Okay, after I read Watchmen and watched Heroes I decided to delve deeper into the graphic novels' World. I only own Watchmen, but I'm planning to buy Wanted and Batman: The Killing Joke. I've been having some trouble finding good stand-alone graphic novels, not something with 80 issues. Any help?
It's tough. You can find them at Boarders or B&N I know but mostly they only sell compilations and copies of Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke. A lot of these comics are not in high demand so getting copies isn't as easy as one could hope. I suggest Amazon or Online shopping. There are also comic stores which though not as moon as they used to be can be found in most major cities.
A friend has told me about a few. I've never read them, but she said they were pretty good. Maus (I think it's a 2-part series kinda thing), V for Vendetta, and Fun Home.
Stand-alones are hard to find, but yeah, go to the major book stores and you can find some books of completed stories all in just a few volumes.
Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Year One (I think that's what it's called) and The Dark Knight Returns are all stellar graphic novels, the latter probably the best, and if you liked Watchmen you'll surely like them as well. Frank Miller's Ronin is pretty good, as well, a bit of a futuristic, dystopian thing. Of course, Watchmen seems to be the absolute pinnacle of the beauty and significance that can come from a graphic novel...so if you read that first, there's a chance you'll be underwhelmed by others. I'm not a huge fan of graphic novels but I have a friend who he is and these are the books he started me off with. You can see he had Batman love.
I haven't read any Graphic Novels myself, but here's a link to some recommended comics http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/freshink/index.html
I say skip Those Left Behind and go straight to Better Days. Those Left Behind feels genuine in the Firefly universe but it doesn't do anything but tie up the plot of the guy who Mal shot in the eye in the very first episode of the series. Better Days, the second series of Serenity comics, is actually pretty good. I wish it could have been an episode.
Check your local Library, they may have them. A few years back, I found The Dark Knight Returns and a Green Arrow Comic by Kevin Smith at my local library, because they have a section to comics for Teens. Also check out your local comic book store, they should be able to get copies of them.
Ooh, this is right up my alley! Are you interested in graphic novels for the art or for the story? I find the art much more important than the text, but I've found a healthy medium with all of Kaori Yuki's work. (So what if I'm a little biased? Yuki was the author of the first manga I got my hands on.) She's written The Cain Saga and Godchild (collectively "The Earl Cain Series," as Godchild is a sequel series), both of which are relatively short in volumes --The Cain Saga has five volumes, Godchild with eight. Victorian / goth-esque, and slightly morbid. The stories are fairly predictable after you understand that there are no happy endings... Now, in order to help you with your selection, ask yourself what your plot preference is. The two main divisions are Shonen and Shojo. Shonen is generally 'for boys' as they tend to be more action oriented, and they tend to be a bit more violent. Shojo is directed toward the female audience and tends to be more romantic --you will see very silly plots with shojo; I often have a good laugh at some of the titles. Of course, gender isnt the deciding factor; I own a lot of shonen and shojo. There are adult man and adult woman styles of manga as well, which are either sealed in a plastic coating (because manga, of course, has images ) or you'd have to ask for a register to see the titles. Borders has a much better selection than Barnes and Nobles, but the InterWeb, of course, has the largest variety. I suggest that if you want to page through the mangas before purchase, try Borders. Blood+ is a fairly short manga series; that's a shonen with a female character... Art is so-so, but the story is fabulous, and Chaos;Head. !! If you can find that in print, treasure it always. --The anime version I encourage you to watch; absolutely fabulous. English and Spanish translations on YouTube. I'll stop for now, but dont hesitate to PM or reply back if you want any more information (I've a wealth in this department, having been a longtime enthusiast of Japan in general, anime, manga, reading, and art), okay?
I might be a few days late to add to this thread but I work in a comic book shop so this is right up my alley. May i say that Wanted and The Killing Joke would be excellent choices for stand alone graphic novels. Wanted is freaking fantastic and the movie does it no justice in my personal opinion. I own them myself. I would also suggest Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City if you enjoy the darker comics. Kingdom Come is a classic. Not one of my personal favorites but certainly a good book and worth reading. If you are really into the marvel universe, there are trade paperbacks of The Ultimates I+II which are really awesome. Don't bother with the third. I'm not sure if it's out in a trade yet, but it's quite a let down. Also, Civil War by Marvel is well worth reading. And if you like zombies, Marvel Zombies is great stuff. A trade paperback by the way. just in case you don't know, is a just a collection of all the issues of a comic story arch into one paperback graphic novel. And lastly one i haven't read yet but am trying to find myself is Ruins, also a Marvel production. It's based on an alternate marvel universe where everything plays out in a more realistic way. So Wolverine is dying of heavy metal poisoning ect. Ok I'm done being a huge nerd. I hope these help.
