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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 26, 2019 13:50:30 GMT -5
I'd recommend Pride, a story told from the perspective of a pride of lions after the Iraq War (2003) kicks off and Baghdad Zoo is bombed. It isn't a predictable choice. It doesn't involve superheroes (there can be a stigma when you try and get folk interested in superheroes). It's an accessible story - and I'd wager many people like animals. So I'd explain the premise to a newbie and say, "It's a complete story, it's visual in nature because that's what graphic novels are about, and it tells a lovely and heartwarming tale from beginning to end." Pride is terrible, IMO. Much to politically motivated of a story.. I was terribly disappointed in it. I generally recommend Fables to newcomers to the genre... it gives them some familiarity of character, and it's a damn good story. It does have the disadvantage of being ongoing.. but the first volume or two are pretty nicely self contained. If you want to go more off the path... I can't recommend Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks enough... anyone who likes Avatar the Last Airbender or just Manga-style story telling in general will love it. Blacksad is high on the list as well if they're a person who won't scoff at humanized animals. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2019 14:22:56 GMT -5
Blacksad is okay, but I found the story to be very pedestrian and by the numbers.
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Post by String on Mar 26, 2019 18:21:57 GMT -5
Fables
It's intelligently well-written, gorgeously drawn, and features a cast of characters of whom most casual readers should have a passing knowledge.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 26, 2019 19:01:20 GMT -5
Blacksad is okay, but I found the story to be very pedestrian and by the numbers. yeah, the plot is pretty straight, but the setting, art and characters are all top notch! If you want to present someone comics as a visual medium, you can't do much better. |
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Post by profh0011 on Mar 26, 2019 21:57:22 GMT -5
I'd go with any one of Herge's "ADVENTURES OF TINTIN" books, but preferably one of the early ones, as some of the later ones have continuity and might be a bit confusing. (Better to read the sequels after you've read the stories they're sequels to.)
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Post by tarkintino on Mar 27, 2019 5:42:18 GMT -5
This came from the discussion about Watchmen in another thread: So... if you had someone who liked reading (important!), and who liked superhero/sci-fi/action media, and he asked you, "I thought I might try reading a graphic novel. You like those, don't you? Which one would you recommend to start with?" what would you say? As referred to in the "There, I Said it" thread, Marvels (1994) and Kingdom Come (1996). While one might see both as a tribute to fans who knew the long histories of the Big Two comic publishers (and that's true to a certain degree), a person could "walk into" either series and find themselves immediately immersed in superhero lore without feeling lost. It would be new to them, but they could "go along for the ride" that felt more like brining a reader into someone's dramatic biography committed to film instead of something sold as part of a sprawling, multi-title character cash-grab where a reader had no idea where to start or finish. In their TPB form, Marvels and Kingdom Come are rich, satisfying introductions to the superhero world, while at the same time being a good way to leave it off there (i.e. not reading another) it one chooses to do so. |
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Post by Confessor on Mar 27, 2019 6:23:53 GMT -5
I'd go with any one of Herge's " ADVENTURES OF TINTIN" books, but preferably one of the early ones, as some of the later ones have continuity and might be a bit confusing. (Better to read the sequels after you've read the stories they're sequels to.) I don't really agree with this. Even the later books basically function as stand alone stories. As a BIG Tintin fan myself, I began with The Secret of the Unicorn -- the eleventh book in the series -- and I had no problem understanding what was going on. The thing with the really early stories is that the first couple of Tintin adventures are really poorly written, and it's not until Tintin in America that Hergé actually produces a book that stands up to repeated readings IMO. His first real masterpiece isn't until the fifth book in the series, The Blue Lotus. In fact, the central cast of the books doesn't become complete until the introduction of Professor Calculus in Red Rackham's Treasure, which is the twelfth book in the series. So yeah, starting with an early adventure is fine, but not essential. And I wouldn't recommend starting too early on in the series either. Shameless plug: I'll be adding a review of Land of Black Gold to my Tintin review thread in the next few days. |
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Post by rberman on Mar 27, 2019 6:32:07 GMT -5
This came from the discussion about Watchmen in another thread: So... if you had someone who liked reading (important!), and who liked superhero/sci-fi/action media, and he asked you, "I thought I might try reading a graphic novel. You like those, don't you? Which one would you recommend to start with?" what would you say? As referred to in the "There, I Said it" thread, Marvels (1994) and Kingdom Come (1996). While one might see both as a tribute to fans who knew the long histories of the Big Two comic publishers (and that's true to a certain degree), a person could "walk into" either series and find themselves immediately immersed in superhero lore without feeling lost. It would be new to them, but they could "go along for the ride" that felt more like brining a reader into someone's dramatic biography committed to film instead of something sold as part of a sprawling, multi-title character cash-grab where a reader had no idea where to start or finish. In their TPB form, Marvels and Kingdom Come are rich, satisfying introductions to the superhero world, while at the same time being a good way to leave it off there (i.e. not reading another) it one chooses to do so. Interesting choice. The upside of those two works is that Busiek and Waid are clear writers, and Ross' painting provide dazzling eye candy that would challenge the newbie's presupposition that comic book art is primitive. The downside is that Ross's art is not representative and could create a false paradigm that good comic book art is photorealistic; those readers are going to be shut out from 99.99% of comic books on that standard alone. Also, a large part of the genius of Busiek's and Waid's stories is that both deftly wove narrative tapestries involving large numbers of characters. The reading experience of Marvels turns largely on the irony that when we see, say, a panel of the dad-looking guy in the blue jumpsuit waving a handheld device at the guy with the big purple helmet, the narrator doesn't know what's going on, but the reader is supposed to know that Reed Richads is threatening Galactus with the Ultimate Nullifier. Marvels is a totally different read for someone who's as uninformed as Phil Sheldon is. Busiek covers some of the knowledge gap with newscaster narration, but not all.  Kingdom Come's version of this is that it's filled to the gills with new characters that the reader is supposed to be able to identify based on their visual similarity to established characters both within and without DC comics. You can read the story without knowing who it's about, but the Easter Eggs are half of the point. Newbies might recognize The Village People in this panel (if properly briefed with the expectation of finding such things), but much of the pleasure comes from recognizing not only Bane but an inebriated adult Marvin from television's "Super Friends" cartoon.  So although newbies can parse the narratives of these works, I'm not sure they will see what the fuss is about, beyond the unprecedented photorealism. |
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Post by Confessor on Mar 27, 2019 7:47:45 GMT -5
The thing with Marvels and Kingdom Come -- and Watchmen too, for that matter -- is that they aren't meant as gateway, entry level comics for the layman at all. They all require the reader to have a good knowledge of either Marvel or DC comic book history and the tropes and devices that comic books regularly use.
I gotta say, great books though they are, all three of these graphic novels are lousy choices for someone's first comic book.
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Post by kirby101 on Mar 27, 2019 8:02:29 GMT -5
I agree that things like Marvels, Watchmen, KG and the like are more for people who read comics and are familiar with superheroes.And the history of such characters.
I would suggest one of the Graphic Novels by Will Eisner. They are beautifully written and drawn stories of ordinary people a non-comic reader can relate to.
Contract with God, Dropsie Avenue, etc...
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Post by MDG on Mar 27, 2019 8:40:58 GMT -5
The thing with Marvels and Kingdom Come -- and Watchmen too, for that matter -- is that they aren't meant as gateway, entry level comics for the layman at all. They all require the reader to have a good knowledge of either Marvel or DC comic book history and the tropes and devices that comic books regularly use. I gotta say, great books though they are, all three of these graphic novels are lousy choices for someone's first comic book. I agree with this--also, I think Ross's art can get in the way of the storytelling. It's too visually dense and readers either have to slow down and study panels or they'll gloss over the pictures and just read the text. Something like Eisner or Los Bros Hernandez would probably be a lot more appealing to a new reader. |
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Post by rberman on Mar 27, 2019 9:05:35 GMT -5
The thing with Marvels and Kingdom Come -- and Watchmen too, for that matter -- is that they aren't meant as gateway, entry level comics for the layman at all. They all require the reader to have a good knowledge of either Marvel or DC comic book history and the tropes and devices that comic books regularly use. I gotta say, great books though they are, all three of these graphic novels are lousy choices for someone's first comic book. I agree with this--also, I think Ross's art can get in the way of the storytelling. It's too visually dense and readers either have to slow down and study panels or they'll gloss over the pictures and just read the text. Something like Eisner or Los Bros Hernandez would probably be a lot more appealing to a new reader. It's a different kind of storytelling at least. It can be read on both the levels which you describe. You can just read the words and notice whose mouth they're coming out of, and zip on through. Or you can play "Where's Waldo?" and scrutinize every figure painstakingly arranged in the background. Top 10 is the same. So yeah, not intro level, but IMHO value-added. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 27, 2019 9:07:19 GMT -5
The thing with Marvels and Kingdom Come -- and Watchmen too, for that matter -- is that they aren't meant as gateway, entry level comics for the layman at all. They all require the reader to have a good knowledge of either Marvel or DC comic book history and the tropes and devices that comic books regularly use. I gotta say, great books though they are, all three of these graphic novels are lousy choices for someone's first comic book. I agree with this--also, I think Ross's art can get in the way of the storytelling. It's too visually dense and readers either have to slow down and study panels or they'll gloss over the pictures and just read the text. Something like Eisner or Los Bros Hernandez would probably be a lot more appealing to a new reader. You may well be right, but I'd balance that by saying that Ross's photo-realistic style might ultimately be more appealing to a layman whose only contact with comic book characters has been on the cinema and TV screen. They may be more comfortable with that style of art than a more dynamic and stylised comic book artist like, say, Jack Kirby or Marcos Martin. |
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Post by brutalis on Mar 27, 2019 9:23:55 GMT -5
I attempt to discover what things the person likes or is interested in and gear any Graphic Novel or comic books suggestions towards that. If they aren't into superheroes then it is unlikely any superhero stuff will be creative or interesting enough to have them pursue reading more. This can usually work with adults, but I find not so much with kids or teens.
A friend of mine with 3 boys who all grew up shoulders deep in the "comic/fantasy/science fiction" world thanks to him and me are examples. Each boy developed a taste for different things as they grew and would read whatever new comics we bought for them. As the grew up they became less and less interested in things outside of what they grew began to like most. The oldest is a Bat-Nerd supreme along with Star Wars/Trek and Disney for collecting but seldom reads comics anymore other than the occasional Batman or Nightwing. The middle boy is heavy into Boba Fett in Star Wars with little interest of anything else inside the SW universe of comics or books and is a full on Halo gamer and buyer of anything Halo related. The youngest boy is a Deadpool fan and will buy or read or watch anything with DP. We have tried with all 3 to getting them interested by buying them other kinds of graphic novels or comics or books or movies and they will usually not even glance at them let alone attempt to actually try and enjoy them. They only focus on exactly what they like and nothing else. Total blindness or desire for anything else.
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Mar 27, 2019 9:41:34 GMT -5
Maus
Great story, simple art, anyone can pick up and go. No back history required, no extensive knowledge of comic history required.
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