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GRAPHIC Novels (Super Edit)
ninjai
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Are you a fan of art AND narrative?
On this subforum, I've seen a lot of threads about characters, plotlines, and genre's of comic, but not one for ART, without which comics wouldn't exist!
I've never been a very avid comic reader because I keep finding stuff like this to not be appealing to me (design-wise and all the loud colors...).
I find this series to be endlessly unique and inspiring, and I also dig this, dark and moody.
I find the typical "Super Hero" art style to be very copied and way too literal in its interpretation of life. And think that the grandiose 80's action movie cover stylings and this has been beaten to death(<<that's 4 different links - we all know luke was not that muscular)
So, lets discuss some of the more artistic comics (illustrators/graphic novel artists/sequntial artists) that are out there. (Not to say that other comics aren't good, but focusing more on the illustrations and design)
Examples:
On this subforum, I've seen a lot of threads about characters, plotlines, and genre's of comic, but not one for ART, without which comics wouldn't exist!
I've never been a very avid comic reader because I keep finding stuff like this to not be appealing to me (design-wise and all the loud colors...).
I find this series to be endlessly unique and inspiring, and I also dig this, dark and moody.
Spoiler:
I find the typical "Super Hero" art style to be very copied and way too literal in its interpretation of life. And think that the grandiose 80's action movie cover stylings and this has been beaten to death(<<that's 4 different links - we all know luke was not that muscular)
So, lets discuss some of the more artistic comics (illustrators/graphic novel artists/sequntial artists) that are out there. (Not to say that other comics aren't good, but focusing more on the illustrations and design)
Examples:
Spoiler:
ninjai on
Mice scratching at the walls inside of your head.
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Check out the gallery. See if it's up your alley.
Flight is great but it's less of a series and more of a bunch of anthologies.
Comics that I've enjoyed over the years include but aren't limited to:
Lucifer
Preacher
The Umbrella Academy
Kingdom Come
Fables
The Authority
Wildcats 3.0
Planetary
Transmetropolitan
Fear Agent
Daytripper
Umbrella Academy
Wizard of Oz/Wonderful World of Oz
Mini-Marvels
These are all series that have a lot of the story and art that you would like. Not traditional art styles but flow with the story. Although you should check out All-Star Superman just to see one of the best modern superhero stories and its execution.
-King City: The story of a boy getting over a girl, in a futuristic city where aliens, luchadores, ninjas, and Lovecraftian horrors run wild.
-Won Ton Soup: A space-trucker participates in a cooking competition that puts Iron Chef to shame.
-Orc Stain: An orc that's very much unlike the traditional Lord of the Rings/D&D stereotype attempts to navigate his way through a world ruled by savagery.
-Parker: The Hunter/Parker: The Outfit: A flashy noir comic set in the past, adapting the novels of Donald Westlake/Richard Stark.
-Viking: Essentially a crime book, set in the days of vikings. It has a very dark, moody art style.
-Hercules: Knives of Kush and Caliber: I haven't read either of these past the first issue, but they've got that painted art style you seem to like.
-Automatic Kafka: A robot that used to be on a superhero team, struggles to find purpose after the team disbands. It's drawn by Ashley Wood, who again has a dark, non-traditional style.
This would be easier if you told us what genres you enjoyed. Sci-Fi? Fantasy? Romance? Pulp adventures? Crime?
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Well, I found your post offensive and borderline trolling, but I'm going to give you a suggestion anyways. There is a little known writer/artist named Robert Liefeld whose work you should check out. It seems to be what you are looking for.
But that's just superheroes being awesome with an excellent story every issue!
Yes but it is sequential ART.
Two of my favorite books have unique art-- King City and Orc Stain. Casanova and Incognito are both good. Hellboy, BPRD, Parker...
Blame is really, really good. So is Biomega. Have you read biomega?
You may want to check out Fear Agent, it has a neat concept, good writing and great art. It is also awesome and really depressing at the same time. Another comic that alternates between kicking ass and being really depressing is Scalped.
The fact that his goal is reasonable doesn't make his approach less douchey.
Yeah, sorry, I didn't realize it would come across that way. I actually thought it would be funny
I do really appreciate all the recommendations! A lot of those look really promising.
We should turn this into the sequential art thread, like what linespider said, seeing as there hasn't been one yet.
SUPER EDIT!!!
I edited my main post, hopefully its less offensive now. I honestly thought it would get a laugh, I had no intention of offending anyone. Sorry
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These are my favorite so far. And Casanova is looking good from a quick google search.
Vess has a unique take on the super hero thing. Pretty cool.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAaa... Robert Liefeld Yes, I've heard of him.
I Love This Guy! He did the soldier short in Flight 3. Fantastic. And I'm a sucker for steam/cyberpunk. Gonna have to pick that one up.
On second thought, Munch, everything you recommended looks fan-goddam-tastic. The Automatic Kafka looks especially awesome. Thanks for the suggestions.
As for you question at the end, I don't have a preference for genre, I enjoy sci-fi, steam/cyberpunk, high fantasy, hard science fiction, hard boiled noir, action, fusion genres and whatever else.
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OK man, whatever.
In case you didn't notice I also posted this...
And what's wrong with snikt?
Its the art/artist I'm talking about here. Its better than posting http://www.valar.ru/gallery/0408/abara_c02_p29.jpg it doesn't seem like a place thats very receptive of manga.
But I'm not here to talk about manga, I'm here to talk about good art in comics. So I put it up.
You guys like your "troll" word. Thats such a fucking 90s tactic. Get over it, I'm here to talk about comics,
not be an asshole. And how could what I edited my OP to be considered trolling? It's as neutral as I could come up with...
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This looks great, and the wonderful world of oz too, and I have no idea what's going on here but I want to find out!!!
I'm a huge fan of tsutomu nihei specifically. I own those both in japanese and english, and if you're unfamiliar with ABARA I highly recommend it. Its hard to find a lot of his one shots too, cuz they get published in obscure japanese magazines.
Will have to check out your other two recommendations also
edit: I'm a fan of fear agent now. Adding to my cart on amazon.
May have to look into scalped. Its got some intriguing images on google, it didn't immediately grab me though.
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Or the paints of Dan Brerenton, the best of which are in his Nocturnals books.
For instance, this is one of my favorite pages ever, because of the art style Stuart Immonen used for Superman: Secret Identity works perfectly for conveying Superman in our world and seeing what will become the start of a brave new world:
This page works not only with the copy, but also works without words if read with the rest of the issue. Going from Superman being a speck above the rural landscape (his beginnings) to Clark having that light-bulb moment of what he just realized, it is near perfect in its execution. Yet that is pretty standard superhero art. Does perfect execution of a certain "normal" style lend it anymore weight than someone being experimental and missing on some key points (for instance, Ashley Wood is experimental but I can't tell what's going on in half of his drawings).
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Unfortunately, Dark Knight being last month's top book indicates the opposite and that the 90's are on their way back.
Yeah, SNIKT didn't have the best story, but I'm a fan of the artist. Pretty much all of his artwork is amazing, and his 3 (4, but the newest one [Knights of Sidonia] sucks 3 issues in) main publications are phenominal.
ABARA (favorite, also not published in English)
Story of a creature called the Gauna destroying the world and man must protect the world against his will.
BLAME!
Killy goes on an epic 10 part quest looking for survivors of an ancient race.
BIOMEGA
A creature infects the human race and changes the world forever in a cyberpunk apocolypse.
NSFW (Blood)
I also recommend (in order of preference):
Halo Graphic Novel: Breaking Quarantine
SGT Johnson's escape from the flood.
This has some Grad A-mazing art in it, but I can never find it online. I can only find the same page and a half. SOOO Good. And his rendering of the flood is downright creepy.
Its worth the 30 bucks just for HIS short. But there are 4, and lots of great art in the back.
DIGIMORTAL (One Shot)
A hyper fanatic technological cult threatens peace in a city.
Winged Armor SUZUMEGA (One Shot)
(spoilered for HOOJ)
NOiSE (published through tokyo pop)
Child murders are running rampant and a cop must put a stop to it in the distant future.
Zeb Noid (One Shot)
Two races clash, with a misterious outcome. (really short)
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images load behind spoilers
Thanks for the recommend on CHEW, it looks fabulous! Amazon was recommending to me yesterday
Incognito looks great. Wish I had that kind of money.
I didn't mean to come accross like that, (Lord knows they're all better artists than I am!) I just meant that the typical heroic poses/super hero costume art isn't my preference. Which is why the venture brothers is so funny
Edit: Searching for Nextwave, I came across this. It made me lol
I think I may be a fan of this Stuart Immonen guy.
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