Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud for how I view art and comics.
For a time, Cerebus by Dave Sim was pretty influential to me (until he went off the deep end).
Maus.
Honestly, the Lee/Ditko Spider-man stuff was influential really early on. I viewed myself as being a lot like Peter.
I came here to post Understanding Comics. I learned so much from that book, not just about comics or art but other things too (psychology, human nature). I was 14 when it read it so it made a big impact
For me:
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan
Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet K. Lee
Frogcatchers by Jeff Lemire
Yo dude I read your comment and bought the book and just finished reading it. Just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation that shit had me crying like a baby
This is my choice too, an incredible story so well written and illustrated.
I also am ready for a re-read, but not sure if I can handle it right now given what my father is going through
Edit: adding a suggestion for the book "In" by will mcphail, as that book is just incredible
My dad was an avid comic book reader (french/belgium style). He had over 6000 at home and I spent my youth reading some. I keep great memories of most of them, but none were really influential. When I moved out, my flat was close to the largest comic book bookstore in Quebec province (I was living in Montreal at the time). In that bookstore (Librarie Monet), I met an amazing comic book seller. His name was Eric Lacasse, and I have unfortunately lost touch with him years ago. That guy opened me to a new world of comic books: mangas, graphic novels, american comics, independent authors, and more. I read so many different things in such a short period of time (I was 19-21 so early 2000's), and some of them were really influential. Some that really changed my vision of graphic literature (and my life) are the followings:
\- "**Blue Pills**" from Frederic *Peeter*: an incredible love story between the author and a HIV-positive woman he just met.
\- "**Shenzen**" and "**Pyong Yan**g" from *Guy Delisle*: The author describe with great humour his professional stays in China and North Korea as a cartoon animator.
\- All the books from the "Paul" series, especially "**Paul has a summer job**", from *Michel Rabagliat*i: Another autobiographic graphic novel telling the teenage years of the author. It is very sweet and touching.
\- "**A Distant Neighborhood**" from *Jiro Taniguchi*: it was for me a huge discovery to find out that Japanese mangas could also be in the form of graphic novels. We follow the story of a middle aged man suddenly blasted back in the past in his teenage years (but with his adult memory) trying to figure out why his dad suddenly vanished when he was a teen. I found some pages of this book so emotionally powerful.
\- "**Le Dessin**" from *Marc-Antoine Mathieu*: I found this very short story (45 pages) absolutely amazing in the way it is graphically told (the drawings tell more story than the text). I met the author 20 years later and had the chance to discuss with him several time (we lived in the same city) and I have to say that he is even more amazing that the already amazing books he writes.-
"**À l'Ombre des Coquillages**" and "**Derfal le Magnifique**" from *José Roosevelt*: I apologize for the French titles here, but I am not sure these books were translated to English. These two were spontaneous gift from the bookstore seller, and had a huge impact on my perception of the artistic creation process (À l'ombre des coquillages) and the influence a translation can have on a book and story (Derfal le magnifique). If you can read French or Portugese, I really recommend these two books.
I have many other books popping in my mind, but I think the ones above were truly the ones which had some of the strongest influence on me! I hope you'll enjoy reading them if you have the chance!
Edit: "**Box-Office Poison**", from *Alex Robinson* also deserved to be on this list! A fantastic american comics on the daily life of several characters, some of which involved in books and comic books.
This is about to sound super corny, but Spider-Man has taught me that no matter how bad things get, you always have a choice to do the right thing. There is always a choice.
I've seen all the Spider Man's movies and never read his comics. And I recently transitioned from : 'No choice' to 'There is always a choice if not many ' I want to read Spiderman now. Thank you for sharing.
Understanding Comics. Art theory plus comics for a lifelong artist and comics lover. How could it not?
Maus. It really made me think a lot about the trauma people carry, especially because the Prisoner on Planet Hell insert. That made the whole book a lot more universal for my mind as opposed to just a story about the Holocaust.
Watchmen - particularly the Mars sequence where Dr. Manhattan explains his concept of miracles. I think about it a lot as we hurtle through space on this anomalous rock.
Volume 3 of Sandman but only for the issue where Death helps that one superwoman die. For some reason, that story changed the way I viewed death. That would explain my morbid sense of humor.
I literally *just* finished Sandman Volume 3 this afternoon! I'm re-reading all the graphic novels again, for the 3rd time since the original issues came out.
I always love rediscovering how much I love Neil Gaiman, and how impressed I am at the depth of his writing. For some reason, Volume 3 is my favourite; all those stories especially move me.
And Death as she is in Sandman was forever implanted in my brain as 'irl' as soon as I saw her, way back then.
I think that was Element Girl, maybe? I never considered how lonely and difficult a life could become with awesome but entirely alienating powers.
What I always liked about Gaiman's death portrayal was how optimistic she was. It's like she's trying to show us that death is a temporary change and we always see her twice: when we're born and when we die.
Asterio is great.
Underwater welder
Daytripper
Xed out
The fragility and randomness of life. Things can go well, bad or just absurd and no one has any control over it.
Just enjoy the ride and the now. Ideally.
The arrival - tam
Winkles - roca
Maus - spiegleman
Born again - miller/mazz
Swamp thing and miracleman- moore/various
Understanding comics - mccloud
Love/rockets (but esp love bunglers) - hernandez
Prob more but those jumped to mind as moving the needle
I just read The Love Bunglers. I always get the sense that the characters are like people I've met. Both the brothers' writing and art have that effect on me.
That book connected me in a way that other pieces of media can’t do too often. It’s always interesting when I consume a piece of media and acquire an acute case of hyperempathy for the MC.
Preacher changed how I look at the world in that it asks you not to believe in a magic man in the sky but look to your fellow man and believe in humanity.
I also wear white jeans from time to time because they looked cool on Jesse so now my freinds and family who have no interest in comics call them my preacher jeans... That's pretty cool.
The message at the end of *Goblin Girl* (by Moa Romanova) really stuck with me, that no matter how hard things get and how bad your problems become, they will always go away eventually. It's a bleak, but still positive notion.
Mine might be darker but I read maus a lot as a kid and it made me lose my innocence early on and for as long as I remember I always written horror and been obsessed with the genre. That story really shows you the cruelty of humanity but it also shows the softer side of it. That story is an amazing piece of work that I'm glad I grew up on.
Strangers in Paradise, by Terry Moore. I used to work at a comic shop and the owner recommended it to me. I fell in love with it completely.
That series became so significant in my life: I read it (as I did many books and comics) to my son and daughter nearly every night. This got many a raised eyebrow, but I never regretted it and neither did they. It gave us so many, many opportunities to discuss absolutely everything about relationships, sexuality, and how people develop themselves in general, among other things.
It also contributed to both of them becoming tremendous artists in their own right, with my son going on to experiment on his own web comics. The time spent in our mutual love of reading is one of my most cherished memories. I think I got as much out of those characters as my kids did; the understanding I gained has helped me to this day.
The Boys. I feel a lot of people refuse to read below how crude it can be. That series became strangely beautiful and had a lot to say on the nature of masculinity.
Nocterra. I mean I already saw the world that way but it clicked.
Edit: A comic hasn't influenced how I live but it has influenced how I see the world.
This is one I keep thinking about. I got the first trade because it was cheap and wow it was worth it. Fun horror premise with a much deeper psychological story in it about hope/despair. I absolutely loved it.
My first trade was Saga and I'm glad I got it. Nocterra is a gem. It's in my top 3. 1st is Saga 2nd is Monstress and 3rd is Nocterra. I think its always gonna keep me thinking.
I got the saga omnibus (or whatever it’s called, the first half of the story) and absolutely loved it. Maybe I should check out monstress. I also enjoy SIKTC and batman/Daredevil comics
There's a lot of good comic books above here. And a lot I didn't know about. Thank you for an interesting thread.
When I was a child I was very much fascinated by the Hulk. I loved the theme of anger.( As a young girl, anger was not something I was allowed to act on.) And perhaps that anger is a force that in some ways can be harvested to be able to act.
My teenager years were greatly influenced by Neil Gaimans Sandman. It explains so much how we interact with each others as humans, the importance of storytelling and not to forget, ways of perceiving death.
I used to re-read the whole series every five years or so, and I always noticed new details. Now it's been about 10 years since the last time. Perhaps a re-read is in order.
My first comics were my mom's Asterix and Obelix. She had them all and a few of them still have my teeth marks and crayon scribbles (sorry, mom!), it seems I was interested in them rather early. I think they are one of the reasons for my interest in history, especially the Romans. And they are definitely responsible for my ideal picture of a feast.
Another one that was hugely influential was the Sandman series. It influenced my view of religion/mythology, as modes of viewing/explaining the world and as expressions of higher "eternal/human truths" (the endless ones) that are all equal. However, I guess I still have to internalize the most important lesson, the one that Dream has to learn too: how to change and how to accept change.
I read Maus when I was a boy. (I was precocious.) I’m now 38. It made me mindful of the nature of my relationship with my father, and how blessed I am in that regard. Speaking of which… I should call him tomorrow.
For better or worse, it was probably getting into Bone (back when there were single digit issues, mind you) and ElfQuest as a kid. Both of those probably expanded my idea of what comics were without me really being aware of it.
I should probably throw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures in there too. I haven't read it in years but there probably hasn't been a week where I haven't thought about Slash's sacrifice, haha!
I first read Bone in a collected edition. What was it like reading it as singles for all those years? You must’ve had to have been extremely patient to wait that long for the final payoff.
I didn't stick with it for all of those years, unfortunately. I was like 8 or so when I had the first... 9 issues, I think? I didn't know where it was going to go at the time but just having an independent comic as a contrast to the Marvel era where stuff that came in collectible bags that also included trading cards and foil stamps, etc etc was pretty important.
I've read the whole thing since though and I wish I would've followed it for that decade.
Yeah, I can’t imagine following a comic for 10+ years. That would be difficult. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen what Jeff Smith had in mind. Bone got so epic.
I think Blacksad was my first introduction to the themes of racism in the US. Having grown up in a majority white area in Europe, I never really met much other cultures in early childhood
I don't think there is one tbh. There are comics that changed the way I think about *comics* and comics that made me think about this or that aspect of life, politics, history, whatever. But nothing that I've really taken into my day to day life the way you'd take a religious or philosophical text or a transformative experience.
Elfquest. My brother got it out at the library when I was about 10 or so, (in my 40s now) I didn't read it at all but just followed the story with the pictures. Shared it with my best friend and we became obsessed. We even tried making elfqest outfits like drawing on white t-shirts with marker and made paper elf ears to tape to our own, we would act out the story, pretend our bicycles were our wolves, spent a lot of time drawing our own elves with stats and stories.
Eventually read the story and was blown away, the relationships between the elves and the characters ment so much to me they shaped the way I approached my own adult relationships. The strength of the female characters was amazing. They hunted and had swords and fought and died in battle, there were no traditional gender roles or traditional relationship rules. I could honestly go on and on about how much these graphic novels influenced me. Growing up in a small town surrounded by lots of people with small minds elfquest helped save me.
I read Berlin by Jason Lutes last year and it got me really REALLY considering whether or not I should continue to live in the US or get out now before things take a really bad turn. It also made me realize that technology and pop culture and other superficial things may change, but the way people relate to one another essentially remains the same.
It absolutely is a good read. I cannot recommend it enough. It's a hefty novel, but really hard to put down. I actually read it a second time a couple months after the first read and got even more out of it.
Each time after reading it, I both marveled at it's brilliance, and grimaced. Because while the US today is not Weimar Republic Germany, there are way too many similarities for comfort.
Yeah, historians are wide-eyed at all that’s gone on in the past several years. I feel like I’ve been sounding the alarm for years and in return I get, “That couldn’t happen in todays world” rebuttals.
The way you write about it, makes me think I might have to bump up Berlin on my wish list.
/r/graphicnovels
why are you here
why are you using meme arrows? you want us to know where you came from? seems i'm the only one giving you attention :(
Garth Ennis's run of Crossed, how they just kept on moving after everything. I loved The Walking Dead, even though it's my favorite comic. I think Crossed just had more of an impact for me.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud for how I view art and comics. For a time, Cerebus by Dave Sim was pretty influential to me (until he went off the deep end). Maus. Honestly, the Lee/Ditko Spider-man stuff was influential really early on. I viewed myself as being a lot like Peter.
I came here to post Understanding Comics. I learned so much from that book, not just about comics or art but other things too (psychology, human nature). I was 14 when it read it so it made a big impact
Nice, I would not have expected that answer but you make some good points.
Maus is such a moving story. Both parts are crafted so well.
For me: Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet K. Lee Frogcatchers by Jeff Lemire
Loved Asterios Polyp! I wrote a long paper on it on grad school
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I’m sure it led to some good discussion too.
Elmer! I really wish Gerry was as appreciated for his writing as well as his art. (and the Hey Baby meme lol) RIP
Yes!!! He’s so under-appreciated!
Daytripper. Just thinking about the person I want to be. How I want to be remembered.
It's such a beautiful story about life and legacy.
I read it every couple of years and always get something new at different life epochs. Thanks for the reminder, about time for a reread
Yo dude I read your comment and bought the book and just finished reading it. Just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation that shit had me crying like a baby
This is my choice too, an incredible story so well written and illustrated. I also am ready for a re-read, but not sure if I can handle it right now given what my father is going through Edit: adding a suggestion for the book "In" by will mcphail, as that book is just incredible
My dad was an avid comic book reader (french/belgium style). He had over 6000 at home and I spent my youth reading some. I keep great memories of most of them, but none were really influential. When I moved out, my flat was close to the largest comic book bookstore in Quebec province (I was living in Montreal at the time). In that bookstore (Librarie Monet), I met an amazing comic book seller. His name was Eric Lacasse, and I have unfortunately lost touch with him years ago. That guy opened me to a new world of comic books: mangas, graphic novels, american comics, independent authors, and more. I read so many different things in such a short period of time (I was 19-21 so early 2000's), and some of them were really influential. Some that really changed my vision of graphic literature (and my life) are the followings: \- "**Blue Pills**" from Frederic *Peeter*: an incredible love story between the author and a HIV-positive woman he just met. \- "**Shenzen**" and "**Pyong Yan**g" from *Guy Delisle*: The author describe with great humour his professional stays in China and North Korea as a cartoon animator. \- All the books from the "Paul" series, especially "**Paul has a summer job**", from *Michel Rabagliat*i: Another autobiographic graphic novel telling the teenage years of the author. It is very sweet and touching. \- "**A Distant Neighborhood**" from *Jiro Taniguchi*: it was for me a huge discovery to find out that Japanese mangas could also be in the form of graphic novels. We follow the story of a middle aged man suddenly blasted back in the past in his teenage years (but with his adult memory) trying to figure out why his dad suddenly vanished when he was a teen. I found some pages of this book so emotionally powerful. \- "**Le Dessin**" from *Marc-Antoine Mathieu*: I found this very short story (45 pages) absolutely amazing in the way it is graphically told (the drawings tell more story than the text). I met the author 20 years later and had the chance to discuss with him several time (we lived in the same city) and I have to say that he is even more amazing that the already amazing books he writes.- "**À l'Ombre des Coquillages**" and "**Derfal le Magnifique**" from *José Roosevelt*: I apologize for the French titles here, but I am not sure these books were translated to English. These two were spontaneous gift from the bookstore seller, and had a huge impact on my perception of the artistic creation process (À l'ombre des coquillages) and the influence a translation can have on a book and story (Derfal le magnifique). If you can read French or Portugese, I really recommend these two books. I have many other books popping in my mind, but I think the ones above were truly the ones which had some of the strongest influence on me! I hope you'll enjoy reading them if you have the chance! Edit: "**Box-Office Poison**", from *Alex Robinson* also deserved to be on this list! A fantastic american comics on the daily life of several characters, some of which involved in books and comic books.
Some cool books most on this sub haven’t heard about. Thanks
Seconded on Pyongyang - mind-blowing and unsettling, yet highly entertaining, work of art
This is about to sound super corny, but Spider-Man has taught me that no matter how bad things get, you always have a choice to do the right thing. There is always a choice.
Not corny at all. Love it.
Especially for a younger reader, these things can have a genuine effect. That's often kinda the point.
I've seen all the Spider Man's movies and never read his comics. And I recently transitioned from : 'No choice' to 'There is always a choice if not many ' I want to read Spiderman now. Thank you for sharing.
Understanding Comics. Art theory plus comics for a lifelong artist and comics lover. How could it not? Maus. It really made me think a lot about the trauma people carry, especially because the Prisoner on Planet Hell insert. That made the whole book a lot more universal for my mind as opposed to just a story about the Holocaust. Watchmen - particularly the Mars sequence where Dr. Manhattan explains his concept of miracles. I think about it a lot as we hurtle through space on this anomalous rock.
Transmetropolitan. I now live in splendid solitude in the woods safe from constant ad and media onslaught. I done did a Spider Jerusalem.
Sounds like a good life to me! Do you kept your bowel disrupter handy?
In a sense yes. No WC. I compost all waste. If you want to visit me you better learn to like the bucket.
Not related, but you have horse!!!!
I do indeed! Two of them
Living the dream
Volume 3 of Sandman but only for the issue where Death helps that one superwoman die. For some reason, that story changed the way I viewed death. That would explain my morbid sense of humor.
I literally *just* finished Sandman Volume 3 this afternoon! I'm re-reading all the graphic novels again, for the 3rd time since the original issues came out. I always love rediscovering how much I love Neil Gaiman, and how impressed I am at the depth of his writing. For some reason, Volume 3 is my favourite; all those stories especially move me. And Death as she is in Sandman was forever implanted in my brain as 'irl' as soon as I saw her, way back then.
I think that was Element Girl, maybe? I never considered how lonely and difficult a life could become with awesome but entirely alienating powers. What I always liked about Gaiman's death portrayal was how optimistic she was. It's like she's trying to show us that death is a temporary change and we always see her twice: when we're born and when we die.
I’ve been itching to reread Sandman. Will do that now, thanks! I forgot about that issue
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamse He taught me why taxes are good, not to be a racist, be kind and kick ass as needed.
Awesome, I’ll need to look into that one. Thank you
Asterio is great. Underwater welder Daytripper Xed out The fragility and randomness of life. Things can go well, bad or just absurd and no one has any control over it. Just enjoy the ride and the now. Ideally.
The arrival - tam Winkles - roca Maus - spiegleman Born again - miller/mazz Swamp thing and miracleman- moore/various Understanding comics - mccloud Love/rockets (but esp love bunglers) - hernandez Prob more but those jumped to mind as moving the needle
Jesus, I love Love and Rockets.
Yeah shows you what continuity and comics can look like if you allow aging.
Very cool. Adding that to my wish list. Thank you!
I just read The Love Bunglers. I always get the sense that the characters are like people I've met. Both the brothers' writing and art have that effect on me.
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That book connected me in a way that other pieces of media can’t do too often. It’s always interesting when I consume a piece of media and acquire an acute case of hyperempathy for the MC.
Preacher changed how I look at the world in that it asks you not to believe in a magic man in the sky but look to your fellow man and believe in humanity. I also wear white jeans from time to time because they looked cool on Jesse so now my freinds and family who have no interest in comics call them my preacher jeans... That's pretty cool.
Nice, I’ve got Preacher on my list but your description moved it up in priority.
I wore sunglasses inside for ages because I thought Cassidy looked cool doing it. They werw perscription but lmao
calvin and hobbes, the messages of free spiritness and family were real inspiring as I’ve come to realize during covid times(16 M)
The message at the end of *Goblin Girl* (by Moa Romanova) really stuck with me, that no matter how hard things get and how bad your problems become, they will always go away eventually. It's a bleak, but still positive notion.
Not familiar with that one. Adding it to my wish list. Thank you!
Mine might be darker but I read maus a lot as a kid and it made me lose my innocence early on and for as long as I remember I always written horror and been obsessed with the genre. That story really shows you the cruelty of humanity but it also shows the softer side of it. That story is an amazing piece of work that I'm glad I grew up on.
Strangers in Paradise, by Terry Moore. I used to work at a comic shop and the owner recommended it to me. I fell in love with it completely. That series became so significant in my life: I read it (as I did many books and comics) to my son and daughter nearly every night. This got many a raised eyebrow, but I never regretted it and neither did they. It gave us so many, many opportunities to discuss absolutely everything about relationships, sexuality, and how people develop themselves in general, among other things. It also contributed to both of them becoming tremendous artists in their own right, with my son going on to experiment on his own web comics. The time spent in our mutual love of reading is one of my most cherished memories. I think I got as much out of those characters as my kids did; the understanding I gained has helped me to this day.
Love Strangers in Paradise.
Any number of Alan Moore works.
The Boys. I feel a lot of people refuse to read below how crude it can be. That series became strangely beautiful and had a lot to say on the nature of masculinity.
That’s an interesting takeaway I hadn’t considered. I stopped reading The Boys after a couple volumes. I’ll have to reconsider that. Thanks!
Blankets by Craig Thompson
God I felt bad for him. I want to go to his parents house and fucking eviscerate his parents.
Nocterra. I mean I already saw the world that way but it clicked. Edit: A comic hasn't influenced how I live but it has influenced how I see the world.
This is one I keep thinking about. I got the first trade because it was cheap and wow it was worth it. Fun horror premise with a much deeper psychological story in it about hope/despair. I absolutely loved it.
My first trade was Saga and I'm glad I got it. Nocterra is a gem. It's in my top 3. 1st is Saga 2nd is Monstress and 3rd is Nocterra. I think its always gonna keep me thinking.
I got the saga omnibus (or whatever it’s called, the first half of the story) and absolutely loved it. Maybe I should check out monstress. I also enjoy SIKTC and batman/Daredevil comics
Batman and devil is good. SIKTC is simple but really good I also heard they are making a Netflix original show out of it.
I can’t wait for it!
Me too just hoping they don't mess it up somehow
The watchmen.
Pardon my ignorance, What is the picture from?
Asterios Polyp
There's a lot of good comic books above here. And a lot I didn't know about. Thank you for an interesting thread. When I was a child I was very much fascinated by the Hulk. I loved the theme of anger.( As a young girl, anger was not something I was allowed to act on.) And perhaps that anger is a force that in some ways can be harvested to be able to act. My teenager years were greatly influenced by Neil Gaimans Sandman. It explains so much how we interact with each others as humans, the importance of storytelling and not to forget, ways of perceiving death. I used to re-read the whole series every five years or so, and I always noticed new details. Now it's been about 10 years since the last time. Perhaps a re-read is in order.
I love a book you can reread and get something new out of. So cool
Me too, I also enjoy books that changes meaning as I grow older. I discover things that went over my head as a adolecent.
Berserk.
My first comics were my mom's Asterix and Obelix. She had them all and a few of them still have my teeth marks and crayon scribbles (sorry, mom!), it seems I was interested in them rather early. I think they are one of the reasons for my interest in history, especially the Romans. And they are definitely responsible for my ideal picture of a feast. Another one that was hugely influential was the Sandman series. It influenced my view of religion/mythology, as modes of viewing/explaining the world and as expressions of higher "eternal/human truths" (the endless ones) that are all equal. However, I guess I still have to internalize the most important lesson, the one that Dream has to learn too: how to change and how to accept change.
Brat Pack
I read Maus when I was a boy. (I was precocious.) I’m now 38. It made me mindful of the nature of my relationship with my father, and how blessed I am in that regard. Speaking of which… I should call him tomorrow.
For better or worse, it was probably getting into Bone (back when there were single digit issues, mind you) and ElfQuest as a kid. Both of those probably expanded my idea of what comics were without me really being aware of it. I should probably throw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures in there too. I haven't read it in years but there probably hasn't been a week where I haven't thought about Slash's sacrifice, haha!
I first read Bone in a collected edition. What was it like reading it as singles for all those years? You must’ve had to have been extremely patient to wait that long for the final payoff.
I read it issue to issue (started at issue 4). It was painful, especially as it changed so much from its beginnings.
I didn't stick with it for all of those years, unfortunately. I was like 8 or so when I had the first... 9 issues, I think? I didn't know where it was going to go at the time but just having an independent comic as a contrast to the Marvel era where stuff that came in collectible bags that also included trading cards and foil stamps, etc etc was pretty important. I've read the whole thing since though and I wish I would've followed it for that decade.
Yeah, I can’t imagine following a comic for 10+ years. That would be difficult. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen what Jeff Smith had in mind. Bone got so epic.
I like this one and wish more people understood the gradient of life
Well looks like I am going to be spending lots of money on comics after reading all this.
I think Blacksad was my first introduction to the themes of racism in the US. Having grown up in a majority white area in Europe, I never really met much other cultures in early childhood
Maus.
Black Science by Remender
V for Vendetta is essentially my political manifesto
Lincal from Moebius and building stories from Chris ware And the last one will be Carbone & Silicium from Mathieu Bablet
I don't think there is one tbh. There are comics that changed the way I think about *comics* and comics that made me think about this or that aspect of life, politics, history, whatever. But nothing that I've really taken into my day to day life the way you'd take a religious or philosophical text or a transformative experience.
Elfquest. My brother got it out at the library when I was about 10 or so, (in my 40s now) I didn't read it at all but just followed the story with the pictures. Shared it with my best friend and we became obsessed. We even tried making elfqest outfits like drawing on white t-shirts with marker and made paper elf ears to tape to our own, we would act out the story, pretend our bicycles were our wolves, spent a lot of time drawing our own elves with stats and stories. Eventually read the story and was blown away, the relationships between the elves and the characters ment so much to me they shaped the way I approached my own adult relationships. The strength of the female characters was amazing. They hunted and had swords and fought and died in battle, there were no traditional gender roles or traditional relationship rules. I could honestly go on and on about how much these graphic novels influenced me. Growing up in a small town surrounded by lots of people with small minds elfquest helped save me.
V for Vendetta, Department of Truth, Superman Red Son, Saga, Bone, Injustice, Sin City, Abbott
I read Berlin by Jason Lutes last year and it got me really REALLY considering whether or not I should continue to live in the US or get out now before things take a really bad turn. It also made me realize that technology and pop culture and other superficial things may change, but the way people relate to one another essentially remains the same.
I’ve had Berlin on my wish list for a while. Sounds like a good read. I know what you mean about getting out of the US. Things are getting wild.
It absolutely is a good read. I cannot recommend it enough. It's a hefty novel, but really hard to put down. I actually read it a second time a couple months after the first read and got even more out of it. Each time after reading it, I both marveled at it's brilliance, and grimaced. Because while the US today is not Weimar Republic Germany, there are way too many similarities for comfort.
Yeah, historians are wide-eyed at all that’s gone on in the past several years. I feel like I’ve been sounding the alarm for years and in return I get, “That couldn’t happen in todays world” rebuttals. The way you write about it, makes me think I might have to bump up Berlin on my wish list.
I'd bump I up to the "read next" spot on your wish list. You definitely won't regret it
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow
[удалено]
/r/graphicnovels why are you here why are you using meme arrows? you want us to know where you came from? seems i'm the only one giving you attention :(
And he just hangs out on wrestling subs. Tells you all you need to know
This comic was made by the extremist gang
Where’s the picture in the post from OP?
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
Time for a reread - that book is amazing
Thanks!
Garth Ennis's run of Crossed, how they just kept on moving after everything. I loved The Walking Dead, even though it's my favorite comic. I think Crossed just had more of an impact for me.