Introduction: Newbies say hello and introduce yourself here Showing 51-100 of 1,089

[Jonathan]

G'day I'm Jonathan and I joined because basically I love all forms of novels. I love stories and I love how graphic novels tell stories. I've been reading them regularly for the past few years now. I particularly love the various artwork styles different artists use.

[Vim]

Hi I'm Vim and I just got hooked to reading graphic novels this year. As of now my favorites are works by Brian Wood, Mike Mignola, Mark Millar and Grant Morrison.

Hope to get to know you guys more!

Happy reading!

[Pleaseloveme]

hello, my name is matthias and i am addicted to comics.

[Vim]

Pleaseloveme wrote: "hello, my name is matthias and i am addicted to comics."

Hi Matthias! :) I'm also new here

[Jana]

Welcome Newbies!

I've said this in other places, but I'll say it again -I LOVE knowing that you are all out there. I only know one other person face-to-face(my son) who reads comics/graphic novels, so this pleases me.

[Vim]

Jana wrote: "Welcome Newbies!

I've said this in other places, but I'll say it again -I LOVE knowing that you are all out there. I only know one other person face-to-face(my son) who reads comics/graphic nov..."

Thanks Jana! :)

[Lindsey]

I didn't always appreciate graphic novels. Then I read Blankets, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, and Stitches. Those were just great stories and the art just made them even better. Now I'm a fan of the genre. Look forward to learning about new titles from this group!

[Vim]

Lindsey wrote: "I didn't always appreciate graphic novels. Then I read Blankets, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, and Stitches. Those were just great stories and the ar..."

Hi Lindsey. :) Welcome!

[Adam]

Hi there - I'm new here! I'm Adam from Glasgow in Scotland, also the home of Grant Morrison, Mark Millar & Fran Quitely so in theory at least I've got some heritagey stuff or something.

I'm not a creator myself, well, not yet anyway... But I've been into graphic novels and comics to some extent for about 30 years now. I basically learnt to read from the Asterix books, and then was a big-time Marvel & DC reader in the 80s. Not cool enough for a 2000 AD habit though.

Had a brief 'grown-up' phase in my teens when I only read plain-text novels, and then got dragged back in by V For Vendetta and Marshal Law, and then confirmed my adiction through Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Sandman and suchlike. As far as 'proper' (ie no capes) graphic novels, until recently I'd only read Maus, Persepolis and a couple of others. I've got more into them lately, I've just read Pierre Levy's Sandcastle and I'm now reading Sarah Glidden's 'How to Understand Israel in 60 Days'.

Anyway, enough. Look forward to chatting with you all.

[Vim]

Hi Adam! Welcome!

[toria (vikz writes)]

Hi, Just dropped in to introduce myself, Just got back into reading graphic novels/comics and I am looking forward to learning from you all

[Mark]

Hello everyone, my name is mark, and I've been reading comics for a couple decades now. I'm reading more "graphic novels" now since it's a bit easier to read collected volumes than individual issues with for and family obligations.

Looking forward to getting some good recommendations here.

[Matthew]

Hey everyone. My name is Matt and I am big fan of graphic novels. I just finished reading the omnibus of Delgado's Age of Reptiles. There are no words in it, but the illustrations are fantastic and the storytelling is superb. Even without words, Delgado tells an amazing story of survival.

My favorite series is the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman.

Anyway, hello everyone, I'm glad to have found this place!

[Ronyell]

Hey! I'm Ronyell and I have been on Goodreads since 2008. I just loved reading graphic novels, actually I've just recently started reading some Marvel Comics and I have enjoyed almost every one of them! My favorite Marvel Comics are from X-Men! I would definitely love to read more comic books from both Marvel and DC comics! I'm open to suggestions!

[Matthew]

Ronyell wrote: "Hey! I'm Ronyell and I have been on Goodreads since 2008. I just loved reading graphic novels, actually I've just recently started reading some Marvel Comics and I have enjoyed almost every one of ..."

Have you read Gaiman's 1602? It's a medieval look a the Marvel universe. Great story

[Ronyell]

Matthew wrote: "Ronyell wrote: "Hey! I'm Ronyell and I have been on Goodreads since 2008. I just loved reading graphic novels, actually I've just recently started reading some Marvel Comics and I have enjoyed almo..."

No, I haven't read Gaiman's 1602 yet, but it sounds interesting! I'll have to add it to my TBR list!

[Kereesa]

Hi, I'm Carissa/Kereesa and after receiving an open invitation I decided to join :)
I'm from NB, Canada, and started getting into both manga and graphic novels a few years ago. I'm a big shojo and shonen fan and some of my favorites include Vampire Knight, DragonBall, and (lately) D.Gray-Man. I haven't read many graphic novels as of yet, but I'm always open to suggestions :P As long as it's got a great story, I'm easily hooked!

[Bonnie]

Hey, names Bonnie. I am from California. I am working on a few short stories for a graphic novel.I want to create some other stories in different mediums as well. I originally read mainly manga but I am getting into graphic novels more and more. The ones I am reading right now are House of Java by Mark Murphy and Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection put together my Matt Dembicki.

[Linda]

Hi-I'm Linda from Portland and I'm getting ready to jump into Paying for it by Chester Brown. But I jump between graphic novels and manga so I also have Saturn Apartments by Hisae Iwaoka on my next to read stack :D

[Morbus]

Ayup, I was pointed to the group by Sérgio and it seemed a good fit. I read tons of graphic novels and manga (and occasionally strips, etc.) - you can see my Goodread lists here and here. Currently reading/rereading the Hellboy and BPRD collections, as well as a bunch of manga volume 1s. I'd love to see more group reads - I tend to finish a regular-sized GN in under a week, and seeing group reads stretched out over a few months is slightly dampening. Regular PREVIEWS customer, and I've about 60 or so books in my to-read pile.

[Wesley]

Hi. I'm Wesley from Scotland. Giving the group a try after a contact from Sérgio. I am a fan of Batman and fantasy/supernatural stories from Vertigo. Currently I have gathered most of the House of M books and I am going to work my way through them over the next few weeks.

I have to say that I am not a big fan of American indie titles and would have not joined in the conversation with the first two official book reads - Black Hole did nothing for me - the optional books were all ones that I have read and enjoyed. Would like to read more European and South American books but they are not always easy to find in English translations.

I give quick impressions of the books that I have read in my blog at RevolutionSF (from September 2010 onwards):

http://www.revolutionsf.com/bb/weblog...

[Morbus]

Wesley: FWIW, I didn't find Black Hole all too interesting either ;)

[Sérgio]

Welcome to Bonnie, Linda, Morbus and Wesley and the other new members of the group.

Morbus wrote: "I tend to finish a regular-sized GN in under a week, and seeing group reads stretched out over a few months is slightly dampening"

I understand your point of view. Maybe in the near future we could have two group reads by month instead of two group reads every two months.

If the number of active members increases for the next group reads, I think this would be an interesting change.

Thanks for the input :)

[Brian]

Brian Binkley-
I have a deep obsession for graphic novels ever since my wife kept asking me who all the characters were in Smallville. I have read over 2200 graphic novels. Not overly into biographical comics, but I do love the form. Getting to the point it all is starting to be variations of prior comics. I utilize the library most due to fiscal issues, but occasionally download some to Marvel and DC apps.

[Seth]

Hey all, I'm Seth and I've been reading comics fairly regularly since I was introduced to Power Pack in 1985. I run a graphic novel review site called Good Ok Bad (http://goodokbad.com/), where my goal is pretty much just to help people find books that would be a good fit for them.

At this point, I'm almost entirely detached from the superhero genre (as it doesn't suit my tastes so much anymore). I just finished Big Questions (which I loved), Empire State (which was mediocre), and Urusawa's Pluto (which was surprisingly enjoyable—for me at least, since I'm not a huge Tezuka fan).

I love literary fiction and enjoy the work of Murakami, Bolaño, Eco, and Ishiguro. Loved Franny and Zooey, Shadow of the Wind, Cloud Atlas, and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation.

[Seth]

Oh yeah, I'm from Orange County, California.

[Sérgio]

Welcome Brian and Seth :)

[Brian]

Sérgio wrote: "Welcome Brian and Seth :)"

Thanks

[Steven]

Hello everyone!

I'm Steven, born and raised in Arizona. I've been reading graphic novels and comic books since I was 7. The first GN I read was the first volume of Wendy and Richard Pini's "Elfquest." (Anyone else familiar with it?)

I joined this group because I enjoy talking about graphic novels and comic books. I've even taught college courses about graphic novels and comic books.

I love the experimentation that can be conducted within the medium. I realized early on how powerful and magical comics can be, which the late, great Harvey Pekar summed up this way: "Comics are words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures."

Some favorites: "Transmetropolitan," "Usagi Yojimbo," "Lone Wolf & Cub," "Astro City," "Yotsuba&!," "Finder."

Currently reading or recently finished: ""Alice in Sunderland," "Toriko," "Motel Art Improvement Service," "Hark! A Vagrant," "Echo," "A Bride's Tale," "Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Night Powers," "Ex Machina."

My thanks to Sergio for the invitation, and I look forward to the discussions!

[Morbus]

Re: Elfquest. I've been meaning to read it. I like "epics", per se, and the appeal of having them all available online for "free" (is that right, I think?) is nice. But, I keep getting distracted with books I've actually spent money on ;)

I've just started reading Usagi Yojimbo from Volume 1 on - I've caught various issues of it over the years, recently read the hard cover one-shot that came out, and generally like Japanese folklore/culture.

Transmet remains a favorite, though I wish it got an Absolute edition or something better than the "regular but new-covers!" reissues that it's currently getting.

[Sérgio]

Steven wrote: "Hello everyone!

I'm Steven, born and raised in Arizona. I've been reading graphic novels and comic books since I was 7. The first GN I read was the first volume of Wendy and Richard Pini's "Elfque..."

Thank you Steve for joining our group. And Welcome! :)

By the way, I also love Lone Wolf & Cub. Extremely bad-ass samurai comic.


@Seth:
Your website is pretty cool. I've noticed you've got study guides for some books, including one we're going to read now (Daytripper). Maybe it would be a good idea to use it in our discussion. :)

(If you don't mind, of course.)

[Philippe]

Hello

I am Philippe, and I am French.
I naturally grown by reading Franco-Belgian comics, but also European in general, sud-American ones (I live Quino), American comics (from French translations).

Later, I learned enough English to be able to read comics in English and I collected a good number of them (from X-men to Sandman, from Groo to Electra Saga, from X-Factor to Elfquest, etc.). I also workship Milton Caniff, Harold Foster, Will Eisner, Bernie Wrightson, Windsor McCay, and so on. (Yes, I love B&W art!).

And I collected manga, both original (even if my knowledge of Japanese is nearly null), translated in English (before they were available in French) and now in French.
I buy much less comics (in the widest sense), but I still read lot of them, thanks to my public library...

As you can see in my reading list, I am relatively eclectic, I just love good stories and great art.

Oh, and if you are indulgent, perhaps you can take a look at my (old) drawings, at http://PhiLho.deviantART.com :-)

[Paul]

Hello.

I'm Paul and I'm Scottish. Been into comics since a very wee boy (2000AD was a childhood favourite) and still like to read Graphic Novels (is it just me or are there less and less truly GREAT ones coming out each year) as well as lots of other genres of books. I usually have 2 or 3 books on the go at the same time.

[Sérgio]

Hi Phillippe and Paul, welcome! :)

Glad you joined our group.

[Seth]

@Sérgio I don't mind at all. You're welcome to use any of the material I provide. I'm only sad that I haven't given the Study Guide section of the site the attention it deserves. I have three or four other guides ready to convert to html, but I've just been too busy with other responsibilities.

[Sérgio]

@Steven : I totally missed the part where you told you gave classes about comics. Tell us more please! To me it just sounds fascinating to have/give classes about comics.


@Shaun: Thank you for accepting my invitation. Hope you enjoy your time here. It’s also pretty cool you have a master’s project about comics. I’m sorry but I have to bug you for more information the same way I did to Steven. :)


@Seth: Thanks Seth. It’s interesting to have a set of questions to help focus the discussion and create more debate. I tried this with the Black Hole discussion, where I was discussion leader (as it was asked to me by Ken) and I think it went pretty well. But I took a look at other book clubs here in Goodreads and it doesn’t seem to be common practice.


Maybe we could try to have a different discussion leader for every book discussed that has the job of creating a set of questions.

What do you guys think?

Do you feel more comfortable with a free-for-all discussion or do you think it would be better with a set of questions as a guideline?

(I'd better create a poll to see what folks here think.)

[Neko]

hey new here....i've been a comic collector for years...I prefer comics over graphic novels/trades to be honest but it's all to do with space why I collect Trades but only for certain stories.

Certain comics I'll never collect graphic novel form as it feels wrong.

[[deleted user]]

Hi i'm Aljosha from Belgium and i've joined this group because i've got an invite of a certain fella named sergio and he seemed really friendly so i just joined up:)

I've been reading Comics and Graphic Novels for around 3-4 years now and still loving it.I'm a big Vertigo Fan but i like lots of other stuff as well but i'm not into the hole superhero stuff.

My Favorite Writers are Garth Ennis,Warren Ellis,Frank Miller,Brian Vaughan and some other ones.

Well that's about it and hopefully i'll hear from you people in some discussions!

[Antianti]

Hi everyone.
I joined some days ago after receiving Sérgio's invitation even longer ago.
I'm from Portugal, and the first book I read, back in the seventies, was Franquin's "Le Repaire de la Murène". I hope there's an english translation, even though I don't see one on GR, because it is a great classical comic.
After that I was hooked and I have't stopped reading comics. My reading tastes are usually more oriented to European style comics, but I do enjoy also a lot of Graphic Novels. However, super-heroes is not my thing, really.
I probably won't contribute much to the discussions, but we'll see what happens.

[Emilia]

Hi folks!

I'm Emilia and I'm from the mighty Midwest, U.S.A. I've been reading graphic novels since 2003, I think, when my best friend loaned me Blankets.

I like all styles of graphic novels, and really enjoy the international nature of the genre and the broadness of subject matter covered (Vampires! DNA! Malcolm X! Terminal illness!, etc.). Probably my favorite illustrator is Joann Sfar, my favorite storyteller is Osamu Tezuka, and I would sort of like to be Lynda Barry someday.

I'm very interested in this group because I always love learning about new stuff, and sharing some of the random/obscure stuff I've read. Part of the fun of comics/GN is there is new stuff around every corner, and it helps to have other people looking for it too.
Looking forward to learning a lot!

[Sérgio]

Welcome Laura, Aljosha, Anianti and Emilia.

I see there are a lot of different perspectives on comics expressed by the recent members of our group, I'm sure this will help make the discussions (in the group readings or the other threads) more interesting and engaging.

Thanks for accepting my invitation and joining our group. :)

[Angelo]

Hello everyone,

My name is Angelo and I live in the Netherlands.

I am a 43 year old comic book lover and collector and I started when I was very little. So I have a nice collection ;).

I started with European strips and included comics when I was around 12 years old. My first comic was a dutch translation of a X-men comics by Claremont and Byrne. Several years later I switch to the American publications. First in TPB and then the floppies. Mostly DC. My brother collected Marvel, so we could read both. Now I am still more into the DC stuff, but also very interested in golden age comic books and I collect a lot of the reprints of these books.

[Dominick]

I'm Dominick, joined in response to the invitation. I'm 48 but was lucky enough to have a father who was into comics, so despite being old enough to remember when comics were widely regarded as crap, they never were in my house, and I've read them for literally as long as I can remember.

Early faves were book collections my dad had of stuff like Pogo, the Kurtzman-era Mad (and some other Kurtzman stuff, such as the Goodman Beaver stories), Alley Oop and so on. Barks's Disney stuff, of course, as well as a lot of other Disney--the Walt Disney digests were a subscription item in our house. Then I became a sort of Marvel zombie, insofar as the only serial comics I read regularly were Marvels, mainly ones featuring Spider-Man.

Then the alternate/ground-level explosion in the early eighties widened my range and began my long, slow withdrawal form the superhero world (still read the occasional thing, but no current periodicals except Astro City--assuming that still exists, as I haven't seen an issue in ages).

Lately, I've been reading mostly collections, since we're currently in the golden age of comics reprinting--a lot of old newspaper strips, collected undergrounds, and some of the marvel and DC collection sof older stuff, mostly.

[Sérgio]

Welcome Dominick :)

I see you have a very eclectic taste. That’s what I like about this group, contrary to other internet forums that are focused in specific genres, people here have a wide taste range. That makes talking about comics more interesting, I think.

[Dominick]

Hi Sergio. Yes, I'm interested in comics as an art form more than I'm interested in any particular genre or style, so I read a lot of different kinds of things, though, on balance, my tastes probably skew on the one hand to older stuff and on the other towards the less- or non-mainstream stuff in relation to contemporary work.

[Kirstin]

Thanks for the invitation, Sérgio.

I'm Kirstin. I live in San Diego and have been to Comic Con most every year since I moved out here. I'm one of the people that actually goes to the comics panels (and skips the movie stuff).

I started reading Star Wars comics in elementary school, got into X-Men a little later, and have been a fan of comics/graphic novels/manga ever since. Although I do read superhero stuff, I mostly depend on friends to make sure I get the essentials there. My love is really reserved for the science fiction and horror genres (though I will go in for shojo sometimes).

I highly recommend Pluto, a retelling of The Greatest Robot on Earth storyline from Astro Boy. My current favorite graphic novel series is Locke & Key. I also just finished Habibi, which was amazing.

I have a broad range of tastes and like to try new books and series. I joined to find some new (or new to me) gems. Plus, I look forward to some good discussion.

[Steven]

Sérgio wrote: "@Steven : I totally missed the part where you told you gave classes about comics. Tell us more please! To me it just sounds fascinating to have/give classes about comics.

No worries. For a few years, I taught a weekly class that consisted of a brief overview of comics across different cultures, and it had a workshop component. Each student had to draw a certain number of pages by the end of the semester in addition to special assignments and the final project. The most challenging part of the class was keeping up with the work (I also did the same assignments). But it was lots of fun because everyone, both the junior high and the college students, brought a unique perspective and aesthetic to their work. It is something I wish I had time to do again.

[[deleted user]]

Hey everyone!

I'm Dione from Manila.
I started reading graphic novels a couple of years back and I haven't been able to sate my appetite for them yet. Thank you for the invite! this group looks like loads of fun. Looking forward to discussions and recommendations. :)

[Sérgio]

Hi Kirstin and Dione and Welcome!

:)


@Steven: Thanks for the explanation. It sounds like it must have been a really cool class.

[Wendy]

Hi! I'm Wendy and live in Vancouver, Washington, close to Portland, Oregon, NOT Canada.

I was reluctant to join because I just don't have tons of time to invest in discussions, so I just don't want to be trolling around. I will eventually read all the introductions in this thread.

But I love graphic novels. I mostly enjoy independent ones, or 'non super-hero' series. Too many to list, but 'Blankets' is up there along with 'Locke and Key', Jeff Lemire, Doug TenNapel, Chew, Axe Cop ... you get the idea.

I am giving a reader's advisory workshop at my library to educate our librarians and assistants about Graphic Novels, so I may post some questions to pick all your brains!