Comics or Graphic Novels

I found an old (as in, late 80s) issue of Uncanny X-Men in my brother's room as a kid and decided that I wanted to know more about these crazy mutants. Shortly afterward, Fox began airing the X-Men cartoon, which I watched religiously and even still watch on occasion when I'm feeling nostalgic. That pretty much did it. I was an X-Men junkie from then on, and it's pretty much been my greatest obsession for most of my life. My sophomore year of college, I took a class called "Comics as Literature" that actually counted as one of the two American lit classes I needed for my English major. Sweet. My professor, who at that time was the chair of the department, was a huge DC fanboy, so mostly we read a little Superman and lots of Batman, but you know, that suited me just fine. Before that point, I'd never really considered comics as legitimate storytelling avenues, despite being a die-hard comic fan since childhood. That class really opened my eyes, though, particularly through works like Watchmen and Maus. Sure, the market's full of superhero books, but there are some seriously powerful books out there, too. And you know what? Even the superhero books can be exceptional both in terms of story and art. Not always, and not all of them, but you can't read The Dark Knight or Batman: Year One and not get chills.

Hey, sorry for the delay! I totally overlooked this. Anyway, I'm not sure how I feel about comics and computers. I mean, on an aesthetic level I'm often blown away by the incredible detail and realism people can accomplish with digital art. On the other hand, I often wonder if maybe comics as a medium should stay true to its roots and rely primarily on hand-drawn artwork with minimal interference from computers. That's probably just me being naive and idealistic, but still. It's a little jarring now to go back and look at comics I thoroughly enjoyed from the 90s and see just how drastically the artwork has changed. Again, being a huge X-Men fangirl, I'll use that as my primary example. For much of the 90s, I swore by Jim Lee, the Kuberts, and Chris Bachalo's art (before Bachalo started careening into awful cartoony stuff). My main love, however, was Joe Maduirera, whose last name I'm probably mangling but you get the idea. He was the first person, at least at Marvel, to introduce a more Eastern approach to comic art, and he created this really interesting fusion of manga and traditional Western art that was just so different from everything else in mainstream comics at the time, and so fresh and beautiful. I still count him as among my all-time favorite artists.  But now, looking back even at those books, I almost feel like they look childish compared to the trend of photo-realism in today's comic art. I don't know which style I like better, but I don't even think it's about that. They're two completely different styles and comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. You're not supposed to choose one over the other, I don't think, just appreciate them both for what they are and value their individual strengths.  I know, this didn't really answer your question at all. Sorry. :( As far as what direction you should take, that's hard to tell. I think the photo-realism trend is here to stay, but particularly if you plan on sticking to more independent projects, there will always be a market for fresh, unique art. Any way you can distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack is worth following.

My all time favorite comic would have to be any of the assortmant  of the Batman/Superman: The World's Finest series and Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Raeturns. Batman is one of my favorite all time 'super' heroes because he's so much more human than the rest of them. Some other favorites in the comic world aremostly all of the Superman comics.   On another hand, I really do love manga as well and I have to say my top 3 manga are: Doll, Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho. Doll is a very smart, dramatic, and beautifully written manga and it leaves one sad at the end. Both Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho are both shonen (boys) manga and are fun, cool and colorful. I  also reccommend any assortment of  Marvel comics. You can't go wrong with thos as well. 

I have never really been one for comic books or graphic novels, I just assumed it was a childish medium. But last year a friend insisted that I read the Watchmen and keep an open mind to give it a chance. I thought it was really good, great story and excellent artwork. But there is still something about the medium itself that I don't like. It's the imagination that comes along with reading. When I was a kid and I read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe I got to make up how everything looked in my own mind, making me part of the journey. That is what I still like about reading, and I think the graphic novel takes that away.

Two words: The Crow by James O'Barr. This guy's story breaks my heart. His wife died, and he wrote this novel as a way of coping with her death, and a healthy way of coping with his feelings of vengeance. I can't remember how much of the novel he took from the actual events, but I'm not a comic book reader, and this is one of my favorite books. The movie was great as well. I like the first one, not the crappy sequels. But if you saw the movie and liked it, it's a graphic novel worth owning. I let someone borrow mine a long time ago, and I wish I could get it back.

I don't know if these count as "comics" per se, but I do love to go online to MS Paint Adventures and read their text adventures. There are pictures along with it, so I guess it can be considered a comic. I've only read through Problem Sleuth so far. But there are others. My boyfriend is working on reading Homestuck right now. They're all really neat, and the pictures are done with MS Paint. I love the wacky random storylines that don't seem to make any sense at all. One other thing that I've frequented is Hyperbole and a Half. It's more like an illustrated blog.

My god, it seems that I have forgotten Manga. I've read quite a few of them in my day. My favorite would have to be Hellsing. It's great. There's vampires and Nazis, and all kinds of crazy action. I recommend it for anyone that has some down time. I also read one called Mine and Your Secret, in which a guy and this very manly girl he liked switched bodies. It's hilarious, just as you would expect it to be. Another good one is The Wallflower. It's about a somewhat drab goth girl whose aunt decides to board her with three hot guys to turn her into more of a lady. It has all kinds of wacky chaos.

I remember the first time I started reading comics and manga, my god I was such an old school nerd about it, drawing as much as I could, trying to mimic the style, the straight up absurdity of certain expressions and movements and the story telling element that I generally didn't see in my day to day life. I remember I was such a junkie that I used to make characters based off of that world and just, give them the worst names known to mankind. It was quite an ordeal in itself and eventually I grew out of it. I mean I like them, I still do up to this day, there is something relatively playful about comics and manga, for me, although not all of them are like that and I've found quite a few that have made my stomach churn and cry simply because of the impact of the stories and how well depicted some expressions were. I do not read them as much anymore considering that I like reading a novel  and imagining the events taking place. Novels have always outclassed comics and an especially good novel will always, remain with me in my mind where I imagined the events happening rather than watching it happen. 

I have never read a graphic novel or comic, but I think it would be interesting too, and I would love to read some, do anyone recommend good ones, classics,oldies? Anything of that nature? Some light reading for a college student? If so, just comment and let me know what you think I should check out.   It's not really my cup of tea, but I'm up for reading anything to see if I like it and would be interested in reading more.

I do not often have enough time to read comics, but when I do here are some of my favorites. I love reading For Better or Worse, I can relate so much to the mom's character. It is always funny and so true to life and I love how long it has been around. Another great one was Garfield, always sarcastic and funny, really loved Garfield.  One that has a special spot for me is Calvin & Hobbes. That comic series is one that can be read and enjoyed over and over. The story of a boy and his pet tiger is so touching and funny and imaginative. My son who is 8 actually just got really sucked in to Calvin & Hobbes. I find it so cute how much he loves it, he just brought home a Calvin & Hobbes book from school to read and he cannot put it down! I know there are more comics that I find entertaining but I cannot seem to think of them right now. Comics are such a great outlet, a great break when homework gets too tiring or school is stressful. Taking thirty minutes or so to sit down and read a good comic strip is therapeutic. As they say, laughter is the best medicine.  

Reading comics has always been a love of mine and it's true, sometimes the art outweighs the story. Like some others here, I also read Japanese comics (aka manga). My parents weren't sold on the ideas that comics could be beneficial so I didn't own any until I was old enough to have my own money and buy them. I do feel like I've missed out on some great issues--especially when I think about American comics--and it seems impossible to catch up. However, with American comics, the stories will change depending on who the authors are and how they treat the characters. While lately that's lead to a lot of anger in the fan-community, I think it's great that the stories can't get old because they're always being re-imagined. With the success of comic-based movies like Sin City, Iron Man and Batman, comics have become really popular and the field is getting a little more respect. At my university, there was a class dedicated to studying the elements of graphic novels (like plot, character, setting, etc. like you would with any novel) and it was really fascinating. We read 'Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth' and I was surprised at how much I liked it. I think there are such a wide variety of comics nowadays that it's easy to find one that you life.

Might I suggest 1982's "X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills"? Has anyone here seen the second X-Men film, better known as "X2"? The graphic novel is essentially the basis for the plot of that film. Of course, over the course of twenty years, the plot has been altered significantly, but it's still very obvious. Then, if you haven't read it already, read Batman: Killing Joke. That one shows what happened to the original Batgirl, leaving her crippled from the waist down. Another good DC graphic novel I may suggest is, of course, Watchmen. And I assure you all, it is far superior to the recently released film. The next one, The Dark Knight, is actually a four-issue miniseries of graphic novels. I'm sure many of you are familiar with it, an alternate future Batman in which he has been retired for over a decade after the death of Robin II (Jason Todd), and is now in hid mis to late fifties, but ends up being forced to come out of retirement as crime becomes increasingly rampant in Gotham due to a street gang known as the Mutants. Another one I would recommend, If I could remember the name of it, would be an old Captain America graphic novel taking place during WWII.

Is anyone here a fan of the cult webcomic "Homestuck"? It has been one of my favorite webcomics (sometimes) for the past year or so. Whether or not you have heard of it, the webcomic is a micture of sprite-like images, animated GIFs, short videos, and interactive scenes. It has currently been running for nearly four years, and is infamous for its complicated, rather convoluted plot, outlandish characters, foul language, and unabashedly bizarre content. The plot is incredibly hard to follow unless you are a diehard fan, so I will not attempt to explain it here. But try mixing Earthbound, The Sims, and a sheet of LSD, and that's essentially what the product would be. The majority of the characters are the Trolls, an alien race of grey skinned, horned people who are literally trolls. They are initially introduced as annoying internet trolls, but, in one of many plot twists, they are revealed to be actual trolls, living in a relative timeline on a distant grey planet. While it is an overall thrilling webcomic, it can become rather boring at times due to sudden and unexpected transitions to 20+ pages of nothing but IM conversations between characters; many of which are funny, but others still are asinine and boring. While it is not for everybody, Homestuck is certainly worth a read.