Retro Graphic Novels

[J. M. Stovall]

Anything from Milton Caniff is a winner!

[Torpedo]

Well, of course, Torpedo 1936 .



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo_(comics)

[Trenter]

While sorting my books in my new bookshelf I found this forgotten gem written by Neil Gaiman in 1987 and beautifully illustrated by Dave McKean. The storyline is partly set in the gangster era and involves Al Capone´s osteopath.

It´s been reprinted since and new editions are still available.

[feltfan]

I'm not sure Eisner or Caniff count as "retro" since they are of the period...
But I'm impressed that J. M. Stovall has some originals.

A member of this site has written a retro graphic novel,
Union Station.

For my money the last word in retro comics has not yet been
gathered into a graphic novel, no doubt due to rights to the character,
Kaluta's "The Shadow". You can find scans of the best of them
here. Follow links.

[Flat Foot Floey]

NIce thread! I recommedn the "Mammoth book of best crime comics" It is a very nice selection and it's cheap. The comics are from the 30s to now. Most of the have a nice Film Noir vibe.

[Nobert]

I'd like to mention the cartoonist who works under the name Seth, as his comics are among the things that got me interested in the first half of the twentieth century in the first place.
His most noted books are It's a Good Life if you Don't Weaken, and the as-yet-unfinished Clyde Fans, which runs in his series Palookavile.
He's also done a lot of illustration in his forties, gag-cartoony style. You may have seen them in The Atlantic's back page feature What's Your Problem?

[herringbonekid]

dark, adult adaptation of Pinocchio by French comic artist Vincent Paronnaud aka Winshluss:

[Edward]

I highly recommend Maus. Based on the author's father's life as a Polish Jew who lived through the Nazi concentration camps. It was the first comic book to receive a Pulitzer prize. THe visual device of portraying different ethnicities as different animals (Poles are pigs, Nazis cats, Jews mice and French - mais bien sur - frogs) is interesting: everyone can relate to cute animals. The subject matter brings a much darker spin to this Disneyfied device.



Some nice analysis here:

http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/maus/whatismaus.htm

... but I really recommend reading the book first.

[marxalot]

If you guys aren't familiar with it, I would highly suggest Francesco Francovilla's work, both his contracted stuff (his run on Batman Detective, his Lone Ranger and Zorro work) and his own properties (the Black Beetle is thrilling, pulpy genius). You can check out his stuff at his Pulp Sunday blog, which features new art and updates on what he's working on. Along with JH Williams III, he's one of my favorite artists working, and has a good feel for narrative flow as well.