What is the best graphic novel you have read

SolitaireRose

I saw this on Reddit, and honestly, I was hard to narrow it down to just one. FAVORITE? That's easy (The Invisibles), but the best?

I went with Moonshadow, beautiful art, a touching fantasy story and a book that seems quite timeless.

You?

Chuck_Melville

Maus.

Torchsong

I'll limit myself to one book for each category. Both, interestingly enough, by the same man:

Favorite: Zot! - Scott McCloud. It's been said of the Velvet Underground that everyone who heard them went out and started a band. I feel like Zot! is my Velvet Underground. It's a world I want to be in. It has humor, sadness, goodness, evil, beauty, and ugliness. It makes me wish I could create worlds as complex and beautiful as Scott did, and I strive to every time I set down to the word processor.

Best: Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud. I consider it the "best" because it does more to further the industry as a whole, gives us ammunition when people try to dismiss comics as "kiddie stuff" and explains so much of the science and thinking behind them. Once read, you never look at funnybooks the same way again. You realize they're part of something that's been around since the dawn of man, and you'll never undervalue them again.

grannygeekness

Best would probably be Maus. (Current) favorite would be How to Understand Israel in 60 days or Less.

BrettI8

For just graphic novels:

Favorite: Blankets by Craig Thompson. God this book kicked my ass when I first read it. I know it wasn't liked by some on the show, but the book hit an emotional chord with me like nothing before and actually shaped the way I am. I think the fact that I read it when I was 16 also makes it that much more impacting to me.

Best: Understanding Comics- Scott McCloud. Astounding work of art here. Nuff said

John_Steed

I kind of hope that I haven't read the best graphic novel yet - what would I do then?

I've got many favorites though.

ctowner1

As cliche asit may seem, I think in terms of complexity, combination of art and words, exploration of challenging themes, and overall execution, it's Watchmen.

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larry

I have to say Underwater Welder for personal reasons. I have an 8 month old son now and my Dad never took interest in anything I've ever done so it really hit home. Reading that book when I was trying to figure things out as a new father resonated more than any comic book ever has.

kfreeman

Ooh, that's tough. My favorite is probably Pyongyang: A Journey into North Korea by Guy Delisle (Drawn & Quarterly)

ChrisBeckett

Can't argue with anyone's choices above, but I would probably say From Hell.

Though it didn't do as much, formalistically, as Watchmen, it tackled major themes, wove an intriguing story, and utilized historical facts and theories to create this fiction brilliantly. Couple that with Eddie Campbell's scratchy linework, which evoked the pitch-perfect feeling necessary for such a "seedy" story, and it gets my vote.

Honorable Mentions:
Asterios Polyp
Maus

chris

nweathington

I’d probably have to go From Hell as well, though my heart says The Cowboy Wally Show, which by the way can be read for free on Kyle Baker’s website, along with most of his creator-owned work.

SolitaireRose

nweathington said:

I’d probably have to go From Hell as well, though my heart says The Cowboy Wally Show, which by the way can be read for free on Kyle Baker’s website, along with most of his creator-owned work.

There are still lines in that book that still make me laugh! "How'd you like a mouthful of bloody chicklets?"

BadDeacon

If we're talking about stand alone graphic novels, ie., not collections of previously printed comics, I'd probably have to go with Pride Of Baghdad.

I'd give Blankets a nod for the emotional punch, but I don't think it was the best.

SolitaireRose

John_Steed said:

I kind of hope that I haven't read the best graphic novel yet - what would I do then?

I've got many favorites though.

Well, it is what is the best you have read...you are certainly free to add more as you read more. I have a feeling Clyde's Fans will be pretty high on my list...

IF SETH EVER GETS THE DAMN THING DONE!!!!!

Superchino

I'd have to say I Kill Giants is the best I have read. Everyone here has great books listed too! Honorable mention: Super Spy: 2 Sisters

peedmyself

Pyongyang, Maus and Asterios Polyp are all great choices. I was picking up From Hell when it was coming out, but missed the odd issue so I didn't get far. When I finally got the collected version, I just couldn't connect to it.

I'll add The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch to the best of discussion.

Hellsfire

Bone. I love it so much that I'm going to buy it digitally in color to see how it goes.

John_Steed

I adore Craig Thompson's HABIBI

dubbat138

Everyone I think of isn't a true Graphic novel. Like From Hell,Maus,Watchmen,etc. They are all collections of previous published stuff.

nweathington

dubbat138 said:

Everyone I think of isn't a true Graphic novel. Like From Hell,Maus,Watchmen,etc. They are all collections of previous published stuff.

I think it really depends on the project. For instance, I think of Watchmen as a mini-series, not a graphic novel, because Moore used the 12-issue format to enhance the storytelling in his script, whereas I consider From Hell to be a graphic novel, because it was serialized out of necessity to finance the production of the book. The final product was intended to be presented as one volume.

The same with Bone. Jeff Smith always envisioned the story to be read as one single volume, but it took many years to produce and he had bills to pay, so it had to be serialized for practicality’s sake. But he designed it so that, once he removed one small logo on the title page, no other editing needed to be done for the collection. (Though he did go back and redraw certain figures, panels, and pages that he wasn’t happy with.)

With Alan Davis’ Killraven mini-series, he didn’t even bother placing the cliffhangers and traditional beats of a 22-page comic in the usual places. The end of one issue led right into the beginning of the next, with no filler for exposition. He wrote the story as a single volume and not with serialization at the forefront of his mind.

The tricky part these days is that writers typically write with both serialization and the inevitable collection informing their scripts. That’s why Marvel uses the opening page “What happened before...” which they can easily remove when putting the collection together. It lets the writer off the hook for having to keep the casual reader up on where the story is and makes for a more seamless collection. It also blurs the line between “graphic novel” and “collection.”

ctowner1

nweathington said:

dubbat138 said:

Everyone I think of isn't a true Graphic novel. Like From Hell,Maus,Watchmen,etc. They are all collections of previous published stuff.

I think it really depends on the project. For instance, I think of Watchmen as a mini-series, not a graphic novel, because Moore used the 12-issue format to enhance the storytelling in his script, whereas I consider From Hell to be a graphic novel, because it was serialized out of necessity to finance the production of the book. The final product was intended to be presented as one volume.

The same with Bone. Jeff Smith always envisioned the story to be read as one single volume, but it took many years to produce and he had bills to pay, so it had to be serialized for practicality’s sake. But he designed it so that, once he removed one small logo on the title page, no other editing needed to be done for the collection. (Though he did go back and redraw certain figures, panels, and pages that he wasn’t happy with.)

With Alan Davis’ Killraven mini-series, he didn’t even bother placing the cliffhangers and traditional beats of a 22-page comic in the usual places. The end of one issue led right into the beginning of the next, with no filler for exposition. He wrote the story as a single volume and not with serialization at the forefront of his mind.

The tricky part these days is that writers typically write with both serialization and the inevitable collection informing their scripts. That’s why Marvel uses the opening page “What happened before...” which they can easily remove when putting the collection together. It lets the writer off the hook for having to keep the casual reader up on where the story is and makes for a more seamless collection. It also blurs the line between “graphic novel” and “collection.”

I could be wrong, but I think Watchmen was planned out as a unified novel fro the start. It certainly reads that way.

But if you're going to use that criteria, then I'm switching my nomination for best graphic novel to Cerebus - 300 issues comprising a single graphic novel detailing the life of a single character and his impact on the world around him.

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nweathington

ctowner1 said:

nweathington said:

dubbat138 said:

Everyone I think of isn't a true Graphic novel. Like From Hell,Maus,Watchmen,etc. They are all collections of previous published stuff.

I think it really depends on the project. For instance, I think of Watchmen as a mini-series, not a graphic novel, because Moore used the 12-issue format to enhance the storytelling in his script, whereas I consider From Hell to be a graphic novel, because it was serialized out of necessity to finance the production of the book. The final product was intended to be presented as one volume.

The same with Bone. Jeff Smith always envisioned the story to be read as one single volume, but it took many years to produce and he had bills to pay, so it had to be serialized for practicality’s sake. But he designed it so that, once he removed one small logo on the title page, no other editing needed to be done for the collection. (Though he did go back and redraw certain figures, panels, and pages that he wasn’t happy with.)

With Alan Davis’ Killraven mini-series, he didn’t even bother placing the cliffhangers and traditional beats of a 22-page comic in the usual places. The end of one issue led right into the beginning of the next, with no filler for exposition. He wrote the story as a single volume and not with serialization at the forefront of his mind.

The tricky part these days is that writers typically write with both serialization and the inevitable collection informing their scripts. That’s why Marvel uses the opening page “What happened before...” which they can easily remove when putting the collection together. It lets the writer off the hook for having to keep the casual reader up on where the story is and makes for a more seamless collection. It also blurs the line between “graphic novel” and “collection.”

I could be wrong, but I think Watchmen was planned out as a unified novel fro the start. It certainly reads that way.

But if you're going to use that criteria, then I'm switching my nomination for best graphic novel to Cerebus - 300 issues comprising a single graphic novel detailing the life of a single character and his impact on the world around him.

e
L nny

Moore and Gibbons may or may not have considered an all-in-one volume during the proposal stage of Watchmen, but when it came time to actually script the story, they definitely took advantage of the serialized format, including the back matter material traditionally used for letters columns and ads—a lot of which he didn’t fully develop until the scripting of the third and fourth issues. And the mirroring of scenes is much more noticeable when the story is broken into the individual issues.

As for Cerebus, I look at it more as a series of graphic novels, each focusing on a defined space of time in the character’s life, much like Harry Potter is a series of novels telling one story one year at a time or Essex County is a trilogy of graphic novels, each focusing on a certain aspect in the family’s history. I think a case could be made for Cerebus as a single graphic novel, but its sheer size makes it hard for me to call it such.

John_Steed

It's all comics to me.

nweathington

John_Steed said:

It's all comics to me.

Well, yes, when I sit down to read a book, I’m not generally thinking, “Is this a graphic novel or a collection of comic books?” As a consumer of entertainment, it doesn’t really matter. The only time I really make the distinction is when I’m considering the technical aspects of crafting a story. One of the hazards of my job, I guess.

John_Steed

agreed :D

RickM

The best thing I've read recently is From Hell. Identifying the best of everything I've ever read is too hard to pin down.