Quick, name your top 5 graphic novels and your reason behind liking them

Quick, name your top 5 graphic novels and your reason behind liking them.

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>hay guise
>I want to impress someone who likes comics
>please help me fake it till I make it
>*bumps after 15 minutes*

Why do you assume I'm trying to impress one single person rather than just trying to get into comics by getting recs and asking for reasons to support why they like the book?

Human Diastrophism by Gilbert Hernandez
There's a lot of good Love and Rocket arcs but to me this is easily the most well done, Gilbert gets loads of shit compared to Jaime but nothing Jaime has done has ever touched the intensity of Human Diastrophism. It's a really violent and increasingly on edge story that I think really shows how great Gilbert Hernandez was at his peak.

Panther by Brecht Evens
This one is pretty new but I think Panther is one of the most amazing "horror" comics around, there's a lot going on here, the way Evens was able to make what start's as such a beautiful, cute story into a disgusting way is riveting without being needlessly mean spirited, almost keeping the tone of the earlier parts of the book 1:1

Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco has done a lot of journalistic/real world comics before with Palestine being the one that put him on the map, but Safe Area Gorazde to me is when he hit the mark perfectly. Part history lesson, part auto-bio and part examination of people living through a conflict Sacco does a tremendous job taking you through with these peoples in their most horrible moments and their attempts at normalcy.

Black Hole by Charles Burns
Probably the most mainstream and well known choice here but I just re-read it recently and it still resonates with me a lot. Burn's does a lot to make you disturbed with the disease infecting people and the lives of the kids affected by it, either coping with it best they can or falling into misery over it. It definitely feels real, as real a story like this can be, but that eeriness always lingers.

The Cowboy Wally Show by Kyle Baker
A lot of people talk about 'Bendisspeak" but to me I associate that rapid fire, dialogue centered writing in comics with Kyle Baker. The Cowboy Wally Show is an absolute riot and has probably the best comedic timing I've seen, it's a joy to read and one of the funniest things I've read.

i hit the text limit so half way through I had to cut shit down/out
one thing i was gonna say is that I didn't put in or think about putting in runs/ongoings, keeping it to minis,arcs and OGNs when i was coming up with a top 5

What’s the difference between comics and graphic novels?
Or are they just so post mean the same thing or something?

Miss Don't Touch Me
Beautiful Darkness
Satania
The Airtight Garage
Explorers on the Moon
I like interesting character development, novel premises.

What the fuck is this picture meant to be?

probably a header for an article or website

Panther is some good shit. How's Evens' other works?

Both The Making Of and The Wrong Place are great.

nice, bump

Maus because it gives me the feels
Blast because it is well written and it is shocking.
Pyongyang is one of the first non cape comics that i read and i think it is pretty funny and interesting.
The Angelus is touching story with an amazing art.
Watchmen, that one is good in almost every aspect.

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>watchmen
the best. especially the art.
>multiversity
a lot of great stories. the meta narrative is pretty cool
>batman: year one
the best batman story.
>hawkeye by matt fraction
i like this series mostly for aja's art and layouts. story is ok.
>52
a bunch of great b list characters. its like a tv show in comic form.

im fairly new to comics though.

Not doing a top 5, but here are some european recs that don't get enough respect on Sup Forums

>Jason - simplistic "cartoon animal" comics that usually turn out to be much more heart-wrenching and resonant than the artstyle would lead you to think
Hey, Wait...
The Last Musketeer

>Lorenzo Mattotti - abstract/surreal painted comics
Stigmata
The Crackle of the Frost

>Philippe Druillet - psychedelic sci-fi fantasy
Lone Sloane
Yragael-Urm (good luck finding this one)

das good shit mane

Asterios Polyp
Miss Don't Touch Me
Underwater Welder
Building Stories
Jar of Fools

I would but I struggle to differitiate graphic novels and comic trades often.

I would say Maus Watchmen and V for Vendetta are good starts
One came out last year called My Favorite Thing Is Monsters that's pretty great
Persepolis is good too. Or Anya's Ghost.
There's also a few comics about Andre the Giant that were both good.

I'm still not sure what you mean by graphic novel through.
Comics book size in hardback/paperback sizes? A synonym for comics used for comics made specifically for adults?

>Batman Year One
Mazzuchelli's art makes this for me, really puts me in this gritty 80s styled Gotham, seedy underbelly and all. Miller's writing gets better with every reread, but Mazzuchelli makes it breathe

>Phonogram: The Singles Club
Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie doing comics about music and the power of it? Seven different perspectives on the same moment? Damn I'm all for it. I reread this a lot from time to time

>King City
Brandon Graham is my favorite comics artist, and King City is his best work. an epic, a slice of life, and a comedy spliced into one entity, and his artwork has this mix of eurocomics and manga that makes it absolutely comfy

>The Nightly News
Hickman's first work, and probably his second best work imo. The narrative serves as a vehicle for greater musings on a variety of things, and I think the thing people tend not to notice about Hickman is that his work is very funny if you read past the samevoice. Nightly News is both funny, serious, and experimental.

>Superspy
Matt Kindt's second best work (Mind MGMT being the best), series of interconnected spy strips that plays a lot with the format of comics. Kindt always does interesting shit with his comics (one of them you have to burn the corner of the paper or something to reveal something). more than that, it's a strong book with great art

think of it as single "run" of comics. or arc

Akira I love the scope of it, and all the places it goes. Kaneda is my favorite fictional character.

Naausicca: The world building; and, again the scope of it.

Jack Kirby's fourth World. It has a beginning middle and end, so I'm going to count it. Endless imagination, great art, settings, and characters.

American Barbarian- Scioli gives no fucks

Sweet Tooth- I cried like a bitch, many times.

Arsene Schrauwen because it changed how I look at the time that it takes to read a comic.

Bottomless Belly Button because it did a great job of addressing topics that few people face but everyone worries about anyway.

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant because it did a great job of addressing topics that almost every person faces eventually but often want to avoid until it's too late.

Duncan the Wonder Dog because it changed how I look at interstitial pages.

The Rabbi's Cat, although maybe I'm overrating it just because I loved the movie so much.

Warren's Gen13, Lobdell's Generation X, Baker's Plastic Man, Gerber's Howard the Duck and Moore's Top 10/Smax/Forty-Niners all make me smile