Recommendations for original, non-superhero graphic novels

[DementedSheep]

I'm currently reading Transmetropolitan. It's quite good, not just in a "good for graphic novels" way and it's 60 issues long with an ending. I tend to avoid comics that are over 100 issues. At the very least I want conclusive arcs where you can drop it when gets too long or changes author without leaving massive threads.

I also enjoyed reMIND, not sure if that's your thing but you can buy it or read it for free online.

I heard Y the last man is good but the premise makes me a bit wary of it tbh.

I poured through available trades of DMZ some time ago, and wasn't too bad. Synopsis in short; new civil war broke out and NYC was left as no-man's land. Matty Roth goes with a star reporter, they get shot down and he decides to stay.

First three trades only, so I can't tell about quality for the other ones.

That's one of the ones I've been considering buying.
Although I should probably finish Transmetropolitan and Fables before I start on another series

 

[BitterLemon]

Daytripper. One-volume comic from a Brazilian artist&writer team. Over the course of the series, the main character Bras grows up, and when he reaches significant milestones in his life, he dies. The series is ultimately about love, loss, and the importance of making every moment in life count.

Daytripper is a good one, very light and easy to read.

There's some that I like much, I don't know if it fits in the short category. It's not the case of millions of volumes, but they are one very thick volume:

Bottomless Belly Button: Story of a family where the parents decide to divorce after they are elders and the turmoil that happens with their children after that.

Fun Home: A biography about Alison Bechdel and her relation with her father, who was a closeted gay. Very interesting read.

Jimmy Corrigan, the smartest kid on Earth: It's my personal favourite. The story of a very introverted man who decides to meet his father, which he never met. It's a bit depressing, though.

 

[Queen Michael]

Jimmy Corrigan, the smartest kid on Earth: It's my personal favourite. The story of a very introverted man who decides to meet his father, which he never met. It's a bit depressing, though.

It's fantastic, but I wouldn't say it's "a bit" depressing. I'd say it's "keep the Prozac close" depressing.

 

[Genocidicles]

King City by Brandon Graham

The whole thing is collected in one book, a long with some cool extra stuff by the artist. It centres around Joe, a cat master (he uses his super powered cat Earthling as a weapon/multitool) doing odd jobs in the eponymous city, while his friend tries to save an alien girl he accidentally gave to a pimp with transparent skin, and his ex helps her boyfriend through his drug addiction as he struggles through his flashbacks of the Korean zombie war.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Adding my voice to the Transmetropolitan chorus. It's as if someone dropped Hunter S. Thompson into a mixture of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

I'm going to have to break the "no-ongoing" rule just a bit

Orc Stain is pretty awesome. The artwork is amazingly vibrant and the culture of the Orcs is beautifully conveyed... in a weird, NSFW way. The environment feels like Xeno Clash meets Warhammer 40k meets Morrowind.

There's Spawn but that breaks the "No superhero" rule, even though I consider him to be one of the most antiest of anti-heroes.

I guess Sin City since I enjoy the visual style.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

Parasyte (8 books) About a boy who controls one among countless parasites which invade the Earth to take over a human's brain and eat other human. This one is pretty violent too!

Unfortunately, Parasyte is Japanese, which violates OPs rules.

But it really shouldn't. I loved Parasyte. A lot of action, the people in it actually respond to whats going on pretty realistically (Considering whats happening is pretty damn far from real), and the ending gloriously subverts some of the undertones of the entire series of books, which is pleasing.

Good stuff.

Actually, he stated that "I have nothing against manga and am willing to read comics in that style."
And yes, it's way too awesome not to be read!

 

[Vegosiux]

3) It must have been written in English first. I have nothing against manga and am willing to read comics in that style (even the ones with right to left layout), but I want to read the original, not a translation that may or may not dilute the meaning.

Awww, and I was about to say that if you want some spy parody, check out Alan Ford [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ford_%28comics%29]; but that one is Italian. So well, it's not manga, but it's not English first, either, who'da thunk it.