Tezuka only entered medical school in 1945. This was also about the time he first sold any of his work to a publisher.
I mentioned earlier that I was re-reading Monster by Naoki Urasawa. I'd also like to give a shout-out to one of his other most famous epics, 20th Century Boys, which is being re-published in "Perfect Edition" volumes (basically, two volumes in each book, slightly larger pages and some color pages). They're up to the third volume (i.e. the first six volumes of the original series). I'm not literally reading it right now because I'm waiting for a few more volumes to accumulate on my shelf so I can binge, but I've read it before and I really can't speak highly enough of this series. Without going into too much detail, it's a brilliant sci-fi/conspiracy theory storyline that jumps through time (i.e. starts in the present and moves forward through the lives of its characters, while flashing back to their childhoods). Simply in terms of the story, the character and the art, it's pure entertainment, but it also has a lot of subtext about the relationship of pop culture to our lives (all of our lives, i.e. those of us who were born in second half of the 20th century). The title is taken from the T-Rex song and there are references to classic Japanese cartoons of the 60s and 70s like Gigantor. Really, it's just brilliant. If you have any interest in this sort of thing, you should just pick up Volume 1 and start reading. Even if you don't like manga in general, this one is (IMO) highly distinctive, both in art and writing style, and doesn't fall into the sort of cliches that a lot of manga does.
I very happy that the delay produced something of quality. A long delay to get mediocre material would have been very concerning. 10 felt like the most Dr Manhattan story they could have told and I like how he and Superman are on a collision course. Maybe we get a payoff by Christmas?
Damn! Little Bird just wrapped up and what a ride that was. Cool story, told well, and incredible artwork. There will be a collected hard cover edition out at the end of the year for those who missed to the 5 monthlies. Its easily my favorite read of 2019, so far...
I'm not a fan of graphic novels and I've been wondering what I've been missing. I read To Kill A Mockingbird over the weekend. Seemed like a nice retelling of the story, or a good way to introduce younger readers to it.
I'm interested in getting into graphic novels. What are the "Citizen Kanes" of the medium? I love dark, mystery and general drama. I'm looking into Frank Miller's Batman ones but wondering if there are others outside of the "superhero" universe. Must admit that manga style books might not interest me also science fiction.
I guess you're one of those types that likes to chime in at the tail end of a discussion without checking what's been said, have you bothered reading the 1st 5 pages of this thread!? Seriously, some of the greatest graphic novels of all time have been recommended. My advice to you would be to start there!
Closest thing to the "Citizen Kane" of the medium is likely Watchmen in my humble opinion. Highly recommend both that and V For Vendetta by the same author. If gritty mystery is your thing, I recommend the non-superhero books of Ed Brubaker. He's done several crime noir / action books for Image and he just wrapped up a highly visceral comic series called Kill Or Be Killed.
Sorry for barging in on a discussion that hasn't been active for 4 months. Shame on me. I did look through the thread. But my question was very specific; I was interested in some of the all-time classics of the medium--not just ones seasoned graphic novel fans happen to be reading at the moment. For a person who hasn't read a single frame of a graphic novel it's not exactly easy to look through a thread like this and cherry pick a few titles.
Thanks for the tips. Added Kill or Be Killed to my list. I've been seeing Watchmen and V For Vendetta recommended in a lot of places online. I'll definitely look into them.
I second these recommendations. Brubaker and Sean Phillips are probably the best team working in comics today. Their ongoing Criminal series has been brilliant. The reason why Watchmen is the Citizen Kane of comic books is that it shows what the medium is capable of, in ways that wouldn't be possible (or would be very difficult) in any other medium. It's also real good. For "all-time classics", you'll also want to check out Maus by Art Spiegelman. Some other good ones that you may or may not enjoy, depending on your tastes: Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware Fun Home by Alison Bechdel Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo (if you only read one sci-fi manga, it should be this) Queen & Country by Greg Rucka (spy thriller) Black Hole by Charles Burns Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
His latest, Last Look, is amazing as well. Both have elements of science fiction, though, and I couldn't for sure whether @MRamble was pro or anti-sci-fi.
Thanks for the great suggestions! Looking forward to getting into these. I'm not much of a science fiction fan in general but will consider them.
uzn007 wrote the following as part of a post: I strongly agree about the potential of comic books (and by extension manga). As an example, something I doubt any other media could do, at least not in the same way, are extremely long plot lines. One of the best examples is in Legion Of Super-Heroes when written by Paul Levitz. One of the distinctive features of his writing is that he would have multiple plot lines going on at the same time and he'd advance all of them on a regular basis. Plus, he would have plot lines that would take a while to play out such as with replacement of Shrinking Violet by an imposter, and Who Is Sensor Girl? which was a mystery involving who the new member Sensor Girl actually was (there were strong hints that it was the recently deceased Supergirl). I don't know if this falls under the topic, since it is a manga, but I've recently begun reading the series The Quintessential Quintuplets. It is about a highly-intelligent but poor young man who takes on the task to be a tutor for the beautiful daughter of a wealthy business man for five times the normal fee...then discovers that he's actually been hired to tutor his five daughters...who are all extremely poor students.
Another suggestion, since you said you like "dark, mystery and general drama". Fantagraphics has been doing a typically-great series of translations and reprints by the French cartoonist Jacques Tardi. These are mostly noir-ish thrillers and war stories, with some weird sci-fi thrown in for good measure. On the thriller side, I strongly recommend Like a Sniper Lining up his Shot; Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell and New York Mon Amour, which reminds me that I should go back and re-read those soon.
Get acquainted with Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly offerings. Lots of great stuff there. Two of my favorites are Usagi Yojimbo and Lone Wolf and Cub. I also absolutely love anything by Richard Sala and Charles Burns. Watchmen in fine, but I enjoyed something like From Hell much better. There have been several good Daredevil runs in the superhero genre too.
Umbrella Academy TPB1 + 2. The comic book original has left me even more impressed by the Netflix version - they took the ideas from the comic and made it into a functional drama. The comic is good but it is like highlights from a story which they did not have time (or enough pages) to tell. The tv show had to expand the narrative, and did so really well.
I think if you are coming to graphic novels without having been immersed in them on some level, I'd go first with From Hell over Watchmen. Watchmen works so well because it deconstructs the superhero genre and assumes some implicit knowledge of that genre's tropes. Both are masterpieces of visual storytelling.
Darwyn Cooke's Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter is an excellent crime graphic novel that might fit your bill. Using the Citizen Kane analogy, the artist would be among the Orson Welles'.
Did I recommend Beanworld yet? Any of the volumes Dark Horse has put out; a guaranteed amusing read with different levels to it for young and old. I'm quite into the 1999-2001 Marvel comics (I guess this makes me about twenty years behind the times), especially right now am enjoying the sometimes intersecting Avengers and Thunderbolts comics written by Kurt Busiek or Fabian Nicieza with art by George Perez, Jerry Ordway, Steve Epting or Alan Davis, and Mark Bagley or Norm Breyfogle on Thunderbolts. Also the Hellcat mini-series of 2000 written by veteran writer Steve Englehart...
Read the first part of three of Joker:Killer Smile by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, the duo behind Gideon Falls. It's taking a psychological angle that I want to see how far they take.
I may have fallen in love with my first graphic novel. I picked this one up among the slew of other titles recommended. Here by Richard McGuire. I would love to explore this type of graphic novels. Is it a type of graphic novel? Newbie questions from an actual newbie. Any info and further suggestions for this style are most appreciated.
Yes, it's a graphic novel, and a great one, too. Enjoy. Fun fact: Richard McGuire was a member of Liquid Liquid, and played the bassline that was sampled in Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Do It)".
