Graphic Novel Reading Group discussion
General Discussions
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Introduction: Newbies say hello and introduce yourself here

I really dig non-fiction comics too; my favorite being Rick Geary's A Treasury of Victorian Murder series.
I don't trust or understand Marvel fans.
Favorite series: Sandman
Favorite graphic novel: The Nightly News
Favorite Batman arcs: "The Saga of Ra's Al Ghul", Heart of Hush, KnightQuest, Scott Snyder's current run
Favorite crossover: Brightest Day
Favorite story arc ever: Ed Brubaker's Daredevil run
Favorite characters: Lucifer (of Sandman/Lucifer), Gambit, Deadman, the new-52's Martian Manhunter, Destiny of the Endless, Ra's Al Ghul, Two-Face, Tim Drake (especially as pre-Flashpoint Red Robin)


We are actually discussing V for Vendetta right now as an optional group discussion. You can participate on that if want to. :)



That's a pretty interesting quote. I'm kind of like that with culture too: if it's very respectable it usually ends up being boring.

Interesting debate, the 'comics' vs 'comix' vs 'graphic novels' thing. Generally, I'm with you, Jaime - I don't mind the term graphic novel if a book was written and initially published in one volume, but if it's a collection of monthly issues, it's just a comic book. But essentially it's a pulpy medium - there's a reason Spiegelman drerw mice, cats and dogs in Maus. Doesn't mean it isn't capable of as much as any other form of storytelling though.

I've spent years and years reading comics ever since I found Battle and Star Wars (US reprints) in a UK newsagent when I was a wee small boy. I still spend far too much time on them.
I'm mostly a mainstream superhero guy but I like stuff on the fringes as well (DMZ, Chew, Fables, Queen & Country etc).
Luckily over the last year my local library seems to have been invaded by graphic novel/trade paperback fans and the stock tends to get updated pretty quick. Looking forward to some interesting discussions!


I am Pranay from Mumbai-India. Love reading graphic novels and have been a fan since childhood (newspaper comic strips were my staple diet). I like to read various genres in graphic novel as long as they are interesting stories. I also like to collect them. I am a fan of Batman, Fables, Y the last man, The walking dead and 100 bullets. Currently I am reading Joss Whedon's Fray.
Looking forward to discuss awesome graphic novels and forthcoming books.
Cheers!!!

My name's Kevin Tam, and I'm a college student in Illinois(about to graduate next month!). I fell in love with comic books when my mom got me an Essential Spider-Man vol. 4 in high school, and I've been keeping track of comics ever since. I have a blog about comic books (chezkevin.blogspot.com), but I joined this group to talk with other people who enjoyed them as much as I do. I make weekly (or at least bi-weekly) trips to my local shop, and my favorite titles right now are Chew and The Flash. My favorite graphic novel ever might be Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's We3, although I am also fond of Mark Waid's The Unknown and Brian Clevinger's Atomic Robo.
NYKen, I received your issues of "The Death of Gwen Stacy" and "Spider-Man no more" and requested to be in the list of members who receive free comics -- thank you!
Regards,
Kevin Tam

https://twitter.com/#!/FrancisManapul...



That said, I think I can claim to be a comics fan. I like comics and graphic novels of many genres, and I don't care what country or language in which the books were originally published. I've been reading manga fairly consistently since 1997, and started picking up more domestic and global comics and graphic novels after a dosing of nostalgia a few years back when I went to San Diego Comic-Con. (Basically, I previously had a cassette-tape audio drama of the Robin story from "A Death in the Family" to "Tragedy and Triumph" that I used to listen to all the time on family car trips which I saw partially rendered in an animated movie showings at the con. Afterwards, I wanted to find a collection of the original comic version, and then I just wanted to find out what happened to the characters I cared about since. That snowball rolling down the hill eventually ended up with me acquiring more books than I probably should have across a number of genres...)
I figured I'd join this group as it looked like you choose a mix of quality books to read in the group, and I need to socialize more.


I'm Johanna and am from Kent, UK, but was born in Finland. I've been reading comics and graphic novels most of my life and am constantly running out of shelf space in my flat as my collection grows. Still, I'm always looking forward to finding new graphic novels to read and enjoy. This also being the reason why I decided to join this group and I hope I'll find many new stories to read and get to see and join some discussion about them too.
Nice to meet you all!

I'm a comic book/graphic novel fan who's been burnt one too many times by a promising title that did not deliver. Right now my favorite trade paperback collections are: Chew, DMZ, American Vampire, and Sweet Tooth. I read Volume 3 of Locke and Key. I liked it but am not sure I want to devote anymore time to it. Individual books I'm buying now are Ultimate Spider-man, Ultimate X-men, and Wolverine and the X-men.
Comic books and TV taught me English and fueled my imagination. I am a blogger, educator, and father. My kids share my love for comics. I am hoping by joining this group I meet some great people who share a love for talking about comic books.

I'm Johanna and am from Kent, UK, but was born in Finland. I've been reading comics and graphic novels most of my life and am constantly running out of shelf space in my flat as my collectio..."
That's really cool, my friend Hannah, just came over here from Tonbridge, (which for everyone else, is a place in Kent.), so that's cool. But as for me, I kinda didn't read comics much as a young person, I started reading webcomics in the first real boom in around 98. Within a couple of years, I was hooked on webcomics but still was uninterested in print comics, until I saw Understanding Comics, was mildly intrigued by it and asked for it for Christmas. I got it, read it, and that was it. My mind was blown and I began to truly understand the potential of comics of all sorts, and about the same time I was able to regularly visit our lovely local library and just dug in to whatever I could get my hands on that seemed interesting. What really stuck and made a lasting impact was Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone's Birds of Prey, Green Arrow with all the various writers that did the run after Smith brought him back, Gaiman's Sandman, Ennis' Preacher, and especially his War Stories comic from Vertigo and pretty much anything Bendis, and eventually Johns' JSA. I got more and more into comics, and eventually decided to major in Comic Art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. There I finally went to my first comic shop Big Brain in downtown Minneapolis, bought the Brave New World special, Trials of Shazam! #1 and all the Birds of Prey issues they had left on the rack. And that's that I suppose. I graduated from MCAD in 2010 with a degree in Comic Art, and I had to move back here to Washington State with my parents because of a lack of employment.
As for what I'm into now, Wolverine and the X-men and Scarlet Spider from Marvel, The Lil Depressed Boy, Dark Shadows, Empowered, Battlefields, Chew and The Boys from the various indie publishers, and Batgirl, Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Legion of Superheroes, Flash, I, Vampire, Voodoo, World's Finest.
I'm still sort of reeling from the loss of the huge community of like minded comic fans both in my department and out of it, and there really aren't any in this neck of the woods (and it really is with actual woods and everything.) So as I am part of many other Internet groups, so shall I join your merry band as well, and hope to be an at least somewhat welcome addition.

And thanks Jay for sharing your history with comics. Understanding Comics was an eye opener for me too.

Coeli from the Philippines here. Religiously following Bill Willingham's works mostly, but I've got the occassional Alan Moore, Mark Millar and the Luna Brothers here and there.
Oh and I'm a fan of our local comics scene :)
Hi. My name is Rob and I'm from Oklahoma. My tastes are pretty broad. I read a lot of newspaper strip collections with Krazy Kat and Peanuts being my favorite among many. I am a big fan of French bande dessinee (Joann Sfar) and Japanese manga (especially Tezuka and 70s shoujo). The artists' work I'm admiring the most right now are Winsor McCay, Herriman, Osamu Tezuka, Gil Kane, Richard Corben, P. Craig Russell, Eddie Campbell, Paul Pope, Frank Quitely, Hans Rickheit, Kevin Huizenga and Anders Nilson. I'm looking forward to discussions in this group.

(No problem talking about your projects if you're introducing yourself, in my opinion. There's no flaming there, that's for sure. :P )

I've been a fan of graphic novels for some years, and some of my favourite works are by Will Eisner, Alan Moore and Daniel Clowes.
I also enjoy literature in its pure prose form. My major and my post-grad degree are in literature.
Nice to meet you all. =)

My name is Sandra and i'm from Lisbon, Portugal, i've been reading comics since pretty much i could read.
I started with mostly Disney and other children's comics and made my intro into super-hero comics during my early teens, when i raided my cousins' collection during long summer days.
By 16 i was hooked on the X-Men, oh yes i was a devoted X-Zombie for close to 15 years, and haven't picked up a recent X-Comic in 2-3 years.
In my senior year the Bedeteca (a comic book library) opened near my school and that opened up my comics horizons if you will.
I discovered Vertigo and that was an adventure, Garth Ennis is probably still my favourite writer. Also read some indies, but even though i like them, they were not easy to come by.
About 6 years ago i was in a slump, i was tired to death of all the constant crossovers and superhero comics were just winding me down, someone lent me a copy of The Planetary and i fell in love, it was a wake up call.
I decided to dump my X-obsession and just damn read whatever strikes my fancy.
Haven't read as much lately as 10 years ago, but i've been reading better, also i move around a lot so carrying comics wasn't productive anymore so i went the digital way, i've been reading mostly digital for a year now.
big plans would also be to finally read all those comics i've been piling up but never got the chance to read.

If you like Garth Ennis I'm guessing you enjoy Preacher probably. Personally, it's one of my favorite series ever.
About being a X-Zombie, do you remember those small format comics they had in every magazine stand back in the nineties? I loved collecting X-Men comics too back then, but I also falled out of love with that type of comics as I grew older.

I'm Amir and I am from Israel.
I am 39 yrs old, but only started reading graphic novels about 3.5 years ago. I already own over 100 GNs.
My favorite series are Sandman, Preacher and Miracle Man.

Some of my favorites are Laika, Hellboy, Preacher, RASL, House of M, Fullmetal Alchemist, Hey Wait..., Incognito and Arkham Asylum, A Serious House on Serious Earth
If you have any suggestions or want to talk graphic novels, im happy to comply.

So, I'm here to discuss, read, give/take recommendations, and, when the time is right, shamelessly recommend my own work! :]


My name is Gwen, I've been reading comic books since I was a kid. I read the Grant Morrison run of Doom Patrol when I was much too young and it gave me nightmares - to this day it's still one of my favorite series. My favorite big name character is Batman, I love his world and the villains that populate it. I also love The Tick and Promethea, and will pick up anything drawn by Dave McKean or written by Neil Gaiman - and when they collaborate it's always amazing! Black Orchid is one of my all time favorite one-off comics. Some other favorites are Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Watchmen (of course), The Ticking (Renee French), Top 10: The Fourty-Niners (Alan Moore). I also enjoy a little of the ultra violence like Lobo, The Authority, and Marshall Law. At the same time thoughtful comics like Maus and Good-Bye (Yoshihiro Tatsumi) stay with me and I find I have to go back and reread them, no matter how sad the stories.
I'm here because I like seeing what other people are reading and what they think about what they've read - and maybe discover some new titles to start reading myself.
Thanks for the invite!

@John: Court of Owls will probably be one of our next group reads for August. So maybe you'll enjoy participating in that.
@Gwen: I really like Tatsumi's short stories as well. :)

@John: Court of Owls will probably be one of our next group reads for August. So maybe you'll enjoy participating in that.
@Gwen: I really like Tatsumi's sho..."
Ooo, Court of Owls is on my to-read short list - I'll certainly participate in the August group read!
And thank you for the welcome!

So do I! I have the compilation volumes, but I'd love to have an "absolute" Morrison Doom Patrol printed on quality paper and with a good binding.


Our group reads for August are actually Batman books :Batman: The Black Mirror, Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls.
If you're interested you can always participate in that. :)

Name's Alekh, from India. I'm a doctor by profession and an ardent graphic novel fan. Been reading Indian comics (anybody remembers Raj/Manoj/Tulsi ?) since childhood and then graduated to DC/Marvel/Vertigo/Dark Horse.
My favourite animator/narrator/author (probably) is Guy Delisle. "The Burma Chronicles" was the first GN I read outside of the staple superheroes and have been addicted since then. Marjane Satrapi & Julia Wertz come a close second.
Oh, and I love Sinfest too (plus Love and Capes/Habibi/Blankets/Fevre Dream/Kick-Ass etc etc !) !
Currently reading Kick-Ass 2 & Jerusalem (Guy Delisle).
Cheers !
Books mentioned in this topic
Justice: A Tale of the Nepali Civil War (other topics)Sky Orb (other topics)
Sky Orb (other topics)
Pulling Weeds from a Cactus Garden (other topics)
Fairy Tale Remnants (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Alan Moore (other topics)Charles Burns (other topics)
Junko Mizuno (other topics)
Chris Ware (other topics)
James O'Barr (other topics)
More...
I love Graphic novels. Collection is huge, but I'm fussy. I love crime, westerns, and some oddball stuff.
Indie stuff is the best.