Comics

[Draken]

hey people...

 

so, aside from the first few Ultimate Spideys, i never really bought/read a comic; never felt the desire or had a reason. i was in Victoria visiting relatives recently, and as i wandered into a CD store with a pathetic repetoire, i noticed the comics shop next door. as a lark, i thought i'd enter. after browsing around, looking very unawares of the whole procedure, and eavesdropping on the banter of the clerks to their customers, i recalled having seen the Watchmen trailer a while back, and decided that since i had cash to burn, i may as well invest in the actual book before i saw the film.

 

and, as you can expect with anyone who reads Watchmen for the first time, i was pretty goddamn blown away. i won't go super ballistic school girl on my adoration of the thing, but rest assured it's probably the best novel i've read in years.

 

so! after reading, and gettin all stoked on the film, i realized that well, i want more effin comics. any. more by Moore (tee-hee), classics, new ones, just good graphics novels. and then i realized, oh hey, Obsidian, those guys know a thing or two about a good read, and voila.

 

so yeah. does anyone have any suggestions for an aspiring mega-geek (i've already attained relative geekage within the realms of tv, cinema, and video games; this would simply confirm it) ?

[Kelverin]

Here's a recent survey of the top 100 runs all time. I don't agree with all of it and there are some missing but it's a good place to start.

 

10. Grant Morrison

[Oerwinde]

my recommendations

 

Transmetropolitan

Lucifer

Fables

Preacher

Y The Last Man

[Musopticon?]

Definitely get Ellis' Transmetropolitan, highly recommended.

 

I'd venture to recommend Loeb and Sale's Superman for all Seasons and Long Halloween and Dark Victory and...well, they are my fave duo. If you don't mind Batman, The Long Halloween is a good buy and if you happen to for some reason like Batman, get Dark Victory.

 

Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA is a steadfast example of all that is good in comics. Then, since in the aftermath of your manga reading you are doubtlessly trying to find more, get Death Note, Blade of the Immortal and Black Lagoon as well. And don't listen to anything Kaftan says.

 

Persepolis, if you can find a good English translation, is just great as well. Very original.

 

And while you are at it, how about reading HIGH MOON right now. Tomwaitsian werewolf westerns don't get much better.

[Blarghagh]

Deadpool.

[Oerwinde]

Superman: Birthright was a good read too. Basically it was like Ultimate Superman. Updates and restarts Superman for new readers. Unfortunately it got swept away by Infinite Crisis and such and they're going to redo his origin again.

[Aram]

Alan Moore, who did Watchmen, has done some other pretty amazing work. From Hell is a dark telling of the Jack the Ripper murders. V for Vendetta the comic is superior to the movie. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is far, far, far superior to the POS movie but I actually think it's the weaker of Moore's work. Transmetropolitan is a very fun comic. If you like Batman, which I don't really, look up The Long Halloween and The Dark Knight Returns. Hellboy and The Goon are both very fun--the latter is dark goofy funny in a sort of Sam and Max way, but even darker. Another worth mentioning is Maus, which is one of those things you never would have expected to be done in comic form. It's a biographical account of the author's father's experiences as a Holocaust/death camp survivor--it's really heavy stuff though you wouldn't expect it because everyone is drawn as a cartoon mouse.

[WITHTEETH]

I read Watchmen now im ready to read some more graphic novels!

withteeth grabs a pen and starts writing down select readings

[theslug]

I haven't read a whole lot of comics but I have heard that The Last Man is a must. I myself liked Sky Girl and Star Wars Legacy.

[Walsingham]

Transmetropolitan is hard to beat, but can run a little short in each graphic novel. i.e. you don't get a great deal of weight.

 

Preacher was the graphic novel which changed my view of comics forever. As I've siad before, it's like thinking films are for little kids, after twenty years of watching Charlie Chaplin.... then someone shows you Apocalypse Now, redux.

[Gorgon]

I'm a bit strange in that for a comic to interest me there has to be something about the linework that draws me in. Mike Mignola did the excellent Hellboy series, no fault of his it was turned into a kid's movie with Ron Pearlman, not half bad movie either, and he did something called Fafred and the Gray Mouser, and a novel called Ironwolf and the fires of the revolution.

 

I notice a lot of vintage stuff on people's lists. I guess you haven't been keeping up either. I mean I like Miller's Daredevil as much as the next guy, but it's pretty old, and showing it too. If you haven't already, get Jeff Smith's Bone. It's hilarious and awesome all at the same time.

[Walsingham]

You're probably right, Gorgo. I might go into town and pick up some comics later. You reckon this Jeff Smith would be good?

[Gorgon]

It's very innocent, perhaps a la Calvin and Hobbes, but it's so well made you don't care that it's 'for kids'.

 

It's a fantasy story about a war involving dragons and lost heirs, but mostly you just fall in love with the Bone cousins.

 

You can get the whole series compacted on the cheap, or just buy one of the first compilations to see if it's for you.

[Tigranes]

Jeff Smith's Bone is very fun. It's definitely got the child's adventure story vibe, but you really enjoy it.

[Walsingham]

Not really appropriate at the moment. I need to be on my mettle for work, and to GM this WHFRP campaign I've got going on. One of the characters is an evil bastard, and I need inspiration.

[Musopticon?]

Well, Bone has it's share of epic bastards. And I completely forgot to recommend it. I have the complete edition and I really love it.

[Zoma]

I just bought Batman: The Killing Joke. That is one awesome stuff and you could see the story managed to provide some influence to the movie "Dark Knight".

 

Call me pantsy or girly, but I do enjoy reading "Spiderman Loves Mary Jane" series, especially much more so when its being penciled in anime style with the story written by Sean McKeever.

[Jediphile]

he did something called Fafred and the Gray Mouser

 

That's just a comic books adaptation of the stories by Fritz Leiber.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser

 

An entire campaign setting was decicated to the stories in the city of Lankhmar in early AD&D

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lankhmar#Lankhmar_in_games

[Jaesun]

I'd also recommend The Invisibles. I loved this comic series.

 

Also I just read the first book of Promethia. I really liked it, and am going to be ordering the rest of the series.

[Draken]

sweetness. thanks dudes; dudettes.

 

i'm going comic shop spelunking on the morrow, so i'll share my finds with you then.

 

keep the suggestions rolling, if any more come to mind. because of recently-found monies, my leather wallet's so fat it's practically a cow again.

[Kelverin]

Comic book CD Roms

Opinions vary on these but it might be a way to go to get popular Marvel runs FF, Spider-Man...... Personally I would rather have the books on hand, of course it would be rather expensive to get entire runs. I gave a link, but you can check elsewhere like ebay

 

http://www.digitalcomics.biz/group.asp?grp=14

[Archmonarch]

I agree with pretty much everything suggested and would add:

 

The Walking Dead

DMZ

[Oerwinde]

If you're into some lighter fare, Marvel's Runaways is quite good. Its about a bunch of kids who find out their parents are secretly a league of supervillains who run all the crime on the west coast.

[Walsingham]

I grew up reading 200AD. Is it known outside of the UK? It's been crucial to the development of many of the greats.

[Draken]

due to multiple engagements i could only go to the nearby bookstore as opposed to a full blown comic dungeon.

 

meager selections; i only got Batman's Long Halloween and Dark Victory. still, i'll try to get some more when i have some time.