Graphic Novel Reading Group discussion

I read Authority all through the years of not reading comics anymore, but Sandman brought me back into the fold completely.

I'm 50 and never stopped reading them. The earliest comics I recall reading are Disneys. What KEPT me reading comicswhen I prett ymuhc gave up on superheroes were a) the alternative/independent/underground type comics and b) the plethora of reprints of classic comics, mostly newsppaer strips. I still occasionally read a superhero or "mainstream" book, but more often than not, even in those cases it's reprints of old stuff I'm reading, rather than something current. The last current series I read was All-Star Superman, I think.

Dominick wrote: "I'm 50 and never stopped reading them. The earliest comics I recall reading are Disneys. What KEPT me reading comicswhen I prett ymuhc gave up on superheroes were a) the alternative/independent/und..."
Great series by Grant Morrison. Some of his stuff is out there, but give him a good editor and you have magic. Thanks for the response.

Watchmen! Never touched a comic book till I was just about 30. The movie came out, I thought the trailers looked stupid [I had never heard of it at this point]. An acquaintance of mine was telling me about the prison scene were Rorshach says something like "I'm not locked in here with you... your locked in here with me". I thought to myself that sounds cool, did a little research and found out it was a book. I was on a kick where I liked to read a book that was made into a movie then watch the movie.

Well I really enjoyed Watchmen and was hooked, been reading GNs pretty much nonstop since.

The book that got me back into reading comics as an adult was G.I. Joe: Cobra, by Christos Gage and Mike Costa. I had been flirting with the idea of getting back into the books over the years, without anything really sticking. A friend recommended the Cobra series, and it stuck such a chord in me that I was back on board, and have been ever since.

I guess you could say that it is the book that taught me how to read comics as an adult. I realize that might sound silly, considering the source material, but it really is a masterpiece.

I read comics all the time while living at my parents (19 y-o), but back then it was mostly Donald Duck, Beetle Bailey and other easy comic strips.
I first tried some manga in my "fanfiction" days 4 years ago, but never had the time. Early this year I got really into graphic novels and manga again, by discovering a library with ONLY graphic novels/manga/comics! Started with , which is my answer to your question. ;)

For me, it was Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, a book I bought by mistake thinking it was a "regular" novel. I was surprised to see a graphic novel dealing with such serious topics like suicide, family dynamics, sexual orientation & gender identity. Now I'm hooked and the first thing I do when I enter a bookstore is check out the graphic novel section.

I start to read graphic novels as child, the first is Spiderman and X-Men, but also Elfquest that was the first serie I saw about at the age 8-9 and then for many years I have read this 3 Series.

Then for a 1/2 year back I found out about the serie the Authority and have buy all the books.

I read most manga now I follow the serie In These Words, Youka Nitta/ when a man love a man, Viewfinder, Kizuna etc.

Been reading "graphic novels" for as long as I can remember.

Even before I could read I remember "reading" my dad's war and western comics.

At age 51, I am still an avid reader (and collector).
My tastes have varied and changed immensely during the decades, but my love for the medium has never faltered.

Watchmen and I was blown away by V for Vendetta

Tomson wrote: "Watchmen and I was blown away by V for Vendetta"

Yes, V For Vendetta was the first book I bought after Watchmen and my favorite to this day.

As far as graphic novels (vs. regular comics), it was all the great painted stuff that started to come out in the late '80s/early '90s by guys like Dave McKean (Arkham Asylum, Black Orchid, Violent Cases), Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin, Stray Toasters, Big Numbers with Alan Moore), Jon J Muth (Moonshadow, M, Mystery Play) amd Kent Williams (Havok & Wolverine).

By high school, I was reading Vertigo exclusively, and when Sandman ended I quit reading for a while, but Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve (collected as Sleepwalk, Summer Blonde, Shortcomings) brought me back in.

I actually started with the movie Stardust. That's how I discovered Neil Gaiman which led me to Sandman although I didn't really get into graphic novels until I moved to AZ. My roomie got me into goodreads and without that I probably would have never really gotten into them.

After a 17+ years hiatus of reading any graphic novel or comic books, reading Green Lantern Rebirth by Geoff Johns in 2006 got me reading again in this genre. And I've been reading again ever since.

I grew up with Calvin and Hobbes, but was always into the heroes. in my late 20's a friend loaned me Kingdom Come and I have been hooked since(over 10 years) I read mostly indies now, but some of the previously mentioned by Gaiman, V, and Y the last...have kept me coming back.

Started out on a steady diet of Astrix and Tin Tin as a kid, eventually graduated to Manga as a teenager, expanded by selection to graphic novels in general when I picked up Persepolis in College, and finally got over my prejudice against super hero comics with Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin just this past February. It's been an amazingly enjoyable journey!

Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. It's still my favorite series. I read a few of Gaiman's books prior to reading the series, fell in love with the series, and that helped me jump into reading graphic novels regularly. Recently, Chew got me back into reading them again after only occasionally buying the Sandman volumes I lacked to finish my collection of Gaiman's work.

Eternal Sabbath, Elfen Lied, and Jyu Oh Sei were what initially got my into comics in general. I also took a look at Carbongrey, and this was also good.

I was a strictly Vertigo type of reader back when I left. I always read about a GN a year though, always in that Vertigo/creator owned vein. What pulled me back into heavy GN reading and weekly buying was, of all things, Geoff Johns' protracted Green Lantern run, particularly the Sinestro Corps War. I think the art was the hook. I'm an addict to all types of books now though, superhero or otherwise.

I am still a newbie. It was actually a graphic novel spin off of an urban fantasy series that started me down the path, Fever Moon: The Fear Dorcha. Other UF adaptations lured me deeper.

However, the tipping point came when I won a copy of Batman, Vol. 2: The City of Owls from GR First Reads. Of course, I had to run out and buy Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls so I could take it from the top. It was pretty much love at first read. October 1st cannot get here soon enough!

I do mostly trade editions, however, because I have so loved Scott Snyder's Batman, I made the decision to go issue by issue for Superman Unchained #1.

There is no going back now. My read list just keeps growing, much to the dismay of my SO.

The sonic comics when I was really young and batman/ nightwing when I started to read them again. (Chuck dixons batman/ robin/ nightwing to be specific.)

As a kid I had Disney comics, Woody the woodpecker,whatever random comic I liked the cover of. My dad bought me comics because he was into them. None of these really stuck. They were fun reads of course...

Then about 12 years ago I found The Sandman: The Dream Hunters and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch at my library. I actually thought they were like just special books done by Gaiman and McKean. (which isn't to say they aren't special!)

I hadn't thought that there were actually adult comics made regularly that weren't DC/Marvel/superhero (though to my credit these were definitely out of the realm of what you might call "normal" comics)

After that I found many independent comics through my library, and that makes up pretty much everything that I read.
I fell in love with Love and Rockets and basically just read whatever sounds interesting to me, whether it's Sci-fi, fantasy, drama, mystery, whatever.

The only superhero related comic I think I've read is Watchmen (loved it!) but I'm interested in the dark Batman storylines Arkham Asylum/Batman Year One/Long Halloween etc.

Disney, Asterix Lucky Luke, Tintin and such as a kid.
V for Vendetta brought me back to the medium as an adult.

Fever Moon: The Fear Dorcha

I started drawing manga professionally for TOKYOPOP in 2004 (sigh, long story there), and decided I needed to educate myself on other types of comics. Up until then, I'd only read manga and a few European comics.

I started with Sandman, followed by Transmetropolitan. Raided the entire Vertigo line (up until Y: The Last Man), then moved onto literary works like Ghost World, Maus, Persepolis, Palestine, Fun Home, Habibi and the works of Robert Crumb (*blink at that last one*).

(Also read "Strangers in Paradise", and much of the work of the Hernandez Bros. Some other small press stuff, like from IDW and Fantagraphics).

The walking dead

I have always loved comics; but as I began to delve more into my own literary and film projects, I became less interested in comics as a serious creative art form (which was a huge mistake). Sandman and Askman Asylum most definitely pushed the limits of the medium and made me reexamine my silly stance.

I got back into reading Conan by Cary Nord and Kurt Busiek. I love sword and sorcery tales! Also, Ghost in the Shell by Shirow Masamune got me back into manga. And it's science fiction, so it has some demographic appeal for me. What sustains my interest is my own work, that, and anything by Paul Pope.

I got back into reading comics somewhere in 2006 when I read Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-men. What kept me around were Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, Preacher, and Y the Last Man.

I forgot what comic I read first, it might have been We3. The first large comic book I've finished was Preacher, and it was great.

I think it was The Killing Joke for me

well, that was got me back into comics, I read a lot until I was 15

I did not start reading comics until I was in college, probably around 2005. The mini-comic that started my interest in the format was Boys by Ron Rege Jr. I found a copy of this on the communal bookshelf in the co-op my best friend was living in at the time, and it was/is still one of the greatest things I have ever read. I have not stopped reading comics or graphic novels since.

My name is Mike and I started reading comics in the mid 80s. I think GI Joe got me in, then I moved onto Spider-Man and then the guys who worked at the store I went to told me to read Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Sandman, TMNT, Elementals, Grendel, Mr X, etc. I think I got in during a peak time when a lot of exciting things were happening and major creators were just breaking through. I got out during the early 90s when a lot of publishers were trying to make money by printing ten versions of an issue 1, killing off major characters, and I felt many of the story lines I was following had dried up (the day I stopped buying Captain America was when he turned into werewolf). Around 2006-7, I picked up some independent titles and when I read Scott Pilgrim I remembered how fun comics could be. I wasn't very impressed by anything from the Big Two until Marvel's relaunch and now I go every week to get several of their titles (plus a few Dark Horse and Vertigo). I look forward to reminiscing with other fans and hopefully learning about some other stuff I should be reading. Thanks

I've been reading comics pretty consistently, but I think the story that made me prefer graphic novels as a format (as opposed to monthly issues) was Sandman. The other nice thing about graphic novels is that you don't have to worry about individual chapters selling out. (This concern grows increasingly irrelevant with digital comics.)

Green Lantern Rebirth by Geoff Johns

I started a personal challenge this year with usual geekery (board games, video games, RPGs) and added comics back. Started out with Dungeons and Dragons Legend of Drizzt series but did not pick up the other series (5 series, min 5 issues goal) until I read The Old Guard, Book One: Opening FireT (after I saw the movie, of course). Now I am back on track with personal goal and wanting to add graphic novels back into my nightly reading time.

Ghost in the shell by Shirow Masamune and Vamps by Elaine May.
I was 30 years old and, now 57, never stopped reading :)

Spider-Man!

The very first comic I ever bought with “my own money” was Amazing Spider-Man where he visits the Savage Land and fights dinosaurs and an alien alongside Ka-Zar. So that was like 1972 or so.

I read comics for another 18 years or so, then got busy with life, so I dropped out of reading them, plus the price went sky high to $1.75.

Then around 2002 I saw Ultimate Spider-Man at the library and I picked it up on a whim. I was immediately hooked. Spidey got me in, then 30 years later he brought me back.

I used to occasionally read comics, but at some point a couple of years back I got the first volume of Chew for free. I got the rest of the series and thought it was pretty good. Since then I've picked up other series and have been a fan of the medium. I gotta say, Chew is still up there as a great stupid fun series.

I started reading ‘The phantom’ when I was 6. Fascinated by the mystic elements throughout the character and overall adventure of the story. In my teens, I read X-men graphic novels. After I completed my college, watchman and XIII brought me back to graphic novel reading.

my first comic was himouto! umaru-chan, but i think the comic that made me fall in love with comics was heartstopper by alice oseman

The first thing I ever read, period, was Chris Claremont X-Men. I fell in and out of love with Marvel from that point up until Civil War, which was the last Marel series I really loved. From that point on, I've been more about creator owned stuff. My absolute favorite series of all time is Invincible.

90's X-Men is what I credit for getting me into, not only comics, but reading in general.

I don’t remember. As a kid I read my mom’s 1950’s Archie comics she had kept from her own childhood. Then of course Sunday funnies types- Garfield (which is only funny to children), Calvin and Hobbes etc. Having my own children is how I discovered the world of graphic novels. First Second is my favorite publisher. I read my kid’s GN as well as teen/adult GN. Looking forward to getting recommendations from perusing past posts in this group!
My current reads are Asterios Polyp, Witch Hat Atelier, and a variety of Webtoons (waiting for Lore Olympus to restart!)

I've been reading comics since I was 6 or 7 and never stopped. It's been too many years for me to remember the first one I read.

Berserk, Vol. 1

If you’re looking for action manga then you need to read Berserk by Kentaro Muira if you haven’t already, this book is arguably the greatest manga/story ever written or drawn. Just check it out, Won’t say more than that. It’s first volume is currently available for $8 on Amazon via Kindle Unlimited or hard copy

Link to the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4ewyvZH
Free 1 month trial of Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/4nxhumf
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