The Best Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks

Just Starting Out? Here Are a Few Good Reads for You to Check

LeVar Anthony
LeVar Anthony, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Apr 30, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
There are many books in the world to read. A lot of those are called comic books. Maybe you know someone that reads or collects; maybe you buy them for someone. Whatever the reason, comics are in your life from movies like Batman, Superman and even Sin City to TV shows such as Smallville. But somewhere in the back of your mind you want to read one.

There are a few out there that are serious in nature and to that fact it is a more sensible read. You can pick up just about anything from Frank Miller. You may not be familiar with the name but you know his work. One of which is Robocop. Frank Miller created the character and the story for the first movie. In the later movies the studios pretty much ruined his vision of the project.

Batman: Year One, Batman: Dark Knight Returns and Sin City are your go to reads when it comes to Frank Miller. You should be able to find the Graphic Novels at book stores or comic books shops. Frank Miller is currently doing work in Hollywood. He is helping with the sequels to Sin City.

One of the best comics and Graphic Novels of 2004 is Identity Crisis by DC Comics. Written by novelist Brad Meltzer, this story hits home in the personal lives of Superheroes as the wife of one such hero is attacked and killed. This is a mystery at heart so look for clues and twist and also turns...some for the worse.

At the top of the list should be the Watchmen. This twelve issue series was latter put into a "graphic novel" or trade paperback. It is the only graphic novel to receive a Hugo Award, an award given yearly to the best Science Fiction or Fantasy works the previous year. The story of the watchmen takes place in 1985 and in this reality costumed heroes are common. At the same time the world is edging toward nuclear war.

And now we come to The Death of Captain Marvel. He is from an alien race called the Kree. He was sent to Earth to observe but later he aligned himself with Earth. His book started out well but soon sales started to decline. A creator by the name of Jim Starlin was hired to get the book back on track. It worked but again the book started to suffer. So, in a momentous occasion Starlin decided to kill the character in a very special way, a very human way. Captain Marvel succumbed to cancer. It was brought on by a battle with the villain Nitro.

There are many other Graphic Novels out there. Maybe I missed one of your favorites. Or maybe you think I was way off base with one or two. What are your top 5 or 10? I would love to know. Well, until next time...remember to keep reading.

Published by LeVar Anthony

LeVar Anthony, born in Washington DC. Lover of comic books and co-owner of H.A.L. Comic Strip and the website www.halscomicandcards.com. Also writes for H.A.L. Comic Strip's Blogger page at http://halscomica...  View profile

  • Death of Captain Marvel
  • Frank Miller
  • Watchmen
Marvel and DC comics both have a Captain Marvel.

Marvel's Captain Marvel has been "resurected"

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  • LeVar Anthony9/4/2008

    I suggest reading my other article to find out why Comic Books Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks are so hard to define.

    http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/80898/the_story_of_comic_books_and_graphic.html?cat=38

  • LeVar Anthony8/30/2008

    Death Of Captain Marvel is the name of the book. And his death is pretty much a story point from page one. It is a good read. Check it out if you can.

  • G8/30/2008

    Way to ruin the ending of Captain Marvel, guess im not buying that now

  • Those are not graphic novels6/12/2008

    Watchmen, Sandman, and Sin City are not graphic novels. They are comic books. A graphic novel is a single, stand-alone story in a single printing. It's trendy now to call serious comic books "graphic novels," but that's not what they are. You are confusing graphic novels with trade paperbacks. I'm getting pretty annoyed with this confusion, because too many non-comic book and no-graphic novel readers who getting interested in these stories are calling it all "graphic novels" because "comic book" has a stigma to it. When you mistakenly call comic books graphic novels you only reenforce that negative stereotype and hurt comic books overall.

  • Susan Koller12/4/2007




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  • LeVar Anthony5/1/2007

    Fantastic Four is a pretty good read. In the comics they are going through a transition with 2 new characters...Ill do an article on it soon.

  • Charlotte Kuchinsky4/30/2007

    Some good ones listed here. How do you feel about Fantastic Four?

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