Graphic Novels you must own: Sandman

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Neil Gaiman came into Sandman in Alan Moore’s shadow and left as the top writer in the comic book industry. He then moved into novels and rattled off a string of criticallyacclaimedbest–sellers.  He’s won science fiction awards, YA awards and a closet full of comic awards. It all started with a dentist’s violin and when Vertigo came along to England to recruit some new writers, Gaiman (fresh off assisting Alan Moore and peeking at his scripts) offered to redo a classic character that Jack Kirby had taken a swing at 20 years earlier. 75 issues later (actually 76 if you count the Sandman Special) Sandman is the most honored mainstream comic series of the 1990s. But who is Sandman?

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Graphic Novels you must own: Maus

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Art Spiegelman is an American comic book artist with European sensibilities. His style and content are probably as far as you can get from Superheros. He (and his wife Françoise Mouly) started a comix magazine called Raw, which focused on alternative comic stories by non-mainstream artists. Spiegelman’s contribution to Raw was an autobiographical story which he titled Maus. The story was eventually collected into two volumes and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. So, what exactly is Maus?

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Graphic Novels you must own: Understanding Comics

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One of the problems with getting more people interested in comics, is explaining what exactly comics are. Scott McCloud is not only a comic artist with as wonderful series Zot (my review) on his resume, but he is also a comic inventor. Among his inventions are 24 Hour Comics, The Creator’s Bill of Rights and 5 Card Nancy. McCloud has given us an essential book that not only explains what comics are, but explains the how and the why. He has taken comics back to the basics and given the world the first book that truly helps people in Understanding Comics. So how does he do it?

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Graphic Novels you must own: Watchmen

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Watchmen is arguably the most important comic book series ever published. There are a (small) number of other books that are (arguably) better, but Watchmen is the one that made the non comic book world stand up and take notice. Other books would not have gotten the notice they did if Watchmen hadn’t made people look. And in a industry where books a month old are forgotten and pretty much worthless, Watchmen has been a best seller for 25 years. Buy why should you own it?

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The Player of Games by Iain M Banks

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Iain M Banks keeps or loses the ‘M’ in his name depending on what type of book he is authoring. If you see the M, then you know it’s a science fiction novel and most likely in his Culture series. The Culture series depicts a universe with a dominant civilization known as the Culture (more information about the Culture is available in an IO9 article). The Player of Games is the second Culture novel (after Consider Phlebas). I had read the first book years ago, so I decided to move onto the second one. So, how is it?

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Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale by the Whedons

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During the show Firefly, one of the more entertaining and mysterious characters was Shepherd Book. He was a man of faith who wasn’t a stranger to violence*. His past was hinted at being more complex and mysterious and not spoken of. You could almost sense the other crew members wanting to ask him, but refraining. With the early cancellation (as well as Book’s part in Serenity), one of the big questions never answered was about Book’s past. Now, with Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale, written by Joss Whedon and his brother Zack, we finally get our answers. So what is Book’s story?

*One of my favorite scenes in Firefly is when the crew is going in to rescue Mal and Zoe asks Book about his faith:Zoë: Preacher, don’t the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killin’? Book: Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.

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Black Hole by Charles Burns

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Charles Burns is one of my favorite horror comic artists. Mainly because a superficial look at his artwork makes it looks nice and clean and…normal, for lack of a better word. Burns’ masterpiece is Black Hole, a story about a sexually transmitted disease. I first heard of Burns in the movie Comic Book Confidential (my review) and he had been serializing Black Hole for over a decade before putting together in one collection in 2005. So, what is Black Hole?

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X’ed OUT Volume 1 by Charles Burns

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X’ed OUT Volume 1 by Charles Burns came out this week and this is his first new story since Black Hole. Burns is the master of creepy teenage horror with amazing art that looks innocent until one eyed monsters and creepy crawling monsters are mixed in with images of teens (with sexual images and disturbing behavior). Burns has the cleanest and most disturbing art around and his stories are genuinely creepy.

Amazon’s top 10 Science Ficton Books of 2010

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Over at Amazon, they have a list of the Top 10 Science Fiction Books of 2010. I’ve reviewed two of them: Karen Lord’s Redemption in Indigo (my review) and Dexter Palmer’s The Dream of Perpetual Motion (my review). I also read the first Sandman Slim book by Richard Kadrey (my review), but haven’t had a chance to read the sequel.

Go and look at the list and find some new and interesting books to read. I know I’ll be doing that.

This post is part of the thread: BestOf – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies by Tom De Haven

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Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies by Tom De Haven is a homage to the days when newspaper comic strips ruled the comic world. Starting with The Yellow Kid, Little Nemo in Slumberland and my favorites, Krazy Kat and The Spirit, comic strips were a huge cultural touchpoint up until Max Gaines decided to fold the strips up into a book and sell them on the newsstand. De Haven creates a new strip, Derby Dugan, and focuses on the artist and the writer to show the time and place. So, who is Derby Dugan?

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