I like Spawn personally. But the best comics I have read yet are Watchmen, Preacher, and Usagi Yojimbo. I'm surprised I haven't see Usagi on anyone's list. It is a slow moving comic, but it has not only kept the same author since the begining (which is a really long time at this point), it has interesting characters and plots.
Ah man, I forgot about Usagi. My little brother got me into it, and, so far,I've read two books. They're awesome! Also, Mouse Guard is pretty rockin'.
I like Spawn personally. But the best comics I have read yet areWatchmen, Preacher, and Usagi Yojimbo. I'm surprised I haven't see Usagi on anyone's list. It is a slow moving comic, but it has not only kept the same author since the begining (which is a really long time at this point), it has interesting characters and plots.
Ah man, I forgot about Usagi. My little brother got me into it, and, so far,I've read two books. They're awesome! Also, Mouse Guard is pretty rockin'.
I have to agree with Watchmen as the greatest comic ever. My girlfriend and I both really like Usagi as well, great read, and amazing quality considering the number of issues it has been around. I was really surprised to see The Walking Dead not on this list, its a good read, with zombies. WD is readily available in trade format.
For the indie crowd I really enjoyed Xenozoic Tales (AKA Cadillacs & Dinosaurs) and every time I see Mark Shultz I want to ask him to pick up this story again.
I agree that Watchmen is the greatest comic, but a close second is Jeff Smith's Bone. It is an epic story that has everything you could want: fantastic characters, humor, great villains, amazing art, and wonderful writing. It is so good it appeals to everyone: from someone who never reads any comics bigger than the ones they find in the newspaper to the hardcore comic geeks.
Teenagers from Mars is something every comics fan should read. It is all about fighting against censorship in comics.
Mike Kunkel's Herobear and the Kid is another great title. Just like Calvin and Hobbes, it manages to bring back all those great childhood memories. I can't help feeling happy after finishing it.
Jhonen Vasquez's Squee is a really fun one if you like dark, random humor as much as I do.
The Flight anthologies always offer an amazing view of just how different comics can really be.
- Avengers: The Initiative
- New Avengers
- Ultimate Spider-Man
- Criminal
- Buffy
- Justice Society of America
- Hellblazer
- Runaways
- X-Men
- Ultimate X-Men
My recommendations
CRIMINAL. It is amazing. It's not a super-hero/underwear pervert/whatever book. It's a crime comic at it's best. Brubaker really knows how to tell a story.
Buffy is also great, though it's not a randome pick-up and read book, you really had to watch the TV series as there are alot of references and cameos.
My biggest recommendation, though, is Ultimate Spider-Man. One reason... the book is about Peter Parker and not about Spider-Man. It has more of a focus on Peter and how just the nature of being Spider-Man has affected his life. Bendis is an excellent dialogue writer (even is his stories can be convoluted at times) and Bagley is great at drawing emotion.
I got the first trade of Wasteland, and meh. It reminds me a lot of Legend of Mother Sara, Trigun and Eat-Man. Post-apocalypse, wandering the desert, mysterious powerful guy, etc. I don't think Wasteland is necessarily better or worse than any other work in the genre, it's just a late-comer so it feels cliche.
The only comic I'm reading is Powers. I want to get into more comics, but my money goes to other obsessions, however I would like to get into Runaways.
Runaways is very good. I think the biggest reason I enjoyed it so much is that the Runaways are new heroes and it's been quite a while that we got new heroes in comic books that aren't merely Red Shirts. On top of that, the story takes place mainly in LA, so it doesn't have all the backstory and continuity of the east coast, where the majority of Marvel takes place, so they can tell their own story without the readers questioning why a bunch of teenagers are dealing with this crisis when they can just called the Avengers or Fantastic Four.
I would also recommend Runaways as well, since all the [leading] characters are likable.
And NOT REALLY a print comic, but I have to recommend Broken Saints, an animated flash graphic novel. You may watch it all free over at Newgrounds.
If you want fluff, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane is rather cute. Joss Whedon's Buffy is pretty good as well.
-FLCL
-Kingdom Come
-Yotsuba (some great light read)
-Nightmares and Fairy Tales
-Red Son (the what if superman would have landed in communist russia)
-Wolverine "Enemy of the State" and "Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."
-GTO (I highly recomend the whole combo, the manga, the anime, and the live action)
a close second is Jeff Smith'sBone. It is an epic story that has everything you could want: fantastic characters, humor, great villains, amazing art, and wonderful writing.
I agree that Bone is really good, and has everything that you mentioned, but I would not say it's the seccond best. There are just a few too many plot holes in it for me. I'll admit that the holes are small, but they're still there.
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More thanks go to Rym and Scott this time in that I have to agree with their assessments of Watchmen and Mouse Guard. I've more or less read no Comics or Manga until I finally broke down and started listening to Geek Nights and so far I've yet to go wrong.
Watchmen is fantastic. Mouse Guard is amazing. (I just got this one tonight and it is well worth the $25 price for the fantastic hardcover edition.)
The great thing about Bone is you can get the entire series for pretty cheap in one fat volume. It's not Great but it certainly is an entertaining read that you can really get into.
Runaways is also excellent, although I actually stopped reading after the first big storyline because spoiler[the ending annoyed me - Alex was the best thing about the comic, and since he died...]spoiler. But it's definitely worth a read.
The great thing about Bone is you can get the entire series for pretty cheap in one fat volume. It's not Great but it certainly is an entertaining read that you can really get into.
Runaways is also excellent, although I actually stopped reading after the first big storyline because...
Well, also, Brian K Vaughn stopped writing it after that, so I doubt it's any good anyways.
Well, also, Brian K Vaughn stopped writing it after that, so I doubt it's any good anyways.
As someone who reads Runaways in digest format, and is a huge BKV fan, and not a Joss Whedon fan, I must say that I think Runaways will continue to be good. Whedon started on vol. 2 issue #25, or digest 8 depending on your choice of format. I bought the single issue #25, and it was going in a good direction. I'll definitely buy digest 8 based on what I have read so far.
Well, also, Brian K Vaughn stopped writing it after that, so I doubt it's any good anyways.
As someone who reads Runaways in digest format, and is a huge BKV fan, and not a Joss Whedon fan, I must say that I think Runaways will continue to be good. Whedon started on vol. 2 issue #25, or digest 8 depending on your choice of format. I bought the single issue #25, and it was going in a good direction. I'll definitely buy digest 8 based on what I have read so far.
I haven't read quite that far yet, but I'll check 'em out when I get there.
One problem with Watchmen though, and people are going to really hate me for this, is that except for Rorschach none of the characters are very interesting.
As someone who reads Runaways in digest format, and is a huge BKV fan, and not a Joss Whedon fan, I must say that I think Runaways will continue to be good. Whedon started on vol. 2 issue #25, or digest 8 depending on your choice of format. I bought the single issue #25, and it was going in a good direction. I'll definitely buy digest 8 based on what I have read so far.
First off, I would just like to say that Rym and Scott are right about pretty much everything. I look up to them as godly figures. I sometimes think that we should have a topic about how great they are. They have shown me the path to general geekery enlightenment.
Now that that has been said, I must disagree about Joss. I love him. And yeah, it's because of Buffy and Angel. But because of those two shows, he will never have to write another good thing in his life, and I would still consider him to be awesome.
First off, I would just like to say that Rym and Scott are right about pretty much everything. I look up to them as godly figures. I sometimes think that we should have a topic about how great they are. They have shown me the path to general geekery enlightenment.
Wow, that's a bit crazy.
Now that that has been said, I must disagree about Joss. I love him. And yeah, it's because of Buffy and Angel. But because of those two shows, he will never have to write another good thing in his life, and I would still consider him to be awesome.
I'm a big fan of Joss whedon myself. Rym loves Firefly and Scott is Neutral/dislikes it. Really, that should be a show right there. Since Love fests tend to be boring.
Now that that has been said, I must disagree about Joss. I love him. And yeah, it's because of Buffy and Angel. But because of those two shows, he will never have to write another good thing in his life, and I would still consider him to be awesome.
I, also, am a big Joss fan. Both his TV and comic runs. I feel that he can portray human emotion really well, and he is actually one of the few people in the Marvel U to actually get Wolverine right (in my opinion). I have some issues on where he is taking the Runaways, but in Joss I trust. I have also had some issues with the last issue of the Buffy comic. But his past comic work, Fray to be specific, had some issues mid-way through, and it ended on a good note. Using that precedence, I have faith.
Comments
Come on the Hulk does not wear tights, he is just awesome :P
For the indie crowd I really enjoyed Xenozoic Tales (AKA Cadillacs & Dinosaurs) and every time I see Mark Shultz I want to ask him to pick up this story again.
Teenagers from Mars is something every comics fan should read. It is all about fighting against censorship in comics.
Mike Kunkel's Herobear and the Kid is another great title. Just like Calvin and Hobbes, it manages to bring back all those great childhood memories. I can't help feeling happy after finishing it.
Jhonen Vasquez's Squee is a really fun one if you like dark, random humor as much as I do.
The Flight anthologies always offer an amazing view of just how different comics can really be.
- Avengers: The Initiative
- New Avengers
- Ultimate Spider-Man
- Criminal
- Buffy
- Justice Society of America
- Hellblazer
- Runaways
- X-Men
- Ultimate X-Men
My recommendations
CRIMINAL. It is amazing. It's not a super-hero/underwear pervert/whatever book. It's a crime comic at it's best. Brubaker really knows how to tell a story.
Buffy is also great, though it's not a randome pick-up and read book, you really had to watch the TV series as there are alot of references and cameos.
My biggest recommendation, though, is Ultimate Spider-Man. One reason... the book is about Peter Parker and not about Spider-Man. It has more of a focus on Peter and how just the nature of being Spider-Man has affected his life. Bendis is an excellent dialogue writer (even is his stories can be convoluted at times) and Bagley is great at drawing emotion.
Wasteland is good though.
DEADPOOL
And NOT REALLY a print comic, but I have to recommend Broken Saints, an animated flash graphic novel. You may watch it all free over at Newgrounds.
If you want fluff, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane is rather cute. Joss Whedon's Buffy is pretty good as well.
-Kingdom Come
-Yotsuba (some great light read)
-Nightmares and Fairy Tales
-Red Son (the what if superman would have landed in communist russia)
-Wolverine "Enemy of the State" and "Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."
-GTO (I highly recomend the whole combo, the manga, the anime, and the live action)
WiP: Remember to use your HTML Radio Button above the submit comment button.
Watchmen is fantastic.
Mouse Guard is amazing. (I just got this one tonight and it is well worth the $25 price for the fantastic hardcover edition.)
Runaways is also excellent, although I actually stopped reading after the first big storyline because spoiler[the ending annoyed me - Alex was the best thing about the comic, and since he died...]spoiler. But it's definitely worth a read.
Now that that has been said, I must disagree about Joss. I love him. And yeah, it's because of Buffy and Angel. But because of those two shows, he will never have to write another good thing in his life, and I would still consider him to be awesome.
I don't, however, like anything else that Joss has done...
Please give it a try.
Also, here is the Wikipedia page for The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius I mentioned above. It is pure brilliance.