Classic Graphic Novels

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I'm looking to expand my collection of graphic novels of DC & Marvel (and others) superhero comics. I have most of the essential books (Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One, Watchmen, Crisis on Infinate Earths, Swampthing, Green Latern/Green Arrow, Sandman, Preacher), but what else do I really NEED to have in my collection? I know I have often posted in these threads when others have asked about them, but now I want to know, what do I need to read? Maybe I have everything I need, and this thread will show that, but I doubt it. I know there is alot out there that I really need to pick up.

Generally, I like team books better than single hero books, but I really like Batman, hate Spawn, and dislike the Fantastic Four for the most part. X-Men never really appealed to me, although I like some of the stories. I collected tons of comics in the 80s-90s, then stopped in the mid-90s, getting back into them about 5 years ago. I'm not really looking for very recent stuff, although if something is a "Must Have", please tell me. Mostly, I'd like to fill in books from the 70s-90s.

 

[Particle_Man]

Old "Hellblazer" Graphic Novels are classic. And try to get Grant Morrison's run of the "Doom Patrol" (I think it starts with "crawling through the wreckage"). It has been retconned out of existence but to heck with that. Also, "Shade the Changing Man".

I loved the early Vertigo stuff, can you tell?

On the Marvel side, Peter David's run of "The Incredible Hulk" was good.

Indy-wise, you might wanna check out "Usagi Yojimbo" or "Lone Wolf and Cub". Early "Cerebus the Aardvark" (before Dave Sim went nutty). "Strangers in Paradise" is a nice "non-powered" tale. "Bone" is pretty classic and is not in a BIG one book form.

Best of luck!

 

[Klaus]

JLA: New World Order - Collects the first arc of Grant Morrison's JLA run. Answers the question "Why doesn't the JLA solve all the world's problems?"

New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract - One of the best stories of a comic book that used to compete head-to-head with the X-Men for popularity. The first appearance of Nightwing.

 

[Mistwell]

I know you said superhero comics, but in case you are looking to expand your collection to include all good gaphic novels rather than just superhero ones (and given that probably the top 100 graphic novels are over 50% non-superhero in my opinion, it's worthwhile), you might consider some of these:

Maus, Art Spiegelman
A Contract with God, Will Eisner
From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Ghost World, Daniel Clowes
Road to Perdition, Max Allan Collins
Blankets, Craig Thompson
Box Office Poison, Alex Robinson
V For Vendetta, Alan Moore
Lone Wolf and Cub, Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima
Whiteout, Greg Rucka
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, Chris Ware
Three Fingers, Rich Koslowski
Y The Last Man, Brian K. Vaughan
Torso, Brian Michael Bendis
Stray Bullets, David Lapham

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I know you said superhero comics, but in case you are looking to expand your collection to include all good gaphic novels rather than just superhero ones (and given that probably the top 100 graphic novels are over 50% non-superhero in my opinion, it's worthwhile)

Oh, my collection has all sorts, I'm just on the superhero kick right now. I actually own several of those on your list, and have read most of the rest of them. I was on a non-superhero kick 6-8 months ago and polished a bunch of those off. Maus is one of the few books, and one of two graphic novels/comics, that ever made me cry (the other being Sandman #50, the last panel of the story). Wow, that's powerful.

 

[sabres]

One of my personal favorites is The Crow. Much better than the crappy maovie made years ago. It's a definite must-have for any graphic novel collection.

 

[Qlippoth]

I'd add Alan Moore's Promethea; occult goodness.

 

[Mistwell]

As for Superhero-only books, I recently bought the Kevin Smith line of Daredevil, and the Joss Whedon line of X-men. I'll let you know my opinion of them after I read them...

 

[Krug]

Definitely Persepolis as well, and Paul Chadwick's Concrete. And The Complete Bone, of course.

 

[Particle_Man]

Zot! (can't believe I forgot that one!)
Camelot 2300 is ok.