Graphic Novels

[Mr.Savage]

Bit of an obscure one, but 2012's The Shadow Volume 1 TP by Garth Ennis & Aaron Campbell, looks pretty good. It's based off the 1930's pulp hero, The Shadow. Interestingly Batman completely ripped this series off wholesale back in the day, stealing the whole "Trained in the Tibetan mountains" stuff.

One major difference though, is The Shadow actually kills the bad guys with two colt .45s, instead of just capturing them so they can escape again...

I haven't read the whole thing, just a preview from somewhere, but the art style is fantastic, and it seems to have a genuinely interesting story.

 

[Plinglebob]

I just want to push Transmetropolitan. Once you get passed the obvious excess of the setting you'll find a fantastic over-arcing story along with some of the best one off stories I've read in any format.

For a book that no-one else has mentioned, I recommend Maus. This book not only got me into comics in a big way, but its a fascinating look into what it was like for Jews in World War 2 Europe.