What is your favorite graphic novel, /co/?
>>78582349
I saw that book in my library. The cover is REALLY nice, though I know nothing about it.
>>78582349
Scott McCloud's The Sculptor ;)
>>78583028
White American Protestant romantic fiction for white american protestant men, IMO.
Soul crushing yet so touching.
>>78582349
Probably Here or The Nao of Brown.
>>78584366
Someone was storytiming it months ago and this was my exact thought from the few pages I read.
Art was great, but I felt criminally outside of its intended audience.
>>78584366
You left off "middle class, suburban." I'm as white as a sheet and I found it beyond trite. I think it is also for dudes who have never had a relationship or any real life experience.
>>78582349
Just finished Blankets and it's definitely something I'm going back to. A nice reflective piece of growing up.
>>78583058
Read The Sculptor a couple months ago and still a little mixed about it. Love it dearly but not as much as I was hoping. Definitely will reread soon.
Anyone read Habibi yet?
>>78582349
1-800-MICE
I don't have one, that'd be pretty absurd--for me, anyway! I'd even have trouble narrowing it down to ten, there's a lot of great works out there. But off the top of my head some of my favourites are:
Summer of Love by Debbie Drechsler
1-800 MICE by Matthew Thurber
The King of Persia by Walt Holcombe
My New York Diary by Julie Doucet
Wally Gropius by Tim Hensley
You'll Never Know trilogy by Carol Tyler
Binky Brown Meets The Holy Virgin Mary by Justin Green
Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw
Shrimpy & Paul by Marc Bell
Epileptic by David B.
I know that most of these saw publication as serialised floppies before being collected.
>>78584366
Thompson has a massive female fanbase! Not that I'm particularly a fan of his but I have his first three books (his newest all ages book looks good--but then all his comics do)--Goodbye Chunky Rice is basically the love story from Blankets told in a more oblique fashion, with anthro animals and it works better than the straight-up autobio of the latter, I think. Blankets' best parts were the childhood reminiscences, by and large they seemed a lot more "real" than the love story...they felt "truer". I don't know what it is but it seems to me that female autobio cartoonists tap into this "truth"--the truth of themselves, I suppose--with an ease and grace that (most) male cartoonists can't reach. I think it was Chris Ware who said to David Heatley: "you don't turn yourself into a character" in the way that a big proportion of male autobiographical cartoonists do. I know it's a big generalisation, it's just a conclusion I've arrived at after many years reading comics.
>>78587514
Excellent taste good sir.
>>78587449
Yeah I've read Habibi a couple of times, visually gorgeous but I still don't really know whether I like it or not. I know that sounds weird but I can't decide how I feel about it. I'd say try Goodbye Chunky Rice first, certainly if you're thinking of buying Habibi, maybe.
>>78583058
I love The Sculptor even though it's crap.
The Sculptor and Habibi are on my "So Bad It's Good" list.
>>78584825
This looks right up my street, I;ll check it out
To be honest though, it's not flawless. Adam Hines really goes overboard on his use of interstitial pages here.
Anyone know any more comics that are the length of The Sculptor, aside from Habibi and Blankets?
>>78587514
Btw have you seen this, Anon? I think it's ace, it put me into a real state of high anticipation for the book!
https://youtu.be/hKKrhGr5m6M
"Auntie Lakeford's eyes are violet/Use your imagination 'til they colourise it/For the TV pilot"
>>78587837
Bottomless Belly Button is really long, also the Castle Waiting books.
>>78583058
I found The Sculptor style over substance. It is wonderful to see, but not so much to read. If that makes sense.
Moonshadow is one comic I always re-read, it feels unique and unlikely to be made again I think
>>78588008
Not a graphic novel, nyeah nyeah nyeah.
>>78587761
Screw you anon The Sculptor was great
also pic related is probably my favorite.
I've also read
The Man who Laughs
Breathers
Couch Tag
The Motherless Oven
>>78588152
I recently also bought Old City Blues which is a lot like Blade Runner
>>78588152
Your favorite graphic novel is not a graphic novel.
>>78588079
If it's a serialised, finite work that's been collected I'd say it counts as a graphic novel. To me the term just means a long comic with a single narrative.
>>78588152
I remember seeing a galley proof of The Man Who Laughs that Mark Stafford had at the Jaime Hernandez Comika event, it's a lovely-looking book, some great cartooning.
What did you think to The Motherless Oven? I like the look of that, I almost bought it but there was something else crying out to be taken home so I didn't get it.
>>78587701
>Blankets' best parts were the childhood reminiscences, by and large they seemed a lot more "real" than the love story...they felt "truer". I don't know what it is but it seems to me that female autobio cartoonists tap into this "truth"--the truth of themselves, I suppose--with an ease and grace that (most) male cartoonists can't reach.
Introperspective and romantic biopic literature written by males about their male feels is an established genre in US fiction. I think Walden marks the start if it and Leaves of Grass and On the Road are examples most folks should've heard about. It's just that Blankets really seems to double down on the protestant whiteness experience instead of using the usual transcendalistic style associated with the genre.
>>78588365
Huh, I have all those books you mentioned, how about that, eh?
>>78588365
I think this is what bugs me so much about the fact that Blankets is so popular.
Comics are such a fucking amazing vehicle for experience, and Thompson uses this to tell the most bland, whitebread story I can imagine. I'm not trying to put him down really, of course his own story was important to him, but I can't really see why he felt it was worth telling. I understand even less why so many people seem to like it so much. Maybe there are just a lot of people like him that relate to it in a superficial way?
>>78589009
>>78588365
So you're saying the comic is bad because it's about a white male?
>>78589009
I think it's some kind of clarion to a certain person, those "alternative" music-scene, arty, "sensitive" shy types who feel like outcasts or identify with that on some level...maybe a superficial level, I don't know. It's "proficient mediocrity", a little bit soulless..I think he gets away with A LOT because he's such a good artist, to be honest.
I like Habibi a lot.
>>78587761
;_;
>>78582349
I like Blankets, I like Black Hole, I like Pyongyang, I like From Hell, I like Arsene Schrauwen. I like a lot of things, I can't pick one.
>>78588278
It's okay, it kind of just throws you in this world where some things don't make sense and it doesn't really try to explain any of it to you. I'd say it's a great afternoon read but not something you'd re-read unless you really like the art style
>>78590187
I do dig the art...that sort of surreal setting was one of the other things that appealed to me about it. I dunno, maybe I should try and read it first before buying it or not whatever the case may be. Thanks Anon.
>>78587449
Habibi is alright, better than Blankets. Then again, I didnt like Blankets terribly much. Habibi isnt dull the way blankets could be, but it can seem depressing and unnecessary. Maybe the author just has trouble telling happy stories.
King City
Year 100 is my favorite cape one.
Starlight is my favorite non cape.
>mfw just finished marathoning the entirety of sandman
