Horizon

Maus -- it's good. For the family relationship portrayals as well as the history.

And, this is embarrasing, but Elfquest because of someone I dated in high school.

Neil Gaiman's Sandman was excellent. Also worth checking out is Scott McCloud's magnificent Understanding Comics.

I'm a huge reader of comics and graphic novels. I've read most of the ones Alan has read (V for Vendetta and Orwell may be two of the most influential things I read as a 19 year-old). Ghost World is also excellent (quite different from the movie, which I also love). And From Hell is a masterpiece of literature, period. I'm quite pleased with the ascendancy of the graphic novel and wish it well; I think it deserves better respectability in the mainstream and hope this NYT piece is the breakthrough it's been looking for.

The Watchmen, in my unhumble opinion, is the finest graphic novel I have ever read by far, and one of the finest novels in general, I might even be tempted to say, at least of a certain genre.

Also well worth reading is Joe Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde, about Bosnia during the war.

Also excellent is the work of Daniel Clowes, whose work was the basis for the reasonably good adaptation Ghost World. But he has a much wider range than anyone who's seen that movie or read the graphic novel might expect. My favorite of his graphic novels, originally published serially in Eightball, is the the surreal and unsettling Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron. He has many other collections available, and all of them, with the exception of the early Lloyd Llewellyn comics, are well worth reading.

I also love Watchmen, From Hell, Ghost World, Like a Velvet Glove.

Grant Morrison's The Invisibles is where is it at yo.

Also don't forget about European stuff like The Incal, The Metabarons (by Alexandro Jodorwsky), Enki Bilal's The Dormant Beast, and everything by Peeters and Schuiten.

Lets just say I had a very adverse reaction to Ted Rall's 2024, purchased without knowing anything about him. I've learned my lesson.

As a public service would Gene (or somebody) mind explaining a little more about Ted Rall? I've really heard of him mainly by seeing generally moderate-to-conservative writers complain about him. Wot's the rap on him?

As a public service would Gene (or somebody) mind explaining a little more about Ted Rall? I've really heard of him mainly by seeing generally moderate-to-conservative writers complain about him. Wot's the rap on him?

Here's a notorious example. And another.

He makes Michael Moore look like a master of subtlety. And his 1984 update really sucked.

Ah. Thx, I think.