Graphic novels/comic book digests. What should I be buying?

[Grisgra]

Decided to finally spend some poker $$ on getting my meager collection up to speed. So far:

Watchmen
Sandman #1-#10
The Last Man #1-#4
Preacher #1
Black Orchid
Runaways #1-#2 (going to be getting the rest soon)
Dark Knight Returns (sequel to this *sucked*)
The Killing Joke (also buying Arkham soon)
Fray
Kingdom Come
Astonishing X-men #1
First Lucifer collection (eh, so-so)
The Hard Goodbye (Sin City #1)
Midnight Nation


So, a respectable start. Checked out Top Ten, didn't float my boat. Ditto V for Vendetta. Might invest in Miracleman, but I heard that if I didn't like V for Vendetta I probably wouldn't like that either.

Anyway . . . what else should I be looking into? My faves in that list are, in order:

1) Dark Knight Returns
2) Watchmen
3) Runaways
4) Astonishing X-Men
5) Sandman

-- though they were *all* good. Didn't get enough of a kick out of Sin City or Lucifer to do more than vaguely consider keeping up, though.

[Eihli]

i ask you since you've read the book, do you think the movie sin city will be any good

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

I liked Heavy Liquid. If I remember correctly, it was about a guy who did drugs, and he got superpowers from them. It was a good book though.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is good (don't judge it based on the crappy movie).

There's another I forgot the name of, it's something like Heart of ... and it has to due with Britain and it's pretty whacked out too.

Sniff, I'm jealous, I haven't collected the entire Sandman yet.

Also, Transmetropolitan and Powers are two names of comics that were extremely well done and I'm sure they've put them into digest form.

Also, it may sound silly, but Ultimate Spider-man was a great book when I was reading it.

Finally, one of the best series that I read was The Authority. Very dark superhero type book, check it out. I'm pretty sure there was a series before the Authority by the same people that was just as good or better, do some research to find out the name.

[davelin]

100 Bullets (!!)
Fables
Powers
Transmetropolitan
Planetary
Queen and Country
Ex Machina
Sleeper

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

I've never read 100 bullets, but the premise is so sweet I wish I did. It's about a guy who has 100 bullets he can use to kill anyone without punishment, right?

And Fables is very good too. I think Neil Gaiman did some of them (all of them?). Queen and Country is cool to. Is Planetary the precursor to The Authority, or am I making that up? Never read Ex Machina or Sleeper.

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
Sniff, I'm jealous, I haven't collected the entire Sandman yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the recs. And re collecting Sandman, I went a little Ebay crazy and won more auctions than I thought I would, so I've got two extra copies of #8 and two beat-up-on-the-outside but quite readable copies of, I think, #1 and #2. The latter are the old cool covers from the early printing (1993), harder to get . . . and would be more valuable if they weren't beaten up /images/graemlins/smile.gif. Let me know by PM if you're interested in taking them off my hands for cheap, I feel like a moron for having them.

I paged through League, the story seemed interesting but the artwork just didn't float my boat. I think that was my problem with V for Vendetta as well.

I'll definitely check out Transmet. and Powers.

Any opinions out there on Rising Star? I liked Midnight Nation, liked most of Babylon 5, and in general am a fan of JMS, and I understand it's his series. Good stuff?

[Grisgra]

What's 100 Bullets, and why does it deserve a double exclam? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[orange]

It's been a little while since I stopped reading comic books, but I clearly remember a few I used to enjoy-

100 Bullets is an easily attainable series in graphic novels. The concept is cool too.

I always used to like Bendis' Daredevil, the MK series. His ideas were pretty original.

anything by Alan Moore is great. Fables, another fairly new series is creative as well.

[Grisgra]

I think the movie is going to kick an inordinate amount of ass. The novel didn't have a great deal of characterization, seemed a little too action-centric -- not quite as multilayered as I like my graphic novels. I guess I just don't think that the film noir style translates well into the medium.

But a loyal movie adaptation of this thing is going to be incredible -- and loyal it will be, with Miller as director and Quentin T. as guest director.

[orange]

[ QUOTE ]
What's 100 Bullets, and why does it deserve a double exclam? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

100 Bullets is a series of stories that connect many characters together. All the characters have one thing in common-they have all suffered through various tragedies. They are all approached by a man who gives them evidence that those tragedies were caused by close peers, friends or family members, and a gun with 100 bullets. He tells them that they can carry out justice, and will not be charged for murder.

It's a pretty cool idea, I recommend this series to anyone.

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
I've never read 100 bullets, but the premise is so sweet I wish I did. It's about a guy who has 100 bullets he can use to kill anyone without punishment, right?

And Fables is very good too. I think Neil Gaiman did some of them (all of them?). Queen and Country is cool to. Is Planetary the precursor to The Authority, or am I making that up? Never read Ex Machina or Sleeper.

[/ QUOTE ]

100 Bullets is about so much it's hard to summarize. Yes it's about 100 untraceable bullets to be used to right any personal wrong but it's also about conspiracy theories and the kick-ass Minutemen.

Fables is written by Bill Willingham (no Gaiman involved). Planetary is independent from The Authority (which the original is good too). I'd recommend Ex Machina heavily.

[bdk3clash]

"Superman: Red Son" was great, and "Transmetropolitan" is one of the best things I've read in the last few years, graphic novel or not.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Oh man, I almost forgot. J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars is a must read in my opinion. Straczynski is the guy who wrote Babylon 5, but Rising Stars is another superhero book with a twist.

Also, Midnight Nation is a great series, good choice.

I like Miller's Daredevil, but Bendis is cool.

[offTopic]

From Hell was pretty good. Never saw the movie.

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]

4) Astonishing X-Men


[/ QUOTE ]

Is this the Josh Whedon one?

[Grisgra]

I've heard great things about From Hell, but, shallow as it may be, I have a tough time getting into page after page of black-and-white grainy artwork . . . Slick and crisp is good (Astonishing X-men), plain old matter-of-fact is good (Runaways, Watchmen), goofy/surreal is good (Arkham Asylum, much of the Sandman stuff), but there are some types of artwork I just don't get into.

I think that "crisp" is the best adjective to describe what I'm looking for. (I think that's one of the reasons that I didn't like the Lucifer series as much as I'd hoped -- seemed less crisp. Other parts of the Sandman stories' artwork hit me the same way.)

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

4) Astonishing X-Men


[/ QUOTE ]

Is this the Josh Whedon one?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. Fantastic series so far. My only problem is that the digests fit SO well on the bookshelf . . . but to keep completely up to date, I need to either stand there and read the new individual issues there in the comic shop, or *buy* them, and comic books just don't store well on a bookshelf. Not as nicely as the digests.

[Boris]

.

[FrankTheTank]

Y: The Last Man

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
The Killing Joke

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this the Alan Moore/cripple Batgirl one? I have an original printing somewhere. I wonder what it's worth.

[ QUOTE ]
Sandman #1-#10

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to read these and Hellblazer all the time.

[ QUOTE ]
The Hard Goodbye (Sin City #1)

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this the original from Dark Horse? I've got those laying around somewhere too. I loved this when I was a teenager.

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
Y: The Last Man

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to read my original post a little closer /images/graemlins/smile.gif.

I love the series, but my suspension of disbelief is starting to wane. How in the hell can it take more than one-and-a-half years to cross the country? Even by foot? And damn there are a lot of violent chicks with guns. Not that I'd expect that with all men gone there'd be nothing but bake sales, but still . . .

[ILL34GL3]

I'm a big Alan Moore fan after reading Watchmen. I picked that book up after a long stint of ignoring the graphic novel medium. Man, that blew my mind. It's an amazing prophesy of 9/11.

Top Ten gets better in the second book and I really enjoyed the Preacher series. Some of the Preacher books definitely aren't as good as others. I'm reading through the Saga of the Swamp Thing(the title that spawned Constantine and the Vertigo line) books now.

Iread the first Powers book and was extremely disappointed. It didn't live up to the hype i'd been hearing. I should have went with my gut instinct and skipped it when I saw the cartoony artwork and the name "Retorgirl". I'll probably read the Sandman series after I'm finished with the Swamp Thing series.

[Cyrus]

[ QUOTE ]
Decided to finally ... get my meager collection up to speed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try anything by the artists listed. Guaranteed to have you flying higher and faster than any superhero.

Daniel G. Clowes
Charles Burns
Jim Woodring


BTW, French comics are the best in the world. And it's not even close.

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Decided to finally ... get my meager collection up to speed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try anything by the artists listed. Guaranteed to have you flying higher and faster than any superhero.

Daniel G. Clowes
Charles Burns
Jim Woodring


BTW, French comics are the best in the world. And it's not even close.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you give some titles? Re the French thing . . . uh . . . I didn't even know there *was* such a thing.

[jakethebake]

Are you 9? Do you have a 9 year-old son? If not, then nothing.

[ILL34GL3]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you 9? Do you have a 9 year-old son? If not, then nothing.

[/ QUOTE ]
If you're seriously believe this, you should at least read Watchmen before you go talking out of your ass like that.

I actually think the graphic novel as a medium for storytelling is a superior medium to film. I'd label a movie or television watcher as immature or not-so-bright before I'd label a graphic novel enthusiast as such.

Anyway, read Watchmen before Hollywood ruins it with the movie (like they have with every Alan Moore story: From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) next year. Watchmen won the Hugo literary award for science-fiction and is required reading in uni lit classes across the country for a reason. And it's a very good reason.

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Are you 9? Do you have a 9 year-old son? If not, then nothing.

[/ QUOTE ]
If you're seriously believe this, you should at least read Watchmen before you go talking out of your ass like that.

I actually think the graphic novel as a medium for storytelling is a superior medium to film. I'd label a movie or television watcher as immature or not-so-bright before I'd label a graphic novel enthusiast as such.

Anyway, read Watchmen before Hollywood ruins it with the movie (like they have with every Alan Moore story: From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) next year. Watchmen won the Hugo literary award for science-fiction and is required reading in uni lit classes across the country for a reason. And it's a very good reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

[4thstreetpete]

There are some great stuff out there.

Some of my favourites include

Bone (the complete collection)

This graphic novel is fantastic. Don't be fooled by it's cartoony art. The story is epic and winner of many awards around the world. It's a very deep tolkenesque epic that took about 13 years to finish. This is one of my favourites.

Arkham Asylum - in living hell
Akira
League of Extraodinary Gentlemen
The Walking Dead
Identity Crisis
Origin
Y the last man

[ILL34GL3]

Let's see what Rorschach thinks about people who scorn graphic novels:
http://img75.exs.cx/img75/8751/illeaglefinger3vx.gif (http://www.imageshack.us)

[Cyrus]

[ QUOTE ]
Can you give some titles?

[/ QUOTE ]

CHARLES BURNS: "Curse Of The Mole Men"; "El Borbah"; "Blood Club"; "Skin Deep"; "Hard-Boiled Defective Stories".

DANIEL G. CLOWES : "Like A Velvet Fist Clad In Iron"; "Ghost World".

JIM WOODRING: "The Book Of Frank".



[ QUOTE ]
Re the French thing . . . uh . . . I didn't even know there *was* such a thing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since the mid-1970s, the French comics (bandes dessinées) have brought the medium center stage in art. The names are too many to mention.

I'd suggest you taste some MOEBIUS (eg "The Hermetic Garage" and "Lt. Blueberry") and, if it's your cup of café au lait, take it from there.

*****

Here's where you will find the intelligent stuff:

Bud Plant Comic Art (http://budplant.com)

Fantagraphics (http://www.fantagraphics.com/)

Steve Krupp's Curio Shoppe (ex-Kitchen Sink) (http://www.deniskitchen.com/thestore/index.html)

Last Gasp (http://www.lastgasp.com/cgi-bin/home.cfm)

Humanoids Publishing (http://www.humanoids-publishing.com/home.php)

[Daliman]

Loved Art Spiegelman's "Maus" books.

[Cyrus]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you 9? Do you have a 9 year-old son?

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you implying that comics are for 9-year olds?

It's Chinatown. You wouldn't understand.