1. The Sandman 2. Watchmen 3. Preacher (just reread this for the third time, and it's still unputdownable - I was reading it till 4am one night) 4. In The Shadow Of No Towers 5. Transmetropolitan (I'm going to have to reread this again in honour of HST)
Posts: 12612 | From: London | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
graphic novels? trying to pick five that hang together as complete narratives, rather than collections of individual comics (which some of the are):
5. Fungus the Bogeyman 4. Persepolis (I & II) 3. When the Wind Blows 2. Arkham Asylum 1. Watchmen
Posts: 23475 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
You what? It's anything but pretentious. I mean you could argue that The Sandman or The Invisibles are pretentious, but Preacher? What exactly are its pretensions?
Posts: 12612 | From: London | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
it started promisingly, and the first couple of story arcs that introduced the major players were very good. but 75 episodes stretched the plot too thin, and the more it wore on the more Garth Ennis seemed to see himself as kind of hybrid of Tarantino and the spirit of Bill Hicks, unfortunately without the flair or real genius of either.
actually rather than 'pretentiousness' i should have said 'pretentions', pretentions to be an epic critique of American paranoia rather than a supernatural six-shooters and arse-faced teenage depressives pulp shocker.
Posts: 23475 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't see that at all - for me it was an incredibly well written (and drawn) pulp shocker. It's what the Da Vinci Code could have been if someone with talent had written it.
Posts: 12612 | From: London | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Back to the original list idea (partly becasue Ghost World is the only graphic novel I've read, so constructing a top five would be quite difficult)
1. Catch-22 - Heller 2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Kundera 3. The Reader - Schlink 4. Brave New world - Huxley 5. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichp - Solzehnitsyn
Posts: 6487 | Registered: May 2002
| IP: Logged |
Very basically it's the same story, but as you'd expect there's a lot more words and depth to the characters. A bit pricey, but you have to read them if you liked the TV version.
Posts: 923 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I had a very strange reaction to Sandman. I read the first one and thought "Wow, this is fantastic, but I really don't feel like I care about how the story turns out enough to buy all the subsequent editions."
I find that I've started to have that reaction to a number of very high quality works, especialy graphic novels because of their cost The Authority, for example, didn't grab me.
I must confess there are two works on my list that I haven't finished. I know already that Maus kicks ass, even though I'm only about 25% of the way through it. Likewise, I'm slowly working through "From Hell" right now. I'm really committed to it, reading every word of Alan Moore's copious footnotes. It really is a monumental achievement in the medium. I'm learning all sorts of things about London and Hawksmoore and Free Masonry. It's a lot different from the film. I'm about 150 pages in and nobody's been killed yet.
Posts: 15414 | From: left to right on your radio dial... | Registered: May 2002
| IP: Logged |
The Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler Emma Jane Austen Vanity Fair William M Thackeray Kim Rudyard Kipling Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
Graphic Novels
Maus Art Spiegelman The Lindisfarne Gospels Anon In the Shadow of No Towers Art Spiegelman Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens Berlin: City of Stones Jason Lutes
[ 25.02.2005, 19:22: Message edited by: Amor de Cosmos ]
Posts: 7138 | From: here you can't get there | Registered: May 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Funnily enough Reed, almost everyone says that the first volume of The Sandman is the worst, and you should read after the others. I don't agree, but there you go. That said, it's not for everyone - some people find it too goth, some find it too arty-farty. Me, I love it, because like all epic it's all about storytelling.
Posts: 12612 | From: London | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought that the first volume of The Sandman was inferior to the others - not that it was bad, but it seemed like Gaiman had not really settled down into what he wanted to do with the series. I suppose that I'd say read Season of Mists or The Dolls House first, then go from the beginning. It tops my list of favorite graphic novels. (the others being Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Maus and V for Vendetta, probably in that order).
posted
Big Sleep In Cold Blood Great Expectations Brighton Rock Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail The Glory Game The New Journalism (a collection)
Posts: 1161 | From: Peckham | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
