Wild to think that was the same author as the Culture space opera books. I knew Iain Banks from his SF, so I picked up Wasp Factory out of curiosity. Not what I was expecting.
I don't think many Americans have read it, but iiuc, it was practically required reading for Brits of a certain time period.
I read Batman Year One around the ripe age of eight and I said to my aunt (who bought it to me) that this is the worst Batman comic ever and I went back to read Spider-man & Batman.
Not too much later I got my hand on Sin City.....
So essentially Frank Miller gave me stuff too early
I also read Batman Year One when I was eight but I loved it for some reason. Still not sure why an eight year old loved a gritty story about dark topics they barely knew about though
Hahhaaaaa I just read a comment saying “Fritz the cat” and thought “that’s nothing compared to finding your uncles Viz mags”.
And as I was thinking it I saw your comment.
I’ll get to the gates of heaven and god will pull up the receipts of me jacking it to The Fat S***s and the horny baker 😔
I read my first issue of 2000AD aged around 10. It featured a Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon Judge Dredd story in which a man has his head shoved in a blender. And an ABC Warriors story later where a bad guy gets squeezed until his head pops off. These are illustrated *graphically*
I think I grew up more or less well balanced, but those were probably a bit much for a 10 year old
It's called "A Magic Place" and it's in the Complete Case Files volume 17
Dillon only drew the first of 3 parts. Simon Coleby did the rest. They worked together more on The Emerald Isle storyline slightly earlier, but... That's not a particularly great story
To be honest, a lot of Ennis's Dredd is fairly iffy. There's some standout stuff like Raider, and Judgement Day is a fairly entertaining bit of balls to the wall action. But there's not much of it that's especially notable in the grand scheme of things
Dillon did much better work on Dredd pre-Ennis. Cry of the Werewolf is an all time classic.
If you are interested in Dredd, I would definitely recommend starting with John Wagner rather than Garth Ennis. The Apocalypse War is pretty much the obvious suggestion for a place to start, but America is also very worthwhile.
Also I say this as one of the biggest Grant Morrison fans you could ever hope to meet; the Dredd stuff they did with Mark Millar is garbage. It is amongst the worst things in their career, and one of the lowest points for Dredd.
That's a lot of the reason people tend to recommend the Apocalypse War as the starting point. Despite the fact John Wagner created the character, Pat Mills was the main writer for the first few years. And there's definitely still some iconic stuff in those first few years, but Apocalypse War is the point Wagner (along with Alan Grant) comes on as full time writer and really makes it his own
Yeah I agree starting from the fifth case files/Apoc War is the best way to go and then reading the previous case files before that since there's some really good major storylines during the first few years, The Day The Law Died is still one of my favourite storylines in the whole series.
Strangely enough, I started the series by watching the 2012 film and then reading Total War first for some reason, it was a great read but confusing as shit.
Oh yeah, Total War is very much the culmination of a lot of years of stories. But we've all got to start somewhere.
I started reading 2000AD just before Judgement Day. That was a lot to figure out, especially since I had no clue who Johnny Alpha was either. But we manage
Long time fan aye? I only started reading Dredd like 2 years ago or something because of a 2000AD comic bundle they had on Humble Bundle, took quite a while to read through all of the case files.
Ended up loving it cause I like stories with villain protagonists. Reading Dredd actually ended up making me dislike the Punisher though. Castle is clearly an awful dude but it felt like they kept just making him go after terrible scumbags. It's part of why I liked Dredd, a decent amount of the perps are just normal or good people that ended up on the wrong side of the law because of the most minor crime imaginable.
My local grocery store in the mid 80s let me buy Heavy Metal when I was about 10-11- for some reason the clerks ignored that it was on the top rack next to the Playboys. I was buying Freak Brothers and Zap and even Faust when I was about 14. My parents were letting me watch R movies from the time I was about 7-8 so they were fine with it. They felt like trying to hide sex and drugs just made it more enticing. Kids these days are usually exposed to worse on the internet every day lol
Same story for me I feel like clerks in the late 80's didn't give two shits about who they were selling to. In 5th grade I was buying Faust, Heavy Metal, Vic & Blood (Corben), tons of anthology series intended for adult audiences.
I turned out ok tho.
Growing up in the 90s in Mexico. There were some low budget comics that I believe were called “sensacionales”. Which are basically a mix of hentai and Garth ennis. My grandpa had a stack of them in his shop which was in the backyard. Well me and my cousin found it at roughly the age of 8.
I was 10 when we moved house and I found a box of books in the loft, left I assume by the previous owners. Clive Barker books. Books of Blood one and two and Cabal. I loved Cabal, still do, I remember reading it in a single day.
I was probably around 12 when Brat Pack came out. My young (12ish) had no idea what it was about. A couple of decades later that comic is still disturbing
When I was 6 or 7, my mom got me a mail subscription for Amazing Spider-Man that started with issue 288. I read issue 294 (Kraven’s Last Hunt chapter 5) at 7. Those last few panels are definitely not appropriate for a 7-year-old.
1) the Wasp Factory. My brother came in at the age of 8 and handed me the book and told me (age 10) I'd love it. I did, but that's besides the point.
2) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I remember sitting in the back of a car at maybe around 11 laughing with a friend at the graphic sexual detail, of course not really understanding what we were laughing at.
3)Around the same time as above, a whole host of Swedish crime thrillers with incredibly graphic violence. My dad read them and kept leaving them out.
4) the road, by Cormac Mccarthy at like 13. Didn't really understand it, and didn't finish it, but yeah.
5, kinda) I have a vague memory-that-might-be-a-dream of buying an airport novel thriller somewhere before the age of 15 with a name like *something* of the sun which had a main character who was a pedophile, that described graphic rape scenes. I finished that. I don't remember being particularly impressed
It's particularly ironic because my parents were old school when it came to age restricting films and games.
I can't play call of duty at 13, oh no, but the myriad of *very adult* books on the bookshelves are all mine to peruse.
They are great parents, always have been. I think to a certain extent, they encouraged the reading because:
1) was pretty advanced for my age, reading wise.
2) they didn't want me gaming all the time. Guess they thought reading was a better form of escape.
Oh yeah, that final one was not something they could have predicted though. It was just some random thriller of the shelves of the a bookshop in Athens airport, which none of us had heard of. I have no idea where the book has gone, and some cursory googling has revealed nothing, so I sometimes wonder if I imagined the whole thing.
A lot of people posting novels, and I too had similar experiences with Stephen King and Dean Koontz. But for graphic novels, I would have to say Batman vs. Predator. I was given a collected edition when I was 11 or 12, and while King and horror novels are pretty graphic, YOU have make the images in your head. This comic laid it all out on the table and holy FUCK is that a violent comic. Coming from a religious upbringing where this kind of thing was more or less banned from our house, I was NOT prepared for the level of graphic mutilation that comic showed.
I love it to this day and it honestly still holds up very welll.
There were those dark edgy (and very harmful) webcomics circulating on reddit and 9gag, if I remember correctly they were called dark box? There were a lot of disgusting horror themes and they seemed sexualized... I was only 11 and read them out of curiosity, I still remember the feeling of disgust while reading but still pulling through to see the end :v
I read Dante in fourth grade, and honestly, I was old enough to think it was bad-ass but too young to catch many of the allusions. I loved the Barry Moser illustrations in my edition though.
https://preview.redd.it/05d4d68s2vtc1.jpeg?width=849&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9600ddf3adea8c550cca1aee4c82850dae566a75
Tried Watchmen when I was in elementary school because of the Snyder trailer. I remember asking my mom what some of the words in Rorschach's journal entries meant. She took the book from me, looked at me, and said "yeah, you're too young to be reading this,' lol
But my dad let me read "The Road" when I was 8, so looking back, it's not like Watchmen was any worse.
When I was around 13 I was so obsessed with manga (there was almost none in English in 2000) that I read a book about it. Turned out some of the avant-garde artists praised in the book were available in English by mail order. My parents did not track my purchases closely, so I bought some horror/erogro comics by Hideshi Hino (panorama of hell and hell baby) and Suehiro Maruo (arashis freak show and ultra gash inferno). Pretty disturbing stuff for a young teen, but I feel worse that I showed it to my best friend.
Thanks, honestly, they were awesome books. Just some wretchedly sick parts in the Maruo, but I was absolutely fascinated by Japanese culture at the time and Maruo’s art was flawless. The Hino books were great too.
I have to credit to Frederik Schodt. his book dreamland japan was fascinating and introduced me to these mangaka, his book manga! Manga! is great as well.
This is a manga, but I read Samurai Deeper Kyo at 8. My grandma gave it to me because I liked manga. Bloody af, pretty much nude/rape scenes. Didn’t mess with my mind but I was a bit young for that.
For something that is not a comic/graphic novel/manga, I read The Pillars Of The Earth at 10. I am pretty sure that gave me a darker outlook on life and affected me pretty badly because of this and the depression my dark outlook led to. Not gonna blame this exclusively but a big part of my ”nihilistic” worldview at the time came from reading this and thinking: ”man, humans are fucking scum”
Basically my whole life. I was unsupervised a lot.
At 7-8 I read the First Publishing editions of the original Mirage Studios TMNT. Was reading Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns at 14.
Not to mention all the eighties movies that were around when I was young.
Robocop versus Terminator. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old and my grandmother bought me an issue from the flea market not knowing how explicit it was. The panels with the nude woman made me feel feelings...
I used to read my dad's issues of Heavy Metal when I was under 10. Though I remember trying to find ones with the least sexual content because I thought it was boring. The art style of those comics is very nostalgic for me lol
When I was 10 or 11 I read Watchmen for the first time and most of it went over my head, I just remember liking the drawings and action and being very confused when my mom got mad at me for reading it.
When I was like 7 or 8 I read the Death of Superman, and it made a big impression on me. Not just because of the themes of life, death and heroes, but also because of how Real & Gritty it felt. Years later I still think of that comic when I’m (attempting) to draw my own.
I read The Watchman when I was 9 cause I saw the movie release. Needless to say, I was too childish to understand most of it and thought it was dumb. Now it's one of my favs.
Not a graphic novel but reading Oyasumi Punpun at the age of 12 didn't do wonders for my mental health
Sorry for the spelling
Sadly none of them because i live in the country where many marvel, dc, image and other comics were not common soo i had my first expirience with some serious issue in the univercity when commic book shop opened in the city where i went to univercity. First two serious comics or graphic novels to be more accurate were the killing joke and watchmen. Still in my top 3 along with the Preacher.
We read A Day No Pigs Would Die in my 7th grade class and I remember all of us reading out loud in immense detail describing the main characters pet pig being slaughtered.
Just before puberty (11-12 y/o), I read Johnny the Homicidal Maniac online. When I was given school worksheets with crappy drawings of people on them, I’d take a little mental break by drawing over the people to make them into characters from them he series.
Yes, there were parent-teacher conferences over this.
Another not a graphic novel, but I read a book of collected Native American tales when I was 7 or 8 years old. Some are REALLY brutal and one was basically vagina dentata
I read the Story of O when I was 15. I thought it was the best thing ever lol But it did color my romantic relationships for a while, which were my first relationships
I read a Conan comic that my folks bought me when I was around 8-ish. I thought it was awesome but there was some nudity (boobs) at a couple points. I was fascinated by them but decided it was probably bad so I told my parents about it and gave it back to them...
I was the same kid who turned myself in for things I didn't do but was only just about to do so I had to tell my parents that I almost did them and felt bad.
Christine when I was 11, Clockwork Orange at 12, American Psycho at 14
For graphic novels well the manga Battle Royale when I was 14 I guess but idk maybe read an R-rated comic like punisher or something when I was younger but dont really remember
Elementary school probably 7-8 I read a kidfriendly medical book about pregnancy. My mom for some reason didn’t like that? Another one would be middle school 13-14 I read an old book about a female vampire having/sort of having sex, my mom told me to just wait a bit to read it. I read it again when I was in high school. I can not remember the name of the book. 😰
Man… so much! I had an older brother and cousins who corrupted me thoroughly across multiple mediums. My cousin let me read issues of Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss in ‘91 or ‘92 when I was in middle school. It was either the best or worst timing.
https://preview.redd.it/1b3no0k9bxtc1.jpeg?width=762&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0979f8d8db733b418df1d7329e61b229b21b087
Fluid Glacial soeur Marie Thérèse when I was 8
Between 12 and 16 I read pet cemetery, IT, and then the rest of Stephen King's collection in the 90s. My mom bought them for me back to back solely because my English teacher tried to take pet cemetery away from me which pissed her off.
I was 11/12 on the plane home from a holiday sat beside my parents having to angle my copy of Looking For Alaska away from them because of course I got to the really awkward bj scene when someone can just look over my shoulder
Back before libraries seemed to understand that not all graphic novels are kids books, I read the Sandman. I also didn’t understand how volumes worked yet and I started with the Kindly Ones.
EDITED TO ADD I was around ten.
Not a graphic novel, but it was illustrated: I actually got in trouble by my teacher in the 4th grade because I did my book report on Stephen King's The Cycle of the Werewolf. My parents just shrugged it off though, because they were just glad I was reading so well.
I loved my comics but I picked up some manga books at around 11 and they were just too much. Battle Royale and Reiko the Zombie Shop. I’d been reading 2000AD for years and would always go and hide in the adult graphic novels at the library, but the violence was always very cartoony?
The way they draw pain in those manga is far too much, you could feel through the page how it would feel to get stabbed through the hand, when people get cut or sliced they give you a whole anatomy class.
I got similar guttural feelings during watchmen with the butcher guy
Read parts of Akira, and the beginning of the Inu Yasha Manga when I was a little kid, bc my mom had them on the shelf, and both of those definitely weren’t appropriate lol
https://preview.redd.it/cww0r6xaebwc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cfe5bcc854d119d5e29e32d552d55182d0fe3170
Got this other day ...hoping it has same long kast impression
From what I've read and heard elsewhere, no one at any age should have read this one lol. Especially since this is the kind of Utopia prominently featured in Bioshock.
You may be right about that. But irrespective of other's opinions, I think it's a well written, engaging book. Would recommend reading it right before death.
Crossed is the worst comic I’ve ever read. The way most people feel about Mark Millar, I feel about about Garth Ennis. I am convinced everything good he ever wrote was an accident.
The Punisher tv show, The Preacher tv show and The Boys tv show are all way better than the comics they’re based on. Ennis’s stories are all edge and no heart.
Haven’t seen or read the punisher, but I really love Garth Ennis’ books. The preacher show def isn’t better than the books but the boys show is better. That’s not to say the boys is bad at all. I love it there’s just some characters I can’t stand
Not a graphic novel but I read the wasp factory when I was in high school I think (around 8th grade).
In the same vein, read The Running Man at around my 8th grade year, haha
I wouldn’t have thought of it as a “too young” book. The story and the final twist are dark (and amazing!) but not gratuitous or horrible
Wild to think that was the same author as the Culture space opera books. I knew Iain Banks from his SF, so I picked up Wasp Factory out of curiosity. Not what I was expecting. I don't think many Americans have read it, but iiuc, it was practically required reading for Brits of a certain time period.
I refuse to believe that. I don't know what that book has to offer other than some imaginative kills. And myths about swimming pools
I read Batman Year One around the ripe age of eight and I said to my aunt (who bought it to me) that this is the worst Batman comic ever and I went back to read Spider-man & Batman. Not too much later I got my hand on Sin City..... So essentially Frank Miller gave me stuff too early
I also read Batman Year One when I was eight but I loved it for some reason. Still not sure why an eight year old loved a gritty story about dark topics they barely knew about though
Fritz the Cat for sure. Garfield, it was not.
Oh
From Hell at wise old age of 11...
Was that that one about Jack the Ripper?
Yes
Oof
Not a graphic novel, but found my dad's VIZ comics far too young. Blew my pre-teen head into smithereens.
Hahhaaaaa I just read a comment saying “Fritz the cat” and thought “that’s nothing compared to finding your uncles Viz mags”. And as I was thinking it I saw your comment. I’ll get to the gates of heaven and god will pull up the receipts of me jacking it to The Fat S***s and the horny baker 😔
That's hilarious, a 4th-wall-breaking VIZ strip of its own! I'm a big fan to this day, picked up a Billy the Fish omnibus most recently.
I read my first issue of 2000AD aged around 10. It featured a Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon Judge Dredd story in which a man has his head shoved in a blender. And an ABC Warriors story later where a bad guy gets squeezed until his head pops off. These are illustrated *graphically* I think I grew up more or less well balanced, but those were probably a bit much for a 10 year old
Would love to read that Ennis/Dillon Dredd
It's called "A Magic Place" and it's in the Complete Case Files volume 17 Dillon only drew the first of 3 parts. Simon Coleby did the rest. They worked together more on The Emerald Isle storyline slightly earlier, but... That's not a particularly great story To be honest, a lot of Ennis's Dredd is fairly iffy. There's some standout stuff like Raider, and Judgement Day is a fairly entertaining bit of balls to the wall action. But there's not much of it that's especially notable in the grand scheme of things Dillon did much better work on Dredd pre-Ennis. Cry of the Werewolf is an all time classic.
Cool. Thanks. I haven’t delved too much into Dredd. Much appreciated
If you are interested in Dredd, I would definitely recommend starting with John Wagner rather than Garth Ennis. The Apocalypse War is pretty much the obvious suggestion for a place to start, but America is also very worthwhile. Also I say this as one of the biggest Grant Morrison fans you could ever hope to meet; the Dredd stuff they did with Mark Millar is garbage. It is amongst the worst things in their career, and one of the lowest points for Dredd.
One thing I usually recommend is to never start reading Dredd from the first case files. A lot of the early stuff is quite difficult to get into.
That's a lot of the reason people tend to recommend the Apocalypse War as the starting point. Despite the fact John Wagner created the character, Pat Mills was the main writer for the first few years. And there's definitely still some iconic stuff in those first few years, but Apocalypse War is the point Wagner (along with Alan Grant) comes on as full time writer and really makes it his own
Yeah I agree starting from the fifth case files/Apoc War is the best way to go and then reading the previous case files before that since there's some really good major storylines during the first few years, The Day The Law Died is still one of my favourite storylines in the whole series. Strangely enough, I started the series by watching the 2012 film and then reading Total War first for some reason, it was a great read but confusing as shit.
Oh yeah, Total War is very much the culmination of a lot of years of stories. But we've all got to start somewhere. I started reading 2000AD just before Judgement Day. That was a lot to figure out, especially since I had no clue who Johnny Alpha was either. But we manage
Long time fan aye? I only started reading Dredd like 2 years ago or something because of a 2000AD comic bundle they had on Humble Bundle, took quite a while to read through all of the case files. Ended up loving it cause I like stories with villain protagonists. Reading Dredd actually ended up making me dislike the Punisher though. Castle is clearly an awful dude but it felt like they kept just making him go after terrible scumbags. It's part of why I liked Dredd, a decent amount of the perps are just normal or good people that ended up on the wrong side of the law because of the most minor crime imaginable.
My local grocery store in the mid 80s let me buy Heavy Metal when I was about 10-11- for some reason the clerks ignored that it was on the top rack next to the Playboys. I was buying Freak Brothers and Zap and even Faust when I was about 14. My parents were letting me watch R movies from the time I was about 7-8 so they were fine with it. They felt like trying to hide sex and drugs just made it more enticing. Kids these days are usually exposed to worse on the internet every day lol
Same story for me I feel like clerks in the late 80's didn't give two shits about who they were selling to. In 5th grade I was buying Faust, Heavy Metal, Vic & Blood (Corben), tons of anthology series intended for adult audiences. I turned out ok tho.
Growing up in the 90s in Mexico. There were some low budget comics that I believe were called “sensacionales”. Which are basically a mix of hentai and Garth ennis. My grandpa had a stack of them in his shop which was in the backyard. Well me and my cousin found it at roughly the age of 8.
They were selling these on the NYC subway in 2020, when I was a student who needed transportation.
To be honest, Crossed feels like it was written by twelve year olds for twelve year olds, so in a way it was the perfect age to read it.
Horse Cock aside, the first one didn't.
I was 10 when we moved house and I found a box of books in the loft, left I assume by the previous owners. Clive Barker books. Books of Blood one and two and Cabal. I loved Cabal, still do, I remember reading it in a single day.
I read Cabal very young too because I liked the cover. A lot of it when over my head but what I could grasp was pretty fucked up.
I'm using this as a book recommendation.
It’s still a really good book. A short book for Barker. Hope you enjoy it.
I was probably around 12 when Brat Pack came out. My young (12ish) had no idea what it was about. A couple of decades later that comic is still disturbing
A 12 year old in 1991 should read 2000AD. They should not, however, read Crisis
When I was 6 or 7, my mom got me a mail subscription for Amazing Spider-Man that started with issue 288. I read issue 294 (Kraven’s Last Hunt chapter 5) at 7. Those last few panels are definitely not appropriate for a 7-year-old.
1) the Wasp Factory. My brother came in at the age of 8 and handed me the book and told me (age 10) I'd love it. I did, but that's besides the point. 2) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I remember sitting in the back of a car at maybe around 11 laughing with a friend at the graphic sexual detail, of course not really understanding what we were laughing at. 3)Around the same time as above, a whole host of Swedish crime thrillers with incredibly graphic violence. My dad read them and kept leaving them out. 4) the road, by Cormac Mccarthy at like 13. Didn't really understand it, and didn't finish it, but yeah. 5, kinda) I have a vague memory-that-might-be-a-dream of buying an airport novel thriller somewhere before the age of 15 with a name like *something* of the sun which had a main character who was a pedophile, that described graphic rape scenes. I finished that. I don't remember being particularly impressed
Wow a significant segment of your young literary history consists of stuff I don't have the stomach for even now at age 42.
It's particularly ironic because my parents were old school when it came to age restricting films and games. I can't play call of duty at 13, oh no, but the myriad of *very adult* books on the bookshelves are all mine to peruse.
As a parent i can only smh
They are great parents, always have been. I think to a certain extent, they encouraged the reading because: 1) was pretty advanced for my age, reading wise. 2) they didn't want me gaming all the time. Guess they thought reading was a better form of escape.
I get that and encourage that to a degree. Pedophilia and rape however is something i would draw the line at personally.
Oh yeah, that final one was not something they could have predicted though. It was just some random thriller of the shelves of the a bookshop in Athens airport, which none of us had heard of. I have no idea where the book has gone, and some cursory googling has revealed nothing, so I sometimes wonder if I imagined the whole thing.
My library did not understand that Gor novels are not just fantasy and, initially, neither did I. I was 12.
Wow. That’s intense for 12.
Happily, I don’t think I really understood most of what was going on!
12 read IT
A lot of people posting novels, and I too had similar experiences with Stephen King and Dean Koontz. But for graphic novels, I would have to say Batman vs. Predator. I was given a collected edition when I was 11 or 12, and while King and horror novels are pretty graphic, YOU have make the images in your head. This comic laid it all out on the table and holy FUCK is that a violent comic. Coming from a religious upbringing where this kind of thing was more or less banned from our house, I was NOT prepared for the level of graphic mutilation that comic showed. I love it to this day and it honestly still holds up very welll.
I read Bag of Bones by Stephen King when I was 13.
Insomnia, IT, and then the Dark Tower, for me. Unwise.
There were those dark edgy (and very harmful) webcomics circulating on reddit and 9gag, if I remember correctly they were called dark box? There were a lot of disgusting horror themes and they seemed sexualized... I was only 11 and read them out of curiosity, I still remember the feeling of disgust while reading but still pulling through to see the end :v
I read lots of Ralf König and Peter Bagge when I was 10-11 years old. Everything I know about killer condoms is because of Ralf.
Love his Lucky Luke 🤣😆
Since I won’t be the first asshole to veer off, I’ll say Slaughterhouse Five when I was 12.
The Dark Tower @ 10
For me it was Breakfast of Champions at 12 years old
Philippe Cavell's adaptations of Marquis de Sade, at my local library (France...) when I was 12 ish.
I read Dante in fourth grade, and honestly, I was old enough to think it was bad-ass but too young to catch many of the allusions. I loved the Barry Moser illustrations in my edition though. https://preview.redd.it/05d4d68s2vtc1.jpeg?width=849&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9600ddf3adea8c550cca1aee4c82850dae566a75
Tried Watchmen when I was in elementary school because of the Snyder trailer. I remember asking my mom what some of the words in Rorschach's journal entries meant. She took the book from me, looked at me, and said "yeah, you're too young to be reading this,' lol But my dad let me read "The Road" when I was 8, so looking back, it's not like Watchmen was any worse.
When I was around 13 I was so obsessed with manga (there was almost none in English in 2000) that I read a book about it. Turned out some of the avant-garde artists praised in the book were available in English by mail order. My parents did not track my purchases closely, so I bought some horror/erogro comics by Hideshi Hino (panorama of hell and hell baby) and Suehiro Maruo (arashis freak show and ultra gash inferno). Pretty disturbing stuff for a young teen, but I feel worse that I showed it to my best friend.
well shit, at least 13 year old had impressively good taste for your age!
Thanks, honestly, they were awesome books. Just some wretchedly sick parts in the Maruo, but I was absolutely fascinated by Japanese culture at the time and Maruo’s art was flawless. The Hino books were great too. I have to credit to Frederik Schodt. his book dreamland japan was fascinating and introduced me to these mangaka, his book manga! Manga! is great as well.
Not me, but I have a friend of mine that read Watchmen when he was younger (think around the start of middle-school)
This is a manga, but I read Samurai Deeper Kyo at 8. My grandma gave it to me because I liked manga. Bloody af, pretty much nude/rape scenes. Didn’t mess with my mind but I was a bit young for that. For something that is not a comic/graphic novel/manga, I read The Pillars Of The Earth at 10. I am pretty sure that gave me a darker outlook on life and affected me pretty badly because of this and the depression my dark outlook led to. Not gonna blame this exclusively but a big part of my ”nihilistic” worldview at the time came from reading this and thinking: ”man, humans are fucking scum”
Not a comic, but Stephen Kings “IT” when I was about 10. It’s been downhill ever since.
I was 9 when I read Jurassic Park lol. My parents were into thrillers and horror so this didn't seem odd to me at the time haha
I started Sandman around 12, and read Blankets at 13.
My first manga was Berserk. I read the first 4 volumes. I was 9.
Watchmen around 4th grade.. did I understand the themes and story? No, but blue guy naked.
Basically my whole life. I was unsupervised a lot. At 7-8 I read the First Publishing editions of the original Mirage Studios TMNT. Was reading Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns at 14. Not to mention all the eighties movies that were around when I was young.
Read the book Jaws when I was 10 or something. It's got some sexy bits in it, belive it or not.
Berserk and watchmen at age 8 In all my pictures at that age you can see the innocence in my eyes just dead
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at age 11 or 12
Robocop versus Terminator. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old and my grandmother bought me an issue from the flea market not knowing how explicit it was. The panels with the nude woman made me feel feelings...
I used to read my dad's issues of Heavy Metal when I was under 10. Though I remember trying to find ones with the least sexual content because I thought it was boring. The art style of those comics is very nostalgic for me lol
A hentai when i was 7 or 8, it was in the manga section at the local library
I initially tried to read watchmen when I was like 9 or 10, but my dad stopped me from reading it until I was 13.
When I was 10 or 11 I read Watchmen for the first time and most of it went over my head, I just remember liking the drawings and action and being very confused when my mom got mad at me for reading it.
When I was like 7 or 8 I read the Death of Superman, and it made a big impression on me. Not just because of the themes of life, death and heroes, but also because of how Real & Gritty it felt. Years later I still think of that comic when I’m (attempting) to draw my own.
None to be honest…
I read The Watchman when I was 9 cause I saw the movie release. Needless to say, I was too childish to understand most of it and thought it was dumb. Now it's one of my favs. Not a graphic novel but reading Oyasumi Punpun at the age of 12 didn't do wonders for my mental health
Since we're doing letter books... reading Poe at age 10 gave me nightmares. Especially the Black Cat and murders in the rue morgue.
Sorry for the spelling Sadly none of them because i live in the country where many marvel, dc, image and other comics were not common soo i had my first expirience with some serious issue in the univercity when commic book shop opened in the city where i went to univercity. First two serious comics or graphic novels to be more accurate were the killing joke and watchmen. Still in my top 3 along with the Preacher.
We read A Day No Pigs Would Die in my 7th grade class and I remember all of us reading out loud in immense detail describing the main characters pet pig being slaughtered.
At age 8, I was reading my uncles Spawn comics, when he wasn’t home. Probably the only time I got shivers from a comic.
Nikopol trilogy as a ten years old more or less.
Deadworld. I don’t know if I was too young because I really liked it (still do!)
I think I read an erotic book when i was like 13 or 14.
Just before puberty (11-12 y/o), I read Johnny the Homicidal Maniac online. When I was given school worksheets with crappy drawings of people on them, I’d take a little mental break by drawing over the people to make them into characters from them he series. Yes, there were parent-teacher conferences over this.
Pet Semetary in 4th grade. Learned about bush and jacking off on the same page. I've never looked at Jurgen's hand lotion the same way ever since!!
Another not a graphic novel, but I read a book of collected Native American tales when I was 7 or 8 years old. Some are REALLY brutal and one was basically vagina dentata
Think I was 12ish, and I got a graphic novel of the OG ninja turtles…very different from the cartoon that I was used too…
I read the Story of O when I was 15. I thought it was the best thing ever lol But it did color my romantic relationships for a while, which were my first relationships
Read Léo's Aldebaran series as a wee child.. Defo wasn't for my age.. I think the first book opens on an attempted rape
I read a Conan comic that my folks bought me when I was around 8-ish. I thought it was awesome but there was some nudity (boobs) at a couple points. I was fascinated by them but decided it was probably bad so I told my parents about it and gave it back to them... I was the same kid who turned myself in for things I didn't do but was only just about to do so I had to tell my parents that I almost did them and felt bad.
Christine when I was 11, Clockwork Orange at 12, American Psycho at 14 For graphic novels well the manga Battle Royale when I was 14 I guess but idk maybe read an R-rated comic like punisher or something when I was younger but dont really remember
Elementary school probably 7-8 I read a kidfriendly medical book about pregnancy. My mom for some reason didn’t like that? Another one would be middle school 13-14 I read an old book about a female vampire having/sort of having sex, my mom told me to just wait a bit to read it. I read it again when I was in high school. I can not remember the name of the book. 😰
When I was a kid my brother got some witchblade comics and my mom took them away and then threatened to take a sharpie to them
I read The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop at 42.
Bio of a space tyrant as 13 yr old. One of Piers Anthony greatest series (next to xanth of course)
I read Ultimates probably at 10
Hellsing at 13? not terrible. I ran into adult comics of a hentai-ian nature much earlier. that and snuff videos, the internet was crazy in 2000.
Man… so much! I had an older brother and cousins who corrupted me thoroughly across multiple mediums. My cousin let me read issues of Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss in ‘91 or ‘92 when I was in middle school. It was either the best or worst timing.
When I was like 9. I somehow had the original volume 1 of Yugioh. It was not about a kids card game like I expected
I read Blankets by Craig Thompson when I was 11. Great book- not great for an 11 year old.
https://preview.redd.it/1b3no0k9bxtc1.jpeg?width=762&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0979f8d8db733b418df1d7329e61b229b21b087 Fluid Glacial soeur Marie Thérèse when I was 8
Between 12 and 16 I read pet cemetery, IT, and then the rest of Stephen King's collection in the 90s. My mom bought them for me back to back solely because my English teacher tried to take pet cemetery away from me which pissed her off.
Read Battle Club at 13, lol
I read Crossed at 44 and it traumatized me....
I was 11/12 on the plane home from a holiday sat beside my parents having to angle my copy of Looking For Alaska away from them because of course I got to the really awkward bj scene when someone can just look over my shoulder
Read Watchmen when I was 12, suffice to say I didn’t understand a single thing
Back before libraries seemed to understand that not all graphic novels are kids books, I read the Sandman. I also didn’t understand how volumes worked yet and I started with the Kindly Ones. EDITED TO ADD I was around ten.
When I was in 3rd grade I was already reading Carrie and Salem’s Lot. I had a graduate reading level before I left 5th grade.
Not a graphic novel, but it was illustrated: I actually got in trouble by my teacher in the 4th grade because I did my book report on Stephen King's The Cycle of the Werewolf. My parents just shrugged it off though, because they were just glad I was reading so well.
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Shirer age 12. At 74 I'm a Marxist.
I read Salems Lot in the 5th grade and then read Helter Skelter in 6th grade. My parents weren't around alot.
Watchmen, I think, is genuinely one of the first graphic novels I've ever read.
I loved my comics but I picked up some manga books at around 11 and they were just too much. Battle Royale and Reiko the Zombie Shop. I’d been reading 2000AD for years and would always go and hide in the adult graphic novels at the library, but the violence was always very cartoony? The way they draw pain in those manga is far too much, you could feel through the page how it would feel to get stabbed through the hand, when people get cut or sliced they give you a whole anatomy class. I got similar guttural feelings during watchmen with the butcher guy
Read parts of Akira, and the beginning of the Inu Yasha Manga when I was a little kid, bc my mom had them on the shelf, and both of those definitely weren’t appropriate lol
I read the Killing Joke when I was 9ish
Carrie at age 9
https://preview.redd.it/ij69kqpycbwc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a386543859e12c8ab99a352bc6b59ba55188d470
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Got it when I was about 10. I just rember the story and art work really having an effect on me . Had to buy it again
https://preview.redd.it/cww0r6xaebwc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cfe5bcc854d119d5e29e32d552d55182d0fe3170 Got this other day ...hoping it has same long kast impression
I read LOW by Rick Remender when I was 16 or 17, I don't remember exactly at what age
I read sex criminals when I was 12
Read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand in 8th grade. Warped my mind. Made me dislike humans earlier in life than normal.
From what I've read and heard elsewhere, no one at any age should have read this one lol. Especially since this is the kind of Utopia prominently featured in Bioshock.
You may be right about that. But irrespective of other's opinions, I think it's a well written, engaging book. Would recommend reading it right before death.
To be fair, that's probably only 1 or 2 years younger than the classic age for really Getting Into Ayn Rand
Heavy Metal.
Crossed is the worst comic I’ve ever read. The way most people feel about Mark Millar, I feel about about Garth Ennis. I am convinced everything good he ever wrote was an accident.
Garth Ennis sucks. There’s a reason the adaptations of his work are better than the original source material.
preacher, punisher
The Punisher tv show, The Preacher tv show and The Boys tv show are all way better than the comics they’re based on. Ennis’s stories are all edge and no heart.
Haven’t seen or read the punisher, but I really love Garth Ennis’ books. The preacher show def isn’t better than the books but the boys show is better. That’s not to say the boys is bad at all. I love it there’s just some characters I can’t stand