Best Comic & Graphic Novel Publishers
Introducing the first eight volumes of the fan-favorite, New York Times Best Seller series collected into one massive paperback collection! The Walking Dead is all about the living, the people who struggle to retain their humanity in the face of the unspeakable.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The artwork is phenomenal, and the inclusion of additional covers, sketches, and other drawings at the end is a welcomed finish."
"You can buy one compendium for much cheaper than it would cost to get the 50 individual issues that comprise it."
"The characters for the most part look and act very different from their television counterparts, and things move at a very fast pace. The pages are beautiful and glossy (remember: it's ALL in black and white), the artwork is nicely done, and it really keeps your attention. The show is great at turning these lively, fun and interesting caricatures into real people. The producers of the show have made it clear that they "switch things up" to keep viewers guessing, so reading this book does NOT mean you'll necessarily be spoiled."
"I was instantly engaged; I couldn't not reserve time to watch this very realistic post-apocalyptic show on AMC that I fell completely in love with either. Needless to say, I called Amazon and they were more than reluctant to help me :) to either refund me the price or send me a new Walking Dead Compendium, I ended up doing an exchange and I have no further complaints regarding this replacement copy!"
"Just gives another reason to buy another copy!"
"The Walking Dead, Vol 22, A New Beginning by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Stefano Gaudiano, Cliff Rathburn – This is another interesting and gripping installment in this terrific graphic-novel series about human survivors struggling to live in a world of flesh-eaters."
"Now, quite a few of the reviews said that there was a problem with the ink in the middle of the book, but mine seems to be in perfect condition."
"I have always enjoyed the comic and will look forward to reading the other volumes."
Collects Ms. Marvel (2014) #1-5, All-New Marvel Now! But who truly is the all-new Ms. Marvel? Her articles about the Middle East and modern Islam have appeared in the New York Times Magazine , the Atlantic Monthly and the Canada National Pos t. Her memoir about life in Egypt during the waning years of the Mubarak regime, The Butterfly Mosque , was named a Seattle Times Best Book of 2010.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"What could I, a 57 year white male living in Minnesota, possibly have of interest in a book like this ? It turns out this is a book for anyone who likes good writing and a unique fresh take on a very cookie cutter genre. Adrian Alphonsa is a Canadian artist who came to prominence with the charming art for Brain Vaughn's Runaways. Adrian's art has evolved a little since Runaways and he has a very fine line drawing style that evokes a whimsical mode in which he portrays some of the characters as having exaggerated faces. The story itself involves Kamala Khan an ordinary Muslim girl in Jersey City who writes Fan Fiction and dreams of being a Super-Herione. The story follows Kamala Khan and her gang of friends as she learns about her powers, makes mistakes and tries to do good. Please Sample this refreshing take on Super Heroes and support this excellent book which is truly meant for All Ages."
"This is a classic it broke many barriers in it's publication and despite the unusual lead character and story line it even made it into the Marvel Universe."
"The promising premise delivers on every level through Kamala's struggles, which are, all at once, universal, personal and teenage. For now, I highly recommend MS. MARVEL and hope she and Kamala continue to find a vast and welcoming following."
"Other than the New 52 Batwoman I haven't picked up a DC/Marvel run in years, but I have to say that this is a great book for potentially jumping back in."
"It's great to have more diversity in heroes and I love the way she has to deal with her family."
"Interesting new twist to this hero."
"The All New Ms. Marvel has some big boots to fill, but it's quite clear that this won't be an issue."
T he Legend of Zelda™: Art and Artifacts contains over four hundred pages of fully realized illustrations from the entire thirty-year history of The Legend of Zelda™ including artwork from the upcoming The Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild ! A few years later, the Gameboy and the Super Nintendo cemented Nintendo as one of the premier gaming companies in the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"First of all, if you're a die hard Zelda fan, nothing in this book is new as this book is essentially a collection of promotional and concept art for the series. You do get art from the entire series from the original Legend of Zelda to Zelda Twilight Princess HD or Zelda Tri Force Heroes."
"This is a must own to learn the history of one of the greatest franchises is video game history."
"The only unique part to the book is the final 40 pages or so that are full of interview Q&A's which are pretty interesting."
"Gorgeous to look at, came safely packaged, no wear and tear, protective plastic sleeve fits perfectly with the cover illustration."
"I bought this book as a gift and it is beautiful!"
"That said, I am an obsessive Zelda image hunter and have sought out most of this art in the past."
"I bought this for my son's birthday and he loves it."
"I'm pretty obsessed with everything Zelda, so when I saw this book I had to get it."
Best DC Comics & Graphic Novels
This edition of WATCHMEN, the groundbreaking series from Alan Moore, the award-winning writer of V FOR VENDETTA and BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, and Dave Gibbons, the artist of GREEN LANTERN, features the high-quality, recolored pages found in WATCHMEN: THE ABSOLUTE EDITION with sketches, never-before-seen extra bonus materials and a new introduction by Dave Gibbons. Possibly only Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns , but Watchmen remains the critics' favorite. Because Moore is a better writer, and Watchmen a more complex and dark and literate creation than Miller's fantastic, subversive take on the Batman myth. Moore, renowned for many other of the genre's finest creations ( Saga of the Swamp Thing , V for Vendetta , and From Hell , with Eddie Campbell) first put out Watchmen in 12 issues for DC in 1986-87. The artwork of Gibbons (best known for 2000AD's Rogue Trooper and DC's Green Lantern) is very fine too, echoing Moore's paranoid mood perfectly throughout. Packed with symbolism, some of the overlying themes (arms control, nuclear threat, vigilantes) have dated but the intelligent social and political commentary, the structure of the story itself, its intertextuality (chapters appended with excerpts from other "works" and "studies" on Moore's characters, or with excerpts from another comic book being read by a child within the story), the finepace of the writing and its humanity mean that Watchmen more than stands up--it keeps its crown as the best the genre has yet produced. So I redid the storyboards as three pages of comic on the nine-panel grid, also getting it coloured by John Higgins so it looked authentic. Q: In Watchmen: The Art of the Film , there are concept designs by other artists of their visions of your iconic characters. What was it like looking through this book at all the characters you had conceived years ago now being brought to life by actors? DG: It’s rather interesting; you know if you look at the Watching the Watchmen book you can see these characters as fairly sketchy rough conceptual versions. Then when you look at Clay’s book you can actually see them right down to counting the number of pores on the skin on the end of their noses! Q: Watchmen: The Film Companion features some stills from the animated version of The Black Freighter . DG: I was on the set of Watchmen for a couple of days and it really was surreal to walk through a door and then suddenly be in the presence of all these people in living breathing flesh!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In the early 90's, when the Wall came down, when it seemed like the West had won, had outlasted the Evil Empire - which collapsed from within due to the endemic rot deep within the Communist ideology. In early 2002, still stunned and disoriented by the cultural shock of Sept 11, I sensed the stirrings of illiberal mobacracy : first, behind closed doors, then, spilling out into the media (FOX News & MSNBC are little more than hateful mirror images of each other), next out into the open: mindless anti-war protests. "Blood for Oil" is so silly that it hardly justifies analysis of its nonsensical premise; likewise, the irrational hate spewed toward Muslims was a predictable demonization of the Other. Conversely, the "Resistance" is so blinded by the Emperor's crude antics that they miss the cultural rot beneath their feet."
"When I say this beautiful edition I knew I had to have it."
"On the other hand, this is the Watchmen."
"There are already many reviews of this book and mine will live in the forest, but this book is truly monumental."
"This is one of the most intense and surprising books that you can ever read."
"This book reveals a flaw of humans that appears over and over through out history, our capability to act amorally as long as it meets our own selfish plans."
Best Dark Horse Comics & Graphic Novels
Look for the sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia , with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia due out April 24th 2018. He is the series producer and manager of The Legend of Zelda and won the Golden Joystick Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Here is a list of the main sections in the book, where I will explain what may be expected in each and review it: The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword. This is the first major section in the book, where you will find a great deal of interesting concept art and also small notes on each character/location written by some of the game's creators, which are actually very insightful, and sometimes quite amusing. Yes, this section does take up a large part of the book, and rightfully so; this book was released as a celebration of the 25th Anniversary, and, by extent, the release of Skyward Sword, which was, at the time, the newest Zelda game. This may annoy some fans, but it should be kept in mind that Skyward Sword is not just another new Zelda game, but also the "origin story" of the Zelda universe. Naturally this wonderful game would get a lot of love and attention, and any true Zelda fan should be able to understand that to celebrate Skyward Sword is to celebrate the origin of the beloved series and every other game in it. The History of Hyrule: A Chronology. This is probably the thing that people purchasing the book will be the most interested in, as it is an actual list on the official chronological order of the different Zelda games, according to Hyrule's historical events. All of the core games in the series up until Skyward Sword are included here; however, all of the spin-offs (e.g., Link's Crossbow Training), the two Satellaview games, Soulcalibur 2, and, thankfully, the awful CDi games, are not listed here. Furthermore, it gives some details about the first legend of Zelda game and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link that the original games could not provide, such as the story of what happened just before the game began that set Link on his adventures. As is stated by Akira Himekawa in the back of the Hyrule Historia book, this was also to celebrate the release of Skyward Sword and tell a story connected to the game that would complete the "very first Zelda tale" (Skyward Sword). If you are worried that this story may disappoint you, don't be; I am a huge Zelda fan and adore all of the core games in the series, but this story still holds an extremely special place in my heart, perhaps even slightly above any Zelda game I have ever played (and I've played them all); it's that good. The name Hyrule Historia is not intended to imply that the book is mostly about the development of past games, or the history of the series as it has evolved over the years, although it does provide some of that; the name refers to the chronological history of Hyrule that is shown in the book, with all of the events talked about and shown in Skyward Sword being at the beginning of that timeline."
"The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. The first third of the book, entitled "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword" is devoted to said title, the most recently released Zelda game we all played and loved. It's filled to the brim with the concept and official art that inspired Skyward's Sword brilliant aesthetic style. As one who views Skyward Sword as one of the most beautiful and brilliantly inspired video games ever made in terms of its art design and visuals, this is just fine with me. There's tons here, including a lot of really interesting ideas for characters that didn't make it into the game, like a floating Fi in a massive suit of armor or Zelda designs that are decidedly more elegant and fancy. There's also a good amount of location art that is simply gorgeous and really captures your imagination, just like the settings in the game did. What is even better about this section is the following 70 or so pages that actually chronicles, in great detail, the events of each timeline in chronological order. Sprinkled liberally through all of this are nice screenshots and art, as well as fascinating tidbits, like boxes that fully decipher the various Hylian/Hyrulean dialect text that appear in the games. This section closes with a very nice letter from Eiji Aonuma, arguably the second most important man behind the Legend of Zelda, after Shigeru Miyamoto of course. The lay-outs are nice, the printing quality is vibrantly beautiful and sharp as a tack, and the pages are crisp and clean. The binding is also high quality, which is important because this is a big book that would fall apart relatively quickly if it wasn't bound well. There are few games that capture the sense of beauty, imagination, and adventure like the Legend of Zelda effortlessly does with each and every release."
"The cover looks and feels very nice, and the book is much larger and heavier than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. The book actually exceeded my expectations, and I was very, very pleased as a huge Zelda fan."
"As a Zelda fan it's wonderful to have a physical book of all game events (from 1986=2011), concept images and developer interviews."
Best Drawn & Quarterly Comic & Graphic Novels
Craig Thompson's poignant graphic memoir plays out against the backdrop of a Midwestern winterscape: finely-hewn linework draws together a portrait of small town life, a rigorously fundamentalist Christian childhood, and a lonely, emotionally mixed-up adolescence. Thompson himself is the protagonist, and this is his tale of growing up, falling in love (and realizing the physical and moral complications that can imply), discovering the texture and limits of his faith, and arriving at a point from which he can look back at those experiences. The snowy Midwest, peopled by overweight parents, hairy youths, and lovingly depicted younger siblings-including a respectfully and realistically treated minor character with Down syndrome-is energetically realized in Thompson's expressive lines and inking.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is under the classification of graphic novel..and many of these books aren't novels at all they are nonfiction..memoirs really; like Blankets is."
"The story begins with Thompson's childhood in a family where literal and rigid justification for biblical tenets leads him to constant questioning and guilt."
"I love it when a book really captures the feel of childhood and the thoughts of those undergoing a transition to adulthood. But ultimately the truth would come in to focus and things would fall apart as the fairy tale bends at the seams. The illustrations are exquisitely drawn and fluidly blend with the narration to create something so much greater than the sum of the parts."
"For the most part, I feel as if graphic novels have done a good job of feeding into the stereotype of all nerds actually being incredibly sarcastic with tendencies to mouth off in front of any and all authority figures."
"Thompson's previous book, 1999's GOODBYE, CHUNKY RICE dealt with similar subjects, but on a much smaller scale and in a more allegorical, cartoony style. Actually, the 2000 Top Shelf Small Batch book, BIBLE DOODLES (now out of print, but well worth tracking down) had more of the swooping richness that defines BLANKETS. Where some cartoonists would use (and have used) sexual child abuse as the sole theme of a book, Thompson merely uses it (in only a handful of pages) as one of many defining elements of a complex adolescence. His lush brush strokes, swirling sense of design, masterful characterization and peerless pacing make BLANKETS a completely sensual experience."
Best Fantagraphics Comics & Graphic Novels
When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. Growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, 10-year-old Karen Reyes investigates the suspicious death of her glamorous neighbor and finds troubling clues lurking close to her own home. “This extraordinary book has instantly rocketed Ferris into the graphic novel elite alongside Art Spiegelman, Alison Bechdel and Chris Ware. “An ambitious, emotional, beautifully illustrated exploration of a 10-year-old girl’s experience growing up late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is an astounding debut, weaving an intricate web of plot threads that keeps the reader compelled from beginning to end.”. - The A.V. Ferris’s artwork bullies and commands the reader’s attention, each page bringing her to the brink of exhaustion because the struggle between art and words is so great, and the whole is so sensorially overwhelming.”. - The Los Angeles Review of Books.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"But that difficulty heightens the reading experience--you really feel like you're INSIDE our MC Karen's head (this is formatted as her journal, of sorts). The lined pages in conjunction with the art style can make reading the text portions of this book more difficult at times, but it's completely worth it. We follow her in werewolf girl form as she investigates the apparent suicide of a woman in her apartment building, who she believes was actually murdered. I can't remember the last time I finished a book and IMMEDIATELY started rereading it, but My Favorite Thing is Monsters is just that good."
"Spectacular illustrations cover almost every inch of this huge volume, all printed on lined three-hole paper emulating the illustrated diary of the ten-year-old protagonist, a tough and beleaguered tomboy on the rough streets of 1960's Chicago. Ferris's illustrations also show an abiding love not just for horror movies (and particularly for our mutual Universal monster favorite, the Wolf Man) but for the great horror magazines of the 1960's from CREEPY and FAMOUS MONSTERS though the gory WEIRD and TERROR TALES varieties."
"Terrific graphic novel."
"Omygawd .... what a beautifully illustrated book."
"LOVE this book!!!"
"This book is absolutely incredible."
"The detail is amazing."
"I just started reading it, but love it already."
Best Image Comics & Graphic Novels
Rick Grimes’ dream of rebuilding civilization is tested as the people of Alexandria come into contact with other communities that have developed their own methods of survival.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The artwork is phenomenal, and the inclusion of additional covers, sketches, and other drawings at the end is a welcomed finish."
"You can buy one compendium for much cheaper than it would cost to get the 50 individual issues that comprise it."
"The characters for the most part look and act very different from their television counterparts, and things move at a very fast pace. The pages are beautiful and glossy (remember: it's ALL in black and white), the artwork is nicely done, and it really keeps your attention. The show is great at turning these lively, fun and interesting caricatures into real people. The producers of the show have made it clear that they "switch things up" to keep viewers guessing, so reading this book does NOT mean you'll necessarily be spoiled."
"I was instantly engaged; I couldn't not reserve time to watch this very realistic post-apocalyptic show on AMC that I fell completely in love with either. Needless to say, I called Amazon and they were more than reluctant to help me :) to either refund me the price or send me a new Walking Dead Compendium, I ended up doing an exchange and I have no further complaints regarding this replacement copy!"
"Just gives another reason to buy another copy!"
"The Walking Dead, Vol 22, A New Beginning by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Stefano Gaudiano, Cliff Rathburn – This is another interesting and gripping installment in this terrific graphic-novel series about human survivors struggling to live in a world of flesh-eaters."
"Now, quite a few of the reviews said that there was a problem with the ink in the middle of the book, but mine seems to be in perfect condition."
"I have always enjoyed the comic and will look forward to reading the other volumes."
Best Marvel Comics & Graphic Novels
Collecting Incredible Hulk Vol. Monsters and heroes... and the Incredible Hulk!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I picked this up actually thinking it was the future imperfect story line but quickly learned it was not."
"If you loved the cartoon this is worth a read!"
"After I finished I got World War Hulk because I wanted more."
"This e-comic anthology is complete including minor related stories."
"Fun read - collection of the Planet Hulk comics...no wonder he was "ticked" when he made it back to Earth."
"Great story line."
"This is a must read for those who like dark stories."
"I may have built the hype up in my mind before reading Planet Hulk and I was extremely disappointed in the story as a whole."
Best Viz Publisher Comics & Graphic Novels
Rumiko Takahashi's first serialized manga series, Urusei Yatsura, was originally published in Weekly Shonen Sunday in 1978.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This Manga was a very entertaining read!"
"I don't think that you can stress the importance of Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura (which translates to Those Obnoxious Aliens)manga and its anime TV and film adaptations enough when talking about the history of the medium. The Urusei Yatsura manga was released in the very early 90's in two series, Lum and The Return of Lum, by Viz. The series didn't really take off, and Viz only translated a tiny fraction of the total Urusei Yatsura series, which originally ran in Japan for nearly a decade. This is some of Takahashi's earliest work on a long series, and the stories presented are really not the best Urusei Yatsura would have to offer, but the writing improves quickly and even by the middle of this collection, there is marked improvement over the first few chapters."
"Fans of Rumiko Takahashi's other titles will certainly see parallels between this and her later work; UY is a good introduction to Takahashi's manga in general and is a must-read for fans of her other series."