Romantic Comics/Graphic Novels

I have a friend who is just getting into comics and graphic novels. She's looking for some that focus on romance and love stories.

I came up with Blankets by Craig Thompson and the Project: Romantic anthology off the top of my head. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

She particularly likes what she describes as "sumptuous" artwork, especially in color. She is also very interested in geisha and courtesans.

I would always recommend The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. There's a related graphic novel set in feudal Japan called The Dream Hunters.

If you're looking for something more conventional, check out just about anything Oni Press puts out.

Strangers in Paradise. THE romantic comic/graphic novel series. Bar none.

The Sandman isn't really a romance/love story, though. Granted, there were romances in Morpheus' past, but the series seems to focus more on the aftermaths of those relationships than the relationships themselves.

Fables isn't a romance either, but it does have a very nice love story running throughout. Same with Y: The Last Man.

Sorry, I'm having trouble thinking of non-Vertigo series right now.

I second the remark about Strangers in Paradise. That is where I took my name.

Kinokuniya in my city has just got the Pocket Books of SiP in, which means I can actually get my hands on it! :) ="E3

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I've been meaning to look into Strangers in Paradise for awhile now...this'll just give me another excuse!

All for the sake of my friend, of course... ;-)

I'll look into these links myself, as I had the same question (I'm a manga fan, and I'd like to get into American comics as well, broaden my horizons. I figured romance, my favorite genre, would be a good start). Hopeless Savages from Oni Press looks good.

Which also brings me to my question for PhoenixTerrain. What about mangas? Hot Gimmick is one of my favorite mangas, and it has an amazing love triangle. I've heard the ending is weak, but I haven't gotten to it yet. Another that I haven't read the manga for, but seen the anime of, and that I love, is Paradise Kiss.

aeiouna, manga recommendations are certainly welcome as well, thanks!

No problem. Your friend will probably have a better chance finding romantic stories in mangas, as opposed to American graphic novels, as on this side of the Pacific, comic book makers seem to think girls don't read them.

Over here in Australia I've met girls at school who read Manga but won't give stuff like The Sandman a chance because it's "American". One can surely appreciate both Manga and American comics can't you?

I've found manga to be my stepping stone to American comics. I would have never thought to look for Oni Press' website and read the synopsis for Love As A Foreign Language if I hadn't read Hot Gimmick first.

It's totally possible to like both manga and American comics, but some people are under the impression that if it's Japanese, it's better, and everything else is inferior.

>12 aeiouna: LOL! I always think of Love As A Foreign Language as a Korean comic, not an American one.

It's always not an issue of inferior or superior, it's just an issue of appeal. We like the serial story telling graphic novels from Germany (Gothic Sports for example), Korea, HK, Singapore, Japan, but not usually the ones from America. Popular American comics such as Sandman, LoEG, etc. just don't appeal to the comics readers in this household. The Gaiman reader, on the other hand, won't touch graphic novels!

For American comics, we tend to strongly prefer comedy shorts, stuff like Calvin and Hobbs, Dilbert, etc. American Born Chinese was the most recent American comic we've picked up. The other American titles we've picked up were more art book or picture book than comic.