The Ultimate Comic Bookshelf

ActorSeeksJob

only majorly got into graphic novels over the past few months,and this topic has helped a good bit,so heres my list

Watchmen
100 Bullets
Sandman
V for Vendetta
Sin City
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Preacher
Maus
Ronin
300
Transmetropolitan

may have missed 1 or 2,but thats my list so far,and i love em all

the Shades

On the shelf:

100 Bullets
The Sandman
The Dark Knight Returns
Watchmen
Transmetropolitan
The Beano
Incal
Jimmy Corrigan
Squee!
Bone
Peanuts
The Invisibles
Maus
The Spirit
The Footsoldiers

qwertplaywert

new suggestion: new x-men: here comes tomorrow[Grant Morrision]

ActorSeeksJob

trying to get batman : the killing joke
will ooze sex appeal once its on my shelf

the Shades

Give me reasons why and I'll consider them for the shelf

MikeHoncho

ActorSeeksJob wrote:

trying to get batman : the killing joke
will ooze sex appeal once its on my shelf

Been trying to track down a copy of this myself. I even had one ordered off Amazon but after a few weeks I just got an email saying it was out of stock. I think it is being re - released in the next few months.

ActorSeeksJob

well i tried a shop in town and they said its not in print anymore. think the only copies on amazon are used ones that you get off people.
will probably order it off ebay myself

Moogle

MikeHoncho wrote:

Been trying to track down a copy of this myself. I even had one ordered off Amazon but after a few weeks I just got an email saying it was out of stock. I think it is being re - released in the next few months.

You could try DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore which inludes The Killing Joke as well as bunch of others including the first appearance of Mogo and Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow.

I bought in Sub City Comics, there might be more copies there.

Saruwatari

I'm still only relatively new to comics, but I think Hellboy : Conqueror Worm should be on the shelf. Actually, most of Mike's works...

galactus

Anything & Everything by Jack Kirby, the greatest artist of the 20th century!
Savage Sword of Conan - John Buscema and Roy Thomas
All of the Chronicles of Conan TPB esp. "Song of Red Sonja". OK, i like Conan!
Walter Simonson's Thor run
Avengers Kree-Skrull War
2000AD (first 200 or so progs)
Watchmen
She-Hulk / Fantastic Four by John Byrne
Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men run
Stan Lee & Steve Ditko's Amazing Spiderman

Oh and Action Comics #1

the Shades

Watchmen is already on the shelf. Anything else you want on needs a more development argument as to why. Kirby did tons of work, what is his very best? Is all of 2000AD great or is there dross that could be left behind? This is kinf of like a comics hall of fame, the very best that the medium has ever produced.

galactus

the Shades wrote:

Watchmen is already on the shelf. Anything else you want on needs a more development argument as to why. Kirby did tons of work, what is his very best? Is all of 2000AD great or is there dross that could be left behind? This is kinf of like a comics hall of fame, the very best that the medium has ever produced.

A fair point. I realise many of my choices might not be for everyone but don't just take my word for it:

Conan the Barbarian #24 - The Song of Red Sonja
I read this in 1978 for the first of many times. It hadn't occured to me before that comics could be as good as any work of art or literature. Mezmerising.

"What can be said about possibly the greatest single comic book ever produced? The Holy Grail, the ne plus ultra, the standard by which all comics to follow would be measured by?" More...

Walt Simonson's Thor: a master at work as writer and artist retelling the Norse Sagas. Art, dialog, plot - even lettering was of the highest quality.
More... Yet More...

As for 2000AD, the early progs featuring Judge Dredd is a must due to its subversive nature (esp. Cursed Earth "Everythings disposable at McDonalds, including the employees!"). Also its lasting appeal: it would be strange if Englishman Ridley Scott was not influenced by Mega City 1 when creating Blade Runner. An icon.

Avengers: Kree-Skrull war. If you've read it you'll know what I mean. A masterpiece. More...

Watchmen. I know its already on the shelf but did you know its on Time's Top 100 novels of all-time.

Jack Kirby. Yeah, everything he ever did!

Jack B. Badd

galactus wrote:

Watchmen. I know its already on the shelf but did you know its on Time's Top 100 novels of all-time.

I'm sure the edition I have says that on the front cover

qwertplaywert

aye.its all over the comics world by now

chopperbyrne

The Earth X trilogy because they're so awesome.

bombidol

Earth X is decent, paradise and universe are awful!

the Shades

BIG update! Here's the new list:

100 Bullets
The Sandman
The Dark Knight Returns
Watchmen
Transmetropolitan
The Beano
Incal
Jimmy Corrigan
Squee!
Bone
Peanuts
Calvin and Hobbes
Krazy Kat
Little Nemo in Slumberland
Maus
The Spirit
Jack Kirby's Fourth World, New Gods and Fantastic Four
Osama Tsezuka's Phoenix
The Invisibles
Arkham Asylum
The Footsoldiers
Y The Last Man
Dead Meat
Love and Rockets
Flight
Nextwave
Top Ten
Preacher
Hellblazer

the Shades

I've been thinking the Ultimate Bookshelf shoudl really have a story or two that shows off the ultimate superhero characters. The characters' whose books have influenced their own genre and pretty much set the bar for their own kind. So ladies and gentlemen your nominations please for stand out stories starring the following:

Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
The X-men

I know Batman already has The Dark Knight Returns, but as an Elseworlds that's out of continuity (as is Red Son for Superman sorry). So hit me with that in-continuity gold

bombidol

Death of Superman obviously. most other regular supes stuff is terrible.

spooydermot

the Shades wrote:

Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
The X-men

I know Batman already has The Dark Knight Returns, but as an Elseworlds that's out of continuity (as is Red Son for Superman sorry). So hit me with that in-continuity gold

Superman - Birthright / Superman for all seasons (do these count as 'out of continuity' - seeing as theres a re-imagining vibe to them?)

X-Men - Grant Morrison's run - all ten tpbs of it (some better than others but put them all together and its a slice of fried gold!)

the Shades

100 Bullets
The Sandman
The Dark Knight Returns
Watchmen
Transmetropolitan
The Beano
Incal
Jimmy Corrigan
Squee!
Bone
Asterix
Tintin
Peanuts
Calvin and Hobbes
Krazy Kat
Little Nemo in Slumberland
Maus
Will Eisner's The Spirit
Jack Kirby's Fourth World, New Gods and Fantastic Four
Osama Tsezuka's Phoenix
The Invisibles
Arkham Asylum
The Footsoldiers
Y The Last Man
Dead Meat
Love and Rockets
Flight
Nextwave
Top Ten
Preacher
Hellblazer

Draco

the Shades wrote:

So hit me with that in-continuity gold

For Batman I'd suggest The Long Halloween for pure detective goodness, some fantasic two page spreads and a lovely gothic feel.

the Shades

Draco wrote:

For Batman I'd suggest The Long Halloween for pure detective goodness, some fantasic two page spreads and a lovely gothic feel.

The only problem I have with The Long Halloween is that the ending was such a big disappointment. So much build up for a huge anti-climax. I've always felt Dark Victory was a more satisfying story but it never really had the same buzz Long Halloween had at the time.

qwertplaywert

ah comon long halloween is almost flawless....

the Shades

qwertplaywert wrote:

ah comon long halloween is almost flawless....

Almost flawless, the flaw being the last book and the GIANT anti-climax ending! If anyone else thinks it deserves to go on add your support.

Superman Birthright and A Man For All Seasons I am tempted to put on, both do a great job with his early years but almost contradict each other at the same time. Birthright was out of continuity then dragged back in so they do both count. Votes anyone?

Morrison's X-men? Personally I don't think he did anything that revolutionary as he seemed to just put his own twist on former storylines. I know a lot of X-men fans hate what he did, not because of the stories themselves but how they've been twisted or simply ignored since. Carey seems to be doing a good job of blending Morrison into the regular X-men style book, but again I'll leave this to votes.

Also on the X-men front, Days of Future Past anyone?

early.house

for me it would have to be...

Punisher (max) series
The Walking Dead
Marvel Zombies
Preacher
Sgt Rock -- Archive Editions
Light Brigade
V for Vendetta
30 Days of Night
The Ultimates
Aliens:: Tribes

qwertplaywert

forogt about max imprint punisher.....i 2nd that

the Shades

I'm going to nominate Wildcats 3.0 because as I said about other superhero books it really did something new in the genre. Adult corporate superheros changing the world through business. Intriguing and innovative stuff.

ztoical

can we have some Irish stuff represent on this shelf?

I'd like to make two nods for the Irish spot -

firstly the Mcdaddy of irish comics, Bob, and his Mbleh series - now I know you were looking for graphic novels for the shelf but i think there should be some sway. The first comic that gave me hope for irish comics, that they didn't have to clones of all the crap imports that were coming in. Its a good comic not just a good irish comic

And second nod to one of the four Irish graphic novels the cartoon saloon produce. Why? Well for a start they are in Irish and while there are prob people on here who don't think we should try and save our native language I for one think we should. And second for much the same reasons as Mbleh, the style of the comic was different and not just a clone of everything else around it.

You can of course wait for Bob's Mr Amperduke graphic novel to come out so as not to ruin the whole graphic novelness of the shelf and hold on till september for the cartoon saloons first anthology which is currently a whopping 200 pages!

ztoical

Its been over a year since this thread was updated and there's been some good work come out that needs to be added. So heres two I really enjoyed.

The Umbrella Academy collected trade: a limited series that was well liked by many on this forum and the cover for the collected trade is really great.

Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa. I'm prob biased as this has a real classical animation quality to the art work but i really enjoyed this book - there's just great energy and life to line work.