What are some all-time classic comics, manga and graphic novels?

[Mister Six]

It struck me a bit back that there are a bunch of comics that have been acclaimed for years that I've never read but can now read for free thanks to the library.

I just got done with Akira (FANTASTIC, especially if you know the film backwards as it's quite different in many ways) and have ordered the first volume of Dave Sim's Cerebus. I'd actually forgotten all about Cerebus even though I read so much about it in the late 90s and early 00s.

What other classic comics are out there, in all formats and from all industries? Especially acclaimed stuff from the 80s and 90s that maybe have fallen a bit off the radar but people still love?

I'm talking everything here - feel free to recommend Watchmen, Maus and all the other biggies as well as obscure shit and superhero stuff.

[Jerzy Bondov]

You know what I loved, Grant Morrison's Nameless. I've read it a few times over and still don't really get it but it's fucking amazing and scary

[Lungpuddle]

Highly recommend Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell for anyone who has or knows anyone going through mental health problems. It's not comforting, but it is cathartic in a way.

[Mister Six]

Yes! Nameless is fantastic, and scratched a similar itch (or created a similar itch, in a good way, if I'm being truthful) as Twin Peaks S3. Swallow Me Whole looks perfect, and I'll have to check that out.

Ah, here's another comic that was big in the 90s that I never read - The Maxx. Will have to get around to that at some point.

[chveik]

Ah, here's another comic that was big in the 90s that I never read - The Maxx. Will have to get around to that at some point.

the tv show is pretty good

[Sebastian Cobb]

Not really typical comic stuff, given it's the story of Marjane Satrapi's early life in Iran, then Europe but Persepolis is great.

[Magnum Valentino]

FELL is a great little comic that was cancelled after about 8 issues but can be bought in trade or digitally. Detective starts in a new city but it has a weird atmosphere and things aren't quite right.

Just finished reading Jeff Lemire's Royal City which I'm also recommending. It's ace.

And absolutely anything written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Sean Phillips and The Fade Out in particular.

[13 schoolyards]

After the massive disappointment of The Batman's Grave (and Warren Ellis sex pest in general) I re-read his six issue run on Moon Knight, which turned out to be a brilliant series of short (not quite) Batman stories.

I wouldn't recommend everything Ellis wrote in the last decade, but I did enjoy Injection (and to a slightly lesser extent Trees) a lot, plus his reboot of the Wildstorm universe (The Wild Storm) had its moments.

And alongside Nameless I'd also recommend Annihilator - Morrison definitely had some bad vibes about Hollywood he was getting out of his system around then.

[Dr Rock]

Love & Rockets
Peter Bagge stuff
Evan Dorkin stuff
Byrne's FF run
Death Of Captain Marvel

[Havmannen]

I like Joe Sacco's stuff (Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza are particularly excellent). I've also just picked up Berlin by Jason Lutes and have high hopes. If anyone has any other decent historical graphic novel recommendations then please do.

[willbo]

I really like the modern Tomb Raider comics (based in the universe of the serious reboot games). I have all the Dark Horse collections. They have pretty interesting twists and settings, like one in Chernobyl. Most of them written or co written by Rihanna Pratchett (daughter of Terry)

I love Invincible, the quirky superhero series by Robert Kirkman

I want to revisit Bone at some point

bit of a guilty pleasure but the post-2015 Marvel Darth Vader comic is pretty fun, with all his over-powered craziness and bitchy relationship with the Emperor. The spin off Dr Aphra (about a Lara Croft ish female adventurer/con-artist) is a lot of fun too.

Adventure Zone (comic adaption of a podcast of surreal D'nD sessions) is pretty fun

I really liked the Grant Morrison Batman era where Grayson (the first Robin) was Batman and Damian (Bruce Wayne's son with Talia Al Ghul) was Robin.

I always thought Concrete (dark horse) was an interesting comic and should have been a big tv show

I enjoyed Marvel's most recent Spider Gwen and Ms Marvel

honestly for Marvel and DC it has to be 70s-80s for me, Batman, Teen Titans, Wolverine, Deadpool, Hulk, Thor, etc.

[Mister Six]

Yes! Concrete! That's the kind of thing I'm looking for! Good call.

[13 schoolyards]

As far as classic 80s titles that have dropped off the radar go, American Flagg! was amazingly influential on a lot of later mainstream US hits like The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. I don't know how available the semi-recent reprints of the first 12 issues are, but it's definitely worth tracking down.

And while it's dystopian future time, the first Martha Washington story - Give Me Liberty - is a largely overlooked Frank Miller slice of nuttiness that has dated badly in parts but still has a certain go-for-broke energy to it. Definitely don't bother with any of the sequel series though, unless you're a Dave Gibbons completist.

[bgmnts]

Chris Claremonts Uncanny X Men is pretty incredible in my opinion, probably the best iteration.

Pretty much anything Alan Moore I suppose.

The first 80 or so issues for Walking Dead are cool.

Ditto the first compendium of Fables.

Only read the first issue of Y the Last Man but I want to definitely try that and Mau5 is meant to be brilliant as well.

The Boys is actually really, really good as well.

[garbed_attic]

Love & Rockets

Reading Love & Rockets from start to present has been one of the most fulfilling things in this dismal life. I'd recommend it!

[willbo]

I read the first 3 volumes (the new big ones with 10 issues) of Y The Last Man, last year for the first time, and had mixed feelings really. It's as gripping as any good action adventure comic/Netflix show, but the stuff about gender isn't really up to date or that interesting for this day and age, and the snappy dialogue gets a bit "trying too hard to be Joss Whedon". It has a bit of a... "smug" feel, like you hear the writer patting himself on the back for coming up with such clever gender based plots. It's an entertaining sci fi action/thriller I guess though. It also has this annoying feel of being proudly "aren't I better than those other comics that would be exploitative doing a story like this" while still being a bit sexy and exploitative.

[samadriel]

Y the Last Man was variable; I'd sooner recommend Vaughan's Saga, such a fun, unpredictable epic.

Matt Kindt and Josh Dysart have done some great stuff for Valiant. I very strongly recommend Dysart's reboot of Harbinger, an X-Men-like series about super psychic kids, featuring one of comics' greatest villains. Matt Kindt's Ninjak books are gems too; Ninjak's kind of a cross between Batman and James Bond, with a sprinkling of magic martial artist powers.

I see I was beaten in recommending Persepolis; great comic. Daniel Clowes has done some great stuff; my favourites of his are Ghost World, his most famous work; David Boring, a very odd story (although I've heard A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron is the proper weird Clowes work), and Pussey!, a hilarious spoof of the American comics scene, from the Liefelds who made millions out of their shoddy work in the early 90s, to the shysters at the very top of corporate comics, to the abrasive eccentrics who run the art comics scene.

Manga: my favourite is Battle Angel Alita, an absolute epic; I enjoyed the movie, but oh, the manga! Give it a punt.
Hellsing is my other go-to manga recommendation, a wild vampire-stuffed gang war between Anglicans, Catholics and Neo-Nazis. It's hard to get ahold of, but worth it.

[Lungpuddle]

I meant to recommend David Boring too! It is very odd and I can't remember finding any characters actively likeable, but I really enjoyed it. I own Pussey but haven't done more than flick through it so far. I'll get on that.

[willbo]

i liked David Boring so much at the time I made it my username on some boards, though I can't remember much about it now. All Clowes aside from Ghost World blends into one for me. I miss that "weird 90s" feel.

[bakabaka]

For a proper classic, look no further than Little Nemo by Winsor MacKay. Just over a hundred years old now, it was groundbreaking in its development of the visual language of comics and still looks as good as anything since. The only problem with it is the dialogue - MacKay wasn't that good at writing in the vernacular and the language has changed a lot since 1910, so it can read as a bit clunky. But the absolutely gorgeous artwork more than makes up for it.

There are several collections out there these days, as well as the tribute Dream a Little Dream[nb]Don't buy it from Amazon if you can help it, but if you do, do it via Neil's affiliate link so at least he gets some of the hefty price tag.[nb]And it's not really written by Grehard; that's a mistake that has been replicated by most sellers now despite him only doing the first picture (which is why he was listed first and then taken as the only writer)[/nb][/nb] by some fantastic modern comics authors/artists which, amongst other things gives you a feel for the sheer size of the originals. It's the same size as they were, broadsheet, which is about A3! It doesn't fit on any of my shelves and is too heavy to hold while reading for more than a handful of pages at a time.

[13 schoolyards]

Daniel Clowes has done some great stuff; my favourites of his are Ghost World, his most famous work; David Boring, a very odd story (although I've heard A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron is the proper weird Clowes work), and Pussey!, a hilarious spoof of the American comics scene, from the Liefelds who made millions out of their shoddy work in the early 90s, to the shysters at the very top of corporate comics, to the abrasive eccentrics who run the art comics scene.

A Velvet Glove Cast in Iron feels very dream-like in a "made-up-as-he-went-along" fashion, whereas his later stuff is more dream-like in a "this-all-means-something-but-I'm-not-sure-what" sense. I remember finding the title story in his collection Caricature absolutely devastating - it probably reads very 90s indie film now, but I think it's still my favourite of his works.

Adrian Tomine started out very influenced by Clowes, but he's definitely gone his own way of late - Killing and Dying, his most recent collection, was excellent I thought.

[Lungpuddle]

Adrian Tomine's Shortcomings is good too, although I'm guessing he made it before Killing and Dying as it's very much in the Clowes style. It's good, though. His latest, directly autobiographical one is here somewhere. I love the way it's printed as if it's an actual generic notebook he's scribbled in. Just picked it up from the bookshelf, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist. Haven't actually read it though, if it's not up to snuff I'll never mention it again.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

If you like Achewood and Hansellman's comics, definitely read E C Segar's original Popeye. I wouldn't bother with the sunday strips - yet the actual storyline comics have barely dated a day. Its the ur-text for the "bunch of grimy, substance abusing outsiders maintaining their absurd friendships despite constant senseless violence" comic

[Boycey]

Lots of good shouts above

If you do the two classics of the superhero genre (namely The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen) I would also humbly suggest Neil Gaiman's Black Orchid which I think is often overlooked, and I think it deserves to be put on a higher pedestal

Obviously his superlative Sandman series goes without saying

On the Marvel side, Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek's Marvels is a wonderful paean to the history of Marvel telling the story of the Marvel Universe as seen through the eyes of an ordinary human.

I am just about to revisit Grant Morrison's The Invisibles which is well worth it as well, if completely insane. If I recall there's a TV deal for this in the pipeline, so well worth reading now before everyone is

On non genre stuff, I finally caught up with Alison Bechdel's Fun Home a few months ago and I wasn't disappointed and it's an engrossing family memoir. I also caught up with The Sculptor by Scott McCloud - which has genre trappings and a few problems, such as a 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' love interest - but it's an interesting examination of mortality and the creative urge. McCloud has also written an interesting non-fiction examination of 'how' comics work called - unsurprisingly - Understanding Comics

[Mister Six]

Some fantastic tips, thanks all. I ordered Understanding Comics from the library yesterday, but had forgotten about The Sculptor.

Little Nemo is indeed great - and was almost a Studio Ghibli film! Here's the test footage: https://youtu.be/QIS2JhWli_A

And on an adaptation tip, I'm very excited by The Invisibles show - the comic still stands up, although much of it is dated, and not just the pop culture references; conspiracy culture shifting so far rightwards and becoming so obviously dangerous takes some of the fun out of it. Will be interesting to see how it changes. Morrison has said that the protagonist will

Spoiler alert

be Robin

[close]

, not Jack, and that

Spoiler alert

she'll have to raise her younger self due to time-travelling antics

[close]

, which is an amazing pitch but obviously very different to the comics.

[Famous Mortimer]

Get a few collections of Krazy Kat and marvel at the sort of thing that was printed, full page, in newspapers back in the early 20th century.

[sevendaughters]

I though Jar of Fools had a good low-key independent film vibe to it, melancholic and real.

[chveik]

french/belgian:

David B., Epileptic
Fred, Philémon
Manu Larcenet, Blast
Moebius/Jodo, L'incal
Peeters/Schuiten, The Obscure Cities

i'd also recommend series like Blueberry (western) and Thorgal (viking/fantasy). i was raised on those instead of Marvel/DC.

indie US comics:

Peter Bagge, Buddy Bradley Stories from Hate
Alison Bechdel, Essential Dykes to Watch For (soap opera with a lot of heart)
Chester Brown, Ed the Happy Clown
Julie Doucet, Dirty Plotte
Michael DeForge, anything you can get your hands on.
Roberta Gregory, Naughty Bits (mostly for the adventures of Bitchy Bitch, really hilarious stuff)

comics:

Don Rosa, The Life and Time of Scrooge McDuck obviously there's a nostalgia effect playing there but it's such beautifully crafted and detailed story.
Jeff Lemire, imho his best is Sweet Tooth but basically everything is worth a read, from the low-key family dramas (Essex County, Royal City) to sci-fi epics (Descender, Trillium) and the whole super-hero universe of Black Hammer.

not an expert on manga but i can recommend Goodnight Punpun.

[studpuppet]

In no particular order (and repeating lots of the above suggestions):

Jimmy Corrigan
Building Stories
Batman - Killing Joke
Dark Knight Returns
Batman - Arkham Asylum
Blankets
Habib
Lost Girls
From Hell
Watchmen
V For Vendetta
Alice In Sunderland
Tale Of One Bad Rat
Berlin (Jason Lutes)
Persepolis
Buddha (Osamu Tezuka)
Chew
Fun Home
Palestine
Safe Area Gorazde
Locke & Key
Maus
Pim & Francie
Richard Stark's Parker
Sandman
Superman - Red Son
Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
Manhattan Projects
Animosity
Y - The Last Man
Breaking Free

I'm sure I've missed some. +1 for Crazy Kat by the way. Can't remember where I read an essay on it once (Robert Anton Wilson?), but the strips are so ahead of their time.

By the way, if you're going to read Understanding Comics, it's worth looking at Bryan Talbot's videos on comic creation here: https://www.bryan-talbot.com/video/index.php

He gave a talk at my local library once and it was fascinating. I got a whole different appreciation of his work and comic art from it, plus at the end he took a couple of minutes to sign each book with an illustration and they're works of art in themselves.  If you ever get the chance, go and see him.

[Ferris]

I like Joe Sacco's stuff (Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza are particularly excellent). I've also just picked up Berlin by Jason Lutes and have high hopes. If anyone has any other decent historical graphic novel recommendations then please do.

Yeah I'm a big Joe Sacco fan and all, he's great.

In a similar vein, Guy DeLisle's Pyongyang is excellent.