Top 100 signs that what you are reading is a Serious Work Of Graphic Literature rather than the usual tat that it might to the untrained eye resemble

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1. FITEs overlaid with speeches by Martin Luther King, JFK, Abraham Lincoln etc. (Hello Jeph Loeb!)

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

2. Wordless panel close-up on agonised face of hero.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

3. Wonder Woman's wearing a robe to cover her wonder ass.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

4. Inexplicable absence of the phrase "pulse-pounding".

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

5. Splash page featuring pull quote from Shakespeare, contemporaries of Shakespeare, or artists & thinkers predating Shakespeare. (Hello Next Men!)

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

6. NO PUFFY THOUGHT BALLOONS!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

7. Caption boxes resemble notepad paper / journal pages.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

8. Pull quotes involving Important Statistics and Truths (cf. birth rate stats; wildlife conservation factoids) are inserted mid-page and surrounded by a good amount of white space. (Hello new Concrete mini!)

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

9. Cover entirely black except for single spotlit image of a gun, a hospital bed, a syringe etc. And the words "THE CHOICE." in capitals.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

10. is not coloured in

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

11. Good words: Destiny, tragedy, profiteth

Bad words: Nooooooooo!, Aieeeeee!, "giant scorpions"

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

12. Protagonist cuts sleeves off costume, grows beard.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)

13. "Imagine if Shakespeare and Michaelangelo had collaborated on a comic book..."

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Protagonists wear glasses, and never take them off to reveal their loveliness/studliness.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

14, sorry.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

15. http://nightwing.superman.ws/covers/jo-141.gif

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

16. is told from point of view of "ordinary person"

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

17. Steven T Seagal

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

18. It elicits reviews like (from Silverbulletcomicbooks.com) (bunus points if you can guess what comic it is):
So the hacks may disassemble and reassemble. They may countdown to one crisis after another. But these stories lack resonance; they are spiritless and impoverished, a series of empty explosions and meaningless massacres. A true writer tells a story that speaks to the reader, be it through laughs or tears. XXXX and XXXXX have been crafting the comic book superhero equivalents of Waiting for Godot or Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Ignorant readers will dismiss it as clownish stuff, not real storytelling. Don't be ignorant! This issue is absurdist farce in full glory. I highly recommend it.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I want to say it's Promethea, but it sounds more like Milligan & Allred's X-Statix.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

X Force?

19. features depressing real life catastrophe/atrocity (eg holocaust, 9/11) instead of entertaining fictional catrastophe (eg planet devouring, plague of killer space monkeys, etc)

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

20. The word VERTIGO is somewhere on the cover.
20a. The cover artist is a "respected illustrator" in the fantasy genre.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

21. NO PRIMARY COLORS EVER!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it would be easier, considering the source of the post, it's Giffen & DeMatteis's I Can't Believe It's Not Justice League.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 15:51 (twenty-one years ago)

22. swearing without asterisks

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

23. No splash pages.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it would be easier, considering the source of the post, it's Giffen & DeMatteis's I Can't Believe It's Not Justice League.

Oh sweet Jeebus. Was the title of the review something like "PORTRAIT OF THE ONE PUNCH AS AN OLD MAN"?

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Gravity's Bwa-Ha-Ha"

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"Green Like Me"

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"I Know Why The Black Canary Whinges"

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"Dibny's Complaint"

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Long Day's journey into Dr Mid-Nite

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

24. Smoking. Lots of smoking. And drinking, too. Also, indiscriminant drug use. And lots of the sex. Basically, any vice that's frowned upon by good Christian folk.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Booster in the Rye"

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Are You There God? It's Me, Batman."

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"Run, L-Ron, Run"

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"Waiting for MODOK"

25. character has super powers but doesn't wear a costume and has an every day job

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"My Beetle, My Self"

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"Mr. Miracle on 34th St."

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

26. Alex Ross

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

27. Special Guest Appearance by the One True God!

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

27a. Cameos by real comics writers.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

28. Collage

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

29. Silent sequence with characters weeping over a comrade's fallen body.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)

30. "From an idea by Harlan Ellison"

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

31. Villain revealed to be a clone of Hitler.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

32. Full stops. Instead of FOUR EXCLAMATION MARKS ---- !!!!

5a. Yeats "The Second Coming" trotted out yet again. Also some mention of giants being in those days.

31a. Villain actually is Hitler, or brain thereof.

― Vic Fluro, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

33. One. Word. Speech. Balloons.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

34. It's raining. A lot.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

35. has been mentioned/reviewed in a non-comics periodical

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

35a. There's a pullquote praising the Graphic Literature in your hand on the cover from an author / critic not involved in the Graphic Literature field.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

36. It was published betweeen 1990 and 2000, and Marvel's not the publisher.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

37. SOMEONE DIES, but not in battle - usually, they get sick or old. Or sick and old. But sick is key. Old helps, though.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

38. It's not in standard comic book dimensions.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

39. characters talk about their fave bands, books, art etc, to prove that author is aware of world beyond comicdom and has really good taste

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

40. reader has to work out for herself whether story is a DREAM or a HOAX or an IMAGINARY TALE

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/216/200/216_2_202.jpg

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

HUBRIS IS pledging the story's not a cop-out when the villain on the cover is a mummy w/ a glowing purple orb for a head.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"Grab his shiny purple helmet, batman!"

― Mark C (Markco), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

42. Acceptable ways to finish story: "Not the end." "The Beginning" "...?" "Fin."

Unacceptable ways to finish story: "The End". Huge exclamation mark.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

43. Characters spend all their time in a diner/S& M club.
44. "The graphic heir to the immigrant experience, a pictoral 'Call it Sleep'tour-de-force" is somewhere on the cover.
45. Vampires

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 25 February 2005 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

46. Story is about certain event or character, but told by OTHER FOLKS in a narrated flashback fashion.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

47. Cover = Statue of Liberty crying.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

47a. Cover = hero at grave site of comrade / lover, crying or screaming. Usually, said hero holds scrap of costume / clothing from dead comrade / lover. Balled fists of raging furysadness work just as well, tho.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"furysadness" = I am a Chris Claremont alien.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I've got a new thread idea.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

48. Title begins with "..."

― Vic Fluro, Friday, 25 February 2005 20:13 (twenty-one years ago)

49. Long time antagonist decides to "get personal" and really hurt the protagonist (via maiming / killing supporting cast member).

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 February 2005 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

50. You bought it at an adult bookstore.

― Huk-L, Friday, 25 February 2005 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

49a. Green Lantern uses a kitchen appliance with SHOCKING consequences.

― Vic Fluro, Saturday, 26 February 2005 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)

51. It is not actually about the character it says it is on the cover.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

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