Greatest Graphic Novels and TPBs Ever

[Elveen]

I'm interested in reading both of those.

[myron]

LoEG -- Moore

Magnus vs Predator

[Cyberstrike]

I'll add a few more:
The Transformers: Target: 2006
The Transformers: The Last Stand of the Wreckers
The Crow
From Hell
The Lost Girls
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1
The Sandman
Hulk/The Thing: The Big Change
The Punisher: Ghosts of Innocents
Ghost Rider/Wolverine/The Punisher: Heart of Darkness
Daredevil: Born Again
Elektra Lives!
Elektra: Assassin
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt
Batman: Seduction of the Gun
Batman: The Death of Innocents
Batman: Digital Justice
Batman: Night Cries
Batman: Year One
Batman: Year Two
Batman: A Death In The Family
Y, The Last Man on Earth
The Wizard's Tower
Marvels
Matt Wagner's Grendel
Matt Wagner's Mage book 1: The Hero Discovered
Superman: For Tomorrow
The Maximortal: The One
Tyrant
Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man
The Silver Surfer: Judgement Day
The Thanos Quest

[bosco685]

LoEG -- Moore

I really liked the first story arc. It is that second one with Mr. Hyde raping the Invisible Man that really turned me off to this material.

[bosco685]

I'll add a few more:
The Transformers: Target: 2006
The Transformers: The Last Stand of the Wreckers
The Crow
From Hell
The Lost Girls
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1
The Sandman
Hulk/The Thing: The Big Change
The Punisher: Ghosts of Innocents
Ghost Rider/Wolverine/The Punisher: Heart of Darkness
Daredevil: Born Again
Elektra Lives!
Elektra: Assassin
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt
Batman: Seduction of the Gun
Batman: The Death of Innocents
Batman: Digital Justice
Batman: Night Cries
Batman: Year One
Batman: Year Two
Batman: A Death In The Family
Y, The Last Man on Earth
The Wizard's Tower
Marvels
Matt Wagner's Grendel
Matt Wagner's Mage book 1: The Hero Discovered
Superman: For Tomorrow
The Maximortal: The One
Tyrant
Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man
The Silver Surfer: Judgement Day
The Thanos Quest

So much GOODNESS on this list, my head hurts from excitement.

[cray_ws]

1. Grendel Tales: Devils and Deaths - While not a true GN, I picked it up as my first experience into buying into a new format. Technically this was also the first TPB I ever bought. It ranks uno on my personal list because the book just hooks you right away and stays with you til the end. I haven't read this book in awhile. I am not even sure I still have it in readable condition.

2. Weapon X - Bar none the best Wolverine story ever told...in my humble opinion. Granted I haven't read anything beyond the original Wolverine series. Barry Windsor-Smith is master storyteller and this is only one of many his gems.

3. Whiteout - I bought this book on whim, the hype around this book was astoundingly high and I thought what the hell I'll give it a try. It certainly surpassed my expectations. I didn't think I would stick with it because I generally avoid black & white art. But this was profoundly moody and stark which enhanced the whole story. It's a book that I generally hand to for first time comic book readers to show them how much art can mean to the story without the whole spectrum of computer FX coloring that is so prevalent today.

I could probably list more but these three books rank high on my list.

[slym2none]

Might as well change this to the best GNs & TBPs...



-slym

[bobby97801]

Might as well change this to the best GNs & TBPs...



-slym

Fixed

[ilzuccone]

2. Weapon X - Bar none the best Wolverine story ever told...in my humble opinion. Granted I haven't read anything beyond the original Wolverine series. Barry Windsor-Smith is master storyteller and this is only one of many his gems.

just read that recently. so *SQUEE* good

[slym2none]

Elektra: Assassin is really good, if you can keep everything straight.

I just got done reading all of the 100 Bullets trades tonight. *WHEW* what a ride!!!



-slym

[dornwolf]

Might as well change this to the best GNs & TBPs...



-slym

In the last little while I think those two terms have become practically interchangeable

[Elveen]

Elektra: Assassin is really good, if you can keep everything straight.




-slym

I could not. Started it and did not finish it. it felt like it should be great, but I had no idea what was going on.

[slym2none]

Might as well change this to the best GNs & TBPs...

In the last little while I think those two terms have become practically interchangeable

But they aren't. A graphic novel is the whole story told at once, and not printed elsewhwere first, in a serial form. TPBs are comics that are collected into one format.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills is a graphic novel.

Watchmen was a collected TPB.

They aren't the same, and I wish people would realise that.



-slym

[cray_ws]

Might as well change this to the best GNs & TBPs...

In the last little while I think those two terms have become practically interchangeable

But they aren't. A graphic novel is the whole story told at once, and not printed elsewhwere first, in a serial form. TPBs are comics that are collected into one format.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills is a graphic novel.

Watchmen was a collected TPB.

They aren't the same, and I wish people would realise that.



-slym

Absolutely correct. However I think at a certain point when a TPB gets reprinted like 10 times over the course of 20 years, it pretty much becomes a graphic novel. Many people just don't see WATCHMEN as a TPB, mostly because they never knew it was collected.

My personal feeling is that graphic novels should be considered as complete works, not a series of volumes that some TPBs are. Granted these TPBs can stand on their own in terms of story, but many of them feel like chapters of a larger story. WATCHMEN doesn't feel like it's part of continuation. It's a rather decisive story, which lends itself to feel like a graphic novel.

[Cyberstrike]

A few more:
Stormquest: Timestorm
The Forbidden Book: A Journey Into Mysticism
Young Dracula: Diary of a Vampire
Jinx: Torso
Supreme: The Story of The Year
Supreme: The Return
Judgement Day
Alan Moore's Magic Words
A Signal to Noise
Mr. Punch
Veils
I, Paparazzi
9/11: Comics Respond
Starchild: Awakening
Starchild: Crossroads
Weapon X
Wolverine/Havok: Meltdown
The World of Aria

[Savant]

LoEG -- Moore

I really liked the first story arc. It is that second one with Mr. Hyde raping the Invisible Man that really turned me off to this material.

I have an entirely different perspective on that Hyde/Invisible Man scene, good sir.

I once lent LoEG 2 to an esteemed colleague, and I wholeheartedly agreed with his assessment that Mr. Hyde raping the Invisible Man on a dinner table resulted in one of the greatest panels in comic book history.

[geocarr]

Starchild: Awakening
Starchild: Crossroads

I liked these too! Whatever happened to James Owen? I met him twice at HeroesCon in Charlotte in the mid 90's and he was super nice.

[Cyberstrike]

A few more from my collection:

Armageddon Quest vols.1-3
Akira vols. 1-6
Domu: A Child's Dream vols. 1-3
Gon vols 1-5
The Fallen Angel Omnibus vols. 0-2
The Fallen Angel: The Return of the Son
Venom: Deathtrap: The Vault
Batman: Gotham By Gaslight
Batman: Master of the World
Batman: The Good, The Bad, & The Bat
Superman: Speeding Bullets

[Cyberstrike]

Might as well change this to the best GNs & TBPs...

In the last little while I think those two terms have become practically interchangeable

But they aren't. A graphic novel is the whole story told at once, and not printed elsewhwere first, in a serial form. TPBs are comics that are collected into one format.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills is a graphic novel.

Watchmen was a collected TPB.

They aren't the same, and I wish people would realise that.



-slym

I agree that used to be the way before publishers and fans screwed everything up but it's became a lot more blurred these days. Armageddon Quest for example was three volume with each one 300 pages but to my knowledge none of it was printed before anywhere or any other format. It was for all intents and purposes an original story broken into 3 parts for it's length.

The graphic novels that Marvel put out in the 80s costed more and some times called graphic albums due to their size and when DC introduced the prestige format which roughly the same size as a standard comic but was printed on better paper were bound like a prose novel. And what of the many, many, many prestige format books that DC and Marvel put out, I'm not talking about the mini-series but the one-shots DC did so many Elseworlds Batman one-shots I'll use the first one: Gotham By Gaslight, is it a graphic novel? Or what about Batman: Seduction of the Gun IIRC it wasn't even printed in the prestige format but is thought of as a graphic novel.

Defiant's Warriors of Plasm: Christmas Special is called in the indica (the small print) as The Warriors of Plasm Graphic Novel #1 yet it's not called a graphic novel on the cover (or at least I don't remember it being there). It wasn't helped that GNs became a way to start or end a series and/or storyline. Marvel GNs mixed creator-owned projects like Dreadstar, The Star Slammers, and Heartburst for examples, while The Death of Captain Marvel, X-Men: The New Mutants, and X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills all tied into the Marvel Universe and some were just off beat takes on various Marvel superheroes like: Spider-Man: Hooky, Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth and The Hulk/The Thing: The Big Change.

In cases like with Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Sin City: The Hard Goodbye,. and The Sandman I would say more people read them as TPBs and HCs than as single issues. Lets not even start on manga published in the West.

[mkb28]

Whoa! Jeff Lemire's "Green Arrow" run is awesome and Sorrentino's artwork is amazing. So far, Volumes 4-5 are some of the best TPB's I have read in awhile. I am so excited to see what Lemire has planned for "Bloodshot."

Mkb28

[leonmallett]

...In cases like with Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Sin City: The Hard Goodbye,. and The Sandman I would say more people read them as TPBs and HCs than as single issues. Lets not even start on manga published in the West.

Agreed with your key points, but in addition, those stories in the quote above were written as finite things, not open-ended serials to be handed on to the next creative team, even if they were broken into episodes - arguably like a novel broken into chapters; and I can name examples of novels that have been presented piece-meal before being published as a whole.

Generally, I think the notion of calling one thing a a graphic novel and something else a tpb is arbitrary at best, and I am not sure it serves much purpose.

[ilzuccone]

would the 1% book fall under original graphic novel? it's a whole story told at once.

i guess all one shots could be considered OGN… or is there a page limit?

it's all so gray.

Im with leonmallett

[leonmallett]

would the 1% book fall under original graphic novel? it's a whole story told at once.

i guess all one shots could be considered OGN… or is there a page limit?

it's all so gray.

Im with leonmallett

[ilzuccone]

would the 1% book fall under original graphic novel? it's a whole story told at once.

i guess all one shots could be considered OGN… or is there a page limit?

it's all so gray.

Im with leonmallett

[Cyberstrike]

...In cases like with Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Sin City: The Hard Goodbye,. and The Sandman I would say more people read them as TPBs and HCs than as single issues. Lets not even start on manga published in the West.

Agreed with your key points, but in addition, those stories in the quote above were written as finite things, not open-ended serials to be handed on to the next creative team, even if they were broken into episodes - arguably like a novel broken into chapters; and I can name examples of novels that have been presented piece-meal before being published as a whole.

Generally, I think the notion of calling one thing a a graphic novel and something else a tpb is arbitrary at best, and I am not sure it serves much purpose.

True. I remember reading an interview with Alan Moore where he said something to effect that as far as he was concerned: "The Watchmen Universe began on page one of #1 and ended on the last page of #12". I also can think of several classic prose novels, some are considered major woks of literature, that were serialized in newspapers before being collected as a novel.