How To Make a Smart Person Fall in Love with Comic Books
..particularly if they have no bearing on comics outside of the old Super Friends television show (which is actually called Challenge of the Super Friends in case you want to relive your childhood by checking it out at your local library).1
Give them:
1) Watchmen by Alan Moore
Not just because it's classic and not just because it's Moore, but because it's hardcore grown-up talk. If the subject thinks comics are kid's stuff, pages 2-3 will fix that.
2) Sandman by Neil Gaiman with various artists.
Specifically the Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll's House collections, which covers issues 1-16. If the subject is particularly literate or attuned to subjects like mythology or fantasy, then Sandman's their book. It's heady, prose-like fare with just the right mix of what-the-fuck. The "poetry slam" in Hell (no, I'm not kidding) on pages 122-126 of volume 1 are priceless, as is the "cereal" convention in volume 2. Brr.
If they aren't feeling it 16 issues in, break off the friendship.
3) Hellblazer: Fear and Loathing by Garth Ennis (writer) and Steve Dillon (art).
This collection brings together issues 62-67 of DC's long-running horror series.
You could read the earlier ones before this, but this story arc captures our anti-hero John Constantine at his best and worst in one fell swoop. You get all you need to know about ol' John in this book, so perfectly did Ennis tap into the magician's human side.
4) Cages by Dave McKean
Putting the novel back in "graphic novel", this 400 page whopper of moderate surrealism is like dining at a buffet of nothing but the stuff you like. The art may throw the subject at first, with its loose lines and non-canonical storytelling styles, but it is, literally, a book you can never see every part of in one sitting. Every time you come to it, you will see something different.
5) Blankets by Craig Thompson
I throw this one on the list when the above will do because of all the autobiographical comics about comic artists and their boring lives on the market these days, this one has a nice mix of lyricism and true angst. Plus, you may need a normal-looking story and set of characters for your subject, whose mind will be reeling as it is with all of the things you've lobbed at them from the list above.
If this list doesn't get them into comics proper, then cut this person from your life; they're not worth saving.
NOTES
1: Of course, the production values, total disregard for comic continuity, and rampant racism of the old cells will make you cringe.
Give them:
1) Watchmen by Alan Moore
Not just because it's classic and not just because it's Moore, but because it's hardcore grown-up talk. If the subject thinks comics are kid's stuff, pages 2-3 will fix that.
2) Sandman by Neil Gaiman with various artists.
Specifically the Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll's House collections, which covers issues 1-16. If the subject is particularly literate or attuned to subjects like mythology or fantasy, then Sandman's their book. It's heady, prose-like fare with just the right mix of what-the-fuck. The "poetry slam" in Hell (no, I'm not kidding) on pages 122-126 of volume 1 are priceless, as is the "cereal" convention in volume 2. Brr.
If they aren't feeling it 16 issues in, break off the friendship.
3) Hellblazer: Fear and Loathing by Garth Ennis (writer) and Steve Dillon (art).
This collection brings together issues 62-67 of DC's long-running horror series.
You could read the earlier ones before this, but this story arc captures our anti-hero John Constantine at his best and worst in one fell swoop. You get all you need to know about ol' John in this book, so perfectly did Ennis tap into the magician's human side.
4) Cages by Dave McKean
Putting the novel back in "graphic novel", this 400 page whopper of moderate surrealism is like dining at a buffet of nothing but the stuff you like. The art may throw the subject at first, with its loose lines and non-canonical storytelling styles, but it is, literally, a book you can never see every part of in one sitting. Every time you come to it, you will see something different.
5) Blankets by Craig Thompson
I throw this one on the list when the above will do because of all the autobiographical comics about comic artists and their boring lives on the market these days, this one has a nice mix of lyricism and true angst. Plus, you may need a normal-looking story and set of characters for your subject, whose mind will be reeling as it is with all of the things you've lobbed at them from the list above.
If this list doesn't get them into comics proper, then cut this person from your life; they're not worth saving.
NOTES
1: Of course, the production values, total disregard for comic continuity, and rampant racism of the old cells will make you cringe.