It's Christmas Time!

My family and I spent most of the last week visiting with Zimm & Jamie and had Thanksgiving dinner and everything. Our decorations and Christmas tree are now up. It's time to look at those Christmas lists for the geek in your life. I'm going to violate one of my big rules with this blog. I'm going to name some of the obvious ones.

My top ten graphic novels for your geek for Christmas:


1. Y The Last Man Deluxed Edition Vol. 1 - This is one of my favorite series ever.


2. Umbrella Academy Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite - My favorite series of the past year.


3. Absolute Watchmen - I know everyone probably owns Watchmen, but the Absolute Edition is gorgeous. Not only is the art and coloring "remastered", but Dave Gibbons even made corrections to artwork that were missed in the original release.


4. Planetary Volumes 1-3 - My favorite comic series ever.


5. V For Vendetta - This is one of the many books I got to way late in the game. I read this for the first time 4 years ago, probably around the time I heard there was a movie being made. I'm not an anarchist by any definition of the word and the movie was really good, even if they changed the message. This is easily on my list as Orwell's 1984 is one of my favorite books.


6. The Other Side by Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart - Jason Aaron's cousin is the guy who wrote the book that Full Metal Jacket was based on. Cameron Stewart is a Canadian who went to Viet Nam for a month to research the country before he started drawing the book. It's a Viet Nam story released many years after most would think a Viet Nam War book would sell, but here it is. This is the book that put Jason Aaron on the map. Not the book to get if you're looking for a feel good read, but it is the book if you want to read a well researched non judgmental look at the Viet Nam War from the eyes of an American soldier and a Vietnamese soldier.


7. The Invisibles Volumes 1 - 5 by Grant Morrison - If you've ever wanted to use hallucinogens but were afraid to, this is the series for you. This series is an experiment by Grant Morrison in manipulating reality by using sigils...or at least that is what he would have you believe. You can easily see the influence or at the very least common influence of the Invisibles on the first Matrix film. It's a really good series, but you have to read the whole thing through several times, both because it's good and because you will still be finding things you missed the first time through. The reason I selected the first five issues for my Christmas list for geeks is because you have to get that far in before you really start to get what's going on.


8. Fables Covers by James Jean - While Fables isn't my favorite series, they have arguably the best covers today. James Jean really outdoes himself every month.


9. We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely - Again, not a surprise to anyone who is reading this blog. I really love Frank Quitely's art. This is one of the short series Grant Morrison released when he came back to DC after being at Marvel for a couple of years.


10. Ex Machina Deluxe Edition Hardcover - This is another of those geeks made good stories that really seem to be Brian K. Vaughnn's stock in trade. It's about a world where there is only one super hero and he managed to save the second tower on 9/11. He then used that to get himself elected mayor of New York City as an Independent candidate. The series focuses on Mayor Hundred's mayoral career and also living with his super powers and only being allowed to use them in a limited capacity by the Federal Government. It's a really good read and I am really enjoying these Deluxe Edition Hardcovers by DC.

That's my list. I know there are some obvious ones and some repeats, but if I were buying a graphic novel for a geek these would be those.