| 1. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art | 
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By: Scott Mccloud
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
April 27, 1994
The first time I encountered this book was in a painting class. Not only did it completely change the way I thought about comics, it also changed the way I think about the visual arts in general. McCleod's examples are clear, interesting, and funny. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys comics, wants to write them, or wants to create stimulating visual art in any medium... more
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| 2. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth |
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By: Chris Ware
Publisher: Pantheon
April 29, 2003
After hearing about the book for many years, I finally decided to check it out and see what all the fuss was about. Honestly, I feel like this book is highly highly overrated.
The main character, the present day Jimmy Corrigan, is a failed exercise in tedious pity and social awkwardness. Whoop-de-doo. He's so minimal in the story, he's almost a non-character, painfully shy, mute, and passive... more
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| 3. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic |
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By: Alison Bechdel
Publisher: Mariner Books
June 05, 2007
When I was in college a professor assigned the book "MAUS" for us to read. I think it was the first graphic novel that I'd ever picked up out of a comic shop. I didn't really know what to expect other than an easy A. The A wasn't easy and MAUS changed my perceptions of what a comic book / graphic novel could be. Our next assignment was Barefoot Gen; I knew by then that it wouldn't be a fluff book... more
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| 4. The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale (No 1) |
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By: Art Spiegelman
Publisher: Pantheon
November 19, 1996
I have never read a graphic novel and I was very surprised that I liked it as much as I did. This one in particular was about the Holocaust and how one couple managed to survive the incredibly hard times. I thought it did a goof job describing what people had to go through and what they had to do to make it in that crazy time. By the end of the book you get to understand why the father is the way he... more
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| 5. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History |
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By: Art Spiegelman
Publisher: Pantheon
August 12, 1986
The book was in very good condition and it came in very fast, within one week... more
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| 6. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns |
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By: Frank Miller
Publisher: DC Comics
May 01, 1997
Here's the book in a nutshell: Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman, is on the edge of sanity ...sleepwalking and drinking himself into oblivion because he's been in mind-numbing retirement for the last 10 years. But, Gotham gets SOOO bad that he's given his excuse to don the tights again. Bloody heads and mayhem follows.
Now, be warned this Batman is aged. So much so that throughout the book he huffs,puffs... more
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| 7. Ghost World | 
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By: Daniel Clowes
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
April 01, 2001
I'm sick of these satirical similes that metaphor the life of a struggling teen in feelings of angst and some other hidden meaning blah blah blah... i kept thinking something would happen other than two spoiled brat teens walking around complaining how hard life is for them... it doesnt. i promise anyone who reads this there is no plot... im sure some wannabe intellectual will come find some words... more
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| 8. Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist (Will Eisner Instructional Books) |
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By: Will Eisner
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
August 17, 2008
If you are interested in comics, film, advertising, web design... anything that uses pictures to tell a story, then read Eisner... more
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| 9. Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean | 
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By: Douglas Wolk
Publisher: Da Capo Press
June 10, 2008
Having read other books on comics, like "How to Read Superhero Comics and Why," I wanted to like Wolk's book more than those I've read before it. What I found most compelling about Wolk's book was his introduction where he talks about what makes comics different from other works of art is their unique deployment of metaphor. Yes, it's in that Straw Man argument (god, that is annoying, as other reviewers... more
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| 10. Epileptic |
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By: David B.
Publisher: Pantheon
July 04, 2006
It's gorgeously drawn and one of the most emotionally real graphic novels I've ever read. ... more
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Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
