Recommendations for recent graphic novels?

I thoroughly recommend DCs Injustice tie-in TPBs. You don't need any knowledge whatsoever of the game and they're some of the best recent work I've read. You say you liked Watchmen; Injustice shows what could happen if the most powerful hero (in this case Superman) got pushed over the edge by something terrible in his life. How would the human race cope? What would the other heroes do? Who would take which side (Superman's imposed New World Order or Batman's resistance movement)?





All for a box of chocolates...

Sounds like you might go for something like Alex + Ada. It's set in a future where androids are identical to humans but allegedly not sentient. It's a love story about a man and his android and deals with current real life social issues through a sci-fi lenses. Don't know if you know the Luna brothers, but Johnathan Luna is one of the creators and it looks like a Luna brothers book...which is a good thing to me.

I also dug:

Girls (a Luna brothers book)
Scalped
The Sandman Overture (a prequel to The Sandman written by Gaiman)
Anything by Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Sleeper, Criminal, Fatale...)
Fables

According to me, yes. I am the person it's usually according to when I'm talking.

To be honest I don't really think it does that great of a job with "who would take which side" Since pretty much the entire justice league sides with Superman. I get the idea is to make Batman the outmatched underground resistance but it isn't a good representation of the characters we know and love since it goes pretty heavily against a lot of their personalities. Before I realised it was an alternate universe (They didn't reveal this prior to release) I enjoyed guessing who would fall on what side, when it turned out they all pretty much turned evil (some of them had guilt but let's face it, most of them were irredeemable by the time the events of the game took place)I was pretty disappointed.

It's still an enjoyable read though for the most part

The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister!

It's an alternate universe - yes there are differences (there are other DC universes where characters behave differently to the way they do in main continuity; Wonder Woman in Flashpoint, for instance) - for example I don't think there's any way in hell that 'our' Superman would do what he does that kicks the whole thing off, but that's the whole point - what if he did? What if all the characters took the course's of action that they do here, how would it play out?.





All for a box of chocolates...

Yeah but I would have liked to see more of them behave like their original characters. For example, Shazam and Green Lantern have higher responsibilities than just the JL so they should really have opposed superman. Wonder Woman's upbringing and close relationship with Superman makes sense that she would take his side, Hawkwoman being an alien warrior also makes sense to be on his side. I like that things like GL's responsibility to the corps were addressed, but they just weren't handled in the way you would expect from the main continuity heroes. For example, there's no way the real Hal Jordan would have gone down the path this one did. I'd have liked to have seen it go down in a way we could believe would be how it could happen in main continuity, this is way too obviously an alternate universe.

The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister!

I'd have liked to have seen it go down in a way we could believe would be how it could happen in main continuity, this is way too obviously an alternate universe.
None of it would have happened in the main continuity. Superman would never have done what he did, the whole situation wouldn't have happened. Any 'out of character' behaviour is intentional - indeed essential - for the story to play out as it does.





All for a box of chocolates...

Not necessarily. The game opens with the line "I can say without a doubt that there are an infinite number of universes. Some are just like our own.. but for one or two significant events, exactly the same"

This is clearly meant to indicate that aside from the obvious differences of Lex being Clarks friend and what happened with the Joker, the universe is practically the same as the main continuity. Just because Superman behaves uncharacteristically, doesn't mean the rest of them have to. But based on the actions of the large majority of the characters, it's clear this universe's characters are almost nothing like their main continuity counterparts. They have more in common with the Justice Lords from the animated series than with the main Justice League.

It doesn't make the conflict any less engaging. I just was expecting, and would have preferred a more "realistic" fallout from Superman's actions.

The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister!

Just because Superman behaves uncharacteristically, doesn't mean the rest of them have to.
The behaviour of characters varies from universe to universe; sometimes it's similar to main continuity, sometimes it's not. That's one of the reasons the publishers and writers like alternate universe stories; it lets them explore ideas and storylines that could never work in main continuity. Part of that is that characters can behave completely 'out of character' if the writers wish with no knock-on effect to the main continuity.





All for a box of chocolates...