Here are our potential selections for upcoming graphic novel book clubs! Feel free to recommend any additional selections.
Hawkeye vol. 1 by Matt Fraction
The breakout star of this summer's blockbuster Avengers film, Clint Barton - aka
the self-made hero Hawkeye - fights for justice! With ex-Young Avenger Kate
Bishop by his side, he's out to prove himself as one of Earth's Mightiest
Heroes! SHIELD recruits Clint to intercept a packet of incriminating evidence -
before he becomes the most wanted man in the world. You won't believe what is on
The Tape! What is the Vagabond Code? Matt Fraction pens a Hawkeye thriller that
spans the globe...and the darkest parts of Hawkeye's mind. Barton and Bishop
mean double the Hawkeye and double the trouble...and stealing from the rich
never looked so good.
Sweet Tooth series by Jeff Lemire
New School by Dash Shaw
In this brand new graphic novel from the acclaimed author of Bottomless
Belly Button and BodyWorld, Dash Shaw dramatizes the story of a
boy moving to an exotic country and his infatuation with an unfamiliar culture
that quickly shifts to disillusionment. A sense of “being different” grows to
alienation, until he angrily blames this once-enchanting land for his feelings
of isolation. All of this is told through the fantastical eyes of young Danny, a
boy growing up in the ’90s fed on dramatic adventure stories like Jurassic
Park and X-Men. Danny’s older brother, Luke, travels to a remote
island to teach English to the employees of ClockWorld, an ambitious new
amusement park that recreates historical events. When Luke doesn’t return after
two years, Danny travels to ClockWorld to convince Luke to return to America.
But Luke has made a new life, new family, and even a new personality for himself
on ClockWorld, rendering him almost unrecognizable to his own brother. Danny
comes of age as he explores the island, ClockWorld, and fights to bring his
brother home. New School is unlike anything in the history of the
comics medium: at once funny and deadly serious, easily readable while wildly
artistic, personal and political, familiar and completely new.
The Unwritten series by Mike Carey
Tom Taylor's life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor
fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The
problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom's real life that
fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the
lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it's even implied that
the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans
more excuses to harass Tom. When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map -- one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction
Ed the Happy Clown by Chester Brown
In the late 1980s, the idiosyncratic Chester Brown (author of the
muchlauded Paying for It and Louis Riel) began writing the cult
classic comic book series Yummy Fur. Within its pages, he serialized the
groundbreaking Ed the Happy Clown, revealing a macabre universe of
parallel dimensions. Thanks to its wholly original yet disturbing story lines,
Ed set the stage for Brown to become a world-renowned cartoonist.
Ed the Happy Clown is a hallucinatory tale that functions simultaneously as a dark roller-coaster ride of criminal activity and a scathing condemnation of religious and political charlatanism. As the world around him devolves into madness, the eponymous Ed escapes variously from a jealous boyfriend, sewer monsters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a janitor with a Jesus complex. Brown leaves us wondering, with every twist of the plot, just how Ed will get out of this scrape.
The intimate, tangled world of Ed the Happy Clown is definitively presented here, repackaged with a new foreword by the author and an extensive notes section, and is, like every Brown book, astonishingly perceptive about the zeitgeist of its time.
Punk Rock Jesus by Sean Murphy
A reality TV show starring a clone of Jesus Christ causes chaos across the U.S.
of the near future in PUNK ROCK JESUS, a new graphic novel written and drawn by
Sean Murphy, the acclaimed illustrator of JOE THE BARBARIAN and
AMERICAN VAMPIRE.
J2 causes both outrage and adulation. Religious zealots either love or hate the show, angry politicians worry about its influence on the nation, and members of the scientific community fear the implications of cloning a human being at all, let alone the Son of God.
Thomas McKael is the clones's bodyguard and former IRA operative, who despite his turbulent past is hired to protect the new Jesus—a baby who captivates the world, but grows up to become an angry teenager.
When falling ratings force the network to cut Jesus's mother from the series the young star runs away, renounces his religious heritage and forms a punk rock band. And what starts off as babysitting for Thomas becomes an epic battle, as Jesus goes to war against the corporate media complex that created him.
Ed the Happy Clown is a hallucinatory tale that functions simultaneously as a dark roller-coaster ride of criminal activity and a scathing condemnation of religious and political charlatanism. As the world around him devolves into madness, the eponymous Ed escapes variously from a jealous boyfriend, sewer monsters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a janitor with a Jesus complex. Brown leaves us wondering, with every twist of the plot, just how Ed will get out of this scrape.
The intimate, tangled world of Ed the Happy Clown is definitively presented here, repackaged with a new foreword by the author and an extensive notes section, and is, like every Brown book, astonishingly perceptive about the zeitgeist of its time.
Punk Rock Jesus by Sean Murphy
A reality TV show starring a clone of Jesus Christ causes chaos across the U.S.
of the near future in PUNK ROCK JESUS, a new graphic novel written and drawn by
Sean Murphy, the acclaimed illustrator of JOE THE BARBARIAN and
AMERICAN VAMPIRE.J2 causes both outrage and adulation. Religious zealots either love or hate the show, angry politicians worry about its influence on the nation, and members of the scientific community fear the implications of cloning a human being at all, let alone the Son of God.
Thomas McKael is the clones's bodyguard and former IRA operative, who despite his turbulent past is hired to protect the new Jesus—a baby who captivates the world, but grows up to become an angry teenager.
When falling ratings force the network to cut Jesus's mother from the series the young star runs away, renounces his religious heritage and forms a punk rock band. And what starts off as babysitting for Thomas becomes an epic battle, as Jesus goes to war against the corporate media complex that created him.
John Constantine, Hellblazer vol. 1: Original Sins by Jamie
Delano
The very first Hellblazer collection ORIGINAL SINS is available in a new edition that includes John
Constantine’s appearances in SWAMP THING. This is the first of a series of new HELLBLAZER editions starring Vertigo’s longest running antihero, John Constantine, England’s chain-smoking, low-rent magus.
This first collection is a loosely connected series of tales of John’s early years where Constantine was at his best and at his worst, all at the same time.
The very first Hellblazer collection ORIGINAL SINS is available in a new edition that includes John
Constantine’s appearances in SWAMP THING. This is the first of a series of new HELLBLAZER editions starring Vertigo’s longest running antihero, John Constantine, England’s chain-smoking, low-rent magus.
This first collection is a loosely connected series of tales of John’s early years where Constantine was at his best and at his worst, all at the same time.
The Manhattan Projects vol. 1 by Jonathan Hickman
What if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs?
Collecting the coolest new series of the year into one super science package.
What if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs?Collecting the coolest new series of the year into one super science package.
Heads or Tails by Lilli Carre
The creator of 2008’s acclaimed graphic novel The Lagoon — named to
many annual critics’ lists including Publishers Weekly and USA
Today’s Pop Candy — is back with a stunningly designed and packaged
collection of some of the most poetic and confident short fiction being produced
in comics today. Carré’s elegant short stories read like the gothic, family
narratives of Flannery O’Connor or Carson McCullers, but told visually. Poetic
rhythms — a coin flip, a circling ferris wheel — are punctuated by elements of
melancholy fantasy pushed forward by character-driven, naturalistic dialogue.
The stories in Heads Or Tails display a virtuosic breadth of visual
styles and color palettes, each in perfect service of the story, and range from
experimental one-pagers to short masterpieces like “The Thing About Madeline”
(featured in The Best American Comics 2008), to graphic novellas like
“The Carnival” (featured in David Sedaris’ and Dave Eggers’ 2010 Best
American Nonrequired Reading, originally published in MOME). Yes
Our first new storyline is THE PRIVATE EYE, a forward-looking mystery we created with colorist Muntsa Vicente. Set in a future where privacy is considered a sacred right and everyone has a secret identity, The Private Eye is a serialized sci-fi detective story for mature readers.
NOTE: This graphic novel is digital only, if we select this, all book clubbers need consistent internet access, a tablet, or another form of computer to be able to read the comic.
The Industrial Revolution has become all-out war! Mad Scientists, gifted
with the Spark of genius, unleash insane inventions on an unprepared Europe. For
centuries, the Heterodyne family of inventors kept the peace, but the last
Heterodyne disappeared twenty years ago, leaving their ally Baron Klaus
Wulfenbach to maintain order with his fleet of airships and army of unstoppable,
if not very bright, Jaeger Monsters.
At Transylvania Polygnostic University, Agatha Clay dreams of being a
scientist herself, but her trouble concentrating dooms her to be a lowly minion
at best. When her locket, a family heirloom, is stolen, Agatha shows signs of
having the Spark in a spectacular, destructive fashion and captures the
attention of the Baron—and the Baron’s handsome young son, Gilgamesh.
Swept up to the Baron's Airship City, Agatha finds herself in the midst of
the greatest minds of her generation, as well as palace intrigue, dashing
heroes, and an imperial cat. Agatha may be the most brilliant mind of her
generation and the key to control of the continent, but first, she just has to
survive.
One Soul by Ray Fawkes
Eighteen individuals throughout history whose entire lives unfold
simultaneously. Comprised entirely of double page spreads split into eighteen
panels with each panel featuring one character's life, cartoonist Ray Fawkes has
artfully crafted eighteen linear stories into one non-linear masterpiece.
Nominated for the 2012 Eisner Award in the "Graphic Album: New" category.
Stumptown vol. 1 by Greg Rucka
Dex is the proprietor of Stumptown Investigations, and a fairly talented
P.I. Unfortunately, she's less adept at throwing dice than solving cases. Her
recent streak has left her beyond broke - she's into the Confederated Tribes of
the Wind Coast for 18 large. But maybe Dex's luck is about to change. Sue-Lynne,
head of the Wind Coast's casino operation, will clear Dex' debt if she can
locate Sue-Lynne's missing granddaughter. But is this job Dex's way out of the
hole or a shove down one much much deeper?
Hey!
ReplyDeleteMany of these look grand! I was looking about for graphic novels I might enjoy reading and came across these. There's a good chance the rest of the group might not like them, but here's a few others I might suggest:
The Girl Genius Series by Phil and Kaja Foglio. Here's a story with a female protagonist and it won a Hugo. Volume 1 is called Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank. The only drawback I see is that this series might be more geared toward the younger folks.
One Soul by Ray Fawkes. It's supposed to be very beautiful and was nominated for an Eisner award last year. It's a story told from 18 different perspectives throughout history that come together ultimately to tell one touching tale.
Stumptown by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth. Based in Portland, OR this is the tale of a lady detective that's bad a gambling and good at solving crimes.
Maybe you like these?
It's ok if you don't.
Cheers,
Jessie
Hey Jessie! I'm adding these selections to the blog now. I'm adding the first volume of the Girl Genius omnibus because it was more recently published and hardcover, both of which will make for a smoother potential library purchase. I'll also add all three of these to a graphic novel purchase list I'm compiling.
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