Most overrated / Most undevalued Graphic Novels & Collections

[Hellboydce]

Overrated.....
Anything by Kirby, Gaiman, Moore, Moebius, Ellis, Brubaker, Morrison, Miller
Underrated....
Anything by Rob Liefeld....he's the best


(Not joking about some of them )

[The Whovian]

I'm hoping they'll eventually make "Tales of the Batman: Dustin Ngueyn" which would quite essentially be a collection of Dini's Batman run. :b Granted, Paul Dini has more brand name so how about: Batman by Paul Dini Omnibus!

I'd buy that in a heartbeat. Then I would have to figure out what to do with my Dini Batman books I already have

[The Whovian]

I don't dislike what I've read from him (Avengers, Secret Wars) but he has zero characterisation.

Have you actually read his entire FF run or just some of it? There is TONS of characterization in that run. I would agree with you that his Avengers stuff not so much, but his FF has a LOT. So does his EoW series.

[TomSlick]

I'm surprised at what folks are considering underrated. Examples: Ellis' Authority; Dini's Batman; Ostrander's Spectre; Robinson's Starman.
Seriously????
I've never heard anyone consider them underrated.

Anyhoo, just my two cents.

Oh wait, one more thing: Someone said Nocenti's DD was underrated. No. It's not. It's trash.

Carry on.

LOL

[The Whovian]

I'm surprised at what folks are considering underrated. Examples: Ellis' Authority; Dini's Batman; Ostrander's Spectre; Robinson's Starman.
Seriously????
I've never heard anyone consider them underrated.

Anyhoo, just my two cents.

Oh wait, one more thing: Someone said Nocenti's DD was underrated. No. It's not. It's trash.

Carry on.

LOL

How dare you sir!

[awayne83]

Oh, man! I thought about starting this exact thread the other week. Need to get some things off of my chest lol.

Overrated:

Sin City, Hellboy, & Hellblazer are my most notable offenders. There's lots of morrison too, but he's pretty divisive so i'll leave that alone. Sin City may have been innovative at the time, but those stories aren't written particularly well, and have been done much better since in a variety of series (Criminal, Stray Bullets, etc). Hellboy and Hellblazer fall in a little bit different category for me personally, because i love the idea of the characters, but the stories just never lived up to their potential for me. I liked the first trade of Hellboy but after 2 more couldn't get through anymore. I even tried again when In Hell came out, same result. I bought the first trade of Hellblazer as i thought that best to start. The stories were bland, no real excitement or intrigue for me. So i figured i'd jump to ennis' run. While an improvement, still disappointed. I know i'll catch flack for this, but the movie (regardless of how you feel about Keanu Reeves) handled that whole plot in much more interesting and entertaining way, with a more satisfying conclusion.

Underrated:

I'm with tomslick on this. a lot of these choices are well known works. Hard to justify them underrated. Most of the classics are, to me, either properly rated, or overrated cause they don't stand the test of time, have been done better since, yadda yadda. So my underrated picks are a little more modern. I've talked about some of these on other threads so i'll keep it short.

Loveless: Gritty, adult revenge tale that takes place in southern US shortly after the end of the Civil War. Awesome book. One of Vertigo's best that doesn't get enough attention. Probably 'cause it didn't have one of those long runs.

Manhattan Projects: For Hickman all i hear is EoW this, and Avengers that. This is his best work. Oh, that reminded me of Nightly News, should have put that in the overrated section. Still haven't been able to finish that.

Valiant (new): similar to invincible, doesn't get the recognition it deserves 'cause it's not "big 2" superheroes. Get your head out of the sand, people! Some of the better current cape stories out.

Duncan the Wonder Dog: Hard to consider this underrated considering it finished on so many "best of" lists when it came out, but it's one of my favorite all time books, regardless of genre or era or however you want to categorize it. Just stunning visually, love how the narrative is handled with all the little side stories to help expand the world, and it has one of the most disturbing antagonists in any story, period. And i don't think i've ever heard it mentioned on these boards, and i also don't think i've ever seen the book on anyone's shelf either. This is a travesty. It's only in paperback, but it is deluxe size. But if your hc ocd can't handle that, do yourself the favor and check it out online, for free! in its entirety. Still waiting patiently for Vol. 2 that was due out in 2014....

[The Whovian]

Oh, man! I thought about starting this exact thread the other week. Need to get some things off of my chest lol.

Overrated:

Sin City, Hellboy, & Hellblazer are my most notable offenders. There's lots of morrison too, but he's pretty divisive so i'll leave that alone. Sin City may have been innovative at the time, but those stories aren't written particularly well, and have been done much better since in a variety of series (Criminal, Stray Bullets, etc). Hellboy and Hellblazer fall in a little bit different category for me personally, because i love the idea of the characters, but the stories just never lived up to their potential for me. I liked the first trade of Hellboy but after 2 more couldn't get through anymore. I even tried again when In Hell came out, same result. I bought the first trade of Hellblazer as i thought that best to start. The stories were bland, no real excitement or intrigue for me. So i figured i'd jump to ennis' run. While an improvement, still disappointed. I know i'll catch flack for this, but the movie (regardless of how you feel about Keanu Reeves) handled that whole plot in much more interesting and entertaining way, with a more satisfying conclusion.

Underrated:

I'm with tomslick on this. a lot of these choices are well known works. Hard to justify them underrated. Most of the classics are, to me, either properly rated, or overrated cause they don't stand the test of time, have been done better since, yadda yadda. So my underrated picks are a little more modern. I've talked about some of these on other threads so i'll keep it short.

Loveless: Gritty, adult revenge tale that takes place in southern US shortly after the end of the Civil War. Awesome book. One of Vertigo's best that doesn't get enough attention. Probably 'cause it didn't have one of those long runs.

Manhattan Projects: For Hickman all i hear is EoW this, and Avengers that. This is his best work. Oh, that reminded me of Nightly News, should have put that in the overrated section. Still haven't been able to finish that.

Valiant (new): similar to invincible, doesn't get the recognition it deserves 'cause it's not "big 2" superheroes. Get your head out of the sand, people! Some of the better current cape stories out.

Duncan the Wonder Dog: Hard to consider this underrated considering it finished on so many "best of" lists when it came out, but it's one of my favorite all time books, regardless of genre or era or however you want to categorize it. Just stunning visually, love how the narrative is handled with all the little side stories to help expand the world, and it has one of the most disturbing antagonists in any story, period. And i don't think i've ever heard it mentioned on these boards, and i also don't think i've ever seen the book on anyone's shelf either. This is a travesty. It's only in paperback, but it is deluxe size. But if your hc ocd can't handle that, do yourself the favor and check it out online, for free! in its entirety. Still waiting patiently for Vol. 2 that was due out in 2014....

Hellboy is not overrated. It's brilliantly written and has fantastic artwork. Great characters. Can't ask more much more than that.

[awayne83]

Hellboy is not overrated. It's brilliantly written and has fantastic artwork. Great characters. Can't ask more much more than that.

Comments like this are exactly why i consider it overrated lol. My expectations couldn't be met i suppose. And as i stated in my post, i love the idea of the characters, i like the movies. Mignolas art as become synonymous with hellboy/bprd so its kinda hard to be objective. i think it fits his world perfectly. would i commission him to draw my favorite super heroes? no. And brilliantly written...from what ive read hellboy doesn't even have that much dialogue/narrative, though i suppose that's not necessarily a prerequisite. And i didn't say it was bad. It's just not a masterpiece, in my humble opinion of course.

[missingmarch]

Loveless: Gritty, adult revenge tale that takes place in southern US shortly after the end of the Civil War. Awesome book. One of Vertigo's best that doesn't get enough attention. Probably 'cause it didn't have one of those long runs.

Manhattan Projects: For Hickman all i hear is EoW this, and Avengers that. This is his best work. Oh, that reminded me of Nightly News, should have put that in the overrated section. Still haven't been able to finish that.

Valiant (new): similar to invincible, doesn't get the recognition it deserves 'cause it's not "big 2" superheroes. Get your head out of the sand, people! Some of the better current cape stories out.

I disagree with you on Hellblazer (one of my all time favorite books) but totally agree with you on these three. Loveless is gorgeous and incredibly emotional, Valiant does superpowers better than either of the big two, and Manhattan Projects is a guilty pleasure of mine that is a lot deeper than I ever would have expected it to be.

My personal beliefs about overrated are mostly just authors who I've never enjoyed, like Claremont and Johns, who also happen to write stuff I'm just not into as well.

A few titles I think deserve a bit more attention:

The Exterminators - A real gem, in my opinion. Fun and interesting and has some great characters and character work in it.

Godland - Fun, exciting and feels epic. Of course, Joe Casey is one of my favorite writers, so I'm a bit biased, but I think this title is sufficiently different than his usual fare that it's worth pointing it out.

Books of Magic by Gross & Rieber - So by the end of the series, I really didn't like Tim Hunter. I still thought that it was a fantastic and gorgeous book.

Invisible Republic - Buy the first trade. It's incredible. I hope this goes on forever.

[Brewman]

Overrated.....
Anything by Kirby, Gaiman, Moore, Moebius, Ellis, Brubaker, Morrison, Miller
Underrated....
Anything by Rob Liefeld....he's the best

(Not joking about some of them )

Joking about Kirby, not about Liefeld got it...
Yes I like Liefeld as I am a 90's teenager, but I absolutely get why people don't. Seriously though I hope you are joking about Kirby being overrated. You have to give him credit for being one of a few guys who made comics an art form rather than throw away kids junk.

[TomSlick]

I disagree with you on Hellblazer (one of my all time favorite books) but totally agree with you on these three. Loveless is gorgeous and incredibly emotional, Valiant does superpowers better than either of the big two, and Manhattan Projects is a guilty pleasure of mine that is a lot deeper than I ever would have expected it to be.

My personal beliefs about overrated are mostly just authors who I've never enjoyed, like Claremont and Johns, who also happen to write stuff I'm just not into as well.

A few titles I think deserve a bit more attention:

The Exterminators - A real gem, in my opinion. Fun and interesting and has some great characters and character work in it.

Godland - Fun, exciting and feels epic. Of course, Joe Casey is one of my favorite writers, so I'm a bit biased, but I think this title is sufficiently different than his usual fare that it's worth pointing it out.

Books of Magic by Gross & Rieber - So by the end of the series, I really didn't like Tim Hunter. I still thought that it was a fantastic and gorgeous book.

Invisible Republic - Buy the first trade. It's incredible. I hope this goes on forever.

Oh wow, I forgot about the Exterminators. What a great, albeit short-lived, series.

Definitely underrated.

Books of Magic by Gross and Rieber is another super great read that I wish would get an omnibus collection.

Now, overrated? I'd say Gaiman's Books of Magic. I re-read it a couple years back and thought "this kind of sucks." Actually, come to think of it, about the only thing I like by Gaiman - comic-wise - is Sandman and Death.

I'm currently re-reading his Miracleman stuff and it's very trite. Now granted following Moore's run on it is gonna be tough for anyone and we've never seen how he plans to end the series, so I could be wrong. But, so far . . . eh

[Fuller]

Struggled but manage to finish but was since sold off.....
Hickman's Fantastic four (or Fantastic Bore as I called it)
Kurt Busiek's Avengers omni vol 1, tried but just couldn't get into it.
Ennis Punisher (regular not max version as I haven't read that) read the Ennis omni then the Jason Arron version which I thought was far superior

Underrated,
kirkman's Invincible, not sure what the sales are like but I bet that this massively entertaining book is crushed by the, walk, find some place, people die, repeating dead.
Templesmith's Wormwood, gentlemen corpse, a genuinely funny, original story with outstanding art
Ellis's Authority, pretty much gave birth to modern superhero comics

But this is all just my opinion

I was very interested in Wormwood when the deluxe came out... can you tell me a little more about the series? Will we see other deluxes or is a dead project?

Most overrated is definitely TWD. I'm so sick of the hype around the comics and the tv series. Invincible is waaaay better. Preacher is another overrated series. Good, but not THAT good.
Kabuki and TLOEG are underrated too imho. The Life and Times of $crooge McDuck should be up there too. Maybe we europeans love the ducks a lot more than the americans.

[Hellboydce]

I was very interested in Wormwood when the deluxe came out... can you tell me a little more about the series? Will we see other deluxes or is a dead project?

have tried looking up if Templesmith is doing anymore Wormwood stuff but can't find anything so i'm assuming it's dead, basically it's about a demonic??? worm who wears bodies like suits and gets up to shenanigans while inadvertedly saving the world, the HC collects the three trades, i wholeheartedly recommend it.

[Fuller]

have tried looking up if Templesmith is doing anymore Wormwood stuff but can't find anything so i'm assuming it's dead, basically it's about a demonic??? worm who wears bodies like suits and gets up to shenanigans while inadvertedly saving the world, the HC collects the three trades, i wholeheartedly recommend it.

Ah ok, I didn't understand tha the all series was collected in that volume.

[Balakin]

Ah ok, I didn't understand tha the all series was collected in that volume.

yeah, the whole series is in that but I hope Templesmith will do more, really liked it. Would be perfect for some kinda tv series, either animated or live action, probably on HBO.

I kept thinking about the overrating of books and I honestly think it's mostly subjective. Sometimes the hype is just too big and the books can't potentially live up to them, especially when they are not reinventing the genre or reinvented them ages ago and they read just as good books, when it doesn't hit you in the face but just keeps being good story.

Anyhoodles:

Oh, man! I thought about starting this exact thread the other week. Need to get some things off of my chest lol.

Overrated:

Sin City, Hellboy, & Hellblazer are my most notable offenders. There's lots of morrison too, but he's pretty divisive so i'll leave that alone. Sin City may have been innovative at the time, but those stories aren't written particularly well, and have been done much better since in a variety of series (Criminal, Stray Bullets, etc). Hellboy and Hellblazer fall in a little bit different category for me personally, because i love the idea of the characters, but the stories just never lived up to their potential for me. I liked the first trade of Hellboy but after 2 more couldn't get through anymore. I even tried again when In Hell came out, same result. I bought the first trade of Hellblazer as i thought that best to start. The stories were bland, no real excitement or intrigue for me. So i figured i'd jump to ennis' run. While an improvement, still disappointed. I know i'll catch flack for this, but the movie (regardless of how you feel about Keanu Reeves) handled that whole plot in much more interesting and entertaining way, with a more satisfying conclusion.

Freakin' loved Dangerous habits, I was clapping and laughing and punching in the air at the end. Wasn't really impressed with Delano but only read the end of his run at that point and the first Ennis story just blew me away.