Suggestions for Aunty

I opened up a little thread in the hopes of getting Aunty some reading suggestions if she wanted to try out comic books. Here are the rules: Aunty does not like "mature" books. Nothing that would get an "R" rating as a movie. The genres she enjoys are science fiction, spy novels, and historical novels.

Here are the suggestions:

From me: The Interman by Jeff Parker, as it's a spy thriller. Samples are available at the website: here. I also suggested Whiteout, which I'd just finished reading. A free sample of issue #1 is available here (scroll to the bottom of the page). I couldn't think of any Science Fiction, but I also mildly recommended Age of Bronze despite there being a lot of mature stuff in there... none of it is inapropriate to the story, but there's nudity, sex, and violence like you would expect from a story about the Trojan War. The website is here.

Shane came through in a big way, with a pile of suggestions and links: The Ring of the Nibelung adaptation by P Craig Russell. Gorgeous artwork, and you can get it as a ltd. edition hardcover here or as the cheaper individual books here. He also suggested the DC's Big Book Of ___ series, which has a large variety of stories. Those can be found at Amazon here. For science fiction he recommended Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, and The Best of Ray Bradbury: The Graphic Novel. He also recommended Whiteout. In another genre, he recommended Blankets. And lastly, he recommended Hawaiian Dick: Byrd of Paradise as a good Private Eye story.

Jeff had a few suggestions too: Orbiter by Warren Ellis, and The Adventures of Luthor Arkwright by Bryan Talbot. Y The Last Man (at least one of the issues I've read was definitely 'mature reader' material, though). He also suggests the New X-Men by Grant Morrison collections, CrossGen's Negation, and the last few years of Legion by DC Comics. Getting into Manga, he suggests Planetes, Cyborg 009, and comics by Osamu Tezuka: Pheonix, Astro Boy, and Metropolis. In Historical Fiction, he also recommends Age of Bronze. He also mentions Yossel, which I think I reviewed not long ago, and El Cazador (pirates) and Brath from CrossGen. In Manga, he recommends Tezuka's Adolf and a biography called Buddha. For Spy Fiction, Jeff recommends The Interman and Marvel Comics new Mystique series. Greg Rucka's Queen & Country gets a mention although it's R-rated. He also mentions Kiss Kiss Bang Bang from CrossGen.

Chris Brown (who is going to Wizard World LA this weekend and blogging live) suggested the Dark Horse Star Wars books, which pratically make up a whole universe in themselves. He also recommends DC's Camelot 3000, CrossGen's Negation, and Marvel's Mystique.

Elayne made me feel like an idiot for forgetting some great books, posting her suggestions on her blog. She suggests the wonderful Dignifying Science, which I'm still hitting myself over the head for forgetting, as well as Astounding Space Thrills, Xeno's Arrow, Terminal City, and Tales of the Cherokee.

Rose suggests Rachel Hartman's Amy Unbounded, which you can get in mini-comic form from The Amy Unbounded Website or you can get via Amazon. I second this recommendation too. Rose also suggests Vogelein by Jane Irwin, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and True Story, Swear to God by Tom Beland. She also thinks that Hawaiian Dick is good, but isn't sure.

Steven Berg recommends Pam Bliss, particularly Travelling Travelall.

And lastly, Tom Galloway recommends Girl Genius which is a no-brainer that I should have thought of. You can pick up the books at the Girl Genius Website, and even read the first issue for free. I always like free samples. Tom also recommends Will Eisner's non-Spirit work, which fits the Historical Fiction Genre quite nicely.

Anyone have any more suggestions? And, you know Aunty, we expect a report when you've tried something from the list...