Usually, with Friday Recommendations, we try to get a little in-depth about our favorite comics and bully you into also liking them, because we can’t be friends with you otherwise. Today, though, we thought it best to call your attention to a whole plethora of things that, according to Bleeding Cool, you can no longer find on the premises of any Barnes & Noble, ever. Except, of course, for the outlaw ones, which are a bit of a dying breed.
Full list, and our thoughts, after the jump.
As a note, this article was a collaborative piece by myself, Matthew Meylikhov, David Harper, Joshua Mocle, Brian Salvatore and Brandon Burpee. Good luck figuring out which one of us wrote which piece!
All Star Superman: Just about the best Superman story ever, except for that one where he was raised by Darkseid and became the Maestro or something.
All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Vol. 1: (insert the same joke you’ve heard 900 times before)
American Vampire Vol. 1: Well before the site began a group extramarital affair with Scott Snyder, we’d go to Barnes & Noble to run our hands down the spine of this book, just hoping to feel it quiver like we would if the roles were reversed. But now: no more.
Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn: This book has a scene where DC’s most popular Arab character puts a bucket on a morbidly obese lady’s head and then whacks it with a stick for like a whole page. Come on.
Batman and Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin: We’re hesitant to recommend this one just because Batman and Robin live together and are essentially a family unit, and we don’t condone domestic superhero violence.
Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman Must Die!: You know, you’d think we’d get sick of hearing “Batman must die!” especially since this one came right after he actually DID die (just not really), but we’re not, so.
Batman and Son: Or, as some of us on staff named Burpee prefer to think of it, “Damian Wayne and the Philosopher’s Stone.”
Batman: Arkham Asylum: One of the all-time great graphic novels of the 1980s and beyond, this book opened the floodgates of transvestite Joker scenes, and without it, we’d have never had Heath Ledger as the pastiest naughty nurse outside of Swedish porno.
Batman: Arkham City: This game isn’t even out yet, but we played that last one — you know, Batman Forever for the SNES — and it really was the best Batman game ever, except for the Tiger handheld Batman: The Animated Series LCD game. But we guess they made a comic too, which is no fun, because where are the buttons?
Batman: Hush: If we were Wizard Magazine, we’d mark this with, like, “C: Jason Todd” and then leave it in even though there wasn’t really a Jason Todd cameo at all. Also, we’d say it was worth fifty bucks. Fifty bucks Barnes & Noble… will never see again.
Batman: R.I.P.: He was a gentle soul, our Batman. He would never hurt a fly. Except for all of those times that he dressed up like a half-furry leather lunatic and beat the hell out of the poor, drug-addicted, and mentally ill. Like in this book!
Batman: The Black Glove: We haven’t actually read this one yet, but we’re pretty sure that it’s about Batman losing a glove — on the coldest day of the year. Will he lose his hand to frostbite? We can’t wait to find out, anywhere but Barnes & Noble!
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: (insert more Frank Miller jokes you’ve already heard)
Batman: The Long Halloween: We recommend this because it may well be the finest comics work from the creative mind who brought you the scripts for the films “Teen Wolf” and “Commando.”
Continued belowBatman: The Return of Bruce Wayne: In an attempt to get back to the character’s roots, DC sent Batman spiraling through time. The era he won’t experience? Any of the ones that take place in Barnes & Noble.
Batman: Year One: This is the essential Batman story of where it all began. People who prefer Batman over Superman tend to hold this one up as why, because “he’s just got the one definitive origin instead of Superman’s like fifty billion, PS Metallo’s a soldier now, that’s so lame.”
Blackest Night: The definitive “superheroes as zombies” story, besides that other one.
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1-2: Remember those thousands of Blackest Night spin-offs you didn’t buy? Now you can not buy them all over again!
Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns: Relive the kick in the balls from when DC cancelled your favorite series by checking out these subpar addendums!
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps: You’re still looking to buy more Blackest Night stuff? Really?
Brightest Day, Vol. 1-3: Remember 52? Ever think it was just too long and too good? Then this is right up your alley! Half as long and half as good!
Daytripper: It was hard to write something for this particular book, specifically because it is rather indescribable. The long story short of it is that this is Barnes and Noble’s greatest loss, but if you’re going to go nuts on your Kindle Fire thing with graphic novels, you aren’t going to do much better than this. Just grab Daytripper and call it a night.
Fables vol. 1-15: “This is the true story”/”of hundreds of fairy tale characters”/”picked to live in a hotel”/”work together and have their lives illustrated”/”to find out what happens”/”when characters stop being polite”/”and start getting real!” Fables in a nut shell, ladies and gentlemen. (Although, as a side note, this generally is one of the best 75 issues ever put out in any Vertigo series to date. Everything after that (starting with vol. 12) is take it or leave it, yet still 100% better than everything DCnU related.)
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less: Sarah Glidden’s debut graphic novel chronicles her journey through the land of Israel as a teenager on the Birthright program. Combining personal narrative with real world history, Glidden manages to paint a very down to Earth picture of Israel from the perspective of an American young adult that is not quite sure what side of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict they want to hang their hat. Combined with her sharp water color based art, the book manages to encapsulate what it means to be a conflicted post-teen on the verge of entering the dreaded “real world” within the context of one of the most complicated societies on the planet, and for that it is absolutely worth a read or two.
Continued belowIdentity Crisis: If you thought just killing Sue Dibny was bad, just you wait.
Kingdom Come: In my opinion, this might be the best DC Comics story ever told. You have a great writer who also doubles as one of the great DC historians ever, telling a tale of the future of the universe and all those who inhabit it. It’s a dark, religiously-tinged tale, that has an ace in the hole not unlike Captain Marvel in the story: Alex Ross. Some would argue that Ross is the greatest artist of the modern era, and this is inarguably his greatest, most iconic work. If you haven’t read this book, I envy you.
MAD About Oscars/Superheroes/the 50’s/the 60’s: We know you don’t care, and that’s fine — neither does DC (or Barnes and Noble, truthfully). What, me worry?
Marzi: This book isn’t even out yet, so the snarkiest comment that we can make about Barnes & Noble not having it on thei shelves is, ‘HA! Jokes on you!’
Planetary vol. 1-4: In which Warren Ellis writes the best comic he ever wrote, John Cassaday illustrates the best comic he was ever asked to illustrate, and everyone who goes home with this comic is happy and better off for it. Now you can get it digitally without ever getting off your couch (or toilet), just as Ellis intended.
Superman for All Seasons: When Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale work together, magic happens. While not as instantly incredible as their Batman work, Superman: For All Seasons understands the character for the very core, highlighting his early years and the warmth and goodness at the center of the character. It’s Superman and Clark Kent coming into their own in all of the best ways, and is a joy to read, especially for Tim Sales Rockwell-ian like art.
Superman: Earth One: Don’t you ever wish your Superman was more like Twilight? No? That’s just me? Oh.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again: The book that the world was asking for, and when when they got it they begged DC to take it back! A precursor to All-Star Batman and Robin in all of the worst ways, this book was the Jar Jar Binks to The Dark Knight Returns’ Han Solo. This was a book that I enjoyed so little at the time that I’ve actually blocked all memories of it from my mind, and cannot recall anything besides flashes of Carrie Kelly inexplicably in a (quite literal) catsuit. Buy an Amazon Kindle Fire!
The Flash: Rebirth: Flash fact: This was pretty good.
The Joker: This book is so well written and arted you’ll actually believe a Joker can cry!
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1-2: This is Alan Moore transitioning from America’s Best Comics superstar and one of the best writers in the history of comics to the Cthulu and mega junk obsessed weirdo that we all know and occasionally loathe today. You can see the elements of both in these volumes: the literary touchstones, the nuanced and clever storytelling, Mr. Hyde eating people and the Invisible Man being a pervert towards them, the huge influence of the occult, and all of the good and bad that comes with both. Kevin O’Neill’s art is a perfect fit for the book, and these books are generally a good show for all (people who are open to Moore’s craziness) to enjoy.
The Sandman vol. 1-10: This is the comic book all your pseduo-gothic friends have all read outside of a Batman story here and there. If you’ve ever wondered why Neil Gaiman is so popular, this book is it. If you get to the end of the tenth volume and still wonder why Neil Gaiman is so popular, you can e-mail the Multiversity EIC Matthew Meylikhov about it, at which point he’ll reply “I know, right? Talk about overrated.” Then again, if you thought it was great, e-mail Associate Editor Walter Richardson. He’s the only one that seems to really care.
The Sandman: Dream Hunters/Endless Nights: Because apparently there is more Sandman after Sandman. I don’t really know. I never got this far.
Continued belowThe Unwritten vol. 1-2: In which subtext becomes pretext, Harry the Potter and Winnie Pooh bash each other up into amalgamations, and Mike Carey basically shows everyone why he is considered a hot commodity in comics in the single most accessible comic for non-comic readers to date (assuming that that person at least likes to read). Lucifer be damned!
V for Vendetta: The other title by Alan Moore, V For Vendetta tells a timeless tale of how well Hugo Weaving does at saying words that begin with the letter “v” while behind a mask. I’m just as surprised at you that Barnes & Noble is getting rid of a DVD/Blu-ray, but whatever works.
Wait, what’s that? It’s a book, too? Huh. Could’ve fooled me.
Watchmen: We’re sure you’ve heard so much about Watchmen at this point that to say anything more would be fairly pointless. Instead, we’ll just note this: when originally purchased, it was assumed that this was a comic book adaptation of the video game Game & Watch. It’s not, and we’re still torn up about that to this day.
We3: We’ve written about this title so extensively in the past that at this point there is really only one way to sum it up: this is the single most important comic book of the past decade and deserves to be in your comic library one way or the other. If that doesn’t work for you, then know this: it has a cat in it. People on the internet like cats, right? LOL!
Y: The Last Man vol. 1-10: If I were going to buy one comic on the Amazon Kindle Fire, it wouldn’t be Watchmen, it wouldn’t be Sandman, it wouldn’t be the Dark Knight Returns, it wouldn’t be any of those top names. It would be Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s incomparable Y the Last Man, a comic that observes the meaning of gender, relationships and life all in the midst of an epic sci-fi story and a sprawling love story. It’s one of the best comics I’ve ever read, and something that I feel great about recommending to anyone.
