Duncan Lloyd on his growing love for graphic novels

I haven’t always been an admirer of graphic novels. From a distance they were perhaps darker, weirder versions of comics, thinking they were a bit bombastic and that I'd probably need to be into sci-fi fantasy and Judge Dredd. Whenever I dabbled I didn’t understand where the beginning was to even start reading them.

Sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of them on shelves in book shops or while walking past window displays in gaming emporiums. I'd give a passing nod in appreciation for the cover design.

Then on one very hot day off from playing shows in America, I needed a little shade and found myself in the alcove doorway of a small shop which had a lone book in the window: The Night Of Your Life by Jesse Reklaw. The cover was like a scene from a Hammer horror film. I needed an excuse for being there so I reached inside and started to read. Each page told a short story of a real dream submitted by people from all around the world in which the artist reinterprets via four square panels. These were entertaining, surreal, witty and insightful, brought to life by brilliantly punchy drawings. Another book caught my eye, Tōnoharu by Lars Martinson. The drawings were beautiful, made with thin, painfully crafted lines. The story is seemingly mundane but transports you to a city in Japan and a teacher’s life dilemma. I left the shop and walked the mile back to my temporary dwelling with both books under my arm.

Since then I’ve delved deeper. Marble Season by Gilbert Hernandez is the story of a middle child (I can relate) growing up in suburbia (I can relate) trying to make sense of the world through moments of trauma and funny childhood logic. There’s such skill in depicting these finer details and emotions through imagery.

Here's some recommendations:

New York Drawings and Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine. Tomine’s graphic novels are full of subtle melancholic observations that instantly hook you in. Sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, but always very human with flaws and broken dreams exposed.

There has been an explosion of graphic novels the last few years with so much subject matter covered. And more biographies are popping up—from Anne Frank to Nick Cave. I read Julie Birmant and Clément Oubrerie’s Pablo, which delves into the early life of Picasso alongside the bohemians of Monmartre and his rocky relationship with Fernande. It resurrects the advent of cubism through colourful imagery and sparky dialogue.

To be honest I feel like I’ve only seen the edge of something that spreads a very wide net but here are few further recommendations for your consideration.

Sabrina by Nick Drnaso is a chilling book set in modern times that covers everything from conspiracy theory to loss and loneliness. It puts you right into the mundane spaces but fills them with an unnerving mood. Often the most striking panels are the wordless ones, deftly illustrated, intensifying that unsettling feeling as you turn each page.

Maus by Art Spiegelman is an older classic book from the '80s that sees the Holocaust through the eyes of mice.

The Beats - A Graphic History (Pekar/Piskor/Buhle) also Nancy J. Peters, Penelope Rosemount, Summer McClinton, and more. The cultural, spiritual, political and often debauched story of The Beats told by various writers and artists. Check out the last one on Tuli Kupferberg by the songwriter and artist Jeffery Lewis and the late Tuli Kupferberg himself.

Drawn and Quarterly (Twenty-Five Years Of Contemporary Cartooning, Comic, And Graphic Novels). A beautiful compendium of many of the modern greats including never before seen works. A brilliant collection to dip in and out of by the trailblazing publisher.

Here are a few more titles to try:

Days of Bagnold Summer by Joff Winterhart

Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

Snoopy, Charlie Brown & the gang.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

As The Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet (Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze, and Laura Martin)

Astro City by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Here by Richard McGuire.