Non-Superhero Books

[Shepherd]

I've been reading a lot of good non-superhero stuff lately (Blankets, Mail Order Bride, Shenzhen, etc.), but I'm running out of good recommendations. I really like true stories (or at least real seeming stories), but any good non-superhero stuff would be good. Recommendations? (within reason. Please don't list your top 50 books because I can't possibly order that many. Just your favorite one or two would be fantastic, though).

R

[Gregory]

Sin City, Creature Tech, or Persepolis.

[Ziolko]

Skyscrapers of the Midwest - Josh Cotter recalls growing up in a rural midwest town, as told with cats and robots. It's a million times better than what I'm making it sound, it's actually one of the best books I've read in the last five years.

DMZ is really good, too.

[jason hissong]

Epileptic
Mother, Come Home
Any of Alec Campbell's Alec books: The King Canute Crowd, Three Piece Suit, How to be an Artist, After the Snooter, The Fate of the Artist

[jason hissong]

also-

jason lutes' jar of fools, and berlin.

[xyzzy]

La Perdida
Spaghetti Western

[/(. . )/]

My favorite gn is called Brooklyn Dreams. It's J.M. DeMatteis' autobiography with the names changed. Also has the best art I've ever seen.

[Adrian B AWESOME]

All of the Scandanavian Jason's books are fantastic.

David B. kicks ass (writer/artist)

Chris Ware's stuff is always entertaining.

For something off-beat, give Scott Pilgrim a chance. For something incredibly realistic, go for Jeffrey Brown (as far as storytelling, not art, even though it's so energectically raw)

[Adrian B AWESOME]

Oh, and Chester Brown's Lousi Riel may be the best biography I've read...ever.

[Marc Lombardi]

100 Bullets
Y the Last Man

[The Hodag]

Louis Riel seconded.

Also try the bio of Kafka that Crumb illustrated.

But mostly, try Concrete.

[greg donovan]

have you read the any of the Flight collections from Image?

they are awesome. they have a lot of non super hero stuff with a little fantasy, some sci fi, and some "slice of life" type stories.

[Sam Little]

Anything by Kyle Baker.

Why I Hate Saturn, You Are Here, and Cowboy Wally in particular.

These are all hilarious and beautifully drawn. They are also true, if you discount the fact that the stories are made up.

And Dave F is right about Concrete. Brilliant stuff.

[artimoff]

Anything by Gilbert Hernandez.


Persevering Guy is right, Brooklin Dreams ia an amazing book. Pick that up if you can find it.

Also there was a series DC put out in the late 90's, I for get what it was called but it had 4 specials. One each for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, & JLA. The WW one is about an actress who plays Wonderwoman in the 1950's & the JLA one is about 4 old friends who havn't seen each other in a decade & decide to meet at a costume party (or Hallowen) dressed as the JLA.

The JLA one is the better of the 2 I've read. It's writen by J.M. DeMatteis

[Ashwin Pande]

From Hell, American Splendor, 100 Bullets, Ex Machina, the Jonah Hex Showcase Edition, The House of Mystery Showcase Editions, 30 Days of Night, Concrete, Umbra, Wasteland, Wormwood : Gentleman Corpse and lots more I can't remember.

[MelanieRose]

The Devils Panties by Jennie Breeden.
I love her stuff.

[Andrew j]

Queen and Country

[Scotty]

Y the Last Man, Strangers in Paradise

[Garra]

criminal
the goon
conan
walking dead

[Humphrey_Lee]

But mostly, try Concrete.

I knew you'd beat me to that. There's also the American Born Chinese OGN from last year and LOCAL from Oni and DEMO from AIT/PLANET LAR.

[PhilipClark]

In My Lifetime.

and I second Brooklyn Dreams and third Strangers in Paradise.

[arthurloewenkamp]

1000 Steps to world domination.
Fables
Ex Machina

[jason hissong]

Really, I think another approach would be to check out publishers, one might find a connection, or a connection of a connection through that:

Oni
Top Shelf
Drawn & Quarterly
Fantagraphics
AiT/Planetlar
First Second Books


All just top of the line comics publishers.

[Andreas]

Most of the books listed here (http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=106863) are non-superhero books.

If you like realistic or true life stories, you might enjoy GET A LIFE by Charles Berberian & Philippe Dupuy (Drawn & Quarterly).

For 20 years, (http://quietbubble.typepad.com/quiet_bubble/comics/index.html) Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian have written and drawn-—it's impossible to tell where one's hand ends and the other begins-—their Monsieur Jean stories, chronicling the life of this moderately successful Parisian writer. These stories of city life are low-key, funny, and mature about love, friendship, and jobs. The Dupuy-Berberian style is a jazzy clear-line that conveys more in a few loops about a person’s personality and a neighborhood’s mood than a deep-focus photograph. This sexy breeziness in the art hides how dead-on the stories are about the travails of adulthood. The stories meander, but snap to attention just when you think they’re trailing into quiet, well-observed nothings. GET A LIFE collects several stories about our Jean-—and he comes to seem like "our" man pretty quickly—-and reproduces them in rich, subtle full-color. (They're superb colorists.) Two of the longer Monsieur Jean stories have appeared in Drawn & Quarterly's annual big anthology. For most, though, GET A LIFE represents the first time such a large body of Dupuy-Berberian's work has been available in English. Run, do not walk, to buy it.

http://www.comicsreporter.com/images/uploads/mjean.jpg

I'd also recommend Marjane Satrapi's PERSEPOLIS and Jessica Abel's LA PERDIDA.

The upcoming THE PROFESSOR'S DAUGHTER (http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/professorsDaughter.html) by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert (:01 First Second) looks very good, too.

Andreas

[Blake Sims]

Kramer's Ergot.

[TheKraken]

FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE! It's never on these lists and always should be... Mark Twain & Nikola Tesla must save the world from the evil scheme of some equally-familiar historical figures. Fun, funny, action-y historical fiction by the great Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders.

[Dan_Fleming]

I just picked up the two EXTERMINATORS trades and enjoyed them a whole lot.

[dEnny!]

Buddy Does Seattle by Peter Bagge
Buddy Does Jersey by Peter Bagge

Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco
It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth
Fair Weather by Joe Matt

[The-Last-Man]

Global Frequency & Southland Tales.

Both are great, i think GF is some of Warren Ellis' best work.

[Shepherd]

Thanks folks. I've read or am reading a bunch of this stuff, but there's also plenty I haven't. I'll try to check them out.

R

[jason hissong]

Thanks folks. I've read or am reading a bunch of this stuff, but there's also plenty I haven't. I'll try to check them out.

R

what have you read/reading?

[Shepherd]

Just ordered Brooklyn Dreams and Skyscrapers of the Midwest for this month. I'll try out a couple other ones next month.

R

[jason hissong]

Just ordered Brooklyn Dreams and Skyscrapers of the Midwest for this month. I'll try out a couple other ones next month.

R

sweet!

[Shepherd]

what have you read/reading?

From this thread:

Sin City
DMZ
100 Bullets
Y: The Last Man
Ex Machina
30 Days of Night
Wasteland (started but dropped)
Queen and Country (the first several arcs, but nothing recent)
Criminal
Walking Dead
Fables

Basically, the more mainstream of the stuff. I probably should have mentioned that I already read a lot of the DC/Marvel published non-superhero stuff. I also get into some Oni and Image stuff from time to time.

R

[Albert]

Optic Nerve for sure.

[Dusto]

Hicksville
Box Office Poison
Strangehaven
Finder

[emeraldsundae]

Sandman
Fables
Blue Monday

[Caley Tibbittz]

Sin CityI contend that Sin City is a superhero book. It's superhero crime fiction, but without tights.

[Shepherd]

My comic guy told me that Skyscrapers of the Midwest isn't collected. Anyone know when (or if) it will be?

R

[Michael John Wheeler]

Any of the Ignatz books (not Krazy and Ignatz--the Ignatz series) being put out by Fantagraphics. The WISH YOU WERE HERE series by Gipi is absolutely wonderful.

[Ashwin Pande]

I knew you'd beat me to that. There's also the American Born Chinese OGN from last year and LOCAL from Oni and DEMO from AIT/PLANET LAR.


I just picked up the two EXTERMINATORS trades and enjoyed them a whole lot.

Damn.. I forgot about those.

Also... DMZ!

And please keep buying Exterminators... that book needs to not get cancelled :(

Oh yeah.. one more came to mind... TORSO!!!

[~Hernandez~]

Just read that Marvel Max Zombie and really enjoyed it. Total Sell-out is a good choice, as well.

[Ziolko]

My comic guy told me that Skyscrapers of the Midwest isn't collected. Anyone know when (or if) it will be?

R

Not sure. It's published by Adhouse. The individual issues are five dollars each but are about double the size of the average comic book. I'd recommend getting the individual issues as Josh Cotter only releases an issue every 6 months or so. I believe his main source of income is teaching at a university, which is a shame because his comic work is brilliant.

You can sample his stuff at his website:

http://jwcotter.com/

[hellblazer72]

enigma(which has a little superhero in it) and face..both by peter milligan and duncan fegredo...enigma has been collected but you can also find all 8 issues for real cheap at mycomicshop.com...face is there too

[Adrian B AWESOME]

FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE! It's never on these lists and always should be... Mark Twain & Nikola Tesla must save the world from the evil scheme of some equally-familiar historical figures. Fun, funny, action-y historical fiction by the great Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders.

Love it. Throw The Anotated Mantooth and Last of the Independents on that list as well!

[Adrian B AWESOME]

Atlas is pretty great.

I love all of Damon Hurd's indepedent stuff, especially A Sort of Homecoming and The White Elephant.

[Shepherd]

Not sure. It's published by Adhouse. The individual issues are five dollars each but are about double the size of the average comic book. I'd recommend getting the individual issues as Josh Cotter only releases an issue every 6 months or so. I believe his main source of income is teaching at a university, which is a shame because his comic work is brilliant.

You can sample his stuff at his website:

http://jwcotter.com/

The comic guy said he can't find the singles.

R

[Ziolko]

The comic guy said he can't find the singles.

R

Give him these:

Skyscrapers of the Midwest Issue 1 Comic Book
Diamond Order Code: OCT042296

Skyscrapers of the Midwest Issue 2 Comic Book
Diamond Order Code: APR052517

Skyscrapers of the Midwest Issue 3 Comic Book
Diamond Order Code: APR062840

I found it on Adhouses' website.

[Blane]

12 Reasons Why I Love Her. I've lent it to 5 people so far and the all love it.

Or anything from Oni. I love Oni.