Graphic Novels > S Graphic Novels

Advantages: Unique story-telling; brilliant artwork; allegorical themes
Disadvantages: Minimalist and not to everyone's taste

"In the future we will send all the fat people to the moon and they will be as light as a feather" - the protagonist, Amazing Rain Sam Brown's unassuming talent has captivated me ever since I was first introduced to his work on homepage explodingdog.com. The reason for our introduction was slightly cringe-worthy - I had seen his delightful stick figures used in various emo avatars and icons - but I was pleasantly surprised to find that his art ...
...works like so: visitors email him a phrase, any phrase at all, and he draws his interpretation of these on a computer using a tablet. The results are sometimes bizarre, but always entertaining. A phrase may be anything from "i like hotdogs" to "these daisies are overcooked" and the resultant doodles tend to feature adorable stick figures sometimes accompanied by small birds, stars, monsters or angular dogs and robots. Amazing Rain is Mr Brown's ... Read review

Advantages: Thought provoking
Disadvantages: Very US centric, Could be misconstrued as patriotic or anti-US, Very complex and wordy

...JFK’s words and twisting history Uncle Sam is a bizarre and thought provoking trip through American history taking in some of the countries most notorious events and putting a new perspective on them. Steve Darnell’s Uncle Sam never quite lets you in on what is happening, the story involves a ragged old man dressed in red and white striped trousers and a battered waistcoat and long jacket. He could be any old tramp, couldn’t he?? ...
...a dumpster. Is it really Uncle Sam or a madman? We get a confusing insight as he has a flashback to an earlier incarnation, Sam and his wife, “this is not my beautiful wife?” and he is about to go off to war with the English redcoats. The story is convoluted and deliberately so, it’s the nature of history after all and to be honest it isn’t the story that makes this book important, it’s the idea behind it. Uncle Sam ... Read review

Advantages: Original and intelligent
Disadvantages: NONE

This graphic novel is wrote by Frank Miller but also includes his art along with inkist Klaus Janson and colourist Lynn Varley. The story take place 10 years after Bruce Wayne retires from his career as Batman. He has become an old man, not being an actual superhero years of physical torture have taken their tole on Bruce. Since his retirement Gotham City has gone down hill. Criminals rule the streets and are taking over. Ofcorse there is only so ...
...morals command him to take up the mask and belt again for one more fight! This time he becomes more of a vigilanty as he sees no way to save gotham without being ruthless. He teams up with a new Robin a girl this time) and the proceed to try and save Gotham. Unfortunately not everyone agrees with his methods and a certain someone (*SPOILER - Superman *SPOILER) comes in to stop Batman. The fight all comic book fans have been waiting for is upon us! ... Read review

Advantages: Pictures, appeals to kids
Disadvantages: it is underated

The Hobbit is a timeless classic that been fantastically been brought to life in this comic like version of the hobbit. Tolkiens vivid image and ideas about middle earth have been adapted into amazing pictures accompanied by the text. This is a great story with dwarves, wizards, hobbits, dragons, elves and many more fantastic creatures. This has got to be one of the top ten books to read and it appeals to children as well becasue insted of all writing ... Read review

Advantages: Impressive debut with some fantastic art.
Disadvantages: A bit of a copy-cat, falling for some of the Sandman's pitfalls.

...issue mini-series 'The Sandman Presents Lucifer: The Morningstar Option' from 1999 and the first four issues of the regular comic which began a year later, forming another three-part serial and a final, separate short story. It's clear even from this first collection that the recognisable Sandman style is being followed diligently, allocating a finite number of issues to a particular story before moving on to the next and filling the spaces with ...
...the titular protagonist, Lucifer (or whatever name your culture bestows him) is much more prominent in these plots than Gaiman's Sandman was in the long run, though like Dream his role is pushed to the background in the short stories, presuming this book is going to be reflective of the series as a whole. In a further, clearly intentional homage to Sandman, the series would conclude after seventy-five issues in 2006, but now we're getting ahead of ... Read review