Graphic Scenes : Recommended Reading

In Issue nine of proper you may have read that I’m seriously getting into graphics novels though not the babyish ones about men with pizzas for faces, more the factual based, war/Victorian serial killer type content. Anyway here are a few of my favourites that I’ve waded through so far, all further recommendations welcome as long as they don’t involve people in tights crying because they’ve just discovered they can turn Vimto into Nuclear energy.

Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa

Horrific and inspiring in equal parts, the tale of a young boy growing up amid the devastating effects of nuclear warfare. There are ten volumes, each of them brilliant.

Che by Spain Rodriguez

A great introduction to the birth of modern Cuba as well as the face that launched a million posters.

From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

Not just one of my favourite graphic novels but one of my favourite books ever, like a bad Victorian acid trip that you never want to end. I’ve read a few Jack the Ripper books but to me this is the most convincing as to who the culprit really was.

Maus by Art Spiegelman

Stunning, harrowing, heart-breaking and fascinating. Everyone should read this.

Palestine by Joe Sacco

An unbiased look at one of the world’s most un-just and in-humane political situations.

Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco

If you’ve no idea what Bosnia was all about and who were the ‘goodies’ and the ‘baddies’ then this is a great explanation as to just how this nightmarish conflict came to be, at a time when most of us in Europe were too busy arguing over Blur and Oasis to notice the horrendous massacres happening on our very own door-step.

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

This book conveys beautifully the starkness, paranoia and Orwellian regime that is every-day life for North Koreans.

Neil Summers