Essential Global comic-works, that any comic-book artist should know?

[GhostPirate]

Daredevil #181- especially the sequence where Bullseye stabs Elektra, then disguises himself and follows her incognito to watch her death on Matt's doorstep all done subtly in the background, was brilliant.

A couple scenes done by Mazzuchelli from DD "Born Again" also come to mind- The phone call to Urich, where the nurse forces him to listen while she murders Nick Manolis, the whole "there is no corpse" scene with the Kingpin.

Walt Simonson from Thor #362- Kurse standing alone at Gjallerbru

Grendel #9 by the Pander Bros. "And as to the problem with Dominic Riley.... eventually I killed him" are the only words in the entire story bookending Grendel's systematic tormenting and torture of Riley. There are also a few stories drawn by Wagner in issues #'s 16-20 of the original Comico Grendel run where he experiments with different ways of artistic storytelling that might make for interesting discussion. There are any number of examples throughout the run from a variety of artists to choose from, in fact.

Dozens of examples from Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson.

Might not be what you're looking for but they're what came to mind for me when I think of sequential storytelling.

[Spike-X]

Ah but he's asking for seminal, not good. Sometimes the worst things are the most influential.

Yeah, but mostly they influenced people to make **** comics.

[L.R Johansson]

Yeah, I'm not gonna' add actual bad comics to this list, no matter how influential they are...

The list is almost done btw! =) Only two more additions... have a look, see if there are any superfluous, anything under-represented, or so on.

So far, no one have listed any Manhwa tho', yeah...? And nothing Italian, or Spanish - even tho' Italy and Spain have a long and rich comic-book history.

Doesn't anybody have any suggestions for that??

EDIT: How about for Manhwa, Dokebi Bride, or Tower of God? What are you guys opinions on those? Or is there some other great Manhwa, that ought to be in the list?

[FanboyStranger]

Needs more Hicksville!

hicksville.jpg

Also, for this kind of thing, I think Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics would be a good addition.

[Billy Batson]

So far, no one have listed any Manhwa tho', yeah...? And nothing Italian, or Spanish - even tho' Italy and Spain have a long and rich comic-book history.

Doesn't anybody have any suggestions for that??

EDIT: How about for Manhwa, Dokebi Bride, or Tower of God? What are you guys opinions on those? Or is there some other great Manhwa, that ought to be in the list?

Hugo Pratt and Milo Manara are Italian. For a Spanish artist I'd throw in Tanino Liberatore and South American artists Francisco Solano López and Alberto Breccia, though I don't know how easy their works are to find.

[L.R Johansson]

Needs more Hicksville!

hicksville.jpg

Also, for this kind of thing, I think Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics would be a good addition.

Scott McCloud's books are all a great suggestion, they're actually already a part of the curriculum tho', this list is more for inspiration, as examples that need to be studied, in order to understand the practicalities of the craft - basically, no film-maker can NOT see the 7th Seal, and no comic-creator can NOT read the Spirit.

But what's Hicksville? Who's the creator of that? The guy that did Black Hole, or somethin'? ( my ineducation is showing here, but I might as well reveal it - in this, I have no clue. AMERICAN Indie-comics is a black-spot for me.)

Hugo Pratt and Milo Manara are Italian. For a Spanish artist I'd throw in Tanino Liberatore and South American artists Francisco Solano López and Alberto Breccia, though I don't know how easy their works are to find.

D'oh! How could I forget that Manara is Italian...? Cheers for the suggestions tho', will have a look at them.

EDIT: Hugo Pratt it is. Fantastic stuff. I chose one of the later albums, because honestly? "Fable of Venice" seems a HECK of a lot more technically skill-full in the execution, than "on the Salt Seas."

[FanboyStranger]

But what's Hicksville? Who's the creator of that? The guy that did Black Hole, or somethin'? ( my ineducation is showing here, but I might as well reveal it - in this, I have no clue. AMERICAN Indie-comics is a black-spot for me.)

Dylan Horrocks, who is from New Zealand. Hicksville is a story of a reporter who goes to an isolated New Zealand town to learn about his favorite comics creator and discovers a place that celebrates comics in all their forms, including a library that has every comic ever created, even if it was just by some kid in his bedroom. What's interesting about it in the context of your project is that there's a lot of examination of style in the work, from cartography as comics to even superhero pages. It's really a wonderful book, and it's one that I recommend as often as possible.

[Spike-X]

Black Hole is by Charles Burns, and is pretty damn great.

[tombo]

milo manaras books were too semimal for me as a lusty teen who liked graphic novels.

[Spike-X]

Heheh...'seminal'.

[iangould]

Kampong boy by Lat
Barefoot Gen
Valerian
Skreemer
Various works from 2000 AD, Warrior, Crisis and Warrior, in particular The Ballad of Halo Jones, Judge Dredd, Bad Company, Finn and 3rd World War.
American Flagg!
Someone mentioned the Nikopol Trilogy earlier but I'd preference Bilal's collaborations with Christin, particularly The hunting Party.

[DubipR]

- American Flagg! by Howard Chaykin
- Any book from Los Bros Hernandez (Love & Rockets)
- the works of Carlos Nine
- Airtight Garage by Moebius
- the works of Bruno
- the works of Hincker Blutch
- the works of Joost Swarte
- anything from Dupuy/Berberain
- the works of Paul Pope

[Billy Batson]

Someone mentioned the Nikopol Trilogy earlier but I'd preference Bilal's collaborations with Christin, particularly The hunting Party.

I read that some months ago and it was excellent.

[cgh]

I read that some months ago and it was excellent.

Pretty much all Bilal is excellent. If you like his early stuff like The Hunting Party, try to find Exterminator 17 and The Black Order Brigade if you haven't already. I first read Exterminator 17 via my dad's old copies of Heavy Metal when I was a kid, like ten or something. Where I grew up, we had no tv, no movie theatre and no bookstore so you can imagine how mind-blowing this stuff was to me.

That said, I tend to prefer his later stuff: The Dormant Beast, December 32nd, Rendez-vous a Paris and Quatre? are a four-part series in an unusual painted style that I think represents his best work. I read the last two via Google Translate and my own terrible French - these really need proper translations.

[FanboyStranger]

That said, I tend to prefer his later stuff: The Dormant Beast, December 32nd, Rendez-vous a Paris and Quatre? are a four-part series in an unusual painted style that I think represents his best work. I read the last two via Google Translate and my own terrible French - these really need proper translations.

Preach it. Bilal falling out with Humanoids left us in a position with no recent English translations of his work. I think he's with Casterman now, which had an agreement with Archaia, but I'm not sure how the merger with BOOM! has effected its Euro comic translations. (I do know that Archaia/BOOM! has printed new editions of The Killer and the second volume of Alex Alice's Siegfried adaptation since the merger. Still waiting on my Secret History Omnibus, vol. 3.)

Also, the first two chapters of the "Beast" quartet were reprinted in English when Humanoids was working with DC. I don't know how much was censored, which was one of the problems with the arrangement at the time.