I'd say pretty much any Alan Moore Graphic Novel is a good one...Watchmen is just one of a number of really spectacular projects Moore did. From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the collection of "V" stories are all great!

The Killing Joke is also pretty impressive, but it has a lot more pull if you have an attachment to the Bat Family characters. I was blown away (no pun intended) when the really big (at that time) surprise in the book came. One of the BEST Batman stories I've ever read & I'm a life-long Bat-Fan!

If you can take the really depressing subject matter, Maus by Art Spiegleman (not sure if I spelled his last name correctly) is a Classic and a true work of art.

I'm going to echo a lot of people's statements here but:

Single stand-alone books you can get for relatively cheap:
Watchmen
V for Vendetta
Daytripper - This hasn't been suggested yet but I would say it is just as good as the first two
Asterios Polyp - Not as good as the first three but it's very philosophical.

"Short" series
Sandman - 10 books they aren't that cheap but they are popular so you can easily get them at the library.

Y: The Last Man - 10 books (I took the whole series out at once from the library and read it all in a weekend)

Scott Pilgrim - 6 books. I got the box set because I loved the movie and then found out the books were even better, plus it takes place in Toronto.

The Walking Dead - You can buy the Walking Dead Compendium for relatively cheap (Works out to be $1/comic) which has the first 48 comics. Kirkman has said on twitter that the second compendium is ready so it should be out soon.

Long Series
Tintin - How has no one suggested this yet? Tintin is the best and there are 24 books to read. They aren't really necessary to read in order but you can definitely get them all at the library.


The ones I listed above everyone should enjoy, the following are more specific recommendations.


Sam and Max - Surfin the Highway - If you like the humor in the games or animated tv series then you need to get this.

Squee and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac - If you liked Invader Zim and want more Jhonen Vasquez then pick up these two comics.

If you are interested in Math or the history of math and philosophy i recommend Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis.
If you are interested in Canadian history I recommend Louis Riel by Chester Brown.

I'm not a huge comic book fan but I really enjoyed the Scott Pilgrim series. They're pretty funny, well done, and have a great storyline. It's definitely a must read for those who like both video games and comics since much of the humor is based off of video games.

I would also recommend watching the movie too but only after reading the comics.

By the way, I would also recommend reading webcomics like Penny Arcade. It's a real blast. I would also recommend trying to find some Far Side comics and Garfield if you're into newspaper funnies.

What's the difference in content between The Walking Dead Vol 1 Omnibus, The Walking Dead Vol 1 and The Walking Dead Vol 1 Compendium? The first one just looks like it contains issues #1-24, the second #1-12 and the third #1-48, but the Omnibus seems to be more expensive than the others.