WatchmenComicMovie.com Forum

So, if we're here we obviously like Watchmen. But what other graphic novels (or comic book series that have been put into graphic novel format) does eveyone consider to be worthy to sit next to Watchmen on their shelves?

My votes go to:

1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
2. Marvels
3. Kingdom Come
4. The Long Halloween

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Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music - George Carlin

One that will undoubtably join those novels is Marvel Zombies, and Hush, both were very good. Marvel Zombies being my favorite.

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"This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. Its us. Only us."

I bought some book a while ago -- it was some collection of Alan Moore's best work in the DCU. Can't remember the exact name.

Anyway, I bought the book for "The Killing Joke," which deserves a place in any comic book "Hall of Fame." There's also "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow," which I consider to be the end-all, be-all Superman story. Phenomenal.

And let's not forget Neil Gaiman. Sandman is an outstanding piece of work, and I thought the graphic novel adaptation of Neverwhere was better than the original TV miniseries. Oh, and I know that Stardust isn't really a graphic novel, but let's not get technical.

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

The Green Lantern Corp. stories in there are some of the best Green Lantern stories I've read. They have a very Twilight Zone-esque tone to them.

Some other suggestions:

1. From Hell
2. Earth X
3. The Crow

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The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking. The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I would have become a watchmaker. - Albert Einstein

I still need to read "Batman: TDK" and "From Hell". Damn, I haven't read "Sandman" neither.

Hm, I guess my (not previously mentioned) favourites are:

"Maus" (Art Spiegelman)
"Blacksad" (Juan Diaz Canales/Juanjo Guarnido)
"Le Combat Ordinaire" (Manu Larcenet)

I also love Miller's "Hell and Back (A Sin City Love Story)".

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The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.

And Marvel Zombies. The 2nd part is coming out soon. This will be a Civil War type story among the Marvel Zombies.

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"This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. Its us. Only us."

Sandman deserves top spot in the comic book hall of fame, as far as I'm concerned. :p Neil Gaiman is amazing.

Usually my choices are already taken in threads like this.

The Dark Knight Returns,
The Long Halloween,

But thinking over my old and not too large collection, I really would put the following in -

V for vendetta
Akira (so much more than the film and such great illustrations)

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Uridium.

There aren't many true "graphic novels" in relation to the amount of bound-up monthly issued packaged as such.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Enemy Ace: War Idyll

V for Vendetta

Stray Toasters

Hard Boiled
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Boiled_%28comic%29 (Whacky comic series o.t.t. violence, deep as a puddle).

Gaiman's Sandman

Books of Magic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Books_of_Magic

Batman — Year One

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Maus

Big Numbers was starting off nicely. Got both 1 and 2 but it fizzled out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Numbers

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Kingdom Come
V for Vendetta
The Killing Joke
Marvel Zombies
Shazam:Power of Hope
Civil War (even though it's basically the same as Kingdom Come)

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"Préstame tu peine y péiname el alma. Purificame, no me abandones. Préstame tu sueño y duérmeme. Embrújame, volvámonos eternos."

I forgot to add

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

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"Préstame tu peine y péiname el alma. Purificame, no me abandones. Préstame tu sueño y duérmeme. Embrújame, volvámonos eternos."

Let's see... [turns around and looks at his shelf]

The classics:
TDKR (but NOT the sequel)
Sandman (Absolute edition, if possible)
V for Vendetta (although I don't like this one nearly as much as a lot of Moore fans do)
Maus
Moore's run on Swamp Thing

Lesser noteables:
Astro City
League of E. G.
Batman: Year One
Arkham Asylum (visually wonderful, weaker story)
The Long Halloween (same criticism as AA)
Books of Magic (Gaiman)
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore (includes "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" and "For the Man Who Has Everything," two of the best Superman stories ever; and "Mogo Doesn't Socialize," a very short but very fun Green Lantern story)

I also quite liked "Superman: Secret Identity."

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"Oh, how mortals blame the gods, saying that evils come from us! But it's their own arrogance that brings them pain beyond their share." -- Zeus, Odyssey I: 32-34

no one here a miller fan?

i love the sin city books, but obviously a much simpler read than the watchmen.

and his run on daredevil is amazing.

also the optic nerve books are amazing for anyone who doesn't restict themselves to the hero genre

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Don't get me wrong -- I really did like TLH. But, for me, it doesn't hold up to the kind of scrutiny that my favorites do. I felt like it was a bit too self-referential (it kind of felt like a penny tour of Batman's World, where every villain, major and minor, has to have a scene and/or a cameo.)

And it was chock full of Godfather references so obvious that it seemed to go beyond "homage" and went straight into "derivative".

And the ending -- the big reveal at the end -- seemed both gratuitous and silly. I just didn't buy it.

But there was a lot that I really did like. The recurring "I believe in Harvey Dent" motif (which simultaneously references Bruce Wayne's appeal in "The Dark Knight Returns" for people to give Rehabilitated Harvey a second chance, and also calls back to the first line, "I believe in Gotham City" -- which was itself a riff on the first line in The Godfather, "I believe in America.")

I also like the view of Dent's descent into madness that was more nuanced than the simplistic "got scarred --> went crazy" formula.

And the artwork was gorgeous, and the book is worth it just for that.

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"Oh, how mortals blame the gods, saying that evils come from us! But it's their own arrogance that brings them pain beyond their share." -- Zeus, Odyssey I: 32-34

I haven't read Sin City or the Daredevil run. The Dark Knight Returns is one of my favorite comics, ever, and Batman: Year One is also very good. But I've been less impressed with some of the other things I've seen from Miller, especially the horrifically bad The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and -- and I know a lot of people won't agree with this -- I thought 300 was very weak, and a bit of a mess. It was visually interesting (although the movie did better in this regard, IMO), but there wasn't much more to it than high-testosterone bluster (of which, granted, the Spartans were acknowledged masters).

I do intend to read Sin City, though, because I've been hearing good things about it for years.

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"Oh, how mortals blame the gods, saying that evils come from us! But it's their own arrogance that brings them pain beyond their share." -- Zeus, Odyssey I: 32-34

I am a big fan of the Sin City novels.
I think "The Hard Goodbye" and "A Dame To Kill For"
Are the best in the series. I've yet to read to "Hell and Back"

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"Préstame tu peine y péiname el alma. Purificame, no me abandones. Préstame tu sueño y duérmeme. Embrújame, volvámonos eternos."

I like his early Daredevil run, along with Batman: Year One and (recently less so) DKR.

I can't get into Sin City at all. It's visually stunning.

If you take out the nonstop action and ludicrously gratuitous violence however, I don't find he has anything interesting - or profound - to say.

What I like the most...

Moore's run on Swamp Thing (like the early '70s run by Wein & Wrightson...issues 1-10)
The Killing Joke
V for Vendetta
I have From Hell and have mixed feelings about it... I suspect mostly because of the subject matter, though I find Moore a little more obtuse than usual

Arkham Asylum Grant Morrison ...whom I'm just getting into

Marvels Busiek and Ross do well on this one (like Ross' work on Kingdom Come also... should probably pay more attention to Mark Waid)

...as a kid was exposed to Tintin and Asterix which I've turned my kids onto, and my 12 year old recently read Maus (he's read Watchmen and gets a kick out of Top Ten)

I recently read Seth's The Adventures of Wimbledon Green, a spoof of comic book culture which I thouroughly enjoyed.

Can't get into the whole anime thing, though...

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

-Juvenal

A Dame to Kill For surely! the title is ingenious on its own!
Sin City is a guilty pleasure
i also like v for vendetta, lxg, and maus as my top ever with watchmen.
maus, outstanding as it is, i wouldn't describe as a GN or as a comic book...
its more like a biography with corresponding pictures...though the concept is brilliant!

its a pity that people don't know how good comics can be when the pictures and writing becomes seamless...moore's speciality i think (of course he's worked with the best artists out there! you've got to credit them too!)

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