUS art, so I hope that's what you wanted.

In addition to some of those listed,
Bone by Jeff Smith
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata
Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue
The Palomar series of Love and Rockets by Gilbert Hernandez

My current passions are:
Fables by Bill Willingham & Various
Y:The Last Man by Brain K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
EyeShield21 by Riichiro Inagaki & Yusuke Murata

[MidgardSerpent]

Daredevil : Born Again
Batman : The Dark Knight Returns
Midnight Nation
Epileptic by David B.


I'm also reading the dutch version of Barefoot Gen right now, definitely worth the time.

[Flake]

Assuming we're talking graphic novels..

Classics..

Invisibles
V For Vendetta
Watchmen
Sandman

Eye Candy..
Glimmer Rats
Durham Red- Scarlet Cantos
Slaine- Books of Invasion
30 Days of Night
Sin City

Honorable mentions..

Preacher
Exterminators
Drafted
Army@Love
Punisher- Garth Ennis
Chronicles of Wormwood
Wanted
Vimanarama
Fallen Angel
Dark Horse AvP stuff
300
Hack/Slash
Barracuda
Wormwood- Gentleman Corpse

[PuppyKitten]

Ummm....

Y: The Last Man definitely and recently I enjoyed Pizzeria Kamikaze.

[DIMAGYAN]

mort cinder (H.G.Oesterheld, A.Breccia)

el eternauta(H.G.Oesterheld,S.Lopez) i don't have this one, but i read it.

[Serpian]

ALL of the graphic novels I own are great.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Sin City: The hard Goodbye by Frank Miller
Sin City: That Yellow Bastard by Frank Miller
300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley

...and that's about it.

[CCThrom]

"The Wizard's Tale"

seriously - David Wenzel is one of the best fantasy illustrators there is... and I think largely ignored or underrated

[dbclemons]

Some Others:
The Airtight Garage by Moebius (Jean Geraud)
Akira -Otomo
American Splendor -Pekar
Batman: Year One -Miller, Mazzucchelli
Batman: Nine Lives -Motter, Lark (lots of good Batmans, huh?)
Black Hole and Big Baby -Burns
Blueberry Saga -Moebius
The Building & Contract with God -Eisner
Ghost World -Clowes
Legend of Mother Sarah -Otomo, Nagayasu
Martha Washington -Miller, Gibbons
Moorcock's Stormbringer -Gaiman, Russell
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind -Miyazaki
Palestine -Sacco
Queen & Country -Rucka
The Ring of the Nibelung -Russell
The Road to Perdition -Collins
Terminal City -Motter, Lark
Torpedo -Abulf, Bernet, Toth
Superman: Secret Identity -Buseik, Immonen

Bonus: Zorro 1 & 2 -Toth (not really novels, but great artwork anyway)

[Ian Mack]

Two that I'm reading right now (over and over)

Garage Band - Gipi

Watercolours with ink line drawing over top.

Cages by Dave McKean.

Here's a line that I particularly like.

The paper
Piety
The Artist
Anxiety
And sensing a win for inanimate things
The rug
looked smug.

The illustration is also very good...griity urban cityscapes with great stylized figures in inks and the man is not afraid to bust in oil paintings when he feels like it.

[squidmonk3j]

if I had to choose just One, i'd have to go with "Cerebus", by Dave Sim....clocks in at about 6000 pages, and is the nearest "comix" equivalent to an actual novel i've ever read. sim has had more influence on western/american comics than anybody will ever be willing to admit...

[mazouko]

Tarot Cafe- Sang-Sun Park

Priest-Hyung Min-woo

Justice and Mercy-Hyung Min-woo, this one is an artbook containg misc sketches as well as concept art for Priest

Bizenghast- Marty M. LeGrow

Robot-anthology featuring Range Murata and various other artists

MPD Psycho- Eiji Otsuka and Shou Tajima (contains gore)

Hino Horror-Hideshi Hino (contains gore)

[Rkhon]

The Sandman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandman_(Vertigo)) collection was always a favorite of mine. Good stuff, great story, and different.

[Mirana]

Bizenghast- Marty M. LeGrow

WOW. I'm gonna ask for a little more background on that one. No offense, I'm just curious as to why that gets your tops vote. :)

[Flake]

The Sandman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandman_(Vertigo)) collection was always a favorite of mine. Good stuff, great story, and different.

The Sandman stuff is sweet.

I found myself stuck alone in a student residence (everyone else has gone home, my cheap train tickets are for next Tuesday kinda scene) for a week with no company and no money but access to my housemates huge collection of comics.

Read them all I think. Pretty much sparked my renewed interest in comics.

[chaosrocks]

bizenhghast is kinda pretty
been reading a lot of falbles lately ...sucked in by the covers
the Vess... "Ballads" is lovely

but my lyndwards have more power than all of them put together
Mad man's drum
Wild pilgrimage
God's Man

I think they've recently been reprinted

[jt4470]

The best graphic novel I own is definitely Watchmen. I recently picked up Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born after reading a lot of good reviews and recommendations, so I guess that too. Then again, I haven't read the Stephen King novels, so I think I'm missing out a bit (though the graphic novel is a prequel).

I also like Sandman (which is a great one but there's so many darn books, it'll cost a small fortune to own them all).

Dark Knight Returns is another good one, as well as Kingdom Come (Alex Ross artwork is pretty gorgeous).

I bought all 8 issues of Spawn Godslayer, and it's a fairly enjoyable read. Too bad it was canceled well before it's time due to poor sales, but I love Phillip Tan's artwork.

Another good book is Justice League: New Frontier.

[Whitevillage]

What, nobody mentioned or has Berserk? :blah:

Not only loved by it's violent graphical content, Berserk is also loved by me because of it's way of storytelling, amount of high detail with tones and crosshatching and the atmosphere of an macabre fairytell.

[jt4470]

Oh, and The Walking Dead I hear is a very good graphic novel collection, but I've only read one issue so far. Will hopefully catch up soon.

[tomwaits4noman]

Mr. Punch by Neil Giaman and Dave McKean
Arkham asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bollard
Dark Knight returns by Frank Miller, Lynn Varney and Klaus Janson
Spawn Tradebacks, based on issues 21 to 40 by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo
The Crow by J.O'Barr and John Wagner

[mwillustration]

Blankets
Kingdom Come
both are great reads with great art.

[lukinec]

there are many graphics novels I like, but when I would choose which ones had a greatest impact on me, then ...

MAUZ - Art Spiegelman

[Sanny]

There is manny books here that one are aming to get my hands on, here is my recomendations:
(some may not be of peoples likening)

Katsura Terada's Monkey King (voilent gory)
Blacksad
Hellboy mutliple books by Mignola
Keeper of Masers- Massimiliano Fressato
Morbus Gravis- serpieri (strong sexual content)
Halo grafic novel (mainly for half the book is really well made, the other half feels a bit like a filler)
Understanding Comic, the invisable art-Scott McCloud

[mazouko]

WOW. I'm gonna ask for a little more background on that one. No offense, I'm just curious as to why that gets your tops vote. :)


Do you mean why I like it, what is it about, or what?

[Mirana]

Why you like it.

[humboldt squid]

The scott pilgrim books might not be the 'best' that I have, but they're the ones I have the most fun reading.

[Dave Kendall]

Although not strictly a graphic novel(it was a monthly title) Alan Moore's Run on Swamp Thing has to be my favourite comic story. It could veer from sheer horror to intense beauty in a page. Steve Bissette's and John Totleben's beautiful art must take 50% of the credit. Swamp thing never looked better. It was the story that gave birth to John Constantine and the Vertigo comic line. I think it also buried the prudish comics code tag. Yay!

I spent my mid-teens greedily tracking down every copy through newsstand outlets. Luckily they are now available as collected volumes.

[Sanny]

It was the story that gave birth to John Constantine and the Vertigo comic line. I think it also buried the prudish comics code tag. Yay!


prudish comics code, that is somethgin im not shrue what you refer to, is it that of mainstream all msut be aming for kids, based of that big qualaty dip of make everything non offending?

[MidgardSerpent]

Although not strictly a graphic novel(it was a monthly title) Alan Moore's Run on Swamp Thing has to be my favourite comic story. It could veer from sheer horror to intense beauty in a page. Steve Bissette's and John Totleben's beautiful art must take 50% of the credit. Swamp thing never looked better. It was the story that gave birth to John Constantine and the Vertigo comic line. I think it also buried the prudish comics code tag. Yay!
Dc still gets approved by the comics code authority nowadays.
I think they temporarily removed the code for an issue or select issues of Swamp thing.
And Marvel stopped using the services of the cca after Quesada became editor-in-chief.



prudish comics code, that is somethgin im not shrue what you refer to, is it that of mainstream all msut be aming for kids, based of that big qualaty dip of make everything non offending?
huhzawhatyasayin' ?

[ExiledRed]

Chopper - Song of the Surfer - John Wagner/Colin Macneil - 1990

[mazouko]

I think Bizenghast has some good design ideas, like with Bali-Lali the spider/jester monster and many of the costumes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mazouko/moo/biz2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mazouko/moo/biz6.jpg

I do wish the artist would put more time and effort into the overall work though. She does some really nice stuff when she puts more detail and does crosshatching, like in the chapter intro illustrations.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mazouko/moo/biz1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mazouko/moo/biz3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mazouko/moo/biz4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mazouko/moo/biz5.jpg

[DSillustration]

There is no way I could put these in order,
but my tops are:

Hard Boiled- Geof Darrow
DC's The New Frontier- Darwyn Cooke
The Sandman Series- Neil Gaiman
The Hellboy Series- Mike Mignola
The Nikopol Trilogy- Enki Bilal
Heavy Liquid- Paul Pope
100%- Paul Pope
Stray Bullets- David Lapham
Sin City- Frank Miller
The Big Fat Kill- Frank Miller
The Keepers of the Maser- Frezzato
Blacksad- Guarnido
Valerian- Mezieres
Arkham Asylum - Dave McKean
Cages - Dave McKean
Airtight Garage- Moebius
HP's Rock City- Moebius
Blade of the Immortal - Hirokai Samura
Akira- Katsuhiro Otomo
Domu- Katsuhiro Otomo
Black and White- Taiyō Matsumoto
No. 5- Taiyō Matsumoto
Uzumaki- Junji Ito
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind- Hayao Miyazaki

[Mirana]

Mazuko - All ya had to say is you like the illustrations and costumes. I'm familiar with the artist. :) She does do nice illustration work and makes her own costumes, but she's a poor comic artist IMO. I've heard her later volumes get better so I just wondered if she'd improved her movement, transitions and storytelling beyond what they were in college. :)

[MiniGoth]

I can't believe no one mentioned Strangers in Paradise yet.

Fables is the newest one to rock the casbah.

Anything by Art Spiegleman.

Have to say I also dig Angry Christ Comix.

[ArneSReismueller]

everything from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Tardi

[Proprod]

Wow what a wealth of information, I haven't back for awhile and I didn't realize that there are so many. I am also in the process [beginnings]of my own novel but am a bit confused, when producing a graphic novel does it have to have a story [written either comic or story] within the the art work. I will be just doing art work that will tell of a journey just with the art, would this still be called a graphic novel or an Illustrated novel?
I know I have a lot of research a head of me.:anime:

[Proprod]

To add to my last response as well is there any good research information on the best way and practices of producing a Illustration / Graphic novel, and are there good publishers that take on this type of publication. I wish to research as much as possible so that I do this right the first time. Cheers

[Balooga]

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore/Brian Bolland is a classic.

[MarkHarchar]

I am partial to Batrman - Hush, Jim Lee and Jeff Loeb

[jinxtigr]

Huh, Sanny steps very close to the one I'm thinking of.

MAKING Comics, by Scott McCloud.

That book basically showed me what the fuss was about. Constantly re-reading it.

Also, it's fascinating how the concept art crowd naturally goes towards very detailed stuff with crosshatching and all that, but you also see Art Spiegelman's "Maus" which is not a technical showpiece- more 'iconic' as McCloud would have it.

I would be very cautious of trying to push things too far in a realistic direction for fear people wouldn't engage with it as much as admire it. There's a whole world beyond 'what beautiful art'. Beautiful art can be distracting and stop people identifying with the story, leave them on the outside looking in.

[tatiana]

My favorites that I own are (in no particular order...and that I can recall without digging through my library):

- LES LUMIERES DE L'AMALOU by Claire Wendling
- Hellboy series by Mike Mignola
- The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
- Fables by Bill Willingham
- The Belladone Trilogy by Pierre Alary
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (manga series) by Hayao Miyazaki
- The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

I see several others posted already that I wasn't familiar with that I'll have to check out... :)

t

[Mirana]

There's a whole world beyond 'what beautiful art'. Beautiful art can be distracting and stop people identifying with the story, leave them on the outside looking in.

Ah, so you have read Bone, yes? :D I adore simplistic styles (which are much harder than they look).

If it's over-worked in cross-hatch or detail you run the risk of it being too busy with no focus. In an illustration that's bad, in a comic it's a killer. Also, direct modelling for every. single. panel. is a huge no-no for me (I'm looking at you Alex Ross, Ex Machina...bleh). I do not want to read a semi-photo-realistic book based on nothing but real models trying to POSE out how Superman would fly, or over-act a grimace. Stiff and lifeless. :P

[jinxtigr]

I know what Bone is, and I grew up reading TONS- like several linear feet, dozens of books- of my Dad's "Pogo".

Now THAT is killer, great work. I know Bone is also great stuff, very much in the same camp.

Can't agree more. My trouble is I'm such an unnatural artist that I have to build the simpler stuff from the ground up. Dum de dum, four arcs for an eye? No, a hair TOO real, how about two? Mmm, not quite. Three? Hmm... and so on. Can't seem to intuitively do a damn thing so it's a grueling matter of, here's the side arcs of Garfield's mouth. Now, frowning. OK that was horrible. Now, way smaller, just a little break in the line...

Not a thing I'm doing would get anybody here the faintest bit interested, I have to keep going until I get somewhere that's actually appealing with volume and physicality in the drawings, like old WB cartoons, at which point it will STILL look awfully easy. But that's OK.

Trying to think now, what else? I mentioned Pogo and you're absolutely right about Bone. mmmm... Berke Breathed? A lot of this isn't really 'graphic novels' exactly. Though the 'Mary Kay Commandos' story arc in Bloom County is unforgettable- and amazingly drawn. Who can forget the 'Why, I'm lying here in stocks' image?

Also- it's incredible how detailed and rich the BACKGROUNDS in Pogo or Bone can be...

[Hideo Murasaki]

As far as comics go for inspirational purposes you need look no further than the book Arkham Asylum. Every panel is jaw dropping and involved, not to mention semi-horrifying. Plus the story is one of the best batman minis ever. 300 by Frank Miller provides some really interesting ideas for perspective and interacting ls' and of course his work with shadow in the sin city books is nothing short of awesome. But in my semi-professional opinion I wouldn't borrow too much from comics. Artists in the industry (myself included) have a nasty habit of developing short cuts and sloppy work. In my own defense you try having to draw a full story practically frame by frame.

Also a relatively new o.c. Boy Zero, has a pretty fresh look, and all the work I've seen from the artist, a cat who swings by massive swerve name of Rob Valley does it. He's a great artist with a new style.

And if you're not looking to start with the comic style I'd suggest dropping the 20 bucks for a subscription to Heavy metal magazine. Yeah there are some semi to balls out adult themes in it, it's still a great place to get inspired and get a heads up on new innovative artists. italicized because I hate the word, nothing against the folks in the mag.

[PsiBug]

I agree with Fables and
Y The Last Man
Any Mignola Hellboy Graphic Novel (as long as he did the art and the writing)
WE3
JLA The Nail
Death Note
Mai The Psychic Girl (is that available in GN format?)
Gen13 Ordinary Heroes
Walking Dead (warning: violence and zombies in those books)
Next Men


I pretty much love anything by Mike Mignola, Alan Davis, Frank Quitely, Adam Hughes...

[Wateru]

Blade of the Immortal
Battle Angel Alita
Berserk
The Books of Magic (JK Rowling totally ripped these off...)
The Sandman
Fables
Batman : The Killing Joke
Rogue Trooper (any of the TPBs)
Nikolai Dante
Judge Anderson : Childhood's End
Shimura

This makes me want to go digging through my boxes of 2000AD :D

[Musselfarmstudios]

Shirow Masmune's - Ghost in the Shell

Alan Moore's - The Watchmen . . . a must have for everybody it'll change the way you veiw superheros

Those old school The Witching Hour Comic Books, Dark Mansion, Dark Shadows . . . and Tor for the laughs and the memories.

and anything by Lynd Ward . . . one of the grandfathers of the graphic novel industry

[Bad Luck]

Interesting how all the references are 90's novels - the 80's had some great novels.

If you can only own one Sandman - Buy "Fables and Reflections." It gets you into the world without too much plot investment. Ramadan is still one of my favorite works of all time.

Nausicaa and the Valley of Wind - Hayaoa Miyazaki - I own the Viz Editor's Choice and they come with these full-color foldout posters in them - yum.
The Perfect Collection is great if you want to read them left to right and they did a TREMENDOUS job going through and removing the original Kanji and redrawing all the sound effects in English. Mind-blowing, you should own them both. ;)

Love & Rockets - the Bros. Hernadez
Elfquest - Wendy & Richard Pini
Elic of Melnibone - Micheal T Gilbert
Keepers of the Mazer - frezzata - Craaazzy. Not only is doing the astonishly solid art, but he's doing all those concept sketches for the world as well. Tons of new character riffs, robots, machines, good writing - just ridiculously good stuff. Hard to find.

Pic from keepers of the maser off of Amazon - he doesn't even have a website anymore to show - so sad.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/somnovore/Amazon.jpg


Pic from Nausicaa -
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/somnovore/Nausicaaposter-1.jpg

[Yiako]

RONIN - by Frank Miller. Art is average but both the argument and, most importantly, the storytelling are just badass. Hollywood: forget about Watchmen or X Men, this is the blockbuster history you're searching so mad.

EL ETERNAUTA - I've never felt so emotionally attached to the characters like in this Argentinian masterpiece about an alien invasion. I did cry even.

THE INCAL SERIES - actually the first four albums where my baptism in adult comics, and Moebius art was a shockingly experience that last until today.

[Sonnemelzen]

Cerebus. Like squidmonk3j said, the whole thing runs for like, 6,000 pages, and it stays really good until around the end, where the whole thing and the writer, Dave Sim, kinda go off the deep end...

[Wateru]

Keepers of the Mazer - frezzata - Craaazzy. Not only is doing the astonishly solid art, but he's doing all those concept sketches for the world as well. Tons of new character riffs, robots, machines, good writing - just ridiculously good stuff. Hard to find.


http://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Frezzato%2C%20Massimiliano

www.alibris.com - fantastic resource, way way better than Ebay or Amazon in many occasions.

[Vermis]

I'm mostly parroting others here, but I'm taking a lot of notes too.

Bone
Akira
Usagi Yojimbo
Sin City - The Hard Goodbye, A Dame to Kill For, That Yellow Bastard
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1 & 2
The Redeemer and Deff Skwadron from Games Workshop/Black Library

Another mention for Alan Moore & Steve Bisette's Swamp Thing. I had a couple of TPBs and they were almost hypnotic.

The one that gave me the biggest whack between the eyes is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, though.

[Pandora's Eyes]

Lot of good choices so far.

I'll list some I'm partial to. A few off the beaten path.

Batman Year 100 - Paul Pope
Shortcomings - Adrian Tomine
Blankets - Craig Thompson
Violent Messiahs - Joshua Dysart
Wanted - Mark Millar (comic different and far superior to film)
Lost Girls - Alan Moore (NOT suitable for minors)
Fables - Bill Willingham

[jrr]

most of my favs are listed already
but i recently read one by mike dawson called FREDDIE and ME. about the author's life in relation to freddie mercury. i recommend it.

[Bad Luck]

Yeah, found me some Frezzato scans! Just great stuff.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/somnovore/000pc79g.jpg

[waranghira]

see you people who advised Fables did?
I can't stop reading @_@

btw, those screencaps of Frezz' works seems cool, might check that later.

[jhgoforth]

Shocked no mention of Lone Wolf and Cub. Those volumes translated and printed in the US by Darkhorse were wonderful. I go back and read through those every year or so. The fact it was done in the late '70s makes you see how big an influence that japanese series had on american comics in the 80's and onward. The flow of action and strong gestural quality has always fascinated me in that work.

If you are shooting for a more 'artsy' graphic art book style...I'd say Luis Royo books are good. Fair warning though, it's extremely 'erotic' in nature for most of his works (much like Soriyama and others).