Graphic Novels > 5 GBP to 9 GBP Graphic Novels

Advantages: Never ever has there been a Batman this violent
Disadvantages: It will take ages to read this all the way through.

The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel is really the Holy Grail of comic books as this stirred up the Batman legacy in such a sufficient manner that it changed to an extent it is what it is today. At the time of its release in February 1986 the sales of the Batman comic started to dwindle, the movies were not even released and the only time Batman was seen was if cartoons and shows were re-run on TV which was damaging the sales potential of the Batman ...
...whole as this was really the first time that a graphic novel had departed from the normal passage of a character and gone off on a completely new tangent, telling a story that for the mid-eighties had an awful amount of violence and involved 13 year old characters who would accompany Batman as his sidekick Robin. The story revolves around a totally different world than what we are used to, gone is the clean cities and bright colours to be replaced ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful story & characters/ beautifully drawn / dramatic & funny
Disadvantages: None!

'Persepolis: The story of a childhood', is one of the best animated books I have ever read. It is a beautiful memoir about a young girl's experiences of growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. The illustrations are all in black and white and are beautifully drawn. The story is heartbreaking, yet incredibly funny at the same time. And what makes it so special is that it's all based on truth, history and the experiences of one girl and her ...
...Persepolis and felt it was true to their own experiences of living in Iran and then having to flee the revolution and come to the UK. I can not recommend this book enough. Pure brilliance! And once you've finished reading it, you can get the sequel 'Persepolis 2: The story of a return'. I didn't want the story to end! An animated film has already been made and released in the US, and it should come out in the UK shortly. I can't wait to see it! ... Read review

Advantages: Draws old plot threads to a close.
Disadvantages: Tedious length, pointless distractions and bad jokes.

...notion that Gaiman had left the stretched plotting of his earlier 'Season of Mists' era behind him, 'Brief Lives' instead acts as a rough sequel to some of its events, and puts any and all remaining questions about the Endless to a conclusive rest, with the sole exception of the rather glaring omission: "what exactly are they, then?" There was some valid criticism that my last Sandman review dumped readers in at the deep end without much explanation ...
...overview. Introduced gradually over the course of the comic series, which had by now been in print for three mostly enjoyable years, the seven Endless are not gods, that much is made clear, but are rather seemingly immortal and powerful beings whose function is to oversee seven vital aspects of the universe. The titular Sandman is Dream, though he is rarely referred to as the Sandman, and is known by a multitude of names by different cultures, as ... Read review

Advantages: A great dystopian avenger story.
Disadvantages: Not for those who despise dystopic avenger stories.

Lately, a movie called "V For Vendetta"° hit the cinemas of Europe. It is based on a comic series written by Alan Moore and drawn by David Lloyd, published from 1982 onwards and later republished as a graphic novel. The recent film version has not been endorsed by Alan Moore, which is probably due to his past experience with adaptations of his work and maybe also to some plot changes. David Lloyd however praised the movie for preserving the style ...
...While I liked watching the movie, I have to say that it isn't entirely true to the book: To some extent, the tone and the ending have been modified - not in an altogether perverting manner, but nevertheless significantly. The characters' depth of both the protagonist and his main antagonist have been somewhat flattened, and also the story has been re-made to dull down the work's keen ethic ambivalence. For "V For Vendetta" is the story of an anonymous ... Read review

Advantages: lots of interesting tales
Disadvantages: slightly depressing

...Neil Gaiman, or his creation The Sandman, here are some things you need to know. Neil Gaiman is an author who works not only in novel and short story form, but also in the graphic novel genre. He's one of the key players in transforming this into a 'serious' genre rather than just comic book. 'Sandman' was a comic series that was re-released as graphic novels. While it helps in terms of understanding characters and plots to read these in order, they ...
...in the series, and to be honest, it isn't a good place to start - the book is full of allusions, and you'll only really understand what's going on if you can get the many refernces. At points in time, across many worlds, where there is crisis, there exists a pub. Two travellers from our world, Brant and Charelene, are driving long distance when they get caught up in a dreadful storm and find themselves at the inn. It's clar as soon as they step through ... Read review