New to Graphic Novels

I've recently gotten in graphic novels after watching the Watchmen film. Any recommendatons that I could check out?

Well, what type of genres do you normally read or watch? That might help with some of the recommendations. I mean, if you like the Watchmen and like superheroes I recently read the fw volumes of Planetary and really enjoyed them. I'm drawing a blank on my favorite superhoero comic collections/graphic novels at the moment for some odd reasons.

Looking at your groups, you also might like Scalped series. I'm usually not a mystery buff, but it's drawn me in. It is pretty violent and dark though.

If you're looking for variety some ones that come to mind are: bone by Jeff Smith series, Fun Home, Maus I & Maus II, and the Fables series.

An obvious suggestion would be other Alan Moore graphic novels - From Hell if you like Jack the Ripper, Swamp Thing if you like a touch of horror,DR and Quinch if you want something lighter and funnier, or Future Shocks if you like short stories, plus loads of other stuff.

Or some of Moore's more modern stories:
Promethea, The league of extraordinary gentlemen, Tom Strong, or Top 10.

If you like the alternative take on superhumans, you may want to check out Kurt Busiek with Marvels and his Astro City series.

Some of the better (my qualification) graphic novels are nowadays available in standard bookshops. Look for publishers like D&Q, Fantagraphics, :01 First Second and Pantheon (to name a few). There are some very good graphic novels in every genre you can think of. If you have a preference, just mention it and we will give more examples.

Persepolis is one that a lot of folks new to graphic novels seem to like a lot. Likewise with Stitches. Both are memoirs.

Since you mention Watchmen and have a bunch of Sin City in your catalog, I'll suggest Frank Miller's The Dark Night Returns. Although it's not as good, it's often mentioned in the same breath as Watchmen for it's influence on the superhero genre.

I'd also recommend Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. It's a wonderful 75 issue / 10 trade series about the king of dreams. It has characters ranging from everyday people to ancient gods and contains a wide variety of stories. It's rightly considered a classic.

For fun romps I'd second the Fables recommendation and add in Hellboy. For light, sweet fare there's also Castle Waiting.

I like any genre mostly. I keep hearing about Neil Gaiman and his works. I bought the first collection of The Sandman and Y: The Last man, about a week ago. I started Y: The Last Man which is a very interesting graphic novel. I also got Volume 1 and 2 of The Losers after watching the movie. I didn't know that there was so many publishers of graphic novels. I only thought there was DC and Marvel, how naive I am.

>7 zanykm:
Just a note about The Sandman. I think a lot of people feel the first volume isn't up to the quality of the the rest. It's got more of a horror vibe and other DC characters show up which doesn't happen in future volumes. If you're so-so on the book, I'd suggest reading either the next one, Sandman: Doll's House, or even the third one, Dream Country, which is a set of four stand alone short stories to really get a feel for the series.

Hmm, seems you have a thing for King, he has a new comic out called American Vampire from Vertigo, it is newly published so right now it is in single issue form and not collected. King also authorized The Stand to be published from Marvel, the first two trades for that are out already - Captain Trips and American Nightmares both are pretty good and very close to the original book.
But I think for you I would completely recommend The Unwritten by Mike Carey it has so many literary allusions in it that I am still trying to figure them all out.

I would highly recommend that you read the Fables series by Bill Willingham, it's won tons of awards and is phenomenal. Also, I would suggest getting a public library card and checking out what they have there. I spent $300-400 on trade paperbacks when I got started before realizing that I could have rented everything from the library. I still like collecting and owning the comics but the library is a good place to try out series.

Thanks for the recommendation trmyers. I keep hearing about the Fable series, and how good it is. Good advice on the library card as well.

hi i am a huge noob to comics, last week i went into a comic store and he showed me around, i ended up gettin a deadpool paperback (dark reighn) and i really liked it so now im into deadpool and havent really found anything else that intreages me, ive been wanting to buy more but i know this sounds stupid to collectors, but i payed 15 bucks for that paperback, and the next one is 20$ i read it in an hr i was a little disapointed it didnt last long, and the single issues are 3.99 or so but i can read it in 15 min, and to get the full story you have to read 5-7 issues which is why i like the paper backs, but 15-25 bucks is alot for something i can read in an hr i just like reading them im not too into collecting, so does anyone have any recomendations for me? i want something that will last me a little while, and i really liked deadpool's style, the whole bad/good split personality, dark humor, so im looking for a graphic novel that could last me a week or so maby an indie writer that has thick, preferably colour graphic novels, something that also has sequels to the story... i dont know sorry if this is a stupid post im also new to forums, but thanks for reading and thanks for any replys

Deadpool is new to me, but it looks good, shane221.

The library can help with cost - ours, at least, stocks a lot of graphic novels, etc.

The closest I can think of that I've read that you might like is Batwoman: Elegy.

Complex stories with sequels bring to mind Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, Y: The Last Man and The Walking Dead.

thanks alot for your reply jnwelch, the walking dead was accually something i was considering getting next, thanks for your help i will definitly look into the ones you listed

You're welcome, shane. Good reading!

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is great.