Used Batman Killing Joke - what next?

[BenZona]

Hello everyone.

I'm pretty new to graphic novels. Last year I used Alan Moore's 'Killing Joke' as the basis for a school art/performance project. Now I need something similar to try again.

It needs to be like Killing Joke (self-contained, quite short, colourful, not too much dialogue/lots of atmosheric panels), and though I've now read most Alan Moore (and branched into Preacher, Animal Man, Planetary etc all of which I love) I find nothing matching these requirements..Neil Gaiman's too scratchy. What's being written right now? Killing Joke was kind of old......:confused


Anyone out there with some deeper knowledge of this? I'd be grateful for suggestions.


Lee Morgan

 

[Perpetual Man]

Hi Lee,

Welcome to Chronicles!

Well this is a comic question that has quite stumped me (and I like to think I can answer most). I think the trouble is that Killing Joke is a real stand out piece, not just because it is so good, but because it is so small. Most stories this size appear as individual issues of comic books and never make it into Graphic Novel format because they are too small - and consequently remembering the issue numbers is a pain in the butt.

The 'classics' that make Graphic Novel are all collections of ongoing stories which make them longer. If you can find it the Captain Britain graphic novel by Alan Moore and Alan Davis is worth a look, Batman Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and the recent Daredevil: Father by Joe Quesada might suit your requirements. These are some of the shorter ones I can think of...

Hope that helps a little, or that someone else can come up with a suggestion or two

 

[Scott T]

I haven't got the second volume, but the first Batman: Black and White has some stunning short stories. Thing is, they may be too short for your purposes Lee, I'm not sure. Either way you'll enjoy the 'research' I'm sure.