It seems like a shame not to have a thread on comics in here somewhere.

Some favorites of mine:

The Watchmen
V for Vendetta
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Louis Riel by Chester Brown
Moonshadow by JM DeMetteis
and my current reading, The second book of the Cerebus series

The Crow by James O'Barr
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
All of the Sin cities by Frank Miller.

Can anyone tell me if they've read Born Again by Frank Miller or Road to Perdition by ?, and are they worth getting?

quote:

Originally posted by Eccles:
Can anyone tell me if they've read Born Again by Frank Miller or Road to Perdition by ?, and are they worth getting?

Road to Perdition was written by Max Collins with art by Richard Piers Rayner, E. I can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you've seen the movie. The graphic novel is so far superior to the movie that it's almost hard to believe that they are telling the same story. And I didn't think the movie was all that bad.

As for my own favorites, I'm still a sucker for McFarlane's Spidey and Claremont's X-Men as well as more Batman titles than I can name easily. My own personal hall of fame, though would have to include:

A Contract with God Will Eisner
Argueably the first graphic novel and argueably one of the best from the father of the modern medium and creator of single greatest comic of all time, The Spirit

The Watchmen Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
I understand it's in film production again. I cannot imagine such a thing. If you devoted two hours to each individual issue, you would still only scratch the surface of what makes the series great. Not only is it a masterpiece of grahic storytelling, but the interstitial material has never been rivaled so far as I have seen.

Cerebus Dave Sim & Gerhard
I did not kept up since Dave spun out several years ago, but page for page "Jaka's Story" and "Melmoth" are as good as the medium gets.

The Sandman Neil Gaiman and countless artists
One of the boldest story arcs in the medium punctuated with some its warmest and most personal storytelling. The titles popularity has sometimes obscured its brilliance. The issue featuring Emperor Norton I is one of my favorite single titles in all of comics.

The Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller, Klaus Janson & Lynn Varley
There really is no other way to say it...
Best. Batman. Ever.
An honorable mention, though, to Miller's Year One, a great retelling of the best origin story with beautiful art from David Mazzucchelli.

Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman David Boswell
Reid's nonstop quest for fun should be the model by which I live my life, if only I had the courage.

The Tick Ben Edlund
The animated and live action series' were wonderful, but if you've never read Edlund's original 12 issues, you owe it to yourself to pick them up.

Now Playing: "Who Cares" Bill Charlap Plays George Gershwin

great lists so far guys, particularly nice to see The Tick on here. A few others that I really enjoy.

The Adventures of Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware
I had heard all the hype over this one, but never got around to reading it until after I picked up the issue of McSweeneys that Ware edited. The McSweeneys issue (#13 i believe) was probably the best sampler of alternative comics I've ever seen, and Chris Ware's stuff is probably the best in it.

Louis Riel by Chester Brown
I really liked the way that Brown made very rigid design choices work in his favor. Most decent comics today are playing with layout like crazy, but Brown keeps the same six frame layout for every page, and creates a really well done bio.

Blankets by Craig Thompson
I read this in one sitting, which considering the size says something about the quality. While the story is fairly typical, it never gets boring, mostly because Thompson is one of the best at making his graphics contribute well to the overall storytelling.

Moonshadow by J.M DeMAtteis
For some reason this book gets overlooked all the time. I've never seen any press on it, and only picked it up on a whim because it was dirt cheap at a used book store, but it has remained one of my favorite comics, and in fact one of my favorite sci-fi stories for quite some time now. Very abstract art, and a debt to Hermann Hesse make this one memorable.

quote:

Originally posted by Eccles:
Can anyone tell me if they've read Born Again by Frank Miller or Road to Perdition by ?, and are they worth getting?

Born Again is Frank Miller's best Daredevil work written. It's the story arc where Karen Page stabs Matt Murdock in the back. Kingpin, Bullseye, Urich and Captain America are all part of the story as well. Plus Dave Mazzuchelli's art work is so cinematic. It is a must read Frank Miller book and Daredevil book. Other notable works is Frank Miller's Daredevil: The Man Without Fear. It's a Year One or even pre-costume story. The artwork is by John Romita Jr., which is hard to absorb at times, but is great nonetheless.

Road to Perdition is a 100 times better than the movie. It goes so indepth into the characters and deeper into the story. Its a good book.

My favorite graphic novels are...

1. Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson
2. Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
3. Blankets by Craig Thompson
4. Planetary by Warren Ellis
5. Goldfish by Brian Michael Bendis
6. Uncanny X-Men: The Dark Pheonix Saga by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
7. Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore
8. David Boring by Daniel Clowes
9. Hellboy: Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
10. Elektra Lives by Frank Miller

Brian Michael Bendis' books are excellent reads as well. Powers, Alias and his current Daredevil book are amazing reads. Other notable books are Sleeper, Top 10, The Losers, Global Frequency, Hard Time, H-E-R-O, The Authority (Ellis & Millar TPBs) and B.P.R.D. (if you want your Hellboy fix sans Hellboy).

...and I just finished reading WE3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly, which is an insane book. Check it out. I also recently read Wanted by Mark Millar and JG Jones! Crazy s#!t. I also finished reading Ultra by the Luna Brothers which is an interesting book. Its like Sex in the City meets the Justice League of America. Its actually really good.

I'm reading in piece-meal Eisner/Miller, the interview book where they discuss the comic book industry. very interesting so far. I'm also reading The Filth by Grant Morrison. Its some weird stuff!

Groo the wanderer is still my favorite comic closely followed by Scud the disposible assassin and The Tick. I also find myself reading the metal gear solid comics lots. Not that its exceptionally good or anything. I just am a huge metal gear solid fan.

I am also a big 'Scud' & 'Tick' fan! I have EVERY 'Scud' issue, including the spin-off's 'Tales from the Vending Machine' (Mach 3, "Principalities" is my favorite issue) & 'The Drywall & Oswald Show'.

Other favorites are 'Savage Dragon'- with its wild violence & crazy villians is always a joy, 'The Darkness'- wonderful humor & extreme gore make this comic a guilty pleasure, 'Rising Stars'- a dramatic story with fantastic plot twists that would make M. Night cry, 'Top 10'- an interesting & comedic story of a world where we see into a police precinct in a world of supervillains & giant Godzilla type monsters, & 'Powers'- another police in a super-powered world story.

As for mini-series favorites, there is 'Sabretooth'1-4- you learn Victor & Raven got busy & created a normal human who grew up to hate mutants.'Marvels'- a beautiful painted comic that takes a look at Marvel's first superheroes through the eyes of a photogragher. 'Ruins'- a "realistic" look at Marvel's superheroes, example: When Reed, Sue, Johnny, & Ben go into space & get hit with radiation they come back to Earth dead: Reed is all stretched out, Johnny burst into flames, Ben turned to stone, & Sue, being invisible, couldn't see, so, she fell on her burning brother & also burned to death. Very disturbing. Finally, 'Origin'- you learn how Logan's powers first manifested, you find out WHY he's called Logan, the question is answered as to why he's called Wolverine, you even learn why he has a thing for red-heads. THE GREATEST WOLVERINE STORY EVER!!!!!!!!!

As for my all time favorite crossover comic events, there are only 2 & they're BOTH in the X-Men catagory. 'Fatal Attractions'- THE story where Wolverine has the adamantium sucked from his body by Magneto & ending with Xavier mind wiping poor Magnus. This is also the storyline that introduces Wolverine's bone claws for the first time! And 'Age of Apocalypse'- an upside-down world where Xavier was killed before he formed the X-Men & Apocalypse has taken over the world. Magneto is leading the X-Men, Sabretooth is a good guy and Cyclops & Beast are on the side of evil.

These are just a few of my personal favorites that I've HAD to read every few months, just because I can't get enough of these books!

Tiny little EDIT:
I stupidly put 'Origin' as a crossover & it's a mini-series. So, I changed that to be more appropriate. I HATE when I mess up!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Monkey_Boy,

For me, nothing beats '60s-early '70s Marvel. The Lee/Kirby and Ditko stuff. Before it became messy, before they killed off Gwen Stacy, before the stupid clones. *sigh*

Here's some current favorite series and a couple defunct ones.

1. Red Sonja
2. Concrete
3. The Spirit
4. Daredevil
5. Sojourn
6. Testament
7. Any @17 Series or anything by their creators
8. The Incredible Hulk
9. Moonshadow
10. Dreadstar

As far as manga goes, I love Seraphic Feather, Shadow Star, Planet Ladder and Video Girl Ai, among a few others.

Crazy mad in love with comics as I am and have been since finding a Spiderman issue at the age of 6 in my next-door neighbours' house, I had to contribute here.
Anything by Mike Allred is excellent:
MADMAN/ THE ATOMICS. Great colours, humour.

CONCRETE by Paul Chadwick is flat out some of the best storytelling in any medium for the last 10 yrs or so.

Y-THE LAST MAN is a terrific new series.

NAUSICAA- Japanese. Detailed, delirious eco-epic.

LONE WOLF & CUB- Japanese samurai w/ child. Awesome art. Black n white never looked so red.

Many, many other titles. Some authors who are consistently good are:
Frank Miller
Alan Moore
Mike Mignola
Carl Barks
I don't wanna rave on for ages, but if anyone is interested in hearing of more, Im happy to oblige.

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaelscoffin:
Y-THE LAST MAN is a terrific new series.

I guess you'd be happy to hear that a movie is in the works & the script was written by the writer of the comic, Brian K. Vaughn himself! Checkout the 'Comic-Based Movies' thread in the Action/Adventure catagory for updates on this & many other comic related projects!

Well thanks O monkey brother for that info.
Here's hoping with all fingers and toes crossed that the project gets a decent producer and director who understand the damn comic!
I'd like Cronenberg to do it, or perhaps Kathyrn Bigelow. She hasn't done anything good for a while, but she understands S/F..
anyhoo, I'm yet to finish the series, trapped in the limbo of China currently....so don't give away any secrets, right!!!

well, k/c, continuing our conversation from the other thread, giving an answer on the "must-buy" comic is of course, very difficult. Just buy em all ha ha..

But seriously, hmmmmm........

You say you have read Bone; that probably would have been my 1st choice; it's astonishing.

Beyond that, seeing as how you like Jap stuff a lot, I would HIGHLY recommend the Nausicaa series. Full of fascinating details that have occupied me for hours, humour and Miyazaki works wonders within a frame.

Also, get some Concrete into ya. Chadwick tells terrific stories of everyday life, hot issues etc. through the device of a guy who has been changed into a huge stone creature, ala The Thing.

It's particular brilliance is to take a pulpy idea, namely aliens who come to Earth and "change" a man, giving him "powers", and then place this classic comic archetype outsider in a very normal suburban world, full of unrequited love, birthday parties, camping trips, and proceed to then riff on all the dilemmas faced by Concrete as he comes to terms with the nightmare of his new form. Obvious metaphors become lovely and subtle in Chadwick's hands.

Think like a Mountain is a particular fav, as it deals with the controversy surrounding Earth First, and enviromentalism in general in an intelligent and balanced way.

I'm yet to see Chadwick put a foot wrong, and I've read nearly everything of Concrete.

I don't know if it qualifies as a graphic novel -- its artwork is more like a comic strip than anything -- but the "Maus" books are pretty amazing. They won a Pulitzer Prize. The author's father, a Jew, experienced life under Nazi rule, was in a concentration camp, etc. "Maus" documents this with the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats.

I agree about Maus. It really set the standard for the contemporary graphic novel. It's the first GN I gave my son to read, at about the age of 11.

For those of you who keep up with such things, is there any cool new(ish) series out on the Vertigo imprint. I quit buying comics a while back, and i've been out of the loop. I love stuff like Preacher, Transmetropolitan and 100 Bullets. I got the first few issues of Y-The Last Man but ever since I haven't really been keeping up.

So if anyone has any suggestions let me know.

quote:

Originally posted by IG Farben:
is there any cool new(ish) series out on the Vertigo imprint.

So if anyone has any suggestions let me know.

The only Vertigo comic I'm reading is "Testament" which is pretty good. It's been an ongoing series since late '05 and uses Biblical references to explain troubling events in a future society.

Is it christocentric, like the "Left Behind" books, or does it just use the biblical references as a rhetorical device?

The future society plot mirrors various Old Testament stories. What happened to characters in the Bible usually parallels what occurs with their future counterparts. There's also a conflict between various deities who are overseeing events in both time periods. It's a better read than I can explain it.

Invisible People by Will Eisner.

Storytelling genius. No one understood the comics medium better than he, and no one told a better story.

Crying Freeman, Lone Wolf and Cub - Manga is unique. Engrossing, and satisfying.

Special mention must be made of Osamu Tezuka's "Buddha" series. Wacky!

And of course nearly all of Alan Moore's and Frank Miller's works.

One conspiciously absent comic here is American Splendor. Harvey Pekar is terrific. It's amazing how a story can be composed just of frame after frame of the same face in the same place (The Harvey Pekar Name Story) and still come across as superb stuff.

The same way one is compelled to mention Schindler's List when one talks about movies in general, Spiegelman's Maus must be mentioned. It's a classic in its own right.

Superhero stuff - Identity Crisis (a DC-based whodunnit thriller) and Kingdom Come.

That's about the favourites..

Conspicuously absent from any discussion is Neil Gaiman's Sandman series... its breadth, ambition, intelligence, and charm are all unparalleled as far as I'm concerned.

Other favorites include Blankets by Craig Thompson and Watchmen by Alan Moore. Can't say I'm a big fan of Frank Miller's oeuvre -- liked Sin City more on the big screen.