Couple more recommendations; sorry if these have been mentioned before. Some these are ongoing series, but there's at least a couple of trades of each out there.
Scalped, which about an undercover cop on an indian reservation. That makes it sound really cliched, but it's told from the point of view of the cop, who ran away from the reservation aged 13. Really well written, with none of the normal patronising bollocks you find when native americans are written about.
fables, about a group of fairy tale/ nursery rhyme characters living secretly in New York
Criminal, a real none-more-noir series. It's just won a few Eisner awards, and the actual comics themselves have all kinds of articles about, and recommendations of, assorted films and books in the same genre. Despite being marketed by Marvel, it's creator owned and feels like a real labour of love.
Also, Jinx, Torso and Sam & Twitch are all fantastic crime comics written by Bendis, before he started writing every book at Marvel. Can I also second the votes for 100 Bullets, y - The Last Man, and Ex Machina.

Was Fables some sort of Sandman thingy? I think I've read it, but it was a long long time ago.

Does Asterix belong in this thread? I've been reading these for about 15 years now.

QUOTE:
Was Fables some sort of Sandman thingy?

No, although there are some similarities (it's also Vertigo). Basic premise is that fairy tale characters (fables) are brought into existence in another dimension (sort of) by the imagination of humans, where they do (technically did) what humans say they did. But a big baddy called the Adversary launches a massive war, and the Western fables flee through portals to our world , and form a settlement in New Amsterdam, where the bad fables are given an amnesty in return for living by Fabletown rules. The comics start in medias res, so it's modern day, and the fables are plotting to retake the Homelands. It's pretty cool.

Question:

I kind of lost touch with comics and graphic novels when my mate stopped working in a comic shop, so...

Were any of the Deadline characters/stories ever gathered together to form graphic novels of their own? I thought Accident Man was an interesting idea, you see. (Sorry for any thicky-ness inherent in this question!)

I also lost touch with comics after my mate stopped working in a comic shop (he was sacked for, ahem, giving stuff to his mates for free).

Anyway, Accident Man actually appeared in Toxic weekly (not Deadline), a short-lived rival to 2000AD. It did come out in its own comic for a few issues but, as far as I'm aware, there haven't been any graphic novels.

There were rumours that a film was gonna be made - which may have prompted them to reprint the old strips - but this was about ten years ago so I guess it never made it past the "development" stage.

Cheers for that, Johanista. I told you I was rusty about all this shit!

I've run through a bunch this weekend, as I discovered that my library had received a bunch of new (to me) copies since last I checked.

Black Hole -lots of recommendations here and on the old board. Read it this morning on the train. Not really my thing, so I didn't really like it much.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol.1 - I really thought I would like this. I didn't. (Cool 'retro' style artwork though.) Did not like it at all.

Sandman vol 1-3 Good, getting better. Feels far more similar to Swamp Thing than I would have expected.

Persepolis Quite good, basically on par with Maus I. Should I read the 2nd volume?

Usagi Yojimbo I don't remember who recommended this, but although it was the first one I read this weekend, it may be my favorite out of all of them. It's more than a bit Groo done seriously, but very enjoyable, something I'm not sure I'd ascribe to the others.

Usagi Yojimbo I don't remember who recommended this

That would have been me, Matej. Glad you liked it. There's loads of issues and the quality rarely dips below excellent.

Libraries are getting better and better about stocking a decent range of graphic novels, aren't they?

Jon wrote:

QUOTE:
Libraries are getting better and better about stocking a decent range of graphic novels, aren't they?

It's an uphull struggle, trying to explain to otherwise savvy RDLs that buying volume 2 of the Essential Spectacular Spider-man, as a standalone title, really doesn't cut it.

But slowly, slowly, we're getting there...

RDLs?

sorry, Reader Development Librarians

Stewart Lee's interview with Alan Moore is rather ace: http://www.stewartlee.co.uk/downloads/chainreaction-slee-alanmoore.mp3

Bafflin, I have only now noticed your recommendations. I'll be searching out the Delisle books, particularly the one on China. Thank you.

I keep forgetting to check out this thread, so I've only just noticed your comment. How did you get on with it? I read the three in chronological order - China, North Korea, Burma - and they develop both in terms of his drawing style and how he tells the stories. I liked them all, but I'm glad I read them in that order, because the Burma one is my favourite.

One recommendation I haven't made on here (although I may have on the old board) is Hanco Kolk. He has a really wide range of drawing styles, from almost Asterix style to the more linear stuff in his "Meccano" series. There's a profile for him on lambiek's website.

Are you going?

Probably not, G.O., I'm afraid. I've really got to watch the pennies, these days and I've already got a few commitments coming up, so this is a relatively low priority.

However, I thought I'd just flag it up for those who can go. There's certainly some interesting things on that bill.