All time favourites

[Talysia]

Everyone has favourite books that they can go back to and reread over and over without getting bored, and for me it's no different with graphic novels and comics. There are some that I'll read once and leave on my shelf until the next time I thin out my collection, but there are those gems that will always remain. This thread is for those treasures. (Apologies if there's already been a thread like this - I did look back through all of the pages, but I may have missed something)

I have a couple of favourites, ones that will never leave my collection. First and foremost is Neil Gaiman/Yoshitaka Amano's The Dream Hunters, as a few of the Chronicles regulars will already know. A beautiful retelling of a Japanese fairy tale illustrated with gorgeous watercolour art, and it will always stay in my collection.

The second is the manga series Saiyuki. I only recently discovered this very alternate version (if you could call it that) of Journey to the West, but I'm already hooked. I was a big fan of the Journey to the West tale before, and this added a completely different direction to it for me.

So which are your all time favourite comics, graphic novels or manga? No doubt I'll have a few more to add quite soon.

 

[Harpo]

Groo The Wanderer. Sergio Aragonés Groo the Wanderer

I love re-reading this comic, exploring all the background details, searching for hidden messages. I wish I had the full collection.

 

[Durandal]

I'll give a couple of obvious answers here: Alan Moore's Watchmen, Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Frank Miller's older Sin City books are all things I can go back to over and over.

But my all-time favorite comic series was Grant Morrison's run on The Doom Patrol. So much clever stuff there -- The Painting That Ate Paris, the hidden city under the Pentagon, etc. Just great touches of surrealism unlike anything else I've seen in comics before or since.

 

[GOLLUM]

Another vote for Sandman and Watchmen plus Preacher series is awesome!!

Just about any graphic novel featuring Neil Gaiman is worth checking out..

 

[iansales]

Watchmen.
The Sacred and the Profane, Dean Motter & Ken Steacey.
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire, Bryan Talbot.

This year I started reading Alan Moore's Tom Strong books, and I've a feeling I'll be reading them again. I'm also a fan of Alejandro Jodorowsky's work - The Incal, Metabarons, Technopriests and Megalex.

 

[Nesacat]

Neil Gaiman's Dream Hunters first off. I keep finding myself drawing this out and reading it over and over again. Last Temptation also by Neil Gaiman is another and so is 1602.

 

[Connavar]

Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns,Sin City specially the first book with Marv,Wolverine mini from 82. His Dardevil run and specially the famous 181 issue seein from Bulleye's point of view.

Garth Ennis's Hellblazer run and his Hitman series.
The Punisher Max series, these stores: In the Beginning ,Kitchen Irish,Mother Russia Up Is Down, Black Is White and The Slavers. Specially The Slavers a very dark story about human trafficking always gets to me.

Mike Mignola - Hellboy

Lee/Ditko - Spiderman and McFarlane classic Spiderman stories with Venom,Symbiot etc

Jeph Loeb/Time Sale's Dark Victory and Long Halloween.

Ed Brubaker's and Michael Lark's/Sean Phillips Sleeper and Gotham Central.


Manga will take another post for it self. Since its my first and true love for serials.. I care much more about my mangas while i care only about my fav american comics. Heck i only started reading comics cause i had read most mangas in my comic store and had to wait for the new books

 

[Talysia]

Lol - I know what you mean about manga. I used to read American comics quite a lot, specifically the Marvel ones, but I read far more manga these days.

 

[mekon]

oh there are many, but two spring to mind

the first is 2001 Nights

a manga by Yukinobo Hoshino. published as a 10-comic mini-series by Viz in the US, but now readily available as 3 graphic novels.

incredible sci-fi. essentially, 19 stories - starting at the end of the cold war, and dealing with makind's steps into space travel and colonisation.

The penultimate story, about a crew trapped on a planet orbiting Betelgeuse, is just incredible


the other one would have to be Planetary

written by Warren Ellis, published by DC/Wildstorm. vaguely set in the Wildstorm universe, but you don't really need much prior knowledge. hard to describe - a pulp/superhero/genre mashup. tales of mystery and wonder..

 

[aquamarine]

Harry Potter

 

[Connavar]

oh there are many, but two spring to mind

the first is 2001 Nights

a manga by Yukinobo Hoshino. published as a 10-comic mini-series by Viz in the US, but now readily available as 3 graphic novels.

incredible sci-fi. essentially, 19 stories - starting at the end of the cold war, and dealing with makind's steps into space travel and colonisation.

The penultimate story, about a crew trapped on a planet orbiting Betelgeuse, is just incredible


the other one would have to be Planetary

written by Warren Ellis, published by DC/Wildstorm. vaguely set in the Wildstorm universe, but you don't really need much prior knowledge. hard to describe - a pulp/superhero/genre mashup. tales of mystery and wonder..

2001 Nights sounds interesting.

I dig Warren Ellis too, im a shamed i havent read Planetary yet.

I dig his Transmetropolitan,Authority,Hellblazer,Fell,Nextwave.

 

[DeepThought]

The Sandman, Neil Gaiman and if I have to pick one out of the ten volumes (no easy task, I assure you!) it would be The Kindly Ones.

Watchmen, Allan Moore

Cheer's, DeepThought

 

[Ragnar]

Anything by Alan Moore - From Hell being my particular favourite.

 

[Simian]

Song of the Surfer, a stand alone 2000A.D. story written by John (Judge Dredd) Wagner, and fantastically drawn by Colin MacNeil.

America. Another stand alone Wagner / MacNeil collaberation, totally unlike anything else I ever read in 2000A.D. Political satire in the finest tradition of the comic, but an achingly sad story at the same time.

A.B.C. Warriors: The Black Hole. Okay, there is a bit of a pattern emerging here, but whereas the previous two picks were predominantly about the strength of their respective stories, a huge part of the reason I love this one so much is because of Simon Bisley's fantastic artwork. That said, The A.B.C. Warriors are pretty much awesome in every regard.

Watchmen. For someone who doesn't know a massive amount about comics (i.e. me) Watchmen is perfect. It's self contained, literate and universal in its themes.