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-- So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

I want to buy a birthday present to a friend of mine today. I meant to give him a book (he had just entered grad school last year, so I gave him Kuhn's Structure for his previous birthday, which he says he liked). Being good friends with him, I didn't mind asking whether he wanted yet another book on science, but he said "as long as it's a comic book, it's all right". The problem is that I know next to nothing about comic books (I read just one comic book this decade, and that's because it was given to me as a present, and I felt obliged to read it). Here's some info on him:

• I know he thoroughly enjoyed "Watchmen", and liked a comic book in which all male creatures died and only the females survived (I can't remember what it's called);
  
  
• He plays rpg and, yes, he's well aware of the fact that he's an all-around nerd (studied physics as an undergraduate, and is now a grad student of psychology), and is proud of it;
  
  
• He's a devout Christian;
  
  
• He browses that site I cannot mention due to laws #1 and #2.
  

pokeymans

quote:

Originally posted by kadomony pokeymans

Yes, he does like mudkips. But I want to get him something more adult... and by that I don't mean "Pokeypr0n"

If you're looking for a graphic novel, check out The Surrogates. I haven't read it yet but it seems pretty sweet, I kinda wanna read it before the movie comes out.

I was really interested in the story of that Whiteout movie, I wanted to know what the big secret was because I probably wasn't going to watch it. Turns out it was also a graphic novel, clicky

Isn't V for vendetta a comic too?

I imagine he's probably read V for Vendetta... it's too popular.

quote:

Originally posted by bas If you're looking for a graphic novel, check out The Surrogates. I haven't read it yet but it seems pretty sweet, I kinda wanna read it before the movie comes out. I was really interested in the story of that Whiteout movie, I wanted to know what the big secret was because I probably wasn't going to watch it. Turns out it was also a graphic novel, clicky

Yes, that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Thanks for the recommendations, Bas

quote:

Originally posted by bas If you're looking for a graphic novel, check out The Surrogates. I haven't read it yet but it seems pretty sweet, I kinda wanna read it before the movie comes out. I was really interested in the story of that Whiteout movie, I wanted to know what the big secret was because I probably wasn't going to watch it. Turns out it was also a graphic novel, clicky

The movie is already out and it's crap. If I were you I wouldn't waste the time and money seeing it in theatres.

quote:

Originally posted by infinity HiGH The movie is already out and it's crap. If I were you I wouldn't waste the time and money seeing it in theatres.

Surrogates or Whiteout? Surrogates looks promising, but the pg13 ratign is probably going to gay it up big time

Preacher <-- click

One of the greatest series I have ever read. (though, if he's a devout christian they might be a tad offensive to him)

Also, digging this one right now:

100 Bullets <-- click

Oh yeah, Preacher! That is badass.

Anything by Alan Moore. ie:

V for Vendetta
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
From Hell
...

check out the graphic novel called DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli



"set in a wartorn very near future NYC, US residents have bought into Iraq style Gorilla warfare and have overrun much of the US, following a rookie journalist abandoned in the city after a failed insersion, its his life and reports of the city and its residents, from the ground up, of the survival and the life that ensues from the love life of a AWOL Specops sniper, to the inner workings of a rooftop vegan resteraunt, to gig reviews and anatomys of street gunbattles, all very real and all very hard - hits hard and home for someone working in a news organisation whos friends do this on a daily basis in citys from Bagdad to Kabul"

If you wait until 2010 you might be able to get XIII

Thanks a lot, everyone! I'll look for these titles in the bookshop.

quote:

Originally posted by netroM If you wait until 2010 you might be able to get XIII

The thing is, I'm the one born in January - his birthday is this week

get him these 5, although i dont know how big of a comic fan he is..



Preacher was cool too.

Re: So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by Lira He's a devout Christian; He browses that site I cannot mention due to laws #1 and #2.

does not compute

i hate getting books for my bday.. thats just me though

quote:

Originally posted by bas Surrogates or Whiteout? Surrogates looks promising, but the pg13 ratign is probably going to gay it up big time

Surrogates. I'd be curious to check out the graphic novel to see if there's any depth to it. The movie was predictable and shallow. Not very creative either. It's supposed to be the future, but other than walking cyborgs everywhere it was exactly like our world.

Another 90 minute cookie-cutter movie. Bruce Willis saves the world again.

I recently read a couple of volumes of a manga called Vagabond (バガボンド ) about the life of Musashi (based on Yoshikawa's novel) that I actually thought was quite cool.. not being a manga/comic book fan at all.

edit: you can check it out here: http://www.onemanga.com/Vagabond/

Re: Re: So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

So much for my research: I wrote it all down on my phone, went to the biggest local bookshop and everything I found was either too expensive or unavailable at the moment. In the end, I ran into a clerk that knew my friend, and I ended up getting something with Wolverine in it.

I kind of like the concept behind DMZ, though... if it ever comes out on film, I'm certainly going to check it out

Oh, and Astro, I find Vagabond a tad bit too disconcerting - the only time I opened the magazine in my life, in the very first page I opened I saw a naked girl on all fours with a Japanese Donkey Kong-like figure behind her saying "graaaawr" with the saying "tap tap tap" all over the page

Re: Re: So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by floyd741 does not compute

Yeah, I know. But, as long as he's happy, I don't mind

Re: Re: Re: So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Oh, and Astro, I find Vagabond a tad bit too disconcerting - the only time I opened the magazine in my life, in the very first page I opened I saw a naked girl on all fours with a Japanese Donkey Kong-like figure behind her saying "graaaawr" with the saying "tap tap tap" all over the page

LOL yeah they're pretty liberal with the sex scenes.. though of course being Japanese genitalia/pubic hair is never shown. But sex actually doesn't come up all that often.. it's more about musashi's personal journey to master the way of the sword and his struggle with himself, his own insecurities, weaknesses moral conflicts etc.. If your friend is a Catholic I think he'll find a lot to relate to.. guilt is a dominant theme

Re: Re: Re: Re: So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by astroboy LOL yeah they're pretty liberal with the sex scenes.. though of course being Japanese genitalia/pubic hair is never shown. But sex actually doesn't come up all that often.. it's more about musashi's personal journey to master the way of the sword and his struggle with himself, his own insecurities, weaknesses moral conflicts etc.. If your friend is a Catholic I think he'll find a lot to relate to.. guilt is a dominant theme

Guilt in Musashi/Vagabond? Really? How so? Guilt is not exactly supposed to play a big role in Japanese thought

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So, who's into graphic novels? I need recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Guilt in Musashi/Vagabond? Really? How so? Guilt is not exactly supposed to play a big role in Japanese thought

For Musashi himself it's not quite so big an issue. Though he is often rebuked for the life of killing he leads, he quickly reconciles it in a very Zen way. But another character is his childhood friend who never had the strength to follow the way of the sword or make a name for himself and goes around being a bit of a scoundrel, liar etc.. I suppose his ultimate feeling of guilt could be put down to his lack of filial piety and inability to be strong enough to follow a particular path.. regrets which reflect values that are somewhat Japanese (or at least very Asian/confucian/Buddhist-Taoist).

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