Rolling Stone's 50 Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novels

[Ancient Otter]

No Toothy (Booo!) but very some very unusual and very recent choices: Link

[Colin YNWA]

As ever these things are very divisive, fundamentally pretty pointless but for all that always great fun, but as you say is also pretty interesting and has reminded me to try to track down 'Journey' again. Something I meant  to do a while ago...

[Fungus]

Increasingly-surprising list.... until I noticed the 'non-superhero' qualifier... 

[JamesC]

No Conan or Asterix. Booo!

[TordelBack]

An interesting list, but I don't understand how collected newspaper strips like Calvin & Hobbes are specifically excluded, while collected webcomics like Hark! A Vagrant are included (not to say Kate Beaton isn't brilliant).  The usual dissent mutter mutter, but some stuff there I haven't read that looks good, so does its job.  Good to see my hero Eddie Campbell well represented.

The top ten is very solid, with the possible exception of Epileptic, which I found unpleasant to such an extent that I wish I'd never read it.  David B has skill, but I do not enjoy his work.

I'm also not entirely convinced that FreakAngels isn't a superhero comic in all but name - at least as far as Sandman (not listed) is.

And pare me the slide format next time, please.

[Colin YNWA]

No Conan or Asterix. Booo!

Yeah but Tintin seems sneak in. Just goes to show how if you give a list to middle class 'media types' that's what you get! (I know, I know we did all that a wee while ago).

Also lumping all of Cerebus together is an interesting choice. Even when you take into account the fact that its not so much a list of graphic novels, rather in many cases - series that have been released as graphic albums or trades and we'll lump them all together, Cerebus has distinct 'books' within its 6000 pages and they are of very varying quality and can easily be considered on their own merits?

[TordelBack]

True, but Dave himself is pretty insistent that it's one 6000+ page story.  I've seen plenty of lists where Jaka's Story is presented on its own, but I'm not sure if that isn't just wishful thinking. 

One of the (many, many) oddities of Cerebus is that despite Dave's claims*, the phonebooks don't collect the whole story: you need at the very least to get the Cerebus 0 floppy for that, and there's a valid school of thought that you need the backup strips from Swords... as well.  If it was one giant novel, wouldn't you expect it to be presented in some logically complete form?


*Obviously Dave keeps Cerebus 0 in print, and makes it clear that it exists, but he still refers to Cerebus as a single narrative...

[Colin YNWA]

True, but Dave himself is pretty insistent that it's one 6000+ page story. 

And obviously its his work and so he has a very valid view point on it BUT (it was coming) there's a lot that Dave says, even about Cerebus, that I really don't agree with!

http://www.jazzbastards.org/cerebus/Cerebus_FAQ.html

Cerebus is such a wonderfully sprawling work that while it does indeed tell a complete 6000 (plus as you rightly point out) story its quality varies immensely over the 25 years (plus) of its creation. The other perspective I guess is yes Lord of the Rings (as an example) is one book and tells one tell that doesn't stop say Two Towers being a book also in its own right?

[TordelBack]

The other perspective I guess is yes Lord of the Rings (as an example) is one book and tells one tell that doesn't stop say Two Towers being a book also in its own right?

An excellent choice of example, in that you're wrong!     The Two Towers really isn't a book in its own right - it's actually two of the six constituent books of LotR printed in one volume of three.  Tee hee hee.

Yes, of course you can take any of the Cerebus volumes as books in their own right (I think the aforementioned Eddie Campbell actually singled out 'Going Home' (or Vols 9 and 10, if you are so inclined) as one of his 100 Graphic Novels of the 20th C, if you can believe it) if you want to. And no denying that Dave Sim is mistaken about A Great Many Things.

[Skullmo]

True, but Dave himself is pretty insistent that it's one 6000+ page story. 

And obviously its his work and so he has a very valid view point on it BUT (it was coming) there's a lot that Dave says, even about Cerebus, that I really don't agree with!

http://www.jazzbastards.org/cerebus/Cerebus_FAQ.html

Cerebus is such a wonderfully sprawling work that while it does indeed tell a complete 6000 (plus as you rightly point out) story its quality varies immensely over the 25 years (plus) of its creation. The other perspective I guess is yes Lord of the Rings (as an example) is one book and tells one tell that doesn't stop say Two Towers being a book also in its own right?

I am waiting for the single volume omnibus edition 

[Hawkmumbler]

Cerebus just needs a good reprinting. Some of the volumes are incredibly hard to find now.

[Colin YNWA]

The other perspective I guess is yes Lord of the Rings (as an example) is one book and tells one tell that doesn't stop say Two Towers being a book also in its own right?

An excellent choice of example, in that you're wrong!     The Two Towers really isn't a book in its own right - it's actually two of the six constituent books of LotR printed in one volume of three.  Tee hee hee.

That just hurts my noggin? When did Two Towers become two books and LoTR's 6?.. I've not been playing enough attention have I!