graphic novels, comics and mangas

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From amazon.com review:
Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.

What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to keep her on their side of the door. To make creepy creepier, Coraline has been illustrated masterfully in scritchy, terrifying ink drawings by British mixed-media artist and Sandman cover illustrator Dave McKean. This delightful, funny, haunting, scary as heck, fairy-tale novel is about as fine as they come. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson

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From amazon.com review:
Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can--he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold.

The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You'll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you'll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) --Therese Littleton

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From amazon.com:
One day Nathan comes over with two goldfish named Sawney and Beaney. "I'll swap you them," says the little boy of the house. "What for?" asks Nathan. As it turns out, Nathan doesn't want anything that the boy and his little sister suggest for trading... not an old spaceship or even Clownie the clown. Finally, the boy has an idea, the kind of idea (like discovering "electricity or fire or outer space or something") that changes the whole world. He decides to swap his dad (the silent guy behind the newspaper) for two goldfish. After all, the boy brags, his dad is as big as 100 goldfish and he swims better than a goldfish ("Liar," says his little sister.) But Nathan agrees to take their dad anyway. When their mother gets home, she is very mad, and sends her kids over to Nathan's to get their dad back. Sadly, Nathan has already traded their dad for an electric guitar. Page upon hilarious page goes by, as the father is traded again and again. When they finally track him down, he is still reading the newspaper! (Mom makes them promise never to swap their dad for anything ever again, and they promise.)

Comic masters Neil Gaiman and artist Dave McKean have created a wonderful graphic short story for all ages. The artwork is magnificent, funny, multi-textured, and scritchy--the perfect visual accompaniment to this hip, kid-friendly exploration of the perils of bartering family members. --Karin Snelson

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From amazon:
In the Town Without Pity, good men are hard to find. Enter Wallace, a man of mystery. He's a nice guy who's very good at killing people. Out for an evening drive along the beach, he meets the woman of his dreams - and she's trying to kill herself. Why? And who are the shadowy cabal of power brokers who wrench her from his arms? When will all hell break loose?

Comics legend Frank Miller, creator of the groundbreaking Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, pounds out his longest Sin City graphic novel to date - a bare-knuckle barrage of brutal action, dark secrets, and heroic sacrifice. What the hell - it's a love story! The most recent story in Miller's gritty crime saga, Hell and Back includes color sections and pinups by a who's who of comics luminaries.

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From amazon:
The most diverse volume of Sin City material available, Booze, Broads, & Bullets, showcases Frank Miller's vignettes and color experiments from throughout the years of his groundbreaking crime series, and includes art created especially for the original collection. A good entry point for new readers wondering what Sin City is all about - or longtime readers who can't get enough - Miller has painted a gritty, decadent, and gloriously dirty portrait. Have a taste of the city ... just one little taste. Just one.

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From amazon:
Marking a departure for Miller from an entire career of serialized stories, this 128-page epic spilled out of him all at once... and you can't help but read it the same way! Family Values is a milestone among Miller's work, allowing him enough room to tell this classic story of grit and revenge exactly the way he wanted to. With deadly Miho running on roller-blades, Dwight running on adrenaline, and the Sin City mob on clean-up detail, this yarn from the Town Without Pity is not to be missed.

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From amazon:
In a Sin City short story, "The Babe Wore Red," Frank Miller deviated from his stark black-and-white artwork by adding tiny bits of color throughout the story. The girl's dress was red, her lips were red--you get the picture. In That Yellow Bastard, the fourth Sin City graphic novel, Miller's experiment with yellow ink is also a tremendous success. The setup is simple. On the last day before he retires, Hartigan, an old cop, gets a call about an 11-year-old girl who has been kidnapped by a lunatic. Hartigan has got just one more thing to do before he retires: save the girl. Saving her is the easy part, because Hartigan has uncovered something really bad that is not going to stop until it catches up with him. That Yellow Bastard is nerve-racking to the very end.

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From amazon:
With The Big Fat Kill Frank Miller is at it again with another comics packed with guns, lovers, losers, and surprises. In Sin City's Old Town, the prostitutes run the show. "The cops stay out. That leaves the girls free to keep the pimps and the mob out." Sounds like an OK place, right? It is until a pushy, loud-mouthed guy who has had one too many drinks comes into Old Town and gets himself killed by the ladies. When they find out who he is, they realize that "it'll be war. The streets will run red with blood. Women's blood."

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From amazon:
This is Frank Miller's second Sin City story. While it doesn't quite match The Hard Goodbye, it's a damn fine example of comics noir in it's own right. The lead character this time around is Dwight, but fans of Marv will be pleased to know that he shows up here in a supporting role. This story takes place prior to, and concurrently with, "The Hard Goodbye". In fact, you can see Marv enacting some scenes from "The Hard Goodbye" in the background of panels here. Anyway, the story is about how Dwight's ex-girlfriend Ava comes and asks him for help. I don't want to give away the story, but it may seem a bit familiar to fans of film noir. Despite what may seem like a predictable storyline, I loved it because it is so well told and the art is beautiful. This is not one of the stories that is being adapted for the Sin City motion picture, but the sequel to this book, The Big Fat Kill is in the movie.

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From amazon:
Legendary artist Frank Miller opened a noir opus in Sin City. This critically-acclaimed triumph-honored by both an Eisner Award and the prestigious National Cartoonists' Award-combines the pulp intensity of writers like Spillane and Cain with the gritty graphic storytelling that only Miller can deliver.

Sin City is the place-tough as leather and dry as tinder. Love is the fuel, and the now-infamous character Marv has the match ... not to mention a "condition." He's gunning after Goldie's killer, so it's time to watch this town burn! Frank Miller is one of modern comic's first talents to publish a comic book that he created, crafted, and owned. That book is Sin City, which grew from the wellspring of Miller's passionate desire to create a comic book with two distinct qualities - it wouldn't be a superhero comic, and it had to be a crime comic. Enter Marv and Goldie. And a psychotic killer. And a crime-drenched town. And a corrupted diocese.

Sin City is a town like no other, but most places resemble it in one way or another. In real life, thugs live everywhere and women sell their bodies all the time, but if everyday life is a storm, Sin City exists in the eye of a hurricane.

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From wikipedia:
300 is a historically-inspired 1998 comic book limited series written and illustrated by Frank Miller with painted colors by Lynn Varley.

The comic is a fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae and the events leading up to it from the perspective of Leonidas of Sparta. 300 was particularly inspired by the 1962 film The 300 Spartans, a movie that Miller watched as a young boy. The work was adapted in 2007 to a film of the same name.

From amazon:
The armies of Persia--a vast horde greater than any the world has ever known--are poised to crush Greece, an island of reason and freedom in a sea of madness and tyranny. Standing between Greece and this tidal wave of destruction are a tiny detachment of but three hundred warriors. Frank Miller`s epic retelling of history`s supreme moment of battlefield valor is finally collected in a glorious hardcover volume in its intended format-- each two-page spread from the original comics is presented as a single undivided page.

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From wikipedia:
Hard Boiled is a three-issue comic book mini-series written by Frank Miller and drawn by Geof Darrow. Its first issue was published by Dark Horse Comics in 1990. In it, Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator, discovers he is also a homicidal cyborg tax collector who happens to be the last hope of an enslaved robot race.

From amazon's customer review:
Haven't bought a comic in a while. Hollywood, having finally admited to running out of ideas has turned to the great and ultra-cool comics (Hellboy, Sin City, V for Vendetta, etc) in order to make some dough, has once again sparked my interest in graphic novels. I bought this one based soley on the art and was not dissapointed.

The ultra-violence can get a bit tedious (If you like tons of bloody naked people getting mauled by flaming vehicles....then prepare for your boat to float), but overall its not a bad read.

The story is ok. Not amazing but interesting never-the-less.

The cool thing about this book is the illustration. Which, is a virtual "Where's Waldo" of advertising icons, naked people, drug parephanilia, blood, and robots. Folks who say you can reread this a few times just to look at the amazing detail are telling it to you straight.

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From wikipedia:
Bad Boy a one-shot comic book by Frank Miller and Simon Bisley and published by Oni Press. It follows the story of Jason, a young boy who comes to realize that the couple he thinks are his parents aren't his parents at all, and his world isn't what it seems to be.

From amazon:
Dynamite Entertainment proudly presents a brand-new hardcover production of Bad Boy by Frank Miller and Simon Bisley! Bad Boy features Jason, a little boy who comes to realize his parents aren't his parents, and that he's part of a sterile experimental community. Originally produced as a strip for the British Edition of GQ, Bad Boy is now a powerful piece of graphic fiction as only Miller and Bisley can produce!

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Ronin is a comic book limited series published between 1983 and 1984,
by DC Comics. The series was written and drawn by Frank Miller with
artwork painted by Lynn Varley. It takes place in a dystopic near-future
New York in which a ronin is reincarnated. The six-issue work shows some
of the strongest influences of manga on Miller's style, both in the artwork
and narrative style.

From amazon's customer review:
Probably the most unappreciated of Miller's work, "Ronin" is nevertheless one of his greatest achievements. It was originally shunned by many because of its wild combination of art styles and overall departure from Miller's typical work, but it is this uniqueness that makes it so memorable. Miller creates a convincing, if unrelentingly brutal, vision of the future, and fills it with strong characters you'll never forget. The story unravels in a fascinating way, as the reader realizes that nothing in the story is what it appears to be. I won't spoil it for you--just read the thing. You don't even have to be a Miller buff to enjoy it--any fan of good science fiction will find this one hard to put down.

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From wikipedia:
Alan Moore's The Courtyard is a 2003 comic book adaptation of a 1994 prose story written by Alan Moore. It was adapted for comics by Antony Johnston, with artwork by Jacen Burrows, and Alan Moore as "consulting editor". Originally planned to appear in Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths, it was published as a standalone release by Avatar. The plot centres around an FBI agent who specialises in "anomaly theory", being assigned to investigate three seemingly-unrelated murder cases in Red Hook. When the investigation leads to a night club, and onto the apparent use of a drug named Aklo, the agent soon finds things are not at all as they seem.

From amazon:
Just in time for the sequel in 2009, Alan Moore's haunting masterpiece, The Courtyard, is available in color for the first time! The most celebrated writer in the industry, Alan Moore, teams up with brilliant artist Jacen Burrows, to unleash this timeless tale of Lovecraftian psychological horror. FBI man Aldo Sax has an amazing service record with the FBI. His legendary skills at piecing together the most baffling of cases has gotten him assigned to what may be his most confusing case yet. Several murders - no, more like lethal dismemberments - from the most unlikely of suspects just don't addd up. And what few leads there are, all point to The Courtyard. This special collected edition of the series features an introduction by Garth Ennis!

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From goodreads by Loyd:
Houdini:The Handcuff King is a straightforward slice of the life of Harry Houdini. It's nicely drawn, and appears to be written for a student's reading level (there are also study helps in the back of the book). The authors make some assumptions about Houdini's escape techniques, and even if they are accurate, they describe things that only Houdini himself would know. The book does a good job placing the reader in the pre-electronic media time period and some of the prejudices of the day, and describes the loving relationship between Houdini and his wife Bess.

From amazon:
Harry Houdini mesmerized a generation of Americans when he was alive, and continues to do so eighty years after his death. This is a "snapshot" of Houdini's life, centering on one of his most famous jumps. As Houdini prepares for a death-defying leap into the icy Charles River in Boston, biographer Jason Lutes and artist Nick Bertozzi reveal Houdini's life and influence: from the anti-Semitism Houdini fought all his life, to the adulation of the American public; from his hounding by the press, to his loving relationship with his wife Bess; from his egoism to his insecurity; from his public persona -- to the secret behind his most amazing trick! And it's all in graphic form, so it's fresh, original, and unlike anything previously published about this most fascinating of American showmen.

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From wikipedia:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century is the third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. Co-published by Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics in the US and UK respectively, Century will be published in three distinct 72-page squarebound comics. The volumes are tentatively scheduled to be released annually with Part 1 already released on May 13, 2009; Part 2 scheduled for April / May 2010; and Part 3 scheduled for April / May 2011.

From amazon:
The new volume detailing the exploits of Miss Wilhelmina Murray and her extraordinary colleagues, Century is a 240-page epic spanning almost a hundred years. Divided into three 80-page chapters - each a self-contained narrative to avoid frustrating cliff-hanger delays between episodes - this monumental tale takes place in three distinct eras, building to an apocalyptic conclusion occurring in our own, current, twenty-first century.

Chapter one is set against the backdrop of London, 1910, twelve years after the failed Martian invasion and nine years since England put a man upon the moon. In the bowels of the British Museum, Carnacki the ghost-finder is plagued by visions of a shadowy occult order who are attempting to create something called a Moonchild, while on London's dockside the most notorious serial murderer of the previous century has returned to carry on his grisly trade. Working for Mycroft Holmes' British Intelligence alongside a rejuvenated Allan Quartermain, the reformed thief Anthony Raffles and the eternal warrior Orlando, Miss Murray is drawn into a brutal opera acted out upon the waterfront by players that include the furiously angry Pirate Jenny and the charismatic butcher known as Mac the Knife.

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From wikipedia:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It is the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics; future editions of the series will be published by Top Shelf Productions due to Alan Moore severing all connections with DC. Chronologically, the volume is the third in the series, but Moore says that it is really an intermediary volume linking volumes two and three.

Unlike earlier volumes, the comic book portions of Black Dossier are not set in the Victorian era; rather, they are set in 1958, after the fall of the Big Brother government from Nineteen Eighty Four (the chronological explanation for this is that Orwell's book was originally set in 1948, but the dates were changed by the publisher). The story itself sees Mina Harker and Allan Quatermain - now immortal after bathing in the fire of youth from She - on their quest to recover the Black Dossier, which contains the secret history of the now-disbanded League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Out to stop them is a trio of secret agents: inept, brutally womanizing young spy Jimmy (a thinly-veiled James Bond), a young agent named Emma Night (later to become Emma Peel in The Avengers), and Hugo Drummond (really Bulldog Drummond). The pursuit takes Mina and Allan from London to Scotland and eventually to the magical Blazing World.

From amazon:
England in the mid 1950s is not the same as it was. The powers that be have instituted...some changes. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have been disbanded and disavowed, and the country is under the control of an iron-fisted regime. Now, after many years, the still youthful Mina Murray and a rejuvenated Allan Quatermain return and are in search of some answers. Answers that can only be found in a book buried deep in the vaults of their old headquarters, a book that holds the key to the hidden history of the League throughout the ages: The Black Dossier. As Allan and Mina delve into the details of their precursors, some dating back centuries, they must elude their dangerous pursuers who are Hell-bent on retrieving the lost manuscript... and ending the League once and for all.

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From wikipedia:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II is a comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, published under the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Comics. It is a sequel to the original volume of the series and is mainly a retelling of The War of the Worlds.

From amazon:
The inspiration behind the blockbuster movie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen once again uses the classic characters from familiar literature to tell a tale of epic proportions in Victorian England. In volume two, when alien invaders from Mars mercilessly attack London, the throne quickly calls upon Allan Quatermain, Mina Harker, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll to protect the empire.Using their various skills and intellect, the League goes about preparing a defense against the invasion but when the Invisible Man joins the Martian's cause, all appears to be lost.Now, as one of the members dies a horrific death, the League turns to the legendary Dr. Moreau as their last desperate hope.

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From wikipedia:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I is a comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, published under the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Comics. It is the first story in the larger League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. The story takes place in 1898 in a fictional world where all of the characters and events from Victorian literature (and possibly the entirety of fiction) coexist. The world the characters inhabit is one more technologically advanced than our own was in the same era.

From amazon:
Proving that mainstream comics could be infused with past literary/cultural ideals and still be bestsellers, the America's Best Comics imprint took the dilapidated superhero genre and created three vastly entertaining hybrids with Tom Strong, Promethea and Top Ten. Now, a stunning coup de grace is delivered with this masterful pairing of Victorian adventure fiction's greatest characters and the old war-horse of the super-group. With the stunning The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it would be no exaggeration to say that Alan Moore has produced a near-perfect piece of adventure fiction that is clever, literate, rich with excitement and hard to put down.

It's 1898 and at the behest of M, the mysterious head of the secret Service, Campion Bond is dispatched to procure the services of Miss Mina Murray (nee Harker), adventurer Allan Quartermain, "Science-Pirate" Captain Nemo, Henry Jekyll (and his monstrous alter ego) and Hawley Griffin (a.k.a. the Invisible Man). Together, they must combat an insidious threat that will decide supremacy of the London skies, but their success may unleash a far greater threat. With no shortage of action, Moore and O' Neill sustain a high level of suspense, intrigue, mystery and terrific wit that all contribute to an indispensable read. O'Neill's art, so memorable in Marshal Law, produces a London filled with vivid, magnificent architecture and a malevolent atmosphere ripe with thrills and danger. An unmitigated triumph--pure and simple. --Danny Graydon

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