Café de Nuit

I'm looking for some inspiration for a campaign and am wondering if anyone knows of any good comics or graphic novels that capture a gothic horror feeling such as Revenloft? Preferably comics that fit into a simuliar enviroment and tech level as ravenloft...

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/DR_P ... Novels.htm

I would also add the Watchmen graphic novel collection for a great explanation of what it means to be a hero in world where no one wants a hero.

Please read the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman...

All in trade paperback.

The first arc (Preludes and Nocturnes) is a bit ''off'' as the team was trying to find its voice, but by the second arc (The Doll's House), it gets very good. A lot of potential. Just wait till you get to the ''Cereal convention''!!

Patrick

Hmm...thanks for the suggestions. However, with the exception of From Hell to an extent I don't believe those are quite what I was hoping for. I had looked at that page last night.

And for Sandman I have The Wake. Perhaps I'll re-read it and see about getting back into that line if it feels adequate. I'll be on the look out for comics, preferably comics that fit into a simuliar enviroment and tech level as ravenloft...

I think that your going to be SOL on this one. In all honesty your not going to find any comics that really capture the feel of the gothic mystery and also appear on the same level of technology. Your best bet is to just find some great stories and adapt them yourself.
In all honesty I think the reason we don't see something like this is because not too many fantasy comics sell, with obvious exceptions such as Red Sonja, Conan, and Poisen elves.
A really good fantasy comic I would recomend would be Sojourn published by crossgen. It isn't quite gothic, but the story telling is done well and the artwork is brilliant.
Some great gothic/horror comics I would recomend are the walking dead which was already featured on the graphic novel section. DamnNationwhich unfortunatly may have been canceled or is just really really late. I believe they only have had about three issues. That one manly focuses on a group of the military trying to find survivors in a strange mirror of our world which is populated by zombie/vampire creatures. The artwork in that comic is also stunning.
Other than that it is pretty much dry out there in my opinion, but if you or anyone else knows of something out there let me know too. I am always up for a good horror comic.

"Essential Tomb of Dracula" Vol 4 has plenty of stories that I think might fit the bill you're looking for. (Some are so-so, but most are pretty good. and the book's a great value for a amount of comics you get.)

If you read French, there is a magnificent saga (6 tomes) called "le Prince de la Nuit" (the Prince of Night) which tells the story of the feud between an ancient vampire-bard and the scions of a noble family upon which he once preyed. The first tome reminded me a lot of Barovia but the saga itself could easily serve as the basis for a MotRD campaign.

http://www.glenat.com/dyn/glenat/pagesa ... ETOUR=VRAI

Big Sandman fan here...

By the way, The Wake is one of the last stories to Sandman. Which is why you probably missed out on a lot of the story...

I honestly don't know a lot of people who didn't enjoy the series.

I will try to think of other stuff today.

Patrick

Jonathan Winters wrote:Please read the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman...

*lol* at the Cereal conventon indeed

Cantheist wrote:Hmm...thanks for the suggestions. However, with the exception of From Hell to an extent I don't believe those are quite what I was hoping for. I had looked at that page last night. (...) I'll be on the look out for comics, preferably comics that fit into a simuliar enviroment and tech level as ravenloft...

There are nothing close to Ravenloft in comics, as far as I know. But you can take ideas here and there... Same for books, if we forget the novels made for Ravenloft.

Mortepierre wrote:If you read French, there is a magnificent saga (6 tomes) called "le Prince de la Nuit" (the Prince of Night) which tells the story of the feud between an ancient vampire-bard and the scions of a noble family upon which he once preyed. The first tome reminded me a lot of Barovia but the saga itself could easily serve as the basis for a MotRD campaign.

http://www.glenat.com/dyn/glenat/pagesa ... ETOUR=VRAI

Yes, this is quite good indeed (avec les séries Requiem, Rapaces, Garous et le Troisième Testament have a good potential to generate RL ideas )

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Other titles I got in the last years that I'd like to add to the site soon:

Crimson - new take on the world's origin, with vampires and another humanoid race near extinct. Apocalyptic end and werewolfs. Fun.

Dawn of the Dead TP

Fell (new serie, we are at #2 now - sound good: mystery and horror)

Shidima and No Honnor - asian adventure, nasty baddies

Ravenous TP - from Poe stories

Tavola TP - gothic drawings. Nearly an art book.

Winter's dregs and othe stories TP - zombies!

Night Mary - new serie again, we are at #4. Full of vicious killers!

The Living and the Dead TP - this one is warped and really gave me the creeps... Dr Frankenstein wants to forget his mistakes of the past. however, a rich woman wants to give enough funds for a new hospital should he accept to put her dying son in a new body... I'll stop there not to give spoilers. It is really creepy, believe me.

I get the comic previews each month and hunt for horror stories. It makes my dealer mad that I never order marvel-type comics and always order obscure things

Joël

I agree with Jonathan Winters, Sandman is one of my all time favorites. While you may not get many gothic horror ideas, it tells you a lot about stories. However, "The Wake" is the single worst possible book to start with: not only does it give away the grande finale (which takes place in Book 9, "the Kindly Ones"), it also mainly ties up some loose ends - which will invariably be quite boring if you don't know the rest of the thread. If you are sceptical, in my opinion Book 6, "Fables & Reflection" is perfect because it is an excellent collection of short stories, which can be understood without problems even if you haven't read any of the other books. I would only recommend starting with the first book if you were already persuaded you wanted to read the whole story arc, because while this book isn't bad, it simply isn't "Sandman" (except for the last of the eight stories), it's more like a superhero comic.

I'd also recommend "Midnight Nation" by Michael Straczynski: The story of a man who discovers he has "fallen through the cracks": he can still see the normal people, but they can't perceive him. The other few people in this new "world" are terrorized and hunted by demons, and he discovers he is slowly turning into one of those creatures...

Furthermore, how about the "Swamp Thing" saga by Alan Moore? Quite scary at times, and rather more intelligent than the name Swamp Thing might suggest. There's Vampires, Demons, Werewolves, Witch Covenants, Serial Killers...

Hi all,
A graphic novel that is not quite what you seek, but might inspire you is a series of three books. It's about a knight who has lost his faith in knighthood and humanity in general and his two companions. As they travel through warravaged france of the 14th century the knight finds redemption again and turns on his former dark lord.

A very nice series and with a lot of mysterious undertones. perhaps not really gothic but good inspirational material, let me look up title and writer. ... the writer a Francois Bourgeon, a frenchman. the series is called "de gezellen van de schemering" in dutch, this would translate as "the companions of dusk" or perhaps dawn, in english.

The books are; de betovering van het nevelwoud or "the enchantment of the mist wood", de vale ogen van de moerasstad, or "the pale eyes of the swamp city" and the last book, de laatste zang van de malaterres, or "the last song of the Malaterres"

I looked him up on wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeon There you can read a bit more about him, the series i refer to is translated in english as the twilight companions.

Jennifer

I think Batman: Hush is a good example of how to construct a story around an old ally turned bad with a old villain behind the scenes. I think the theme of the comics can be taken and adapted for Ravenloft.

Without a doubt, the most gothic, ravenloftesque, graphic novel I have ever read, And I have a giant collection which occupies most of the other room, is Batman: Arkham Asylum- A Serious House on Serious Earth It has all the best aspects of gothic literature. As much as I enjoyed Sandman. Arkham was far more gothic. I would also look into the 'Hellblazer' series if I were you.

Yes, Hellblazer has a lot of potential. I haven't read it in years, but it usually had a good portion of human horror.

If you want ideas, or see how amazing storytelling is done: Starman from DC Comics, written by James Robinson.
Some gothic elements: Ghost pirate, dead brother who visits once a year, the Shade, dark magic, etc.

It has a lot more to offer. It was around 80 issues if I remember correctly.

There is nothing arbitrary or left to chance in this story. What begins as a simple super hero story evolves into something else. Robinson knew exactly where his story would end when he started it.

Everytime I read it (every couple of years) I find something new. I thought it was about Jack Knight, then Opal City, the Starman legacy, etc.

The last time I read it, my son had just been born, now I think it's about a father/son relationship more than anything else.

I would honestly need a couple of pages to describe this to you.

If anybody else has read this, I'b be curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Patrick

Hi Joel!

Yes indeed "the cereal convention''...

Nice list of stuff you have there. I have to look into this. Not a lot of stuff I have heard from...
Hum...
Cheers!
Patrick