People covered many of the good graphic novels already, but I'd also recommend some of the French ones.

One of the more famous ones is Régis Loisel who is primarily known for his Peter Pan (Not the original story, this is more like a prequel to that one) series and The Quest for the Time-bird (La Quête de l'oiseau du temps). Loisel has a very distinctive style and his stories are both very dark and beautifully illustrated, with some great humor. One of the things I really like about him is the illustrations, they are so alive! They are teeming with movement and life and his universes are so rich. The Peter Pan series is way more Dickensian in nature than the real Peter Pan story, although it is more grim and mature than both Dickens and Barrie and also more emotionally involving when it seeks to be. The Quest for the Time-bird is about a women, Roxanne and a knight or warrior called Bragon going out to find, well, this Time-bird, in order to stop the summoning of an evil god. It is very much the fantasy story that it sounds like, but it excels in it's detailed and well done characterization of Roxanne and Bragon. The story focuses slightly more on Bragon, who is an old man, and it's very much melancholic in this respect, as it tries to explore how an aged hero deals with his fading glory and how the different characters, minor and more important, have to deal with their existance within this world and the hardships therein.

Apart from Loisel I'd like to suggest also Jacques Tardi (Not to be confused with Jacques Tati) who is my favourite cartoonist. He has been one of the main innovators of ligne claire, apart from of course Hergé himself, and uses the style and it's conventions in a much better way than Hergé. Tardi has made a lot of graphic novels, and they basically come in two categories: War novels and crime novels, though of course this is slightly generalised. As for his style, he obviously uses ligne claire, but he mixes this with extremely well done expressionism. His war novels are focused on the horrors of war and the loss of patriotism. They are also noteworthy for his indepth research on his subjects and times, which actually serves to better his novels more than what most heavy researchers do. In his main series, Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Dry-White), he uses caricatures or characters taken from history to make amusing social commentary and satire, though his series are often using the humour to make the horrific content more edible, some of them are monstrous, and way scarier than Loisel, but then I guess expressionism is just that awesome. *hides* Adele is a wonderful character too, misandrist and asexual, conversing mostly with a mummy in her appartment, though he eventually leaves her for Cairo. This series is his main creation as said, and most of the other are single volumes. That said, some of the richer stories are often in these single volumes and I have no idea how hard these are to find for you island dwellers over there. So if you see something, pick it up, as everything is good really, though some are very esoteric, so be warned!

EDIT: Mm, this really is not very well written at all, and there are clumsy typos. I blame lack of sleep, zzz. Hope it's readable.

Also, don't be scared by what movies you have seen, the originals are pretty much better in every single case. :p Alan Moore is absolutely brilliant, and he hates the movies for a reason!

Uljin wrote on 09/02/09 at 12:23:10:


While that's likely a defence mechanism of your brain, I'm sad to say that The Authority is still going as of May this year. 

My two recommendations would be the Fables books by Bill Willingham, and the Lucifer spin-off from The Sandman by Mike Carey.

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Oh, and also my own little personal favourite, Suburban Glamour by Jamie McKelvie... Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Lan wrote on 09/03/09 at 21:24:31:


Most of the writers suggested are British, actually.   

So the postman delivered Preludes and Nocturnes a few hours ago and I just finished it. It was quite good, I liked it, just felt a bit short but then I guess its part of a bigger series so i guess i buy book 2 and 3 now and see how those go.

I hate to start anything else until I have finished this series. I already feel awkward enough for not finishing another book before starting these.

Veilyn wrote on 09/04/09 at 15:28:38:


If your local library deals in comics at all, chances are very high they'll have the Sandman books in their shelves.  Just if you're not already hooked enough to not hesitate to purchase, I mean.

By all means, I prefer to buy too, but that's because libraries hate me and my "I'm only going to suddenly remember to return this in approximately TWO YEARS FROM NOW" ways. 0:)

If you ever get stuck short, I'm not a million miles away and I have all of The Sandman collected, V, you're welcome to borrow.  You can even make a day of it and poke Dai's belly & drink le booze.  Not necessarily in that order.

Also : Japanophobia is an awesome word that ought to see more use.  Just say it out loud to yourselves a bit...   

Also, also : Here's a download link for Suburban Glamour.  It's short and sweet, for you to digest easily.  I'm sure you can find an online reader easily enough.  If you like it and feel guilty, then just go visit Jamie's website and give him a couple of quid - I've done so in the past.

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