They’re not comics! They’re graphic novels!
Being a fan of great art and great writing it’s probably natural that I have just as many graphic novels on my bookshelves as I do literary novels.
I remember going to the public library on Saturday mornings as a kid and borrowing as many as my card would allow.
I never caught any flack at home for reading “comics” either, because my father was the person who introduced me to the form.
A veteran infantry soldier, he wasn’t big into literary novels and the like, but he was always reading pulps and war comics which he would toss at me when he’d finished.
Graphic Novels are one of my loves and I have found them hugely influential in my writing. Today I wanted to share my favorites.
Some will probably be obvious to anyone with the most superficial knowledge of GN, but I hope there will be a few surprises in here too.
If you like great art and great writing go and check them out today!
20: BUTTON MAN: GET HARRY EX
This was originally a strip from 2000 AD. The British version of DC comics. Known for Judge Dredd and some other greats.
Harry is an ex-mercenary who joins a competition of kill or be killed funded by wealthy elite types. Think Hard Target but better.
19: LIKE A VELVET GLOVE CAST IN IRON
A snuff movie, evil cops, cults, nymphomaniacs and a dog with no orifices. It’s Clowes so you know what to expect, this is one of his weirder, darker ones though.
18: HAPPY
A drunken ex-cop working as a hit man makes an imaginary friend.
Loved this and the series on Netflix is pretty damn great too.
17: SLEEPER
A mix of superheroes and grimy noir characters. Think — the movie The Departed mixed with The DC universe.
16: SIN CITY – THAT YELLOW BASTARD
Miller reinvented comics. Hartigan a cop with a bad heart tries to save a girl from an evil child killer. A perfect crime story in my opinion.
15: HELLBOY
I love HELLBOY for the deep mythological storytelling and, of course, Mignola’s art work. I was gutted when it had to come to an end.
14: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS
Another Frank Miller masterpiece. A much older and broken down Batman must don the cape one last time. Masterful storytelling.
13: BATMAN AND SON
For me, Grant Morrison is THE Batman writer. He weaves a rich tapestry of Batman lore and history into his modern narrative so you notice something new on every read. It’s deep as hell is what I’m saying. This is easily the best Batman run. Easily.
12: THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN
Alan Moore is an absolute genius. Literary characters from yesteryear are brought together like The Dirty Dozen to save the world. This isn’t a light read. It may look like it, but it isn’t. I spent just as much time on Wikipedia researching throw away sentences than I did the actual volumes.
11: WATCHMAN
This graphic novel was so groundbreaking because it raised comics to a whole new level of thinking. A deeper, darker and more philosophical take on graphic narratives.
10: RICHARD STARK’S PARKER
I love Darwyn Cooke’s artwork. It’s truly a thing of beauty and pairs perfectly with Stark’s dark writing.
9: THE KILLING JOKE
If Morrison wrote the best Batman series, Moore easily wrote the best Batman story.
8: FABLES
Fables by Bill Willingham and cover art by Jesse James is truly awesome.
Willingham threw together all of the fairytale characters from across the globe and gave them modern personalities, flaws and addictions. Then threw in some crime. And then a huge Lord of the Rings style war with a surprise evil overlord. Highly recommended series that took me all the way through the 2000’s.
7: STRAY BULLETS
Lapham is a genius when it comes to writing short interconnected stories across a spectrum of characters and crimes. Think Pulp Fiction but, dare I say it, better. The art work here is perfect pulp art.
6: Maus
Maus by Spiegelman is a heartbreaking story told beautifully. Probably as important today as it’s ever been. The fact some places tried to ban it recently is absolute madness. This should be a part of all school curriculums.
5: V FOR VENDETTA
1984 meets Batman. The scariest thing about this graphic novel is I sometimes think we are heading into the future depicted within its pages.
4: THE PUSH MAN AND OTHER STORIES
I was surprised when I first came to japan because no one here knows the legendary Tatsumi. He is massive in Europe and Canada but lives a quiet, reclusive life in Tokyo pretty much unknown.
Tatsumi’s stories are Bukowski-esque. But it’s the art work that really punches the most. The back alleys of Tokyo drawn in dark, thick lines and shades. Beautiful.
Warning: some of the stories are quite fucked up and even I had to skip one or two in his later story collections. So, if you love fucked up, dive in!
3: FROM HELL
Alan Moore is a genius, I repeat, Alan Moore is a genius.
This isn’t a graphic novel. It’s an illustrated case study of The Ripper Slayings in Victorian London. An absolute tome of a book, thicker than a phone directory.
2: CRIMINAL
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are the perfect pairing. Perfect writing. Perfect art. These stories within the Criminal universe shit all over most modern crime novels and movies. If you haven’t read this series yet, you’re not a fan of graphic novels or crime fiction, I guess.
1: FATALE
Brubaker and Phillips again.
Pulp crime, hard-boiled detective, old-Hollywood, horror, gangsters, cults, Lovecraftian monsters, love, murder, multiple timelines, sex.
Yeah, Fatale pretty much has it all, and it does it all very well indeed.
I loved Phillips’ artwork from Fatale so much that I have had a couple of his front covers tattooed on my body.
Highly recommended to all.
Honorable Mentions:
Batman vs Predator
Yes, yes it is as awesome as it sounds.
Batman: Dracula
Batman vs Dracula? Hell yes!
Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens
So there you have it, folks. My top 20 graphic novels written on my lunch break.
And if you’re interested in an old, beaten-up ex-mobster trying to get redemption and a young Japanese girl searching for salvation, please go buy my first novel Say Goodbye When I’m Gone. It’s currently only 99p/$1.19 on Amazon.
Stephen J. Golds was born in North London, U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his adult life.
He writes loosely in the noir/crime genres, though is heavily influenced by transgressive fiction and dirty realism.
His three novels are a trilogy of connected but stand alone novels that deal in themes of mental illness, trauma, betrayal and twisted love.
He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, traveling the world, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs. His books are Say Goodbye When I’m Gone, I’ll Pray When I’m Dying, Always the Dead, Poems for Ghosts in Empty Tenement Windows I Thought I Saw Once and the story and poetry collection Love Like Bleeding Out With an Empty Gun in Your Hand.
Punk Noir Press 