I got 16 entries for the Gray Horses give-away. Using the most stringent methodology and carefully supervised by one of my cats, I wrote all the entrants’ names down on a sheet of paper, cut them up, put them in a cereal bowl, mixed them carefully, and drew a name at random.
And it seems like the early bird gets the horse, as the winner was the first entry I received, from the talented web-comic artist known as Metrokitty:
“My favorite read-over-and-over graphic novel is Kyle Baker’s Why I Hate Saturn. It’s such a riot! The one-liners crack me up, and Kyle Baker delivers a great cynical take on aspects of modern life (dating, race, self-confidence). Plus the artwork is gorgeous – it’s rock-solid and less exaggerated than his current more cartoony style. This is the graphic novel I loan out to friends who don’t read comics but who are interested in them – it’s very approachable, it’s stand-alone, and I feel like it reads a bit like an episode of Seinfeld in comic book form.”
Here are the other books cited as perennial favorites:
From ArnCharl: “My nomination for most re-readable book is Jar of Fools by Jason Lutes. It’s so poignant and subtle; I always find myself thinking new thoughts and wondering new questions every time I read it.”
From Bill Roundy, who I met at SPX and has a mini-comic, Man Enough: a queer romance (which also features a two-page story written by Roundy and illustrated by Tim [Cavalcade of Boys] Fish) set to debut at the upcoming Alternative Press Expo: “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life. I’ve read that thing at least five times in the last two years, and I’m sure I’ll reread it again which each new volume comes out. It’s just SO much fun!”
From Rachel Nabors, of SubcultureofOne.com and MangaPunk.com: “My re-readable graphic novel has to be Princess Mermaid by Junko Mizuno. I assure you that it is not your regular mushy shoujo manga. The art is Marilyn Manson meets My Little Ponies, and every time I read it, the characters seem more vibrant and tragic than before. The feminist statement comes out clearer with each pass, too.”
From Michael Denton of Silent Accomplice: “There are several GNs I enjoy reading over and over. The American Elf collection is great to re-read. From a more narrative sense, Goodbye, Chunky Rice and Box Office Poison are winners. For not-to-be-beat superheroics, Batman: Year One, The Authority, and Planetary are favorites. Lastly, my most favorite thing to re-read are the Sandman collections.”
Stever is “Reading Watchmen again!”
From Brandon Davis-Shannon: “I love to reread Berlin: City of Stones.”
From Eileen Mack: “Craig Thompson’s Goodbye, Chunky Rice. over and over. since I’m a “non-resident alien” in the US…”
From Michael Baird: “I think one of the graphic novels I find pulling me back over and over is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Another I find indispensable for convincing people that comics deal with real, deep issues is Batman: The Ultimate Evil.”
From TangognaT: “I can reread Nausicaa over and over again!”
From Matt Huynh of Stikman Comics: “My favourite re-readable comic is Craig Thompson’s Blankets.”
From Scott Cederlund of View from the Cheap Seats: “A graphic novel that I read over and over again? The immediate one is Matt Wagner’s Mage: The Hero Discovered. I think I pull this book out every couple of months to either read the whole thing or just the last third.”
From Mark Purtill: “I’m not sure there’s any graphic novel I enjoy reading over and over, but I have reread the Usagi Yojimbo collections I have repeatedly with enjoyment. If you’d like a specific book, volume 2 (Samurai) is the one I’ve reread the most.”
From Bill Burns: “A graphic novel I enjoy reading over and over is Batman: Year One.”
From Richard Baez: “My rereadable title is Kill Your Boyfriend by Messrs. Grant Morrison and Philip Bond. I first read it one Friday night during my fifteenth year and proceeded to read it twice more as the evening progressed. It was a constant companion with me at school and got me in trouble on at least two occasions when I let it associate with my peers. It now exists sans cover but avec love in a much-thumbed through long box in my closet. It gets a good meticulous thumbthrough at least once a month, I imagine.”
And last, but certainly not least, Scott of Polite Dissent: “Far West, by Richard Moore (published by NBM) is the graphic novel I re-read the most.”
Thanks to everyone who entered and to everyone who linked to the contest on their blogs. This was fun!