I quite enjoyed the movie, but if you liked it you need to read the GN. Much better.



Leroux, I'll put in another recommendation for From Hell. And seriously if you've not read Watchmen or V for Vendetta, you should rectify that asap.

The term is quite blurry, which is why I stated my own definition of it above by listing those requirements (one volume standalone comic 'd'auteur' of novel sized length with themes that transcend pure genre fiction, showing ambition to experiment with the art form and take it to another level). At least over here it's particularly used to market comics to an audience that's traditionally prejudiced against comics as escapist entertainment for kids and teens, to prove that it's a respectable artform that can provide food for thought to adults just like any other artform. I can imagine that the French speaking countries who are traditionally less snobbish in this regard and have always regarded comics as art wouldn't have a need for such a marketing term. It's unfortunate that in some countries comics have to be likened to literature first ("novel") in order for them to be taken seriously as an artform, but on the other hand the term also makes it a little bit easier for me to find comics of that particular sort that I'm most interested in (as opposed to serial genre fiction comic books or cartoons). Only a little bit though, as the term "graphic novel" is often used for collections of serial genre fiction comic books in one volume, too, which isn't helping my search. ;)

I've already read Maus, Persepolis, Bone, Ballad of the Salt Sea, It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken, Fun Home (so far I didn't read the sequel though, I'll check it out).

Marc-Antoine Mathieu looks like an author I might like and I'll check out his work, but when it comes to buying and collecting comics I usually prefer those of greater length than the traditional Franco-Belgian bande dessinées standard of 48 pages. Hey Wait, Silence, We3, It Was the War of the Trenches, A Tale Of One Bad Rat also might be too short for what I'm looking to buy, even though they all look like worthwhile reads. The Resonator appears to be out of stock.

Also, mrcrispy83, thanks for your detailed explanation of your recommendation for From Hell, it's certainly the one of the suggested Alan Moore comics that comes closest to my definition. And I'm not dismissing any of them, I will read them, but I'm hesitant about buying them for my limited shelf, as I just can't imagine them to be the kind of books that I would read more than one time while marvelling at their drawings, as in addition to their genre fiction plots their art style is not particularly attractive to me. I'll give it some more thought though.

I generally prefer originals to translations, but browsing the catalogues of German indie publishers like Splitter, avant, Reprodukt etc. for titles that might appeal to me isn't a bad idea.

Seconds is a good suggestion, and Sharazde really has an impressive art style, I'll also look into The Crow, Tricked and Safe Area Gorazde.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

you'd be surprised about transmetropolitan
its mostly a satirical sneer with a deranged gonzo journalist running aroudn uncovering the TRUTH GOD DAMN IT !
and toppeling two presidents of the usa in the process

miracleman is a descontruction of the super hero genre and posist the question what if super heroes were real ?
and then proceeds to demolish all the tropes and bring the question to its eventual and logical conclusion ( gods on earth )

the movies for watchmen and v for vendetta do both a disservice
moore has disowned both
v for vendetta the movie has become a bog standard super hero movie
the book is about anarchy about facism and about freedom neither good nor evil just grey while watchman also deconstructs super heroes and plays with the form like you wouldnt believe
such as the issue where the page layouts are perfect mirror images of each other and they meet in the middle

the from hell movie is awfull but the book is a huge monstrous tome that delves in to the everyday lives of people from whitchapel in 1888 while throwing up one theory about who the jack the ripper is
what he was
why he did what he did his motives and esoteric arcane rituals
among other things
and Campbells scratchy unpleasant art help sell the mood
the notes and appendices are a book unto themsleves ( around 4 or 5 )

the crow is ...unpleasant but very well illustrated

if you are in to fantasy and adventure with a lot of humor you may want to look in to gold digger
first 199 issues are now free
and dont let the carefree attitude of the art or the script fool you this comics has been going places for 25 years now

matt wagners grendel
collected in 4 huge tomes and while they start with hunter rose and his through the underworld and eventual demise it then starts of in a different direction where the notion of grendel as an entity that can posses people and eventually rule the world and become the new world order is explored
but is it truly the spirit of grendel ?
or i it just the idea that caught people and they just went with it ?
its neither super heror nor crime noir nor scice fiction nor horror its all that and more

and finally cerebus
you may want to give up around jaka's story though
dave sim goes a bit off his rocker after that volume and his works become stranger and stranger
and not ina good way
but until then the artwork sis excellent and the plots both mindboggeling and thought provoking
as was satirical
start with high society

Daisy Kutter: The Last Train by Kazu Kibuishi
Standalone book, 192 pages, grayscale. Kickstarter-reprinted, all profit goes to the creator.

Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
6 out of 9 volumes, ~200 pages per volume of full-color awesomeness. Published by Scholastic (ew), but they're apparently nice to the author, so I guess you can buy the books without committing a crime against humanity.

Timeless by Matthew Hogan
Standalone book, 172 pages, black and white. Incredible, haunting stuff. It's apparently sold (the #1 is a listing error) and directly [url=http://www.talking-time.net/showthread.php?t=15484]here. T̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶ ̶v̶a̶n̶i̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶n̶e̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶a̶d̶v̶i̶s̶e̶ ̶b̶u̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶d̶i̶r̶e̶c̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶Y̶E̶T̶ ̶(̶I̶ ̶p̶a̶y̶p̶a̶l̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶$̶1̶0̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶c̶k̶)̶.̶
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE the links are legit, I got my book. You should, too.

To be honest, I'm quite surprised that nobody has mentioned [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fables_(comics)]Fables[/url] yet. Sure, single issues don't have too many pages and can be finished rather quickly but a story arc usually covers several issues and with (according to Wikipedia) 149 issues to date there is a lot to read and Fables still seems to be running strong for 13 years now.

Telltale's The Wolf among us is based on Fables, just in case you didn't know.

Oh, and another one I forgot to mention that is definitely worth reading: Pride of Baghdad

How about
Borgia or Metabarons? Both were co-created by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Waht about Stories from Jacques Tardi ?

Escpecially his graphic novels about WW1...

Silence isn't a short book. It's a multi-chapters story. My edition is 153 pages, and, more importantly, it does feel 'full', like a novel. It's thick like a good Corto Maltese. More strangely, I am always surprised by the visual size of It Was the War of the Trenches, because each time I read it it feels very long and heavy and complete (and then I always remember the book as being physically much larger than it is). It's an absolute must read anyway, but maybe closer to a historical chronicle, a collection of facts, than a proper story. Still, you can check other Tardi works, many of them are adaptations of novers. His Nestor Burma series is excellent, and in particular his version of The Bloody Streets of Paris (120 rue de la gare) will get you busy. There is even an excellent "making of" book -if you can find it- that details the procedure and choices of that adaptation, and compares it with the novel. But, really, everything that Tardi has ever touched must be read.

Also, maybe you just have a look at Enki Bilal's works. The books are short-ish (though the Nikopol story is a trilogy), but high density. And, whether directly or indirectly (whether he puts scifi elements in it or not), it's always kind of grounded in the history of east-europe. I haven't read his Sarajevo, and have feeble memories of his Partie de Chasse, but it may be close to what you look for.

And yeah, Hey Wait is short and quick, but will haunt you for life.

I've often read praise for and controversy about Dave Sim's Cerebus, but it seems difficult to come by; either not available for purchase or only at high collector's prices. I'm not sure if you can get a Grendel collection here at a good price either.

I like the looks of Daisy Kutter, and the book seems fairly priced, but I fear that most of the money would actually go to UPS and government, not the author. To have a physical copy shipped to Germany, it seems I'd have to pay almost three times the price of the actual book, which is more than I'm willing to invest. And I prefer physical to digital comics. I'll make a note of the author's name though, I didn't know him yet and his art seems cool, I'll also look into the anthologies he edits, they promise to feature a variety of artists I might like and they're available for purchase here.

Maybe that's because one of the requirements is standalone story collected in one volume. I'm explicitly not looking for series. I'm aware that this is a questionable requirement when it comes to picking good comics, but I should have stated more clearly in the OP that I'm actually looking for a graphic novel to buy, and when it comes to buying, I find following series costly and inconvenient (much like many gamers prefer to wait for GOTY editions rather than buying episodes, season passes and DLC). That being said, I have Fables on my radar. I also own The Wolf Among Us, but so far I haven't been able to get into it (admittedly, I wasn't trying too hard). I'll check out Pride of Baghdad, thanks, it's got an interesting premise, even if I generally prefer to buy a bit more voluminous books - it's all about very subjective value-for-money considerations, I'm not that picky when it comes to borrowing comics. ;)

I'll do some research on Borgia and Metabarons thanks. That reminds me I still need to watch Jodorowsky's Dune.

I didn't mean to say "short", but "too short for what I had in mind", which is 250+, ideally even between 300 and 500 pages. Like I said above, it's really just a financial consideration. I'd need to be convinced that I'd love a book and would be willing to read it more than once before I pay good money for a quick read. But I give it some more thought, based on what you write. I'll still try to get some titles by Tardi and Bilal from the library in any case, even if I end up not buying them, thanks.

I understand that perfectly well! I also usually wait for GOTYs.

Let me give you one piece of advice: Have you tried checking out public libraries? I don't know how the situation is where you live but here in Vienna they have become pretty modern in the last 10 years or so. They don't only have old book classics but also lots of modern media in all different forms. You can rent anything from e-books, audio-books, music CDs, movie DVDs, graphic novels as well as 'normal' books for next to nothing. And just to check if they actually carry my recommendation I used their online search and found that they indeed carry Lysistrata, as well as Pride of Baghdad and many Fables issues. Just try to call the nearest public library and ask if they carry stuff like that. You might be positively surprised.

BTW, one more recommendation: Fritz the Cat by Robert Crumb and/or the animated movie by Ralph Bakshi. Not recommended to Americans because of sexual content. ;-)

I have some suggestions, I'm amazed nobody has mentioned some of them yet:

- The Incal, by Jodorowsky and Moebius; I always say that if you're only going to read 3 comics in your life, they should be The Incal, Watchmen and Bone. Try to get one of the older editions, the new ones have computer coloring and censorship.
- The Metabarons, by Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenez.
- Palestine, by Joe Sacco.
- Footnotes on Gaza, by Joe Sacco. What can I say, I'm a fan of his work :)
- Cages, by Dave McKean.
- The Palomar & Luba books, by Gilbert "Beto" Hernandez.

The first two are sci-fi, but "must read" nonetheless; true masterpieces of the 9th Art.

If you can find some of his work translated, Miguelanxo Prado is a great artist. In particular I recommend Trazo de tiza, Fragmentos de la Enciclopedia Délfica and Ardalén.

Thankfully in Germany the original coloring was restored when The Incal was republicated. Thanks to the Splitter Verlag.

Yes, definitely! I practically live in public libraries. ;) And the library situation in Berlin is pretty good, too, they have a great sortiment of comics and movies, even in foreign languages, and the fees are very low. Running your suggestions through their search engine, I can confirm that the German translation of The Pride of Bagdad is available in a library close to my neighborhood, and they also have issues of Fables in the catalogue. Might take some patience and effort to get a hold of them in chronological order, as I'm probably not the only one after them, but the possibilites are there. There's even a comic library run by artists and volunteers here, I could try and see if they've got some titles in their archive that are harder to come by, like Cerebus.

I can also recommend Pride of Baghdad, I was thinking of mentioning it my first post but thought it might be too short. If you can borrow it, it's a good read. I did think it was way too sentimental though, which is rare for me.

If you really want a really good value per page, you could try the Dylan Dog Case Files. It's a very creative horror/drama/comedy with some great art by several different artists. With almost 700 pages, it's definitely the largest book in my collection. It's a compilation of 7 books, but I don't think it's the complete series, if that bothers you.

Edit: And another vote for Cerebus, very funny with a great style. That's another one I found at my library, but only the first volume, and I got the second at a local comic shop, but I haven't found any after that. You said you were trying to avoid series and wanted graphic novels with a lot of pages, but that's a series of 10 phonebook-sized graphic novels. I'm not sure if that's good or bad to you. :p

For more good comedy and satire, and much less serious, I would also recommend Sam & Max Surfin' the Highway, but it's a little rare. It was reprinted when the Telltale Games series came out, but even that's hard to find now.