what comics would you recommend to somebody who was interested in non-superhero comics & was a fan of borges, james joyce, william s. burroughs, umberto eco, & jeanette winterson? i'm thinking, in particular, of non-american comics.
From Hell would be my first choice as well. Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell turning the story of Jack the Ripper into a study of violence, magic, the 19th and 20th centuries, patriachal oppression and lots of other things. I'm not a big fan of the idea that comics should be striving to be literature, but I think From Hell is definitely literature, by any definition.
Metabarons or the Incal from Humanoid publishing. French science-fiction at its most extreme... epic in all sense of the word. Action, drama, tragedy, comedy and that's all in the first three pages.
A must read: Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (Pantheon books) It's a work that really pushes the boundaries of the medium... It's about a defining moment in the relationship of an alienated guy and his long stranged father, among other things (it's got Superman in it -well, sort of - but it has really nothing to do whatsoever with superheroes...)
- but it has really nothing to do whatsoever with superheroes...)