The unofficial comic book/graphic novel thread!

[SafeAsMilk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_of_the_Immortal
Cool story in this,

and drawing is excellent, and graphical.

[img]snip[/img]

Definitely a master. He's been at it awhile, I stopped collecting BotI six or seven years ago, and I already had something like 10 volumes Need to check back and and see what the story is up to

Speaking of maniacs...anybody ever read Gon?





Gotta love a comic about a mini-dinosaur kicking the shit out of giant animals!

[akigr8]

LOL! Looks really interesting.

Blade I've read up to volume five or six and then they stopped releasing it in Norwegian.
I should continue it in English

[NilsGLindgren]

Anybody else love Moeibus?

I suppose you could count me in, conditionally. His drawings are superb, but, I often find the story lines (e g Incal) a bit ... over the top.

[Mike_L]

The forty-years-plus Brits will probably remember Look and Learn.... and they'll probably all agree that The Trigan Empire sci-fi serial was the best part of that magazine.





Artwork was (initially) by the great Don Lawrence, who hand-painted the panels in watercolour and/or gouache.

There are a few collected editions, but I don't think that they're too widely distributed.

[smudge]

Anybody else love Moeibus?

Kinda....He's a superb draughtsman.

I actually love his black and white work. I've seen a few pages of his western work in black and white and would a collection (if there is one?). I have one volume of Blueberry in colour and it's good but nowhere near as good as the black and white stuff I've seen.

[smudge]

Artwork was (initially) by the great Don Lawrence, who hand-painted the panels in watercolour and/or gouache.

Great.

But nothing beats Frank Bellamy!


http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/TB5.jpg

http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/H6.jpg


http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/Dr_WHO_1_.jpg

[GreatApe]

I'm a little late to this particular thread, but then I'm getting old, so give me a break!

Most of the graphic novels that I grew up with or have enjoyed over the years have already been mentioned here by other members (Watchmen, Sin City, Ronin, 100 Bullets, Dark Knight, etc.), so I'll prove how old I am and mention a few of my favorite series' instead. I have to preface it by saying that I've always been a Spiderman collector and I still am (so some might accuse me of being a bit of a traditionalist in that sense, although I keep up with the "current stuff" as much as possible) ... my collection is back in the states and not a day goes by without me missing it. Getting new stuff now is much more difficult since I'm living in China and I don't have access to a great comic book store in my area (they have them in Hong Kong, but I've not had the time to check them out yet) ...something to put on my "TO DO" list, I suppose, but I digress.

Some of the non-Spiderman titles I have enjoyed include the Marvel "What If ..." series (the older, the better, IMO). I always loved the strange story-line combinations they came up with in this series, but then it got cancelled, came back, got cancelled again (etc.), and I lost interest. Nowadays the art is out-dated, I suppose, but the story-lines always kept me guess and kept me intrigued. It was like having a comic book within a comic book in the sense that anything was possible (and it made you think about your favorite series in a new and alternative way).







I also liked the original Secret Wars I and II. ... for much the same reasons that I liked "What If ...", except that the possibilities seemed more limited. I mean, what can possibly happen when you pit ALL of the Superhero Good Guys against ALL of the Superhero Bad Guys on a different planet in a fight to the finish? The only problem is ... Marvel punked out in this series and it left me "wanting." I wasn't happy with the ending or the outcome and the only thing that really lasted with the different Spiderman suit and the parasitic "alien" storyline.



One of my other favorite comics was Sgt. Rock. It was one of the first comics I ever read, and I think I "inherited" it from my brother (who's older than me). I just remember thinking how much of a "bad ass" Sgt. Rock was and, of course, I liked the action and the story-lines. Can you say "Nationalism" and "War-Monger?"



I'm definitely going to have to check into ordering some "new stuff" online, or think about bringing some of my collection back to China with me when I visit the states in January. The only problem with comics is that they're easy to collect and hard to get rid of! I've though of selling my collection (about 1,300 comics) from time-to-time, but never actually managed to do it. A good comic book is like sticky-tape ... once it grabs ahold of you it's harder to get rid of than you think.

Anyhoo, great thread! Thanks to everyone who's contributed here ... this thread really brought back some great memories for me!

--GA

[Mr.Samsa]

Along similar lines of the "What If.." style comics, I loved the X-Men Age of Apocalypse series. It was so much darker and seemed to have more substance than the original comics, as well as it being interesting seeing how some characters are expected to develop given different circumstances.

[smudge]

Along similar lines of the "What If.." style comics, I loved the X-Men Age of Apocalypse series. It was so much darker and seemed to have more substance than the original comics, as well as it being interesting seeing how some characters are expected to develop given different circumstances.

But isn't it strange....
'Create an entirely made up universe and then have 'made up' stories which are based on it but are not within it! No 'these' imaginary stories are just pretend!'

I do think these stories can be fun. I think I prefer the one of story idea like What If or DC's Silver Age Worlds Finest book. What tends to happen with the 'big' imaginary crossover stories is that they start as a 'what if' and then if popular get shoehorned into proper continuity (making it complicated and convoluted). Long term this damages the integrity of the original characters. A problem DC have had long term (and periodically try to fix with mass character culls) and Marvel are currently suffering from. (IMHO).

[GreatApe]

@ Mr. Samsa

I agree. I also enjoyed that series because of the darkness. I think that's one aspect of today's comics ... they're darker, more fatalistic and more realistically hard-hitting. However, I still love the "innocence" of the older comics from my collection too. There's something to be said about the graphic novels (like The Dark Knight series and Watchmen) because they are intense. However, I think many of today's comics start too soon in the "OMG! ... it's all gloom and doom" moment. There's less build-up, and then they have less choice in terms of storyline and dramatic moments in the future.

But all that's probably just to say that I'm getting old. There once was a time when it was all about "the action" and now I'm talking about "the build-up" ... probably an age-old argument along the lines of "foreplay or The Act" (you decide). I do think that there's something to be said for "investment," although it's difficult to quantify when that starts and stops.

--GA

[Matt8819]

Talking of doom and gloom, if anyone was a fan of the original Kick Ass, avoid Kick Ass 2. It's...I don't know, shock value and hyper violence, without the humour that made the original worth reading. I mean, I know the first was chock value and hyper violence, but....the more recent issue of 2 had the murder of two parents, the rape of their daughter, the slaughter of 5 or 6 toddlers, and an entire...2 page spread, i think it was, of a Russian woman killing cop after cop. It...was frankly, disgusting. Millar might redeem the series, but...I doubt it.

[Mike_L]

But nothing beats Frank Bellamy!


http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/TB5.jpg

http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/H6.jpg


http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/Dr_WHO_1_.jpg

OMG! That is some excellent work! Very fine line-art and a range of inking techniques.... hatching and cross-hatching in Heros, The Spartan (2nd link) and expert stippling in Dr Who (3rd link). Top-notch stuff! Thanks for the intro to Bellamy. Definitely going to look up some more of his work!

[smudge]

But nothing beats Frank Bellamy!


http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/TB5.jpg

http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/H6.jpg


http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/images/Dr_WHO_1_.jpg

OMG! That is some excellent work! Very fine line-art and a range of inking techniques.... hatching and cross-hatching in Heros, The Spartan (2nd link) and expert stippling in Dr Who (3rd link). Top-notch stuff! Thanks for the intro to Bellamy. Definitely going to look up some more of his work!

Glad you like it Mike (obviously a man of fine taste!)

The best online Bellamy site I've found is on Alan Davis' (great artist himself!) site
http://www.alandavis-comicart.com/FBellamy-.html

Bellamy is a Comic Book God to those in the UK who know his stuff. Sadly he's nowhere near as well apreciated as he should be. Collections are hard to find. Recent collections of his very early work (King Arthur and Robin Hood) are around but this stuff is so old it's not really representative of Bellamy at his best. If you see a Garth (newspaper strip) collection grab it. There are other bits and pieces around but hard to locate. Apart from that you can sit and hope (with me!) someone has the sense to collect some of his TV21 work....

[Mike_L]

The site is a pleasure to peruse! The Thunderbirds pages reveal an impressive command of linear perspective. Bellamy's drawing of the human figure is also first-class. Topping that, there's also a very good balance between his penmanship (black-ink) and his brush-rendered colours. Count me as a fan!

[j.mills]

Getting new stuff now is much more difficult since I'm living in China and I don't have access to a great comic book store in my area

You probably know this, but you can get specialised 'comic reader' software and digitised comics these days, grab 'em off the internet, read 'em on screen. A friend of mine (no, really) downloaded pretty much every X-Men comic ever (perhaps not entirely legitimately... ) and happily immersed himself in them every evening for weeks.

As for the What If... on Captain America... If you haven't already, you should read Neil Gaiman's 1602, that's all I'm saying.

[SafeAsMilk]

Anybody else love Moeibus?

I suppose you could count me in, conditionally. His drawings are superb, but, I often find the story lines (e g Incal) a bit ... over the top.

Yeah, I never got much out of his stories, to me his plots are just an excuse for his skillful illustrations and beautiful imagery.

Kinda....He's a superb draughtsman.

I actually love his black and white work. I've seen a few pages of his western work in black and white and would a collection (if there is one?). I have one volume of Blueberry in colour and it's good but nowhere near as good as the black and white stuff I've seen.

His pen & ink stuff is incredible, I agree. Some of his color work is also excellent, although it's usually the watercolor stuff..."comic color" almost always looks like shit and distracts from killer line work. It would be nice if there were more collections available, he's produced so much that a well-considered "best of" series would probably be amazing! Which Blueberry volume do you have? I tend to prefer his sci-fi/fantasy stuff, but Blueberry does a great job showcasing his skills.

[smudge]

His pen & ink stuff is incredible, I agree. Some of his color work is also excellent, although it's usually the watercolor stuff..."comic color" almost always looks like shit and distracts from killer line work. It would be nice if there were more collections available, he's produced so much that a well-considered "best of" series would probably be amazing! Which Blueberry volume do you have? I tend to prefer his sci-fi/fantasy stuff, but Blueberry does a great job showcasing his skills.

I have Chihuahua Pearl Vol1. It's flawless stuff....but not what I was hoping for when I bought it! As I said, I'd seen two pages of black and white Blueberry (not sure where I saw them) and thought it was gorgeous! I'm sure it was meant to see print in black and white as the pages I saw were very rendered, more so than the colour stuff in the album I have.

It's very much pen + ink work that rocks my boat! Especially if black and white.

[SafeAsMilk]

His pen & ink stuff is incredible, I agree. Some of his color work is also excellent, although it's usually the watercolor stuff..."comic color" almost always looks like shit and distracts from killer line work. It would be nice if there were more collections available, he's produced so much that a well-considered "best of" series would probably be amazing! Which Blueberry volume do you have? I tend to prefer his sci-fi/fantasy stuff, but Blueberry does a great job showcasing his skills.

I have Chihuahua Pearl Vol1. It's flawless stuff....but not what I was hoping for when I bought it! As I said, I'd seen two pages of black and white Blueberry (not sure where I saw them) and thought it was gorgeous! I'm sure it was meant to see print in black and white as the pages I saw were very rendered, more so than the colour stuff in the album I have.

It's very much pen + ink work that rocks my boat! Especially if black and white.

Pretty much the same here, the telephone book reissues of the old Marvel comics in glorious b&w have been a boon IMHO. I actually wish they'd put out Watchmen without color, I found the book to be incredibly ugly until I started paying attention to the inking.

[Nostalgia]

If I remember correctly it was meant to be. They were trying to convey the bleakness of the time.

[smudge]

If I remember correctly it was meant to be. They were trying to convey the bleakness of the time.

I could be wrong but think you might be confusing Watchmen with V for Vendetta. V originally saw print (in Warrior magazine) in black and white (as it was meant to be). When DC decided to reprint it they insisted on colouring it. Subsequent collections have (sadly) gone for the colour version.