I'm limiting myself to buying ONE graphic novel this month as I can get carried away and try to buy everything in one day. Not good. So it's between Crisis on Infinite Earths and The WatchMen. But I can't decide since they're both classics. Aaron? Ian? Heeellppp!...
[This message was edited Fri Nov 7 5:27:49 PST 2003 by NovaAngel]

NovaAngel said:

"The WatchMen"? Sounds like something Larry Graham would write!

MartyMcFly said:

Larry wouldn't last a day. But I think he'd fit right in with the crazies in the book.
[This message was edited Fri Nov 7 5:33:55 PST 2003 by NovaAngel]

Good idea, this thread. Just what I needed.

In Holland we are just getting the hang of graphic novels US style, but here is one European style.

It's a series called Thorgal.

gooeythehamster said:

That looks cool. Great artwork. I hope it comes to the US eventually.

gooeythehamster said:

Wait a minute, wait a minute... graphic novels? We ARE talking porn here right? So where do the children come into this?

NovaAngel said:

Just do a picture search on Google. With just the word Thorgal.
You'll get some cool pics.

Thorgal is a man from outer space, grew up with vikings, but is singled out by the gods often because he falls outside their worldly plans.

They have about 20 to 25 albums. The search for peace in this series is great, as is the sense of adventure.

I like me some fantasy.

MartyMcFly said:

Are you now singling me out and crap up EVERY thread I post on?

It is too bad i am out of orgnotes, as I do not want to make a huge drama out of this, but it seems our humour is on a different level. I try to get out of your way, you keep out of mine? Please?

Sorry Nova. Normally I am not a drama queen.

gooeythehamster said:

I wasn't kidding Gooey... The term "graphic novel" DOES refer to porn don't it? I honestly wasn't trying to piss you off!

MartyMcFly said:

No, graphic novel is a term used for somewhat evolved comics, or rather comics with an actual storyline besides BIG SUPERHEROE SAVES EARTH YET AGAIN. "Strips" we would call them.

Anyways. Not EVERYTHING here relates to porn.

errr, back to NovaAngel's topic: it really depends on what you're in the mood for. "Crisis" is great if you're in the mood for classic, silver-age DC heroes (and the art by the incredible George Perez doesn't hurt), in a huge, continuity-altering tale.

If you're in the mood for a more bizzare, dark storyline, then "Watchmen" is definitely the book for you. Alan Moore's classic is a story that focuses on what the world would have been like had super-heroes really existed in post WWII.

U simply HAVE 2 read 'Halo Jones', it's an amazing, amazing piece of work! Not only that, but it's written by Alan Moore who also wrote 'Watchmen' - so that makes me doubly sure u will dig it!

In a nutshell, it's about how an 18 year old girl called Halo grows in2 a woman wise beyond her years through events out of her control most of the time.

We follow her years growing up in a suburban future city (with episodes centred on the drama of a shopping trip), through her year on an intergalactic pleasure cruiser to her battling in the strange conditions of part of an horrific intergalactic war.

Moore's fine storytelling skills take us completely into Halo's world, creating engagingly real people and situations and providing real emotional wallop as we follow the characters to their eventual fates.

I think it's deleted now, but Im sure u can find a copy in a 2nd hand book store or on e-bay.

I dig mine out every couple of years and re-read the damned thing, it's that good!



Some background info 4 ya if ya wanna track it down:
In New York of the year 4949, the local unemployed live in a gigantic, nearly prison-like sanctuary called the Hoop. these jobless people live on state-provided credit cards and watch brainless holo-soaps in the small world of their own, because the chances of getting work are practically nonexistent.

But Halo Jones is through with this. she's through with so much, and she's getting away from this stinking rock. She's going out, and she's going further than anyone before her...

At the age of eighteen, she leaves earth and meets various wonderful - and not so wonderful - people.

As a story, The Ballad of Halo Jones is very credible, even with its strange planets and curious characters the heroine meets. But, most importantly, Halo Jones isn't anyone special - she doesn't have super powers, or even a striking personality: "Anybody could have done it."

...and what is it exactly that Halo does? She tries to find her place in a world in turmoil, leaving behind a melancholic, beautiful story.

The creation of Halo Jones
When Alan Moore created Halo Jones for 2000AD, the comic magazine had the biggest female audience than any other "boy comic" in the UK. Thus Mr Moore set out to design a female character.

"I didn't want to write about a pretty scatterbrain who fainted a lot and had trouble keeping her clothes on. I similarily had no inclination to unleash yet another Tough Bitch With A Disintegrator And An Extra 'Y' Chromosome upon the world." (Alan Moore, 1986)

Moore wanted someone normal, and thus Halo Jones was born. The story was situated in far-future because, after all, this was a boys' science fiction magazine.

Script: Alan Moore
Alan Moore is one of the most respected and admired writers in comics today. Among his many projects, Moore is perhaps best known for the Watchmen series, as well as Miracleman, Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta and Batman: The Killing Joke.

Before his US fame and fortune, his UK output was similarily prolific. for 2000 AD he wrote D.R. & Quinch, The Ballad of Halo Jones and Skiz (titan books, 2001)

Artist: Ian Gibson
Ian Gibson has been one of 2000 AD's mainstays almost from the very beginning. His work on Robo-Hunter, Judge Dredd and, most memorably, The Ballad of Halo Jones has garnered huge acclaim. Via Dark Horse's Star Wars comics, Gibson has also made a few forays into the US, drawing the likes of Droids and Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire. (Titan Books, 2001)

Publications:
Halo Jones was originally published in 2000 AD progs:
#376-385 [book one],
#406-415 [book two],
#451-466 [book three].

Later published in three individual volumes as 'The Ballad of Halo Jones: Books 1-3 (Aug-Oct 1986).

First collected in one volume as The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones (September 1991). ISBN 1-84023-342-7









Ian Gibson's very own webpage:
www.igibson.demon.co.uk/Halo.htm

Story Review:
www.ninthart.com/display....rticle=337

"Justine" by M de Sade. Lovely book.

NovaAngel said:

I've read some of the Crisis and it was good but nothing like as BIG as The Watchmen.

Oh, please don't let them film Watchmen, V For Vendetta or Sandman. It keeps getting threatened but it shouldn't happen! Mind you, I used to think that about Lord Of The RIngs

daned said:

Im sure I heard that Del Torro was touting something about Watchmen - as he loves it. He's also filming another graphic novel character at the mo who's name escapes me...

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to go with Crisis at the moment. But WatchMen ain't too far behind (Christmas gift hopefully ) To me Crisis started it all in terms of the modern age of DC heroes. Plus it's got the death of the greatest Flash ever, Barry Allen.

preacher
sandman
hellblazer
watchmen
mr,punch

Start reading the Preacher trade paperbacks...

JUST DO IT!!!

Crisis, yay!