Non-superhero original graphic novels. Like blankets, and box office posion, and black hole. I've read all of those and I know there are more, but i need some reccomendations.

Maus I & II. It's about the Holocaust.

Lots of people liked Alan Moore's From Hell. I had trouble getting started reading it and never went back.

OK, here's some off the top of my head:

Epileptic by David B. Wonderfully ornate French comic (translated into English) about a man growing up with an epileptic brother. Fantastic art that looks like woodcuts.

Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse About growing up gay in the South in the 1960s, really warm, enjoyable memoir.

Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware Ware's hyper-detailed, ironic style isn't for everyone but it's worth checking out. The man packs more into a page than most artists.

Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, and pretty much anything else the man has ever done. Spooky, strange and heartfelt stuff, also check out "Like A Velvet Glove In Iron" for a kind of "Twin Peaks" comic.

"American Elf" by James Kochalka Kochalka's "cute" primitive style kind of belies his great comics, this huge book collects five years of the "diary" comics he does online at www.americanelf.com; very funny, wise and sometimes touching comics about his life.

That'll get you started!

My history teacher lent me this in 8th grade while we were studying World War II. It's a great read and incredibly moving, even to a 14 year old.

Anything by Andi Watson but especially Breakfast After Noon

Seth's "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" from Drawn and Quarterly, is in my top ten favorite books, comic or otherwise.

Also want to put a word in for John Porcellino. His self published comics can be a little hard to come by (especially early issues) but there are a few collections available, most notably, "Perfect Example" also from Drawn and Quarterly.

While I don't love any of the follow-ups, Tom Hart's first major book "Hutch Owen's Working Hard" is a must read and is available to read online. http://www.newhatstories.com/hutchowen/howh/

"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron," "David Boring," and "Ghost World" by Dan Clowes.

"Palomar" by Gilbert Hernandez

"Locas" by Jaime Hernandez

"La Perdida" by Jessica Abel

"Sleepwalk and Other Stories" and "Summer Blonde" by Adrian Tomine

"Hate" by Peter Bagge. ("Buddy Does Seattle" is an omnibus edition of the first three graphic novels; presuambly they'll be doing a "Buddy Does Jersey" edition with the rest of the Buddy Bradley tales.)

"From Hell" by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.

Eddie Campbell's "Alec" books: King Canute Crowd, Three Piece Suit, After the Snooter, and How to be an Artist.

Starngehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge - "Arcadia," "Brotherhood", and "Conspiracies."

Also, you might want to check out some of Paul Pope's books. I think "Escapo," "The Ballad of Dr. Richardson," and "One Trick Rip-Off" should still be available, as well as "100%" from DC.

And Harvey Pekar's "American Splendor" books.

Lots of good recommendations so far. By the way, if you liked "Box Office Poison", you should pick up Alex Robinson's latest graphic novel, "Tricked". Not quite as good as BOP, but still a great read.

Take this with a grain of salt as it gets a bit more outlandish the deeper you get into the story, but I will say the first five trades or so of Strangers in Paradise are really great.

And I second anything by Adrian Tomine. It's depressing stuff, but really good.

This is a sequel to H.G. Wells War of the Worlds in which much of the Martian technology has been reverse engineered. It’s basically a Victorian mystery/adventure with an awesome ending.


In this one a very successful childrens’ book author is suffering spells in which finds himself in the fantasy of his stories. The world however has been razed and is ruled by an evil despot with unstoppable armies. Just when you think it’s a pedestrian twist…it is not.

I loved both of these! I will be picking up these guys’ adaptation of the original War of the Worlds even though I’ve already read the whole thing here:

http://www.darkhorse.com/zones/wotw/index.php

I don’t know if you were looking for straight dramatic comics like the Dan Clowes ones (actually Velvet Glove freaked me the hell out!) but these aren’t your typical hero fare and IMO are incredibly good. (Hardcover, 15 bucks each)

I just read watchmen which has superhereos in it sort of but is not a superhero book. I guess it kind of uses costume hereos to move story. I can not really explain it very well. I guess its a book based on the threat of war. We see lives of people dealing with the increasing chance that World War 3 is about to take place.

The book touches some real issues that might come up if people really did go around dressing in tights. Some of them of the "hereos" are racist, rapist, insane, gay, or just nice people.

I would also recommend Perseopolis I and II both. They are essentially biographies of a woman who grew up in a Muslim country (Iran i believe) her experiences both in the country and living in Europe.

It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember really liking Enigma (Peter Milligan). Like the Watchmen comics, it involves superheroes, but it's not really a superhero comic.

Here's some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_%28comic%29
http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=482

Nice. I picked up that original mini-series and it was the first time I discovered Duncan Fegredo.

Off subject a bit, but he's going to be a guest artist on Hellboy pretty soon. His style really works with that character/world.

I've been reading Brian Vaughn's Y: The Last Man series recently. It's about a virus that kills all men on the face of the Earth with the exception of one. Really excellent stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156...936791-5339955

I'll second this recommendation. I read the first 3 trades because my library had them. My local public library has started getting a ton of graphic novels in - if you haven't checked your library you might want to.

Good tip. I just checked my library's online catalog, and there are a bunch of graphic novels and mangas in the local system. Woo Hoo!

I worked at a library for a couple years during the summer and once we started carrying graphic novels they started circulating like crazy. As more kept getting checked out the library then started getting more in since they were popular. Now whenever i stop by the library i check out anything new and even mildly decent looking - if i like it cool - if not then at least i boosted circulation. Most libraries will also let you request titles for purchase or inter-library loan. I've read many a comic requested on this board by doing this.

Here are some of the books I have read in the past couple of years:


The Adventures of Tintin
Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq
Bone
!Hero
The Last Knight (Don Quixote) - Will Eisner
The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion - Will Eisner

You might check out the Usagi Yojimbo books by Stan Sakai.

Also, check out Superman: Secret Identity... I think this is the one where there is a kid named Clark Kent, in a world like ours where Superman is fictional.

As I recommended in another thread, I believe Cerebus (or at least the first half of it) to be the best written series I've ever seen. The first GN is not as good as some of the later ones as the story gets its footing, but High Society and Jaka's Story are absolutely stunning and amazing.

The original Elfquest GNs would also be an excellent choice.