The Ultimate Comic Bookshelf

the Shades

Ok so I've been looking at my bookshelf and thinking of replacing some of those single issues with their trade equivalent so it will take up less space... But it's also made me think what are the very best comics/graphic novels that every comic fanboy should have on his shelf. The ULTIMATE books, the best of the best. Think carefully before you recommend something and I dunno might have others vote on it before it goes on what I will call the official list. Of course being the progenitor of all this I get to add one first without any objections.

So here's the first few titles for the Ultimate Comic Bookshelf;

100 Bullets
The Dark Knight Returns
The Sandman


Let voting commence on titles to join them, heh and yeah I know there's no Alan Moore there yet because so far I've yet to be truly impressed by him, but you know go ahead and convince me.

bombidol

100 Bullets
The Ultimates
Dark Knight Returns
Batman Year One
Sandman
Watchmen
V For Vendetta
Red Son
Marvel Zombies
Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
Transmetropolitan
Y The Last Man
Nextwave

Fysh

I'd argue that you can't have Dark Knight Returns on the list without having Watchmen on there, to be honest. Transmetropolitan also deserves a slot, and something by Garth Ennis would probably get space too (though of all his stuff I've read, only True Faith ever stood out as a genuinely strong piece of writing - most other stuff of his feels like either variations on a theme or "oh look how funny I am, except I'm not because it's the same bloody jokes as you've already read in my other books").


Also, for the purposes of being difficult and throwing some non-fanboy/vaguely less mainstream stuff into the suggestions :

Maus
Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth
Summer Blonde (Adrian Tomine)
Ghost World/David Boring/Eight-Ball (not decided on which, but certainly something by Clowes)
Calvin & Hobbes
Far Side
something by Chester Brown (I've only read The Playboy and a few issues of Yummy Fur, so can't say for definite)
Some Jack Kirby stuff, perhaps the collected Fourth World stories
Something by Will Eisner
The Hollow Grounds
Jim Goodring's Frank
Some form of collected Little Nemo In Slumberland
Some Krazy Kat

bombidol

New Gods
Preacher

ztoical

hey fysh you beat me to listing the non-fanboy books.......damn you!!! lol

Want to add Charles Burns Black Hole to that list.

Something by Gary Panter - would say Jimbo in purgatory but its a pain in the ass sized book and wouldn't fit on "the ultimate comic bookshelf"

something by David Sandlin

Jessica Abel, Lea harnadez, Sue Coe or Raina Telgemeier to rock the female creators side of things. [sue coe's dead meat being a personal fav]

some good anthologies wouldn't hurt either - any issue of flight, the top shelf anthology or the SPX anthology. Out of picture or afterworks are also good anthologies to have but they are animation related so I'm biased.

Would also add something by joe staco to go with Mause or the collected world war three illustrated book [so you can cover peter kuper, seth tobocman, sue coe, and eric dooker in one book] or try Wobblies: A Graphic History of the IWW which features alot of the same artists.

Fysh

I'm very fond of the Drawn & Quarterly anthologies for that matter, and I'd definitely suggest Flight volume 2 or 3 (volume 1 was good, but blown out of the water by the quality of volume 2, I thought).

Mister X is another one deserving shelf space. Sin City : The Hard Goodbye probably wouldn't be out of place either.

monkeyfudge

I second the Daniel Clowes recommendation. David Boring is probably my favourite.

There should also be at least one Love & Rockets novel on there too.

Fysh

Do you know, I've never read any Love and Rockets? Keep hearing the name but it's never in my local shop (or on my mind when I go shopping online...)

Any suggestions for a starter volume to try (other than the first one, that is)?

monkeyfudge

Fysh wrote:

Any suggestions for a starter volume to try (other than the first one, that is)?

To be honest the first one probably is a good place to start. Although Music for Mechanics is very different to the other books in that it takes place in more of a science fiction universe, while later books take place in something more closely resembling the real world.

But Love and Rockets is all about the characters and Music for Mechanics is a great introduction to Maggie and Hopey.

ztoical

Fysh wrote:

Any suggestions for a starter volume to try (other than the first one, that is)?

i agree with monkeyfudge, volume one is the best place to start and then you can jump around. i don't have my copies in front me right now so off the top of my head i can't remeber which stories are in which volume but home school is great but isnt a straight up love and rockets story so it helps to have read some earlier issues first. You can pick most of them via the fantagraphics website.

and i will cheap plug my friend williams website a talented cartoonists, he is a huge love and rockets fan and it reflects in his current style.

qwertplaywert

dude you need some Astonishing X-men as well

and Serenity:Those Left Behind

Damnit i AM a Whedon fanboy after all..................

the Shades

Ok a lot of suggestions there very quickly so for your consideration, and let's say 5 yays gets it on the shelf:

Maus
Love and Rockets
Watchmen
Transmetropolitan
The Spirit
Squee!

Ok I added the last two as I consider them oversights of my 'it was my idea first picks' priviliges. Fysh, I think you're first post is just pandering to my favourites so I'm trying to be fair and only throwing on Eisner for starters (I'd happily add Calvin and Hobbes, Little Nemo and Krazy Kat without further discussion but I'll be a good boy). These 6 are your choices for the moment start justifying their position.

ztoical

there should be a beano annual on this shelf if its the "ultimate" shelf

bombidol

1987 beano annual is superior to all. And the 1988 Dandy annual. 1990 Whizzer and chips.

ztoical

i'll be the girl that i am and say the 1989 bunty annual

Fysh

I want me a Judge Dredd annual in there somewhere - only one I can remember was the one with the left hand serial killer storyline, so I nominate that.

On a vaguely more serious note, does this hypothetical shelf extend enough to incorporate a manga section?

the Shades

Yup there will be manga, but you're all thinking too easily. It's not going to get there by nominating, you have to justify why it's there. Ok I threw in Dark kinght and Sandman because they were inevitable and 'changed the industry yadda, yadda, yadda...' but 100 Bullets is there for being the perfect mix of art and story, a good solid story that folds over itself and develops and respects it's readers. Risso is also one of the best artists in the business and a few minutes loking at what he does to tell a story should really make any other artists insanely jealous. (Come to think of it we might need some Darwyn Cooke on there.)

So anyway what I'm saying, tell us why you love it. Oh and yeah the Beano will probably go on, it pretty much formed my view of comic art and I loved them Bash Street Kids lol

thumbninja

was raised on Dan Dare myself - so at least one would have to be there.

aside from some already mentioned add;
some enki bilal - cause it's lovely to look at.
swamp thing.
hell blazer.
we 3.
Nextwave (know it's been said but it's worth saying again )
invisibles.
arkham asylum.
the wolves in the walls or the day I swapped my dad for two goldfish (for the kiddies - a good host has these things)
the mystery play

Tree

ztoical wrote:

i'll be the girl that i am and say the 1989 bunty annual

oh no, the 1990 one was much better, i think it's probably still in the attic


there'll also have to be some extremely nerdy book ends for these comics to stand between

thumbninja

Tree wrote:

there'll also have to be some extremely nerdy book ends for these comics to stand between

thats not a nice thing to call fysh and shades

*boom tish*

ztoical

Tree wrote:

there'll also have to be some extremely nerdy book ends for these comics to stand between

i give you the jay and silent bob bookends or for the equally nerdy spy vs spy bookends

RAIN

Ehh a bit of Morrison please !
You would also need at least one sin city book (A Dame to kill for )
The new Xmen ( The Huge Hardback version )
Marc Silvestris complete work on wolverine
The Filth
All The Invisibles
V for Venedetta
Dark Knight Returns and Strikes Again
Al Moore What ever happened to the man of tomorow
The death of superman
Doom Patrol
Frank Millers Ronin
300
Full Apocalypse Saga
That Alan Moore dc stories collection with all the cool green lantern stories
The First Swamp Thing Book by Moore
300 Days of knight
The Preacher
Frank Millers Wolverine
Batman Year One
Wolverine The end

bombidol

the filth is excellent so ill overlook "The" Preacher

RAIN

Woops also see ''300 days of night '' ? Must read over posts before submiting them !

Fysh

I have to say I really disagree with Preacher. It's not bad by any measure, but on the other hand I don't think it compares favourably to Transmetropolitan, Sandman or Sin City either visually or in terms of the characters and stories it tells. (A large part of this is reading the story's fixation with the "myth" of america - as a non-american - and then realising, with some disgust, that the guy writing it is from Belfast and, from the look of his other writings, far too cynical to actually believe such nonsense unless he's just peddling stuff he knows will sell. In which case, fine, but not something that deserves any special consideration).

I'm also going to risk fanboy wrath and say that Dark Knight Strikes Back, and a lot of the secondary superhero stuff being mentioned, really really aren't that good. If we're talking the ultimate shelf here, it's going to take more than "snikt" to qualify for entrance. The Death Of Superman really really doesn't make it, for my money. I'm not a superman fan, but I'd accept something like Stephen Seagle's "It's a Bird". The Death Of Superman (and the even worse The Return Of Superman) was mediocre at best.

Onto Morrisson, while I think of it. I've not read all of the Invisibles so I can't comment on that, but I'm undecided about his standing on the Ultimate Shelf - perhaps some of the shorter stuff (WE3, Seaguy or maybe Animal Man) but what I've seen of the Invisibles so far strikes me as having a bit too much "weird for the sake of weird" "reality is greater than you can perceive" stuff in it without justifying it. The Filth suffered from this too. (That said, the Invisibles may yet get away with it, I've 3 volumes left to read).

So, now to defending my choices:

Transmetropolitan - cogent and well-developed writing, a convincingly realistic yet inmensely interesting futuristic world setting, and absolutely breathtaking visuals. A landmark in longform sci-fi comics.

Watchmen - pretty much a ruler by which to measure all your superhero comics; what the colouring lacks by todays standards, the intricate design and layout work more than compensates for. Every character is an actual character, with a past, a future, ambitions and fears explored intimately. A strong storyline tackling the central ideas that superhero and vigilante comics raise just by having their central characters exist, and some interesting approaches to the writing (the "Symmetry" issue, the various recurring visual themes, the "story-within-a-story", the interlacing lives of various secondary characters who take on more importance than mere background noise). It's not about superheroes; it's about the idea of superheroes, and it's the most in-depth, cogent and engrossing deconstruction and examination of the idea I've ever read.

Not too sure about Squee, thinking about it now. There's a bunch of gothy alternocomics in that vein (Bear, JTHM, I Feel Sick, Kreeky Hollow, Spaztic Colon, Lenore, in fact almost anything published by SLG) but I'm not sure enough of the timelines or the relative quality of any of them to genuinely say they deserve space on The Shelf. (Personally of the lot I'd go for JTHM but I don't feel it's quite there...almost, but not quite)

Right, that's enough of putting the cat amongst the pigeons for now

qwertplaywert

cant believe no body but be has mentioned any whedon stuff..............

spooydermot

watchmen
V for vendetta
ye all know the story with the above 2 entries

Superman: Birthright
Yes it's yet another re-telling of the origin of superman, but it's done so well.

Grant Morrisons New X-men run.
One of those series that really pays off at the end and makes you want to go back and read from the beginning.


Spiderman : The Other
I feel I should add a disclaimer at this point, this was a tad hit and miss..but more hits than misses, it added a new dimension to a long standing character, the low point for me would be Pat Lees lazy artwork..but thems the breaks.
high point:

the coma dream of young Peter Parker sitting on his bed holding up his design of the Spiderman costume to the 'Spider God'

Transmetropoliton: not a dissappointing page in the book.

Preacher, yeah this got slow in parts but still stands up well for me. I may be mis-understanding Fysh here, but I don't think the fact that Ennis is not from the States should take away from anyones enjoyment of Preacher. You don't have to be in love to write a love song, you don't have to be sad to write a sad song and you don't have to believe in god to write a story in which he exists...but I guess Preacher does have the americana turned up to 11.
In the end it makes my list because its an epic sweeping story that contains many "colourful characters" (i.e interesting deviants) and takes in some well worn subjects that literary characters have always had thrust upon them: love, death ,God, betrayal..Bill Hicks...all that good stuff ...and did a great job of bringing them to into the story and really giving the characters depth.


Kingdom Come:
Surprised that no one mentioned this before (or maybe I missed it)
Fantastic artwork from Alex Ross and answers the question where do old superheros go?

Batman: Dark Knight Returns


Was nearly gonna add Supreme Power to my list , the first two books are fantastic..but the series has since developed into an exercise in waiting for something to happen.

Perhapas Rising Stars

ztoical

qwertplaywert wrote:

cant believe no body but be has mentioned any whedon stuff..............

I've ever season of buffy on dvd if that helps


....and angel and firefly and serenity and titan AE and alien resurection.........and the orginal buffy movie......dear god i even have the veronica mars ep he was in......will i see wonder woman when it comes out? why lie of course i will ahhhhhh but only when i buy box sets of Roseanne am i offically sad

Eamo71

There's really no such thing as the Ultimate comics bookshelf. If you like something put it on ... one man's meat etc...

Comics can be a bit like wine - individual taste etc...

What I'd like on mine is the work of:
Lee & Kirby
Lee & Ditko
Englehart & Rogers
Thomas and Adams
Frank Miller (before he went insane!)
Alan Moore
Claremont & Byrne
Bendis & Maleev
Mark Millar and Co

and a shedload more...

Eamo71

spooydermot wrote:

watchmen
V for vendetta
ye all know the story with the above 2 entries

Superman: Birthright
Yes it's yet another re-telling of the origin of superman, but it's done so well.

Grant Morrisons New X-men run.
One of those series that really pays off at the end and makes you want to go back and read from the beginning.


Spiderman : The Other
I feel I should add a disclaimer at this point, this was a tad hit and miss..but more hits than misses, it added a new dimension to a long standing character, the low point for me would be Pat Lees lazy artwork..but thems the breaks.
high point:

the coma dream of young Peter Parker sitting on his bed holding up his design of the Spiderman costume to the 'Spider God'

Transmetropoliton: not a dissappointing page in the book.

Preacher, yeah this got slow in parts but still stands up well for me. I may be mis-understanding Fysh here, but I don't think the fact that Ennis is not from the States should take away from anyones enjoyment of Preacher. You don't have to be in love to write a love song, you don't have to be sad to write a sad song and you don't have to believe in god to write a story in which he exists...but I guess Preacher does have the americana turned up to 11.
In the end it makes my list because its an epic sweeping story that contains many "colourful characters" (i.e interesting deviants) and takes in some well worn subjects that literary characters have always had thrust upon them: love, death ,God, betrayal..Bill Hicks...all that good stuff ...and did a great job of bringing them to into the story and really giving the characters depth.


Kingdom Come:
Surprised that no one mentioned this before (or maybe I missed it)
Fantastic artwork from Alex Ross and answers the question where do old superheros go?

Batman: Dark Knight Returns


Was nearly gonna add Supreme Power to my list , the first two books are fantastic..but the series has since developed into an exercise in waiting for something to happen.

Perhapas Rising Stars

yay someone else who liked the Other!! Besides some lazy artwork i think Hudlin's few scripts were not up to scratch and I also felt PAD was constrained by it all.

Have to say I really have liked JMS's run on Spidey to date. he's been controvertial but at least Spidey's always a fascinating read. His War at Home arc around Civil War is his best yet. Great relationship building with Tony S and how it comes apart! Brilliant. And he's also regenerated Aunt May into a compelling character.

ztoical

shades now you want reasons for the picks?

ok Spielgleman's Maus, do i honestly need to give a reason for this? anyone who questions Maus needs to be spanked and removed from this forum o comics.

Gary Panter, the father of post underground new wave comics goes on this shelf. Either one of his Jimbo books or some issues of RAW. Why? for one Gary was one of the artists from the Masters of American Comics exhibition along with Eisner, kirby, Kurtzman, Crumb and Ware, good company to be keeping for sure.

Charles Burns, good friend of Panters and also a strong force in the post crumb underground scene. Black Hole, Harvey Award winning graphic novel, i would rather have the 12 issues but as this list was started with the intent to replace single issues with collected editions then get the hardcover collected edition.

Sue Coe's Dead Meat, cus you need some kick as female artists on this shelf and no one kicks as like Sue Coe.

World War 3 Illustrated 1980-1988 cus you need some politics up in here. Put WW3I in and you've covered artists like Sue Coe, Spielgeman, Eric Drooker, and of course Seth Tobocman and Peter Kuper. Yes I admitt i use to work for WW3I so I'm a little bit biased with this choice.

Wobblies: A graphic History of the IWW features a number of artists from World War 3 illustrated as well so either this or WW3I is good.

Fun Home A family tragicomic Alison Bechdel - not out that long and already makeing a big impression.

Katherine Arnoldi The Amazing "True" Story of a Teenage Single Mom cus you need some comics that aren't all about spandax, guns and big tits, you need a comic that has made an actual real difference in peoples lives. Arnoldi tells her own story in this comic about being a single teenage mom and now travels america, visting schools and using this comic to talk to young girls going through the same issues.

Phoenix Osamu Tezuka, cus hmmmm, he's the father of modern manga and anime?

Incal written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and illustrated by Moebius, nuff said.

Actually anything by Moebius.

Stripburger - raw, ugly dirty amazing eastern european comics.

im tired now

the Shades

Ah Fysh and ztoical are finally talking my language, there will be an update on what has made it onto the shelf and my defence of Squee! at some point tomorrow when I'm not just in from the pub. I would also like to add stop saying the Dark Knight Returns, it's already on there and sorry but there's no way in hell the Dark Knight Strikes Again will ever be on there, read Fysh's explanation as to why he's far more polite than I could ever be on the subject. (Although my feelings about it have already been voiced in another well established thread on this board)

RAIN

''Onto Morrisson, while I think of it. I've not read all of the Invisibles so I can't comment on that, but I'm undecided about his standing on the Ultimate Shelf - perhaps some of the shorter stuff (WE3, Seaguy or maybe Animal Man) but what I've seen of the Invisibles so far strikes me as having a bit too much "weird for the sake of weird" "reality is greater than you can perceive" stuff in it without justifying it. The Filth suffered from this too. (That said, the Invisibles may yet get away with it, I've 3 volumes left to read).''


I dont Agree that morrison is trying to be weird for the sake of it ,If you buy the official companion book for the invisibles literally every page of the series is covered and explained how EVERYTHING ties into the story with a lenghtly interview with Morrison at the end .The guys a genius no question about it and was recently voted 3rd best comic book writer of all time so he deserves a place on the shelf .
P.S I cant understand what you mean by the filth is being weird just to be weird ?Thats like saying the bible is being Religious just to be religious ..

bombidol

Reckon Animal Man has to be up there too. and Powers.

Jack B. Badd

spooydermot wrote:

Perhapas Rising Stars

I'm kinda curious as to how you'd justify (perhaps) adding Rising Stars to the shelf. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adored the series and Straczynski is like God in my book after B5 but while I loved Rising Stars I also found myself picking out a lot of little flaws in it. I feel I appreciated it more for its potential as a fantastic story than what it eventually became, especially since the momentum seemed to lag a bit towards the end of the middle. On the other hand I could be just nitpicking here. So the long and short is that I, as a fan of the man, would appreciate justification for including it if you're willing to give one

RAIN wrote:

If you buy the official companion book for the invisibles literally every page of the series is covered and explained how EVERYTHING ties into the story with a lenghtly interview with Morrison at the end

Am I the only one who reckons that having to buy a companion book in order to be able to understand the story you're reading is a wee bit of a rip off, not to mention bad story writing and yeah, being "weird for the sake of weird"? I know I'll probably get a bashing from the GM fans here but he'd be a definite no-no for me just from the point of view of his almost complete inability to write an interesting story and tbh none of them have ever given me an adequate explanation as to why I should think otherwise.

Fysh

RAIN wrote:

I dont Agree that morrison is trying to be weird for the sake of it ,If you buy the official companion book for the invisibles literally every page of the series is covered and explained how EVERYTHING ties into the story with a lenghtly interview with Morrison at the end .The guys a genius no question about it and was recently voted 3rd best comic book writer of all time so he deserves a place on the shelf .
P.S I cant understand what you mean by the filth is being weird just to be weird ?Thats like saying the bible is being Religious just to be religious ..

Well, I'll try to put it a different way. There are a lot of interesting ideas presented in the comic (and I have to reiterate that I've not yet read the full Invisibles saga - what I know if it is having read volumes 1-4 and extensive notes about it around the place). But, if they don't make sense as explained in the comic, then the story presented in the comic has failed. And while I can't comment on the Invisibles yet, I can comment that this was how the Filth came across to me - lots of interesting notions in it, but after reading it several times I still don't have a full picture of exactly what was going on in it. Comparing this with the far simpler St. Swithin's Day by Morrison which still has something of a twist, I think that Morrison has some fascinating ideas but over-reaches himself as a writer when trying to convey them.

(Quote added to clarify my response, as I'm not replying to Jack B. Badd)

thumbninja

qwertplaywert wrote:

cant believe no body but be has mentioned any whedon stuff..............

take this fan by the hand
and teach him what it means to be
watching things other than serenity..

look at 'bear' forget 'squee'
morrison is a god to me
invisibles and guys of sea thats what I call qual - ity

I would go on but theres a risk
the guys on here just wont like this
I don't care cause you see.. first you'll have to catch up with me..

*flees*

bombidol

In fairness Whedon isnt all that great. I like his Tv shows but his comic runs do little for me.

ztoical

thumbninja wrote:

take this fan by the hand
and teach him what it means to be
watching things other than serenity..

look at 'bear' forget 'squee'
morrison is a god to me
invisibles and guys of sea thats what I call qual - ity

I would go on but theres a risk
the guys on here just wont like this
I don't care cause you see.. first you'll have to catch up with me..

*flees*

Me thinks the ninja has to much time on her hands

thumbninja

ztoical wrote:

Me thinks the ninja has to much time on her hands

unfortunatly no.. if I had time I'd give full usefull answers like your goodself. but as it is you'll have to deal with the top of the head drivle I spout when tired, busy and coffeed up

on a useful note.. add 'top ten'
well written and with a host of artist backround jokes.

anyone mentioned powers? the character interplay is just wonderful.

Fysh

On the Morrison side : Seaguy, We3, Vimanarama all worked for me as self-contained pieces. It seems to be when he goes for larger projects that things go skewiff, but in his defence he's been involved in some gorgeous-looking comics (whatever else I say about the Filth, it looked fantastic ; We3 had amazing artwork, and the rest of his stuff I've seen has at least been decent quality). Even the Seven Soldiers project descended into oddness towards the end by leaving a few things just hanging (like who or what Darkseid is in the greater context of the DCU, or why Shilo Norman is so inextricably linked to the idea of the Eternal Spirit of Freedom).

Anyway. Another question for the shades : do books about comics count? Cos if so, I'd say Masters Of American Comics and Scott McCloud's Understanding comics should be in there. (Possibly Reinventing Comics & Making Comics, but I wasn't so impressed by Reinventing... and I haven't read Making...). Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art would be another one, and 99 Ways To Tell A Story by Matt Madden yet another one. What say ye?

ztoical

well if we are putting in books about comics then "Seduction of the Innocent" by Dr. Fredric Wertham must go on the shelf as it is the book that created the mainstream comic book industry as we know it today - the publication of this book resulted in the industry imposing self-censorship on itself by creating The Comics Code Authority thus altering the direction of the industry for decades to come and resulting in the death of EC comics.

Also a comic that might not be a good comic but has an important place in comics history - Mike Diana's Boilded angel, one of the first and biggest legal cases for the comic book legal defense fund.

Fysh

I dunno bout the Wertham book to be honest, it's historically interesting but I prefer Chris FW's summary here.

Intermmission:
(Incidentally, o instigator of Ireland's first 24-hour-comics event, you need to join the challenge sometime soon).
Intermission ends.

(Since I can't think of any contributions myself at the moment, I'll link to Time's top 10 graphic novels, as a sort of suggestion by proxy)

the Shades

Ok why Squee!? Well...

In Squee's "little universe beneath the blankets" anything can happen or jump out and grab you. Faced with the farcical consequences of alien abduction, killer teddy bears, dust mites, zombie class mates and the anti-Christ wanting to be his friend, Squee struggles to survive. However, his tales, are something that everyone has experienced as a child and to see the demons exorcised, in often gruesome and violent but ultimately humorous ways, is a unique way through which the artist can communicate with his audience. Squee like many of us sees the world in a way no one else understands. He is an individual, struggling to make sense of his world and the authority figures who seem oblivious and uncaring towards his experiences. Vasquez, hence relates these experiences with a knowing honesty. Squee realises the ridiculous farces that these situations lead to and as he faces each of these fears, realises the world is not so bad after all.

I'd also like to suggest Bone (which Fysh has kind of already nominated through the Time article). Why Bone?

In Bone, Smith has combined many elements of fantasy, fairy tales, international creation myths and cartoons to create a tale with intergenerational appeal. Simply rendered, Smith's style hides a sophisticated draughtsmanship. Bone never fails in its storytelling and even the most simple of punch lines is delivered with great finesse. With the darker side of Bone revelling in it's fantasy roots the book never fails to entertain and certainly maintained its appeal and intrigue through the enitre run. It never once lagged or had obvious filler issues and should stand as a lesson in cartooning to anyone with an interest in comics.

Oh and as for books on comics, they could probably warrant a shelf of their own, so Mr. Fysh if you want to be the judge of that one I'm sure we'd be happy neighbours

the Shades

OK an update as to what has so far made it onto the shelf:

100 Bullets
The Sandman
The Dark Knight Returns
Watchmen
Transmetropolitan
Maus
The Beano
Incal (ztoical got me with her anything by Moebius comment

That's it for now, I appreciate all the discussion and suggestions but I really need to see more arguments for the nominations being included. Preacher and The Invisibles are very much under review, I've seen good arguments for them and against them so if anyone would care to they might just tip the balance. (thumbnina almost managed it with her rhyme but then she had to go and tease Squee! so my good favour was lost )

ztoical

the Shades wrote:

Incal (ztoical got me with her anything by Moebius comment

MOEBIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fysh

Righto, now for my attempt at defending Jimmy Corrigan:

Jimmy Corrigan, Smartest Kid On Earth - where to start? In the realm of semi-autobiographical indie comics, Jimmy Corrigan stands out above the majority of the field. A multilayered story focusing heavily on character, atmosphere and mood rather than action or plot, combined with some of the finest draughtmanship and design/layout I've ever seen. Ware's style is very distinctive and recognizable, and perhaps the single commendation of his work is that the reduced page size does not affect the readability of the artwork in the slightest.

Next case for the defence : Tomine's Summer Blonde

the Shades

I'd call that a pretty strong defence for Jimmy, chances are it will be successful!


I'd also like to take this opportunity to nominate (very unsurprisingly considering my avatar) Peanuts!

Quite simply every character type is represented in the characters, all of life takes place within the strips and it IS life. you have philosophy, theology and great humourous insights into the human condition. It may well be the greatest comic strip ever! You know what they say 'From the mouths of babes...'

the Shades

On the shelf:

100 Bullets
The Sandman
The Dark Knight Returns
Watchmen
Transmetropolitan
The Beano
Incal
Jimmy Corrigan
Squee!
Bone
Peanuts
The Invisibles

bombidol

Hellblazer

ztoical

hmmmmmmm hello Maus??

are you actually going to go out buy all of these Shades [not counting the ones you already own on the list]?

actually now that I look at your list, I have all of them, man, I need to get out more