An Eye (and Wallet) Opening New Hobby
I have purchased my first graphic novel, and it won't be my last.
When I went to the Pop Candy party last month at Isotope in San Francisco, it was the first time I'd ever set foot in a comic book store. Pop Candy columnist Whitney Matheson is always recommending graphic novels and comic books, and I can certainly understand the allure now. Meeting Heroes artist Tim Sale was also an influential factor on my new hobby.
Here are some very helpful lists, courtesy of Whitney's Comics Crash Course:
- Top 25 Essential Graphic Novels
- Top 25 Family Friendly Titles
- Top 25 Must-See Series
- Top 25 Personal Favorites
I am attending Comic-Con in San Diego this summer, primarily for the Lost panel and pop culture experience, but most of the booths and other panels will be foreign to me. I wanted to at least get a feel for the style of graphic novels out there before I go, so I chose one literally based on name recognition alone. Pride of Baghdad is written by Brian K. Vaughan, who is a writer and producer on Lost. It is a compelling tale about a family of lions who experience freedom and danger after the zoo in Baghdad is bombed during the war.
Because Superman is my favorite superhero of all time, I borrowed Superman: Red Son from a friend with a sizable graphic novel collection (that I will be pilfering now and then). I have not read it yet, but it re-imagines Superman as a Soviet hero, which is a fascinating concept.
So do you have any comic or graphic novel suggestions for a beginner like me?
Many of my favorites are already on the website you linked to and many were comic mini-series before they were Graphic Novels. You need to read "The Watchmen" before it comes out in theaters (and hope that it was done well). ANYTHING by Neil Gaiman (he's awesome) in the "Sandman" series is excellent. "Maus I" and "Maus II" will show you how powerful this medium can be. "Mage -The Hero Discovered" is a fun one - great visuals and an everyman-turns-hero plotline, "Batman: Arkham Asylum" is a dark and creepy joker story. And, of course, you should really probably kick it off with "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns," the Frank Miller series that signaled the re-birth of the comic book (and inspired an untold number of graphic novels...).
(See, I really am looking forward to using you as an excuse to feed my inner geekness...)
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I had to read Maus I and Maus II in my college English class. Totally had a flash back to college days from JOHN's comment. Have you ever watched Anime? You can start with a film by Hayao Miyazaki - Spirited Away - it was wonderful (which I own - you can borrow) and Princess Mononoke was good too (but the voices kind of distracted me in a bad way in PM). Akira is a classic and I also enjoyed Grave of the Fireflies which deals with 2 Japanese children during WWII.
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